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Winter trip 2026 - Day 1: Home to St. Roberts, MO

 After lots of planning and packing and downsizing to get everything to fit in the new van, Planet Express, we hit the road on Friday morning just after 9am. Took 30 to 71 to 70, which Joe says is the boringest road known to man. The next 200 miles of driving weren't much better. Lots of flat and watching the snow gradually melting. Beautiful sunny day.  Made our first real stop just past the Indiana line at Uranus fudge. Worth the stop just for all the goofy signs. Bought a sticker and a fake can of spaghetti-o's to hide our valuables. On the way out we walked through this crazy tunnel and almost fell down.  We covered a lot of miles today, which was our plan. Went through Saint Louis just before the sunset, finally stopped seeing snow  We ended the day in St. Roberts, MO. First stop was the Route 66 Neon Park, which was a neat stop. They had about a dozen neon signs that have been refurbished and donated to the park. Each neon had a sign with it's histo...
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Totals

  We spent around $110/day, which is pretty close to what we were expecting based on past travels.  We did start with groceries and fuel, but will end with some food and maybe some fuel, not a full tank though.   Fuel $517.62 Grocery $432.68 Campsite $390.00 Restaurant $80.00 Stuff $71.98 Tolls $25.50 Firewood $20.00 Park fee $13.00 Laundry $8.00 Van wash $2.50 Trip total $1,561.28
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Last day

We were both up early and ready to get into the park and start a hike.  We decided first that we’d go back to the visitors center, maybe to get better internet or a weather forecast, a map, and also to buy the daily $5 parking fee that just started on the 1st.  We didn’t buy one the day before because we were parked at the campground.  At the exit to the campground we turned left to go back the way we came in, but saw that the gate to enter the park was closed due to weather.  We weren’t sure if they just close it over night or if this was going to be an all day closure.   We saw so many elk out in the fields. More than we could count. They were everywhere and up in the woods too. They have yellow butts, I’ve never noticed that before.  We got to the visitors center before 7:30, and they didn't open until 9. We hung out for a bit and had lunch. I saw some people who had been in the campground with us the night before and asked them if the r...
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GA to TN

  I think I was the first person up in this campground.  We had breakfast and Joe cleaned the windshield and used Rain-x; we were expecting rain in the future.  We wanted to head north, and the best way was to first head west into Alabama and then cross back over the river in Columbus GA.  We took a quick drive through the city and checked out some beautiful restored homes in the historic district on the south end of town.  Not a very exciting day, we drove through some crappy traffic around Atlanta.  Just outside of Buford GA we stopped and got some great bbq that we ate in the parking lot of a gas station.   We had a few places in mind that we were possibly headed, but the rain made it easier to just keep driving towards home. Eventually we decided we’d go to Smoky Mountain NP and spend the night and then spent the next day hiking.  We got to the park just after 3pm and saw so many elk on our way in.   We g...
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FL to GA and canyons

  We woke up to a very foggy morning by the water. This was such a quiet and peaceful campsite, I would come back to this place.  On our way out we stopped at the “trash house” which has a flap in the front to toss in your garbage. The night before we had assumed there was a trash can on the other side, but Joe opened the door and said, nope, just a building full of garbage. At least they were collecting cans to recycle. We headed north along some very long and straight highways.  We stopped at a fruit/vegetable stand for a few things, and then a grocery store because that’s what we do best.  Also bought fuel for the first time in over a week.  Crossed into Georgia a little after noon.  We were headed to a park that was supposed to be 5.5 hours away, but with our stops and one wrong turn, it took 7.   We got to Providence Canyon SP after 3.  This place was so neat. The canyons were formed due to erosion. Wa...
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Last day at the beach

This was our final morning at Oscar Scherer.  We took our time eating breakfast and packing everything back into the van.  Our spot for the night was about 3 hours north, so we headed that way and went to Siesta Key for a few hours.  Such a huge and beautiful beach. Next time I’m bringing stuff to make a giant sand castle, this is the perfect sand.  So many people here, I bet the weekends are nuts.  We left before lunch and stopped at a place so Joe could finally get some fish tacos. It was a fine lunch, but we could have made all the food just as good if not better for half the cost.  Maybe we will try again with some BBQ before we make it home.  We stopped to fill up the propane tank that runs the fridge when we don’t have electricity.  This has been used anytime we camp overnight with no power (3 nights so far) and when we are parked, like at a store or the beach.  Without a scale it’s hard to tell how much we’ve used, and Joe ...
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One more beach day

Today was just about as perfect of a day as it gets for me. If I had to Groundhog Day one day, this wouldn’t be a bad one.   We stopped at a car wash for a quick rinse of all the grime that had been building up on our ride.  Still a little rusty, but a lot less dusty.  We got to Caspersen Beach just before 10.  The very first thing we saw was a HUGE dead fish.  I’m not good with guessing weight of dead fish, but this thing was probably 200#.  Someone told us he thought it was a goliath grouper. Not only does the red tide make humans hack and cough, but it also kills sea life sadly.  We have this big canopy that we’ve been hauling to the beach every day but have just been using the umbrella, which creates just enough shade for the two of us and our stuff, but the shade moves all day long so we are constantly moving our chairs around to stay out of the sun.  Today we spent 5 minutes and set up this canopy, such an improvement, more ...
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