After what seemed like a pretty short night's sleep, we finally crawled out of bed with the third snooze of the alarm, and started our final packing, skipping breakfast today because we have a 5+ hour drive, plus several stops along the way, so we knew it would be a long day. We managed to get out of camp around 8:45, a little later than I hoped but that was partly due to the fact that we stopped at the Hunt camp up the road, where there was a water spigot, to fill up the horse trailer tank and the new big tank on the pickup, so at least we wouldn't have to worry about that later. While we were there, a large horse trailer came in with two guys, apparently they lead rides out through the forest on occasion. Nice work when you can get it! Anyway, our next stop was to grab breakfast at Burger King, then we pulled into a rest area in Alabama where Sani-dumps had said there was a free RV dump, but couldn't find it, so we moved on. The next stop was Walmart in Dothan to get fuel, because their diesel price was a good forty cents a gallon cheaper than anything we'd seen in Florida, and at least fifteen cents cheaper than any other gas station we'd see in Alabama. We also did most of our shopping, to get that out of the way, though I did it alone while Hubby filled up the van. We did find another RV dump at a Kangaroo Station, which, when I called on the way, a woman told me she thought it was closed for repairs, but that we MIGHT be able to still use it, so we stopped and dumped there. I don't know what kind of maintenance they were doing, it didn't look like it had been touched for years! No water to flush, but at least we were empty. Just after passing through Troy, Hubby called me on the walkie-talkie to tell me someone was flagging him over, that he had a problem, so we pulled off onto a side street and discovered one of the tires on the horse trailer has shredded, dang it. Well, we pulled enough stuff out of the tack room to get at the spare tire, only to discover it was flat, with a plug in the sidewall that we must have put there in desperation at some point. Can't remember when it happened (though I'll look back in my diary later to see how long we've been ignoring the problem), but obviously we uncharacteristically forgot about it somehow, and now we were stuck. The man who had flagged us over stopped, and so did another man, to see if they could help. I LOVE THE SOUTH! They haven't forgotten how to be good Samaritans, or how to spread that Southern hospitality. One man took the spare to his house across the street and filled it with air, just to see if it was usable, but it was leaking way to much. While he was on the phone calling his local tire connections (who didn't have the tires to fit), I called the Walmart in Troy, and sure enough, they had three tires that size, so I loaded up both wheels and headed back through town. I had to pass through a construction area where the road narrowed to one lane, and as I got closer, I was next to a mobile home. I was just about to slow down to get behind it, when a woman two cars in front of it slowed down and waved me to come in front of her! I LOVE THE SOUTH! I know this happens in other regions, too, but this kind of kindness just seems to be more prevalent down here. Thank you!! After all the craziness of driving in Malaysia, this was like a huge breath of fresh air. Anyway, I got to the Walmart, and was told it would take about an hour, so I made a quick lunch for us and waited. Jeff, bless his heart, hurried the job along, and I was out of there in less than an hour, so it wasn't long before I got the tires back to Hubby, and on the trailer, and on the road, saving the spare to put back later. Off we went, with just one other stop at another Walmart in Clanton to finally pick up water in the RV. I don't like to carry too much water long distances in the RV, it's hard on the tires and harder to drive, with the weight sloshing around inside. On this last leg up I-65, the temperatures outside were in the low 90's and we were doing some climbing, and the van started overheating as well, so while we were getting water, Hubby got some more coolant put in, and rinsed the dust off the radiator. As he always follows me, on these dirt roads he tends to get everything very dusty, so both things, plus the stop, brought his temps back to normal. Finally, we were off on the final leg of the journey. Despite gaining an hour by moving into Central time, we still didn't arrive at camp until after 5:00. That last four miles was a fairly narrow dirt road, passable but with lots of potholes, and not many places for passing traffic, so we were glad we didn't run into anyone. When we finally arrived at camp, we were surprised to find another guy in a van already here! I introduced myself to him (and he courteously started calling me Miss Jeanette, as they do here in the South!), and he told me his name was Ryan and that he had been here for two days. He offered to help us set up, but of course, we have our process so we said thank you, no. I put the horses on anchors, as there hadn't been any mowing done in the campground, and though it was mostly weeds, I figured they could help trample it down a bit. We opted to use the fence today, though there are plenty of trees for a highline if we wanted, got everything parked and opened up, and even managed get a satellite signal going before we finally crashed with a beer just after sunset. I even discovered that there is a good enough cell phone signal to use my internet out here in the boondocks! Yeah! ..... Whew! What a day! Watched a movie before falling into bed, thoroughly exhausted, but happy with our new, very quiet and remote home!

