Heading north

  Well it's been awhile since we blogged. Ray said it was my turn, so here it goes...
We watched the fireworks in Live Oak on the 4th. We decided to leave FL on the 6th of July hoping the holiday traffic wasn't heavy.

 We left by 9:00 and drove the back roads through FL, GA and into AL. We made it to the town of Troy, AL for the night. In the morning we headed north taking more back roads. Alabama has some hills and curvy roads but the drive was beautiful. We made it to Athens at the top of the state.

 Seeing how it was the weekend, we decided to spend 2 nights. On Saturday we drove over to  State Park. It's on the Tennessee River and has a marina, lodge, campground and restaurant.

 Our next drive was only 190 miles. We made reservations for 4 nights at Poole Nob ( COE park) southeast of Nashville. After we arrived, we met up with Jim & Nanc ( fulltime RV friends) for dinner. It was great seeing them and catching up on their travels.

Ray, Jim, Nanc

 We thought we were going to leave all the hot weather in FL but we were wrong. Nashville area had there hottest week while we were there. We didn't feel like walking around downtown in the heat. So we just relaxed at the campground.

 One day we did take a ride about 20 miles south to Stone River National Battlefield. Very informative visitor center on the battle which was one of the Civil War's bloodiest encounters. The park preserves a small part of the original battlefield. Points of interest can be reached on a self-guided auto tour. you can hike or bike the route.
 We left that area and continued our travels north. We did take the interstate for awhile and then went on more back roads. We have been getting used to the new rig and pulling the jeep.
 We have been at Rend Lake Corp Park in southern IL. This is a very large body of water with many campgrounds ( COE, state park and private) boat launches and day use areas.

Onward north we planned a visit with camp host friends from Arizona Bob and Rose, they summer host at Shabbona  Lake State Park just south of DeKalb, ILL. We had a great time catching up with them. Shabbona Lake is one of Illinois better fishing lakes and the campground is pretty nice. Note they do not allow lake swimming so no need to pack your speedo's. haha.

Shabbona Lake

Dinner with Rose & Bob