November 19, 2025

Just a quick overnight stay and picked up our RV from storage after our trip overseas. Nice campground.  Jim had to do a plumbing repair under the kitchen sink when the trap was leaking, but was less than 30 minute fix luckily.

Twin Mills RV Park, Howe, IN (September 28 - October 5th)

This is our second time staying at this campground and we really enjoy the setting.  Private lake and much quieter this time as opposed to staying here over the busy 4th of July weekend. Dana went paddleboarding and hung our at the lake for 5 hours the day after we arrived. The purpose of staying here was easy access to our RV manufacturers repair facility.  They replaced the entire front cap of the rig as a repair from last May's accident when someone ran into the front of RV. We stayed in a hotel for two nights while our RV was being repaired. Our dog Gracie was not as happy in hotel accommodations, but we got through it. We also had Jim's brother Brian and his wife Amy come over to our campground for a picnic lunch and hanging out. 

Jim crossed a bucket item of his list when we attended a Notre Dame football game in South Bend, Indiana. We got there a bit early and walked around - what a beautiful campus. The stadium is iconic, the crowd was electric and the setting was amazing. We had a blast cheering for the Irish. Crazy amongst 77,000 fans - Dana happened to bump into her college roommate from Western Michigan University - small world.  We got lucky and saw the marching band in their tradition of playing their fight song on the way to the stadium before the game - here is the video from our phone. Great day.

Indian Lakes RV Park - Batesville, Indiana (October 5 - 7)

We stopped off for two days at this rural campground on our way south.  Very large campground with over 1000 campsites.  Surprisingly, they were probably at 80% full this late in the RV season. Just relaxed and avoided the rain between runs. 

KOA South Louisville, Ky (October 7-9)

Our 100th campground since retirement!  Crazy that we've been to that many places. Decent campground, but we arrived during a massive rainstorm. There was practically a river running through the "check in" parking area and we had to wade through it to get to the office.  The campsite was worse.  There was no other alternative than standing in ankle deep water while hooking up water, power and sewer - Good Times. 

The next day was sunny and gorgeous. After a quick workout, we headed to downtown Louisville for a factory tour of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory.  Very cool and amazing to see how quickly they manufacture bats with CNC Lathe equipment.  This small 119 employee company produces 1 million wooden baseball bats per year.  Highly recommend to those of you baseball fans.

Diamond Caverns Campground, Park City, KY (October 9 - 13)

The original purpose of staying in the hills of Kentucky was to visit and tour the Mammoth Caves National Park -- unfortunately the government shut down closed the underground 400 miles of caverns. We were bummed, but still took hikes and runs above ground at the National Park. Very relaxing campground in a pretty rural and hilly setting. Our dog was thrilled with all the hikes and walks we took. Weather was perfect and we spent time outdoors at the picnic table playing games. 

Two Rivers Campground - Nashville, TN (Oct. 13 - 19)

Long 7 day stay at a nice campground close to downtown Nashville.  They had live country music at our campground on the back deck every evening. Some performers were quite good and others not so much. Found some nice nearby parks for exploring and running. Took a whole day downtown Nashville on Broadway Street in the heart of the music/bar scene.  Amazing how many live music venues there are. Multiple 3-4 story buildings with music on each floor. Unfortunately they all only served bar food, but we really enjoyed ourselves.  Definitely a wild party atmosphere like New Orleans.

We had lunch with Dana's family friend Liz and they caught up after years of not seeing each other. We also snuck in a pre-season college basketball game at Vanderbilt University which was quite fun. We walked throughout the University campus touring on our own. We swung over to the Grand Ole Opry to check it out, but were not excited about the entertainers so we skipped the shows. You know you are in the South when you go to a museum called "Cooters" that is dedicated to the 1970's TV show the Dukes of Hazard.

Jellystone Park - Loudon, TN (Oct. 19 - 27)

Spent 8 days in the suburbs of Knoxville Tennessee as we wanted to see if this was a place we would consider retiring to after our RV travels. It's a great college town with the 40,000 students at the University of Tennessee. The downtown was vibrant, very clean and has great restaurants, art galleries and live entertainment venues. We contacted a realtor and looked at 4 different condos in the heart of downtown.  The biggest downside is that the entire city is very hilly which is not conducive for running.  Who knows, maybe we will reconsider a number of years down the road.

