Gulf Shores National Seashore

We are so sorry, but this post has been removed because it is a part of our book Napkin Dreams that details our trip around America!

New Year's Eve Martin Style

We celebrated New Year's Eve in our typical Martin fashion - a Family Finger Food Festival! We had everyone's favorite finger foods on hand along with some unique southern specialties (we were in Meridian, Mississippi) like Blue Bell ice-cream and Golden Flake Potato Chips. After our tasty feast we snuggled in for some black and white movies and everyone was konked out well before 2012 rolled in, at least before or it rolled in at central standard time.

The next day we wet to see the movie Tin Tin at a local mall. We all loved this movie and gave it many, many thumbs up! It is a great family film filled with lots of action and adventure. Sort of like the original Indiana Jones for kids!

We stayed at the Benchmark RV Park  over New Years and had a pretty pleasant stay at this location.

Staff - 9 - The owner was quite friendly and helpful and even remembered my name the day after we checked in.

Nearby attractions - 6 - In Marion, Mississippi, next door the Meridian.

Natural surroundings - 7 - In a semi-rural setting. Trees surround most of the park.

Value - 9 - We paid $18 a night for a pull through with basic cable on a cement pad with full hook-ups using our Passport America card.

Bathrooms - 9 - Very clean and modern.

Roominess - 9 - Plenty big enough.

Facility fun - 3 - Not much to do on site.

Cleanliness - 9 - This campground was extremely well cared for.

Facility usefulness - 9 -  Laundry, free wifi, exchange library, dog run, propane.

Overall - 8 - Only thing it needed was a playground or something for the kids!

Cold season in Howard the RV

By Patsy

There are many pros and cons to living in an RV. When we first decided to start our adventure on the road, I thought I had researched them all, but sadly, I was mistaken. There were a few surprise issues that came along with living in an RV that I had not previously considered. One of those illusive issues was the one that deals with cold and flu season.

One of the cons of living in close proximity to each other is that if one child comes down with a cold, all the family will be sharing the cold. However, depending on how you chose to look at this, it could be a pro. After all, you will not be listening to everyone’s lungs for the next several days wondering if anyone else is going to come down with this, you just know it is going to happen and buy children’s cold medicine in bulk.

Of course buying children’s cold medicine in bulk is a con, because so many pharmacies are keeping the medicine behind the counter and you have to go up and ask for it with an ID, fingerprints and a signed promise not to use the chemicals in the medicine for anything other than its intended purpose. For our family of 7, I need quite a large amount of this stuff and it is getting a little tricky scoring enough to help all my sons. On the pro side we are so often on the move, that I rarely have to visit the same pharmacy twice. Just about the time I accumulate enough cold and cough medicine and the pharmacists have put my picture up next to their window with the caption “Don’t Sell to this Woman”, we are on our way and hitting the next pharmacy in another county.

Then there is the con of trying to get some sleep in an RV when you can hear all the coughing going on all night. You can’t just shut a door and so shut out the sounds. Since we are all within 32 feet of each other, you hear all the sounds of the congestion concerto played out throughout the wee hours of the morning. The pro on this is that one vaporizer takes care of the entire family in one fell swoop. At bed time, we give each child cold medicine, schmeer their chests with Vicks and then plug in the vaporizer. Then my husband and I look at each other trying to decide if we should give ourselves a good dose of cold medicine so we can sleep through all their noise. We chose to be good and not partake in the medication process….usually.

As I sit and write, I am listening to a symphony of coughs and sniffles that, were it put to music, would take at least 10 sheets of staff paper. It isn’t very pretty, but it is rather well orchestrated if I do say so myself. Each son wakes with the faint whisper of a dry cough. As he opens his eyes more fully, the cough turns into a throat clearing substantial noise. Finally, in an effort to clear his lungs well enough to breathe, he lets go with a cough that crescendos enough to wake his brother. As the first son quiets for a session of sniffling, the waking brother begins his morning cough. And thus the sounds of musical mucous echo through our home.

