Roaming Through Retirement




October--Interesting where Roaming takes us!

We started a month-long RV road trip after being quarantined with COVID for nearly three weeks. Our adventure started in Minnesota, along the Mississippi River to St. Louis, then to our Old Kentucky Home, then on to Texas to store our RV, before flying back to Ajijic for the winter.  It was a wonderful time filled with new and unexpected experiences, including this photo op in Mobile, Alabama.

We picked up US Route 61, which is designated as the Great River Road, near Hastings MN, just south of the Twin Cities. At times, we had views of the river and other times mostly corn fields.	We camped mostly at Corp of Engineer campgrounds on the banks of the Mississippi and mostly on or near locks and dams along the river.  Here is a nearby development of summer cabins.
We used RV Trip Wizard to plan our journey and kept our drive time to 150 to 200 miles and took advantage of the many bike trails that run along the river. The nice thing is that the trails are mainly flat, which made for nice, long and easy rides.	In Dickeyville, WI, we stopped to tour the Grotto.  This massive shrine was constructed in the late 1920s by the local Catholic priest and made of stone, mortar and bright colored materials including starfish, corals, glass, quartz, copper and fool's gold.
The mighty Mississippi has 29 locks and dams from Minneapolis to St. Louis, built by the Army Corp of Engineers beginning in 1881 and completed in 1938.	The dams allow for water levels to remain at no less than nine feet  and the locks lift small boats and massive barges up or down to the next water level.
We spent the night in Hannibal MO, home of Samuel Clements and visited Mark Twain Cave, where many tales of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer occurred.	The cave was discovered in 1820 and has become a local tourist attraction for not only Mark Twain.  It was said to be a Confederate weapons storage and a hide out for Jessie James.
Our last stop along the Great River Road was in St. Louis, which is now home to America's newly christened national park, dubbed the Gateway Arch National Park.	From St. Louis, we headed east to spend time with longtime friends in Kentucky.  Scott and Larry met in graduate school in 1971 and have amassed tons of exciting adventures.
While Glorine went shopping, the boys took in 18 holes of golf at one of Scott's favorite links in his hometown of Frankfort.  They also got to spend time at the infamous 19th hole.	An hour down the road is Richmond, where we made our home in the late 1960s.  Glorine and Diane met while working together for the City of Richmond in 1970 and have remained great friends over the years.
Richmond sits on the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and has been transformed from a grungy college town to an upscale university, manufacturing and shopping center.	Thanks to Eastern Kentucky University for having one of the country's first college degrees in Technical and Industrial teacher education, Richmond become our home shortly after we married.
After a week in Kentucky, we spent time in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama where we learned of the US Civil Rights Trail that spanned many decades in 14 key cities.  We did not do justice to this story. Maybe next year.	We spent the next three nights in this RV park with an unobstructed view of the Gulf of Mexico. The nearest town is Bayou la Batre, AL, home of the fictional characters Bubba Gump.
In addition to being the Seafood Capital of Alabama, Bayou La Batre is a center of shipbuilding for both small to large ships from throughout the world.  Near our campsite, are these two riverboat casinos that are in for major restoration.	We fell in love with Mobile AL, an awesome historic city that has kept its southern charm. It is also home to the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the USA.  Here are a few of the many gowns and trains from past kings and queens at Mobile's Carnival Museum.
We stayed at the Lake Pontchartrain RV Park and Marina in New Orleans, where people we met in 2014 are still living in their monster houseboat.	We spent time touring Bourbon Street, which still has a unique beauty but felt grimy and grungy.  Lots of litter and garage did not help its appearance.
One cannot spend time in the Big Easy without a stop at the world famed Cafe Du Monde and their legendary deep fried beignets sprinkled with a ton of powdered sugar.	In route to Baton Rouge, we found this highway sign both amusing and inspiring. At the time, the deep south was going through a major COVID spike, which made this a great message.
After a night at a riverboat casino in Baton Rouge, we stopped at the last deep South's  casino located in Lake Charles, LA on the Texas border.  The nice thing, at all these casinos, we walked away with more money that we came with.	Texas is still the largest producer of oil in the country, but it was odd to see fields of wind turbines as far as the eye could see.  Near here, we parked and stored our RV and tow vehicle for the winter and flew home to Ajijic.
It did not take long for us to get back in the swing of things once we arrived back in Ajijic.  LCS has continued its Concerts in the Park series, with this outstanding tribute Beatles band.	We joined friend Jean Mullenaux for her big birthday at Teocintla restaurant in Ajijic.  From there we walked back to their home in the village and beat the girls in a round of Hand and Foot.
These hummingbirds arrive back to Lakeside in September, but the human snowbirds don't arrive until late November.	Lake Chapala Society, where we both volunteer, was gifted this property that is adjacent to the main campus.  Larry serves on the campus committee focused on bringing the building  up to code before they start using it for meetings, classes and gatherings.

October's web page includes October 1 through October 31.