Category: Backroads Across America
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Backroads Across America: Magnolia Springs State Park
We scored another winner tonight in the Georgia State Park system. While we couldn’t ask for a more restful setting, Magnolia Springs hasn’t always been a quiet little campground. Magnolia Springs has a story to tell. Back in 1864 this area was known as Camp Lawton, a prison established by the Confederate Army to hold…
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Backroads Across America: The Place Where FDR died
We came to Warm Springs, Georgia for its amazing scenery and to stay at Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park, the state’s largest, seen at top on our drive today. History was another attraction. FDR came here for more than 20 years to bathe in the warm waters that helped him cope with the paralysis caused…
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Backroads Across America: Georgia offers State Park stay
Yesterday we managed to reserve Saturday (tonight) and Sunday night in FD Roosevelt State Park in the beautiful state of Georgia. I suspect we may have snagged the last spot available for the weekend. After I checked us in (and realized we had lost yet another hour when crossing the border into Georgia), I was…
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Backroads Across America: Alabama Paradise for $11
Perfect spring conditions framed our drive today, which began with the first 100 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a beautiful 444-mile two-lane path from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. We left the National Park Service-maintained trail at Jackson and caught Highway 80 east across Mississippi. A fellow camper (traveling from Santa Barbara, California)…
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Backroads Across America: Historic Natchez, Mississippi
Perched on the bluffs above the Mississippi River is the historically rich town of Natchez. The area was home to the Natchez Indians when the French arrived in 1716. Soon after, with the arrival of English and Spanish settlers, the inevitable territorial tug-of-war began. In 1797, the first American flag was raised and the…
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Backroads Across America: Drive-Thru Cocktails
A two-day search for wine in markets and convenience stores in Louisiana and Mississippi had proven fruitless, other than Boone’s Farm and some with mold on the bottle. Then we found this store today. Not only did it offer a good selection of our favorite Chardonnay, it sold drive-thru drinks to go. We couldn’t believe…
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Backroads Across America: Hello Ol’ Man River
Two traveling days have taken us from the Texas Hill Country to the banks of the Mississippi River, just across from Natchez, Mississippi. We have ambled along backroads lined with lush green grass, forests (even some pines) and rainbows of wildflowers. The beauty of the Hill Country continued through most of eastern Texas. Today, in…
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Backroads Across America: Two wheels and a tent
The editor of the community newspaper I worked for used to say, “Everyone has a story to tell.” Meet Australians Rachel and Skip, two fellow travelers who will have quite a story to tell when they return home. Our paths crossed today at the Onalaska KOA campground along the shores of Lake Livingston in…
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Backroads Across America: A Texas-size storm
My phone screamed at 7:00 this morning, signaling an emergency alert: Tornado watch in your area-take shelter now! As the wind, buckets of rain, hail, thunder and lightening intensified, we circled each other in the trailer wondering what to do. Our truck was hitched up (in the hopes of getting an early morning start),…
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