DND Road Trippin': October 2023

Left Virginia but these last couple pictures are of the fun we had our last few days! We finally ventured to Roanoke and visited a couple breweries. We had a good day there and were advised to check out an awesome beer store!! Stocked up for when we travel and can not find good beer. Of course we spent way to much but had fun and will have fun sharing it if anyone wants to come visit us before it gone.

Made some travel food that didn't make it to the truck for travel. Ruby, friend in Kentucky introduced us to this combination and we will forever be grateful. Who would have thunk!!

While I was mindelessly surfing the internet I discovered a beer fest in a corn field in Indiania!! Your can bet your bottom dollar we are going next year. We have a wedding in September in Wisconsin and will head this direction before next years fest in October. I bet we can talk the organizers of this fest to let us stay for free and help set up, pour and then take down and clean up. This is a huge fest and I really hope we can make it.

Well here is a guy that has another skill to ad to his resume. Zero turn!! He only hit a few things and didn't kill any small rabbits or yappy dogs mostly because he didn't go fast enough to catch them!! I think he had fun riding this bad boy!!

Our last fires in VA were doozies. We collected so much left behind wood from other campers that we never had to buy any. I think this hunk of wood took 2 days to burn. We did however burn it all and it was perfect fall weather for fires.

Good buy Smith Mountain Lake (Lager not lake but I can call it whatever I want). We took a cruise on the lake with the most excellent campground owners we have had the pleasure to meet thus far and had a blast. Stopped at a marina/restaurant for some food and beer and enjoyed the ride back for a sunset cruise. We will miss these guys with out a doubt.

Road trip began with a stop in Tennessee! We have been in this state numerous times but never stayed over night and had any adventures! Checked off another state!! Yippy! My map is getting filled in! We stayed at a beautiful little park called Cherokee Dam Campground. There was a fishing tournament just ending so there were tons of boats coming in with all their fishies. It was fun to watch and listen to the prizes these people get for just fishing. CRAZY!! We stayed two days and walked around the park and of course went disc golfing and beer drinking. Our site was right on the water so we had entertainment all day. Campground was close to Knoxville, TN so there was much to do but not enough time to do it all. So many other adventures awaited

We opened a card we found in our camper that said DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOU HAVE LEFT THE CAMP!! It was from our wonderful boss lady Angelee and there was an awesome bonus in there with instruction to use it for BEER! We have put a dent in it but I am certain it will not run out before we plant ourselves for the winter.

WHY OH WHY DO WE WALK IN THE WOODS!!

We were just about done with our beer adventures in TN when I was almost attacked by an enormous killer spider in the brewery!! The brewery workers were looking pretty scary too.

Back on the road. We Blew through Georgia and Alabama and headed for Mississippi. Another state we have been through but never stayed.

We spent two days at a Corp of Engineers Park called Twiltley Branch Campground. Another campsite on the lake. We went disc golfing and saw this really ugly duck a whole in a tree and a giant leaf!! YES, this is exciting stuff!!! Don't question my enjoyment!!

BARK not yappy BARK!!!

We were befuddled by these tree penis' growing out of the ground all over in the state park. What the heck are these things. I have no other way to describe these!!

Moving on & Louisiana bound. We joined Harvest hosts and stayed at Abita Brewery north of New Orleans. We parked for free in the parking lot for one night and had big fun. We once again spent time with my cousin Anna and here wife Pam. It was great to catch up some more. Her mother and mine never talked through their adult life so we never knew our cousins. Time to change that!!

We left the brewery in the morning and ventured a whopping 2 hours to our next stop. Wildcat Distillery at Gator Cove. This was an old sea food restaurant turned into a distillery. Once again we parked for free and went into the distillery for an awesome tasting of all their rum. Some of this stuff you would never guess was rum from the taste of it. There was barrel aged Rum in different barrels and some that was rectified with things for flavor. We purchased 2 bottles in the end and went to sit our back where we parked to watch Deer and peacocks wander about. The bottle Dick picked out tasted more like bourbon. It was aged in a Buffalo Trace Barrel so...... Mine was flavored with all the good stuff that is in a bloody mary! It is amazing and needs no tomato juice. I will however mix it since I do not wish for premature liver damage. I will also try to save some for my friend Ann in Wisconsin who is also a bloody mary fan. If she is not longer a fan, I guess I can drink it all. We will definately be back to this place if ever we are passing through.

On to Texas!!! I don't want to alarm you or deter you from ever coming to Texas but you should be aware that there are Tree Alligators everywhere. This guy was right our front of our camper and dam near scared the shit out of me! He had an exceptionally long body and part of his lower jaw was missing. Most likely from another scared camper who bashed him in the head. BEWARE of all the scarry things in Texas. We also had an armadillo almost attack us as we sat outside reading our books