Traveling west

Our plan for the fall was that we would leave Virginia and head south through North and South Carolina, Georgia, and across the southern states to Texas. Unfortunately, at the time we were planning to leave Virginia, there were two hurricanes churning off the east coast, and we were concerned that we might run into heavy weather heading south. We realized that if we didn't go south, that would guarantee that the storms would head out to sea (i.e. we would have changed our course for no good reason), but we figured that would be good for our friends who live in South Carolina that the storm would not visit them. So, we contacted our friends whom we were looking forward to visiting in South Carolina, reluctantly told them that we wouldn't be coming by this time, and re-routed our plans to head more directly west.

We always notice that the longer we stay in one spot, the more "roots" get put down from Gracie and the harder it is to get everything packed up. We had planned to do most of our packing on Saturday, but, unfortunately, it rained most of the day, so we were packing up on Sunday before leaving. Jimmy had made the new bus blocks for us, so we were re-arranging some things in the bay in order to fit everything in -- it all eventually fit!

We drove west on I-64 and then south on I-81 to Bristol, Virginia, where we stopped at a city campground, Sugar Hollow Campground. It was not exactly big rig friendly (we were the 600 pound gorilla in the campground)...

...but the campground attendant recommended that we go to pullthru site 26, and we fit in it without having to unhook the Jeep.

It was a very wooded campground. The previous weekend, they had their big festival, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, when the campground is full (and one of two weekends that they take reservations, the rest of the time, it is first come, first served).

After a short drive on Monday, we entered Tennessee...

We stopped in Crossville, Tennessee at Spring Lake RV Resort -- right behind Gracie was a pergola with couches and a nice view of the lake.

Gracie up the hill from the pergola -- very green lush campground

We met up with friends of Carl's, Barb and Dave, who now live in Crossville. We had a nice time visiting with them over dinner.

On Tuesday, we continued west across Tennessee, 

... crossing the Mississippi...

... and entering Arkansas.

We stopped for the night in Brinkley, Arkansas -- okay campground for an overnight stop -- easy in/out in a pullthru with full hookups, but nothing photogenic about it.

A bit more driving west and south, and we entered Texas -- they were doing construction at the border on I-30, so not a very close picture of the welcome sign.

We finished up our journey to the Dallas area with a stop east of Dallas at Thousand Trails Lake Tawakoni.