I keep telling myself that this is only going to last a few days. I tell myself that having everyone sick at the same time is better than having one sick for three days, then the next one sick for three days, and so on. This way, we will get no sleep for just a few days and then we will be done. I tell myself to remember that the boys are not feeling very good and to be as patient as I can since they are likely to be a little extra whiney. I keep telling myself that this raw feeling in the back of my throat has NOTHING to do with the illness running through our family. I keep telling myself that I am the mom and moms do not get sick days. I keep telling myself these things, but I am having a very….cough, cough…hard time….cough, hack….believing the things…sniffle, sneeze, cough….that I say. Cough, choke…I think I’m a liar.

Check out lots more posts like these at Patsy's blog French Fries Under the Seat!

Arkansas - our 30th state

We have now visited three-fifths of the states on our Napkin Dreams trip. Arkansas had the distinction of being number thirty. How many will we get to? Forty, forty-nine, maybe even fifty? Time will tell how far we get!

Vicksburg National Battlefield

This post can now be found as part of our new book Napkin Dreams, which can be purchased on Amazon.com

 

Kevin Shutterbug & the Fall Leaves

Kevin Shutterbug speaks with my wife as they go through a digital scrapbook of some of the amazing fall sites we have seen on or trip this year! We hope you enjoy the views!

Campground review - Springridge RV Park

After a long day of hiking and traveling the Natchez Trace Parkway we stayed at the Springridge RV Park near Jackson, Mississippi.

Staff - 8 - Very nice lady checked us in.

Nearby attractions - 8 - Very near Jackson and close to Vicksburg.

Natural surroundings - 6 - Near interstate but you can't hear anything. RV park is nice but it basically a parking lot with some bushes. Trees next door in trailer park.

Value - 7 - We paid $30 a night for a pull-through blacktop site with full-hook-ups and cable. 

Bathrooms - 10 - Super clean and very nice. Some of the best we have seen.

Roominess - 7 - Decent sized lots, a little on the short side. 

Facility fun - 8 - Ver nice playground, pool and basketball court.

Cleanliness - 8 - Clean and adjacent trailer park is nice as well.

Facility usefulness - 7 -  Laundry, propane, free wifi.

Overall - 8 - Nice and clean park with great bathrooms!

Natchez Trace National Parkway

This post can now be found as part of our new book Napkin Dreams, which can be purchased on Amazon.com

50 McDonalds - Mississippi

Our McDonalds stop in Ole Miss was a stop for the adults in the camper! This means that we stopped at the Baldwyn McDonalds for some yummy iced coffees and the kids each got a piece of their Halloween candy. We saved our budget on this stop and had a delicious treat for Patsy and myself!

Love the McCafe drinks, more than anything else at the Golden Arches.

Campground Review - Corinth RV Park

We stayed at the Corinth RV Park while visiting Patsy's sister's family.

Staff - N/A - no one was ever around to talk to!

Nearby attractions - 6 - Close to Corinth. Within 90 minutes of Tupelo and Memphis and Shiloh National Park.

Natural surroundings - 8 - Out in the boondocks for sure! We had an owl land our RV in the middle of the night!

Value - 8 - We paid $15 a night for a pull-through gravel and concrete site with full-hook-ups. 

Bathrooms - 4 - Smaller and slightly older, but the showers were cold. The bathrooms were quite far from our RV.

Roominess - 9 - Super long, with lots of room on the sides too.

Facility fun - 4 - Not much here besides the gun club which was not open.

Cleanliness - 8 - No garbage or dirt and just a few other campers.

Facility usefulness - 5 -  Laundry, picnic tables.

Overall - 6 - Very quiet park and the boys enjoyed finding old clay pigeons and bullet shells.

Hanging with the Holleys

Our first and priority stop in Mississippi was in Booneville to visit Patsy's sister Jan Holley and her family. Jan and Mickey's two girls are grown young women and have children of their own. The Holley grandchildren are mostly boys ranging from a little baby to age 12. When we added our boys in and a trampoline and we had a regular boy fest!

The one exception was young Maddy, the one girl at nine years of age kept pointing out she was the only girl in the midst of a bunch of boys. I think she was actually OK with this reality, but propriety demanded she loudly protest being the lone girl.

We had a fun time visiting with Holleys and going to church with them on Sunday. Visiting family and friends in different corners of this country has been a highlight of our trip so far that we would not trade for anything!