North Carolina

     After leaving South Carolina, we continued north where it got colder and colder. By the time we reached our destination in North Carolina, it was in the 40's with a brisk wind. On the bright side, we had a super friendly host at our Boondockers Welcome site and he invited the children to roam in his woods and play in the yard as much as they wanted. 

It was way out in the country.

The children had a blast on the huge bank that dropped off the edge of the parking area.

Somewhere, they are in the picture building a fort.

Emma was a large dog that loved sticks as much as Ethan! They kept her busy playing fetch.

South Carolina

     While in Georgia, we were quite happy to hear that our friends in South Carolina had room for us to park. Eldon and I both worked with Phil at Hillcrest (13 years ago 😳) and saw each other fairly frequently in the following years. They spent a year in Arkansas and our families had great times together.

Christian and Michael are 4 days apart in age and get along famously. We concluded that this is possible because one is a first-born and the other a second-born 😃. The scooters were the hot item to fight over the whole weekend.

I am so sad that I failed to get a picture of Ethan and Bella (also 4 days apart in age!) together but they did have fun. Ethan was in toy heaven!

 

Michael and Christian spent a lot of time listening to audio books while they played. And thanks to Gina for the hours of audio books she shared with us! Jungle Jam is now a family favorite.

Holly and Emily ( 8 months apart - we got in a hurry this time around so it's more then 4 days between them 😂) loved dressing up. I believe these two could have happily and quietly played for a week if it wasn't for annoying older brothers and intruding younger siblings.

Headed to church with a shiny truck and adorable children!

     Saturday was absolutely gorgeous so the children played outside nearly all afternoon. They guys washed our truck while the moms separated fights and made pizza. It was pretty much perfect 😍.          Sunday we went to church and stayed for the potluck. A highlight was visiting with friends who used to live in Texas. We were also thrilled at how quickly our girls (especially Makayla) became friends with the girls at church. They've learned that there is no point in wasting time being shy!

     Once we got home there was an hour of blissful sunshine, then rain began to pour down and the children settled in for an hour of quiet time. The rest of our afternoon/evening was spent drinking coffee and eating soft pretzels while we chatted. It certainly was a high point for us all and when we left Monday morning we had some grouchy travelers!

Georgia......

     Sadly, it's not peach season in Georgia but we did find one of our favorite places to boondock! Chattahoochee Fall Line Wildlife Management Area is a huge meadow surrounded by gorgeous trees, which makes for an incredibly peaceful night.

Even though it poured rain just minutes after we pulled in, the soil was a weird consistency that didn't make mud.

These pretty little trees put off an overwhelming aroma!

Makayla found this bridge down in the woods.

We walked back the road further and saw a good 20 deer run out of this field.

Surrounded by fog!

     We spent Friday night and left Saturday morning. Sunday afternoon THIS TORNADO ripped through within a few miles. We're thankful we had plans or else this is a place we would have loved to stay longer! Our prayers are with those effected in this catastrophe.

On to Florida!

     Our excitement over adding Florida to our map was even higher because we had plans to meet up with a family we had met at the balloon fiesta last year. We are constantly meeting new people but every now and then you make a special connection and the Schroeder's certainly were that for us! 

     Nicole and I both spent ridiculous amounts of time trying to find us a place to stay. We both prefer boondocking but our options were basically zero since we are on the east coast. The few campgrounds that had availability were asking around $50 a night by the time all the taxes were added! 

     

     They introduced us to Boondockers Welcome, "Where locals invite travelers to spend the night, share their stories, and save their money for real adventures." For only $30 a year we had access to hundreds of places that the hosts allows RVer's to park on their property. They are not allowed to charge for parking but can ask a small fee be paid if they offer water, electric or a dump station. In return, for every confirmed stay, the host earns 3 free months. It's perfect for part-time travelers! They can choose how many rigs at a time and how many nights you can stay as well.

     In Florida our host was a very kind older man who showed us where to park in his yard then let us alone for our 2 night stay. We enjoyed his beautiful bushes and flowers surrounding his yard.

It started raining so we both put our awnings out and had a great shelter!

Meanwhile, inside the Schroeder's rig, Zack (16) was keeping his brother and our boys VERY entertained. 

It's amazing how much you can tear around and not break anything. Meanwhile, the girls were hanging out with Lexi (13) and being very nice and calm 😊.

