Completed the Natchez Trace Parkway on Sunday, Nov. 11th. Started from the Natchez end on Nov. 6th. Beautiful trees changing to fall colors most of the 444 miles of the Parkway. The northern-most last 100 miles, or so, many of the colorful leaves had already fallen off trees. Nice relaxing drive, did most of it at 45 mph (speed limit is 50). Regularly saw deer on roadsides and crossing the road. Temps got down to 27 last Friday night in northern MS.
Our last day on the Parkway, Sunday, started out great but by the time we got near the end in the Nashville metro area, traffic picked up substantially. A lot of locals apparently use the Parkway as a commuter route. We'd selected a campground for that night and, unfortunately, our year old Garmin GPS 770 decided to take us on an unplanned 30 mile tour of some of Nashville's bedroom communities. Gets dark there around 5:30 PM, so we were soon driving around in the dark, looking for our campground. Finally gave up on the Garmin and used GPS in my iPhone, which generally is better. It brought us to the campground we'd chosen, that the Garmin couldn't seem to locate, about 7 PM, only to find the gate locked with a sign saying "Closed for Winter".
We'd tried calling the offiice to make a reservation but got no answer. Guess that was what us cops call a "clue". By then we were mad, hungry and frustrated. Decided to seek a Cracker Barrel, and found one about 20 miles south. Went there, had dinner and they said we could dry camp in their parking lot for the night, so we did. One other motor home there. First time parking lot camping for us, but all was good and we got a needed good night's sleep. Hit the road Monday, heading south, on what was to be a 2 day drive home. Stopped for an overnight in Carrollton, GA in a nice county park there. Office was closed due to Veterans' Day, and park host wasn't there either, so we picked an open site and set up for the night. All went well until the morning when we went to dump or holding tanks. When I pulled the black water valve, thanks to Thor's sorry build practices, the black water sewer line, where it attaches to the dump valve, separated, spraying 2 days worth of shitty water EVERYWHERE. Our Axis is a 2017 model, bought new only about 18 month ago. So, you shouldn't have to expect that the plumbing would already be falling apart...but that's Thor. That was the last straw. So, yesterday, Tuesday, Nov. 13th, we drove for 11 hours to get home about 7:45 PM. A crappy ending to an otherwise great trip. Now, I have a number of repairs to accomplish myself or have done. Think I mentioned previously that our first day out, we lost the TV antenna...no idea where or when because we didn't hit or hear anything. So, our collection of previously watched DVD's got watched again. Covered a total of 2,227 miles and 5 states; FL, AL, MS, TN & GA. Saw some real devastation from Hurricane Michael in FL panhandle, between Tallahassee and Pensecola and also pecan groves in GA. I do highly recommend the Natchez Trace Parkway for an RV trip.
Can 't wait for our next adventure!
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