As we lay in bed last night, I heard some music and chatter in the distance, so I guess the pier is a neighborhood hangout. It didn't bother me until there was a major argument, with one woman caterwauling and screaming in an overly-dramatic way to some effect. Eventually that moved along and blessed sleep arrived. Was up early, with a beautiful sunrise just over the lake, and started the day by finding a tire at a nearby Goodyear store. The woman ranger I met yesterday at the office stopped by to chat and take pictures of the horses to post on the park's Facebook page, though I couldn't find which one when I went looking. After breakfast I made the drive to the tire store, and they whipped a new tire on my rim in no time. Stopped at Publix for a couple of things, and drove by the Pilot to see where the dump was, in case we decided to pay the $5 for the privilege. We used to always get our gas there when the dump was free, now almost never, because their diesel prices are so much higher than other stations these days. Anyway, later I found a free dump right on our route just on the other side of the Alabama border, so that's our new plan. Free is always better, in my book! We had a pretty relaxing day today, which we needed, decided not to put the tire on yet, maybe tomorrow or when we're pulling out on Thursday. Got the ride all planned out for tomorrow, though, so that's done. Almost got up enough energy to pull out my fishing pole, but then fell asleep while I was reading, so not this time! A very nice quiet day, very peaceful here, though when the wind is just so, you can hear the road traffic, and of course, there are occasional motorboats passing by. The horses got in lots of naps, too, with Apollo really stretching out, and Mama Clio watching over him as if he were a newborn instead of 20 years old! A beautiful day!

All the best laid plans, of course. We were up and out of the campground before 9:00, with only a few stops and a four hour drive, but, of course, stuff happens. About two hours into the drive, on I-75, we had our last original tire on the RV lose it's tread, and unfortunately, it badly bent the panel of the RV by the wheel well. It's not the greatest design, the wheel wells on this Open Range, as any time a tire blows, it takes out the lower panel as well. At least it's a separate panel and not the entire side of the RV, but it's an awkward shape. Last time we wanted to repair it on the other side when the same thing happened, the cost of shipping was going to be almost twice as much as the actual cost of the panel! We ended up ordering it and making arrangements to go to the manufacturer in Indiana to just put it on for us to keep the costs down. Well, we were headed that way anyway that year, so it didn't matter. This year may be different, we'll see. Anyway, we pulled of onto the shoulder and got busy changing out the tire, and were back on the road in about 20 minutes. Our next stop was supposed to be an RV dump, but we could never find it, but we picked up lunch at Wendy's while we were stopped. Our next stop was at a little Walmart near Lake Talquin, just west of Tallahassee, and a gas station nearby that was very difficult to maneuver around in. Finally, we went to the ranger station to check in and discovered the place where I had intended to spend the night was just a day parking area, and that the horse camping area was further back into the woods, which was fine, though the ranger said it might be hard to maneuver our big unit around back there, which gave me pause. The clincher was that it was a group site, and in spite of the fact that we weren't a group, we would have to pay the group rate of $20 a night. Well, I don't mind paying $20 if there are some amenities there, but this had nothing! Well, it did have corrals, apparently, but no water or anything. We considered staying for one night, but it seemed like a lot of work to get into a small site for just one night. Finally, we all agreed the best course of action was to go to the High Bluff Campground on the north side of the lake (which I had been wanting to check out anyway, because it's pretty close to I-10), which wasn't technically a horse camp, but they did allow horses to stay. Again, no water, but it had designated sites, a vault toilet and a nice fishing pier. I wasn't worried about water so much, we filled our new 100 gallon tank in the back of the pickup before we left brother Jeff's, so we should be good for a week of use on that, and Hubby had been filling up the RV at the ranger station while all these discussions were taking place, so we were good to go. We drove around the lake, through a rather dubious neighborhood with multiple speed bumps (my heart went out to a puppy on a leash that was being beaten by a black boy for no apparent reason while his two friends looked on), until we finally reached the wide dirt road that was the edge of the forest. A couple of miles later we reached the lake and the campground. Maneuvering was still a challenge among the many beautiful trees, but we managed to slip into a site with our picture window overlooking the lake, framing a gorgeous view. At High Bluff, there's an iron ranger so we didn't have to pay at the office, and it's only $10/night, which is more reasonable for a more primitive site. By the time we got set up, we were exhausted! We opted for the electric fence today, as there weren't really any trees for a perfect highline, and there was some grass, though we could have made a highline work if we had to. I took a walk with the dogs down to the pier, and saw a gator floating nearby. At first I thought it was a gator, but then it didn't move for a long time so I thought maybe it was a log after all, but when I got to the end of the pier and looked again, it had turned 90 degrees to face me, so then I knew for sure! I made sure Lola didn't stay in the water for very long! Finally settled down for the evening, no satellite signal here, but we have lots of stuff recorded. Weren't long out of bed though, it's been a tiring day!