Playing ball in the meadow behind our rigs.

Ethan was so happy when Dustin pulled out a bat for him to use too.

Our yard.

Our little slugger.

Our big project was making gumbo. It took about 3 hours to chop and stir everything but I'd say it turned out!

     It was impressive to watch the torrential downpours that happened several times but the soil was so sandy it just drained away and made no mud! Also impressive was the tiny ants that bit like big ones! Our highlight was spending time with Dustin and Nicole (and kids). It was a huge blessing to spend a few hours with other believers and having uplifting conversation!

Alabama!

     We are just cruising along these southern states and missing so much but we're thankful for each experience we do get! I'd found reviews online stating that the Camping World in Robertsdale, AL allowed overnight parking AND had free hookups for Good Sam Members. We headed there but tried not to get to optimistic. We were pleasantly surprised to find them very welcoming and yes, with a free water and electric site for us! 

They have at least 6 sites!

We parked the site closest to the dump station and the hose reached so essentially we had full hookups! We did laundry, showers, and cleaned 😍.

     And then, we need to do something to experience Alabama, so we headed to Alligator Alley! It was pricey but in the end we decided it was worth it.

They had a few pigs too!

The babies!

This place was very clean with fun signs everywhere.

More small ones.

Swimming closer so we could feed them.

Names of all the ones in that pen.

It was astounding how many there was!

And we all got to hold a 3 year old!

It was pretty cool!

Out in the swamp is where they keep the nuisance alligators" that they pick up when people complain about one in their yard. We were able to walk through on a boardwalk and see hundreds of them!

You just never knew when one would pop up!

During mating season they have fights and some die from it every year. We were wishing we could see a fight :). 

These huge Cypress trees were a site to behold.

It took Emily the whole way through the swamp to work up her courage to hold one but she did it!

     Visiting a gator ranch was Eldon's idea and we all had a blast!

Mississippi!

     Our drive through Louisiana and Mississippi was highly enjoyable. It was impressive how the road was built up over swamps for miles at a time. We loved driving along the coast for a ways. Traffic was more intense and most drivers certainly don't drive the Texas way 😁.

    Our overnight stop was a the Golden Nugget Casino in Biloxi, MS. The large parking lot in the back easily accommodated our large rig along with 15 or so others. Obviously no hook-ups but it's a safe place to park free. 

     We had decided that we need to experience some real southern food. A Bubba Gump's was inside the casino so we headed in for supper. It's been a while since we've watched Forrest Gump but it was still fun to see quotes from the movie plastered all over.

"Now Mama always said there's only so much fortune a man really needs, and the rest is just for showing off."

"You may be an idiot, but try not to be stupid."

Blue meant we were doing good.

And if we flipped it to red, it signaled the waitress to stop.

Seafood platter. Michael loved the fried shrimp. The catrish, hushpuppies, coleslaw, and fried mac an cheese were good too. Makayla liked the hushpuppies best.

Fish tacos! These were Eldon's favorite. They were good!

And a bucket of french fries because Emily and Ethan aren't fans of new food. YET.

Shrimp Gumbo. It was to spicy for Michael but Makayla, Eldon and I loved it. It was my favorite by far.

Eldon requested that we all enjoy our meal but at the end of night still prefer a burger because $$$ 😂.

After supper we went for a walk.

Another long bridge. Many are either drawbridges or peak in the middle to allow for the passage of barges and ships.

     I love to find free things so Tuesday morning we pulled in the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Refuge. Big rig parking was not in abundance but the place was nearly empty so we made do. The refuge features a lovely exhibit room that contains information about the Mississippi Sandhill Cranes as well as other birds and animals in the area. The children appreciated the description of birds and a button to push and hear their call. They showed us a short video describing the diminishment of the wet pine savanna and how the refuge has restored 3% of it. In the 1970's only 30 MSC's were living in the wild but today there is around 100, all here at the refuge. Eldon and I were able to spot a few with binocular.

Such beautiful birds!

Emily loved this exhibit of the mount of a nest.

Walking the 3/4 mile nature trail.

Spanish Moss is so intriguing.

It was humid and the birds were going crazy. We felt like we were in a rain forest!

Massive pine cones!

And another!

The wet pine savannah. 

Pitcher plants that eat flies and insects were in abundance.

These huge, old trees are gorgeous!