My last day at Amazon was supposed to be 12/21 and was I ever ready for that. Then they offered an additional day on 12/22. What to do, what to do. My future plans included picking up my girlfriend Jean at the Nashville Airport on 12/25. Seeing that I didn’t have any other plans, I took the extra day, and the extra money.

We spent an extra day in the Nashville area to see the Zoolumination exhibit at the Nashville Zoo. They hired a team from China to put up a lot of illuminated decorations, kind of like they do for Chinese New Year. It was very impressive and I’m glad we went.

Normally when traveling from point A to point B, I try to do it in the minimum time possible. This time, with Jean and her dog, I planned for a 2 day trip. We left Smyrna mid-morning on 12/27. Less than 10 miles down the road I noticed one of my twist on valves bouncing on the pavement under the 5er. Pulled on to the shoulder to disconnect it from the sewer cap and stow it in the truck. Fortunately, that was the worst incident during the drive. We made it to Meridian MS that afternoon while it was still daylight. Got a level, pull thru site, very cheap at Bonita Lakes RV Park https://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions/mississippi/meridian/bonita-lakes-rv-park-4811

We even got there early enough to unhitch the truck and head into town for some inexpensive diesel. I need to interject something here. I’m a big fan of Gas Buddy and use it extensively but it does have its flaws. Twice in TN and once in MS, I went to stations with false prices posted. I corrected Gas Buddy each time and did NOT get diesel at any of those stations. I don’t know if it’s the owners or some jackass just messing with other people but I sure don’t appreciate it.

Early start the next day for the final leg of the trip, a straight shot down the Interstate and US 49 to the Naval base at Gulfport. Once south of I-10, we disregarded the directions coming from Google Maps and relied on the directions from the military campgrounds website: http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/

Again, it was an early arrival so there were people in the office. We were directed to a site in the new section and given a stack of papers to read. At first glance, the sites were very spacious, full cement pad. But, because of our deck that drops down from the kitchen slide, I had to do a lot of maneuvering to get situated just right. Even with all that, the outside legs for the deck would be in the grass. Before dropping the deck, I reviewed all the park rules and found many restrictions about things in, on, or over the grass. I requested someone come by my site on Monday morning before setting up the deck. Thankfully, they had no problem with the legs in the grass.

Since then, I’ve kept busy with doctor/dentist appointments, getting more repairs on the truck and checking out local buffets. I’ll get more into that in a future post.