Finally Home

We arrived home Friday afternoon after leaving Disney World, early Wednesday morning. We camped in Chattanooga, TN and Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton, IL on the way. We drove through a lot of freezing rain but the interstate was pretty clear. We put 3995 miles on the motorhome this time. Our visit to Disney World was lots of fun, especially since we were ably to spend time with Todd, Mary, Sam & Will there. Tuesday night was a real highlight as we watched the Christmas candlelight sevice at Epcot. We first had a great meal at the German Biergarten and then a very moving concert which had a full symphony orchestra and many high school choir members from Florida and Georgia. Edward Olmos read the Christmas story while the orchestra & choir performed. There were a total of 300 people counting the choir and orchestra.  Monday, Beth and I went to Disney Animal Kingdom and later met the Hagedorn's for dinner at the 50's primetime cafe in Disney's Hollywood Studio park. There, they had fantastic Christmas lighting. On Sunday after arriving at Disney World and checking in at Fort Wilderness Campground, we had dinner and fun at the HooptyDo playhouse with the Hagedorns. This was a really fun trip but also tiring. We drove a lot in a short period of time.The Everglades was remote and a really neat place to tour in. We saw everything but snakes. A highlight the last day there was seeing the Manatees in the Flamingo Harbor on Florida Bay in the park. Now

the pictures.

Disney World

Hi, We just arrived. We will connect with Todd, Mary and the boys tonight for dinner. I will catch up on the blog with pictures of the Everglades and Disney before we had for home.

Tampa Florida, Dec. 10, 2013

We finally have wi-fi so we can catch up on our blog. We left Biloxi, MS on Saturday, Dec. 7th. We drove to Mobile, AL and saw the USS Alabama, battleship. Very impressive. We then drove to Gulf Shores State Park and camped for 2 days on the water. The weather did finally warm up on Sunday, to reach the 60's. Then we drove to St. George Island State Park in Florida. It is a really neat park located on an island in the Gulf of Mexico. We had to drive over a lot of water to get there. It was warmer, in the 70's. I am including some pictures . We walked the beach at St. George Island this morning. Of course it rained again. We have driven through downpours each day the last several days. We left St. George and drove to Tampa, where we had a fun dinner with John & Tink Parrott. John is the guy who showed up at our wedding at the last minute and happened to have a tuxedo. One of our groomsmen hadn't shown up so John was elected. We will always be beholden to John. Tomorrow we head for the Everglades. By the way it is in the 80's in Tampa. Wow.

Biloxi, MS , Dec. 6,2013

We camped at Cajun RV park right across the street from the gulf. We had driven from Canton, MS where it was 43 degrees to Hattiesburg, MS, where it was 81. By the time we arrived in Biloxi, the temperature had dropped to 68. Beth and I walked the beautiful white sand beach in Biloxi. On Sat. AM we awoke to 48 degrees after a night of heavy rain. Next to Gulf Shores.

Florida Trip 2013

Hi,  We left Wausau on Dec. 4th amid a 4 inch snowfall. After blowing out the driveway we left home and headed toward Cahokia, IL near St. Louis. We encountered snow, rain and wind that first 500 miles. However when we arrived in Cahokia the temperature was 67 degrees. We awoke the next morning to 28 degrees and freezing rain. The first 2 hours driving through St. Louis were interesting to say the least. We had 100 percent iced roads. We took it easy and eventually drove out of it. We then proceeded to drive to Canton, Mississippi to escape the snow and ice of an impending storm. We drove another 500 miles to get here. It was in the 50's but dropping today (Dec. 6th) . We are heading toward the coast to find warmer weather.