Day 5: Austin City Gimmicks

We arrived in Austin last night around 6 PM CST.  In time to enjoy the Argentina v Chile Copa final with Cassia and Dan!  The game offered all the glory and horror a high stakes soccer match could provide.  Luckily, we had plenty of snacks to stress eat while Messi cried.  Now that we're off the camping trail, this blog will be going dormant over the next week or so until we hit the road again sometime around the Fourth of July at which time we'll be camping our way back to Maine.  You can "Join this site" in the Followers section to the right or "follow by email" at the bottom of this blog if you'd like to be notified of future posts.  During this blog downtime, we will continue to upload photos of Austin to this album.  Again, thanks to all of you who are tuning in and reading this thing.  We love you all!

Neal & Sallie

Day 4: Screaming Bugs Marching Band

Texas bound on 20 West out of Jackson, Mississippi (I learned how to spell Mississippi at an early age).  Yesterday, our expedition into the hot, humid South was complemented with Watermelon and Cucumber/Lime flavored energy drinks with a listen to Ron Sexsmith and Disc 3 of the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations box set.  We encountered our first traffic incident; a wreck on I-20 W not far outside of Tuscaloosa that had us sit still for an hour before we resumed moving again.  When the old, 1950's tow truck came slowly putting along the shoulder to the rescue, I realized we were experiencing a pre-collapse, Soviet Union-style traffic jam.  Without air conditioning in the car, we might have died.  And the hour or so we lost was compensated for by the time zone change to central.  We pulled into LeFleur Bluff State Park Campground at around 8 PM CST.  This campsite/park is kind of strange.  It's actually in Jackson.  Or at least on the very edge of the city.  The campsites seem like they're on an "island" surrounded by a small lake and marsh areas.  While the previous two nights were subtle, quiet experiences in the wild, this night was hot, humid and loud.  We could barely hear one another over the cacophony of crickets, frogs, birds, and what sounded like a UFO landing.  The bath house was oddly perched up on a story or two of stilts with a complex ramp system for the disabled.  We checked email (4G again) and learned of the US loss to Columbia in the third place Copa game thanks to live play-by-play from Cassia, Dan and Gideon.  Then we fell asleep to the screaming bugs accented by a distant, get this, marching band practicing into late night at the Michael Jordan Memorial field less than a mile away.  Up early to beat the heat, screw making camp coffee, we're packing up and getting Starbucks to fuel the last leg of the journey to Austin.

Day 3: Seriously Sinking into Summer

We logged in this morning and noticed a surprising amount of traffic to this blog along with a lot of well wishes and advice.  Thanks to all of you who have checked in with us.  You represent our headquarters while we drive all day and camp all night.  @alvin453 asks "Do the campsites have showers?"  Well Alvin, Colonel Denning did not have showering facilities but Norris Dam State Park did.  And we are freshly showered and on the road to LeFleur's Bluff State Park in Mississippi.  We arrived at Norris Dam (about 20 miles North of Knoxville, TN) last night about 8 PM.  Evidently the witching hour for a variety of fear-free wildlife to pop in, out and around our campsite!  Deer, red tail squirrels, a skunk, jack rabbits, all encountered to a backdrop of a who's who of the insect kingdom including my personal favorite: the lightning bug.  Another unexpected surprise was the presence of 4G data!  I was able to use YouTube to refresh my knot tying skills.  Being a northern folk, we're feeling the heat as we inch our way further south.  The sweat is real.  I woke up early with the sun shining in my eyes and begun assembling the morning ritual of making the coffee while Sallie slept in.  Sitting in the forest with the kettle on the boil, I reached for my phone remembering the 4G then thought "Nah".  It was then that I realized that I was seriously sinking into summer.  Sallie eventually woke up so we breakfasted and took a hike around the rustic cabins built in the 1930's by the CCC.  The dam and its surrounding area has a rich history with much to explore but not a dime to eat for these travelers on the go.  Again, thank you for joining us on what is turning out to be a great camping trip.  Love to all, Sallie & Neal.

I awoke with the sun shining in my eyes.

Rustic cabin at Norris Dam State Park

Reminder:  You can see all of our photos here.

#LittleBird

Day 2: Colonel Denning

 

Colonel Denning like Colonel Tom Parker and Colonel Sanders was not really a colonel.  But he did fight in the American Revolutionary War.  And there was more brain than brawn to this fella.  He developed a technique of manufacturing lighter and easier to transport cannons.  So they named a State Park in PA after him.  And it is in his name that we develop our own technique of making accommodations that are lighter and easier to transport.  Our first night of camping went pretty darn well thanks to Sallie's intense study of amazon reviews for tents, "sleeping sacs", tent stakes, fold up camping chairs, etc.  All things that would make our revolutionary hero proud.  We got in around 8:30 PM, just enough light to comfortably set up camp with a light drizzle adding urgency to the tasks at hand.  The tent freshly erected, our "neighbor" shouts out that he's fogging for mosquitoes.  "They're vicious."  OK we reply.  It looked like a scene out of the Vietnam War.  But there was nary a mosquito during our stay.  A game of cribbage, sleeping to the sound of a steady sprinkle of rain then up for camp coffee.  Before picking up and leaving, we attempted a hike on the "Rattlesnake Trail", a 1.5 mile loop in the Cumberland forest.  More like a "Rattlesnake Fail".  Colonel Denning rolled over in his grave.  The trail ended abruptly after a quarter of a mile with no more yellow spotted trees in sight.  In the end it was a good thing since we were running short on time.  Back on the road heading to Norris Dam State Park in Tennessee.

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#DarkLady

The Eagle has finally taken off...

Off like an effing herd of turtles.  Or so the saying goes.  An 8 AM departure turned into an 11:09 AM break away.  But we're not turtles, we're humans.  Last night's Argentina vs Chile rain delay in Chicago did not help things.  We also spent an inordinate time trying to find the Harry Nilsson boxset.  The Blogger app for android is surprisingly yet typically broken.  Traffic, for noon on a Thursday is reflective of an overpopulated automobile culture.  Gas vultures going here and there.  Maybe the majority are working from their cars a la David Brent. #MonkeesPresent

Pre-travel Hubbub

Hanging out at home going through the list of things to prepare for our Odyssey from North Berwick, Maine to Austin, Texas. We just had the BenQ RL2455HM shipped from amazon.com directly to Cassia & Dan's place in Austin. While excited about the trip, we are shrugging off the disappointment of losing to Oryx hard mode and Argentina in the Copa.

All travel images are updated at the Neal & Sallie Go Camping photo album.