Well, we’re back at it!
We had a lovely holiday visit in Michigan and spent lots of quality time with friends and family!
We all made them at our houses and then video chatted to enjoy them together!
We left Michigan on Tuesday. It was a day later than expected because of bad weather. And actually Tuesday wasn’t great conditions either, but we made it.
We drove to Cincinnati to visit our friends, Kenneth and Katie (who actually live in Newport, KY). We delivered the flask we had purchased for Kenneth in PA (which was also a great deal – like the socks! See post on October 7 for context).
We enjoyed trying Cincinnati chili at Skyline Chili, meeting their corgi – Chloe, and seeing the neat row type house they are living in. It’s been fun to see the different types of architecture around the country!
Wednesday we went to the the Cincinnati Museum Center and visited the Natural History and Science, Children’s, and City History museums. It was a very enjoyable and educational day!
After the museums, Matt wanted to be sure we experienced Jungle Jim’s – A crazy Cincinnati superstore complete with – EVERYTHING! We enjoyed dinner there at one of their several restaurants in store and picked up a few treats.
The next morning we hung out with Kenneth and Katie while having goetta – a breakfast meat famous in Cincinnati originating from German immigrants who were trying to stretch their meat. My Dutch blood understands and applauds this! 🙂
We hit the road early afternoon and made it to Cave City, KY (right near Mammoth Cave). We enjoyed dinner at a nearby local Mexican food place – very tasty.
The next morning we went to Mammoth Cave Visitor Center and then took the Grand Avenue tour of the cave. It was about 4 hours and 4 miles long. It was fun to traverse that long underground and walk through slot canyons and up and down ‘mountains’ as the guide called them. We even climbed ‘Mt. McKinley’!
Then after grabbing some lunch and completing Jr. Ranger books, we were on the road to Nashville to meet our friends for dinner. We enjoyed dinner for their school fundraiser at Waldo’s Chicken and then had to hit the road. The big winter storm that was taking over the eastern half of the nation was bearing down and we had to get to Birmingham!
We spent the night in Birmingham at an Avid hotel where there were extremely hospitable staff and a whole crew of Southern States Utilities setting up to respond to issues the storm caused.
We got out of there the next morning to continue to avoid the storm and made it to Picayune, MS. We reunited with our camper and everything seems to be as expected – no rodents or bugs infested, nothing broken into or stolen, etc.! Yay!
In the process of trying to navigate around/through this storm, we decided the Baton Rouge area made the most sense – as did a number of other people at this campground! So here we wait out the cold temps before heading west. Those of us who have lived in the north in the winter are confused as to why freezing temperatures mean we can’t drive, but locals who know the roads aren’t treated and many roads are elevated over bayous are warning to stay put. So, we’ll be careful and make the most informed decisions possible! Hopefully anyone else affected by this storm is staying safe, warm, and dry!
Next post will be from the west side of the Mississippi River! We’re looking forward to heading west.
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