Gutters and Golf

We left Benton, Arkansas, around 7:30 am on Friday, September 22nd, and began heading east toward Ashburn, Georgia, where we planned to spend about 10 days playing free golf!  Woohoo!

The traffic was not too bad as we headed around Little Rock and we saw a beautiful sunrise as we crossed the Arkansas River.

We decided to only drive as far as Tunica, Mississippi, and stay at the Hollywood Casino RV Park because we knew that the park was paved and level and a good place to install the RV gutters on the motorhome that Chuck has been wanting to put on for a long time.

After getting checked into our site and getting plugged in, we covered up with sunscreen and got our wide brim hats and began working on installing the gutters on the motorhome.  It was a very sunny and hot day to do the job, but we drank plenty of water and Gatorade and within about 3 1/2 hours we were done!  Now, the water from the air conditioners drains into the gutters and off the back of the motorhome rather than on top of the slide-out awning toppers.  Hopefully, this will extend the life of those awning toppers.

And, because we got all the hard work done on Friday, we were able to enjoy watching our UT Vols play the Florida Gators on Saturday.  It was a nail-biter (as it always is when watching Tennessee football) but Tennessee pulled ahead in the second half and broke Florida's 11 year win streak with a 38-28 win over those Gators.  We were SO EXCITED!!!!

On Sunday, we left Tunica around 8 am and began heading on I-22 across northern Mississippi and northern Alabama.  We had not traveled this area previously and were surprised by all the hills in the northern part of both states.

Hickory Flat, Mississppi

Guin, Alabama

We took a turn south once we reached I-65 and continued heading south until we reached Montgomery, Alabama, where we stayed overnight at The Woods RV Park in Montgomery.  Chuck, the Driving Man, could have kept on driving but I wanted to stop because I knew we would not arrive at Ashburn until right at dusk and that we would be driving on unfamiliar roads.

On Monday morning, we left around 8 am heading east on I-85 before turning south on Hwy 80 and Hwy 280 to Ashburn, Georgia.  Except for the stop-n-go traffic through Columbus, Georgia, most of the roads were very good four lane highway -- actually better than a lot of interstates we have traveled on.

We drove by lots of pecan tree groves that had old, big pecan trees,

medium-size pecan trees,

and little baby pecan trees.

Of course, we drove by lots of cotton fields and pine tree forests too.  

We arrived at Wanee Lake Golf and RV Resort around noon.  After having a quick lunch, Chuck washed the outside of the motorhome while I worked on cleaning the inside of the motorhome.  The sites are o.k. and some have some leveling issues (like the site we are on) but we had beautiful sunrises nearly every morning...

...and all the free golf we wanted to play so long as we walked the course.  The fairways and greens have improved dramatically since we were here in May because the new owner has really been working on fixing them up.  It is a perfect place for beginners like us to play golf.  We played nearly every day of the ten days we have been here at Wanee and have walked about 7 to 8 miles every day too!  Walking is a lot more fun when you're playing golf along the way!  :)

The weather was sunny and in the upper 80's every day.  We would play nine holes in the morning, come in, eat lunch, rest for a couple of hours, and then go back out and play another nine holes in the evening.  We lost a lot of balls but we found a lot of balls too!  I found this cute little squirrel under a tree when I was looking for one of our balls.

Hope he didn't mistake my golf ball for a nut!  :)

We talked with the new owner, Tommy, and he told us that his dad managed the course when he was a kid.  Back then (in the early '80s), it was a private club with several hundred members.  There were golf cart sheds housing all the members' golf carts where the RV park is now.  Of course, back then, there were a couple of factories in town and a lot more employment than the sole remaining peanut factory in Ashburn now.  

On Saturday afternoon, we watched another nail-biter football game as the Tennessee Vols played the Georgia Bulldogs.  And in case you haven't heard, our Tennessee Vols came back and won the game with a Hail-Mary pass to the endzone at the end of the game!  I was screaming so loud that I probably scared some other squirrels out of their trees!  :)

On Sunday afternoon, we had to cut our game short because of a thunderstorm that rolled in.  It was the only rain we experienced the entire time but it was a doozy.  It rained hard and for a couple of hours.  The next morning, the cut grass on the fairways looked like sand rolls on the beach.  

It's been a very nice 10 days.  I don't know that we improved our golf game much but we had a lot of fun playing!