We took off for a long day up to the town of Gatlinburg, TN and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Gatlinburg was a bit too touristy for us, but some of the original businesses like homemade whiskey, wine and sword shops gave it a bit of charm.  We wouldn't recommend unless you are into the Ripley's activities and rides and lots of T-shirt shops. Dollywood was nearby but we passed on that as well.  However the Great Smoky Mountains were gorgeous. Luckily we were there during the Fall color leaf changes - absolutely spectacular.  We took a difficult 3.5 mile hike that climbed 1300 feet in only 1.75 miles and celebrated our 32nd anniversary with those amazing colors. The view was awesome, but the hike was strenuous.  

Racoon Mountain Caverns & RV Park - Chattanooga, TN (Oct 27 - Nov 10)

Yeah, two full weeks with our son Shamus!  He is living in Chattanooga and work camping at this awesome RV park for the next 5 months while writing his novel. Great place to be as it is close to downtown Chattanooga and has many amenities. The setting for the campground is at the base of some smaller mountains and has incredible views. We explored the Chattanooga area many days. Hikes included: Racoon Mountain, Lookout Mountain (site of Civil War Battle and has incredible rock formations) and the spectacular state park in Georgia at Cloudland Canyon State Park with the massive Canyon and waterfall hikes.  Georgia is only a few miles from Chattanooga and while we were on eastern time zone, 5 miles down the road is Central time zone. 

Activities we enjoyed included a huge Crew Regatta on the Tennessee River, the Chattanooga Aquarium, Dana and Shamus had fun exploring the local art museum and we had dinner at the best Taco joint any of us have ever had. We shared many meals together and played a lot of games in the RV. We got in a lot of runs with Shamus including along the Tennessee River downtown and the golf community the neighborhood. It was awesome spending so much time with Shamus. 

The weather was incredible for 13 out of the 14 days we were there.  The last day a Canadian arctic blast rolled in and overnight temperatures were in the teens and the high was only 36 that day.  It actually snowed (just flurries) and we hibernated in the RV with the fireplace on that day. Dana crocheted Shamus a very cool Racoon winter cap as he was very fond of the racoons around the campground. 

Tanbark Campground - Dickson, TN (November 10 -11)

What a dump.  One of the worst campground we've stayed at.  The reviews were good, but the reality was not. Luckily it was just an overnight.  Incredible cold (high of 33) with flurries that day and we were thrilled to leave in the morning. 

Hatchie Cove Campground - Brownsville, TN (November 11 - 12)

This was a little gem in the middle of no where. Only 7 campsites on the owners land down the street from his house.  Great for an overnight.

Lake Fort Smith Campground - Fort Smith, ARK (November 12-13)

Awesome Arkansas State park campground in the beautiful Ozark hills. Dana wished she could stay more nights as it was great for hiking with our dog Gracie. The 250 mile Ozark Trail started in this park.

Collective Campground - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (November 13 - 14)

You know you are in tornado alley when the campground tells you about the 3 underground bunker shelters and where they are in the park (yikes). Very new campground right along Hwy 40 with many amenities that we did not utilize since we were just doing a quick overnight.

Route 66 RV Ranch - Amarillo, TX (November 14 - 15)

Well.... it was a place to stay.  Not really a ranch, but we still did smell the stench of cattle. Our first and hopefully last time in the Texas panhandle. Not a pretty area and town was pretty run down.  We did find a humongous park with lots of paved paths for our morning run which was nice.

High Desert RV Park - Albuquerque, NM (November 15 - 17)

After 5 straight days of driving to expedite getting across the US, Jim needed a break from driving, so we stayed two nights in Albuquerque. Campground was nice with multiple dog parks. They had many cool large metal wildlife sculptures throughout the campground. We found an amazing running trail along the Rio Grande River in downtown that was similar to the American River pathway. After some good Mexican food, Dana went to an Art Museum that she really enjoyed. 

Sun Valley RV Park - Sun Valley, AZ (November 17 - 19)

The campground was adequate and very close to Hwy 40 in Navajo country. The purpose of staying here was it's proximity to the Petrified Forest National Park.  Our expectations were not high, however we were blown away by the beauty and incredible landscape of the different parts of the park.  We did 3 hikes and all were vey different.  This place is a gem. The pictures below don't do justice to the beauty of seeing it in person.  The Blue Mesa hike was our favorite.  The petrified trees from 240 million years ago were amazing. Incredible to see an entire large tree on the ground that is pure stone. The Painted Canyon was stunning.