There are lots of Thousand Trails parks in Texas. We were disappointed that none of them were near Austin though. So, on our way out of Texas we planned our route to pass by Lake Conroe, a big, well-known TT park. If you're a boater, this is the park for you. Lake Conroe is big, and the park has a marina. Nice sunset views too ...
Our rig is *only* 30 feet long and we *only* need 30amp electricity. We are grateful for this so often. It means we have our choice of a lot more spaces than the big 45 ft rigs that need 50amp. We like all the open space at most Thousand Trails parks. And, this one had a really nice jacuzzi too. Here's our site.
And they have WiFi at this park. They use all the bathouses for the antennas. It worked great ... free too. We didn't even raise our dish.
While we were there, I got an email from
Bill, a fellow RVer and Blog reader. He is an Escapee, and was staying at the 'headquarters' park in Livingston, Texas. We've been interested in Escapees since we first started RVing. We looked at the map and noticed that Livingston was only an hour's drive from where we were staying, so we hopped in the car and went over for a visit. In case you don't know
Escapees - they are an RVer membership organization. They have parks around the country, but that is just one of the purposes of the organization. They're probably best known for mail forwarding services. LOTS of full-time RVers use Livingston as their residence. So much mail goes thru there that they have their own zip code! They also have a facility to take care of RVers who need to 'hang up their keys', permanently or temporarily. What a wonderful idea. If, for whatever reason, you are unable to handle the RV lifestyle, you can park your rig here and get
CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees). That includes 3 meals/day, house-cleaning services, laundry and personal care - all for $800/mo.
Our route has never taken us close enough before to stop by, so I'm real glad we got the opportunity this time.
Escapees also organize a couple big rallies each year called
Escapades. We'd love to give our seminars there! During our visit, we got to meet the folks doing the organizing. Thanx for the introduction Bill!
Before I close, I just gotta throw in this photo of a big rig we saw during our drive. Another reason we like our smaller rig ... we can make these turns!
Just riding around their neighborhood is beautiful. Every home is different and there are lots of views of Lake Rousseau. According to the scooter's odometer, we rode for 7 miles. When we got home, we called our friends Diane and Andy. They're RVing in Florida right now and they do a lot of bicycling. We wanted to report our ride hoping they would be proud of us! They said, "Oh, did you go on the Rails To Trails that starts right there in Dunnellon?" Uh, no. What Rails to Trails? So, we looked it up, and sure enough ... the longest paved bicycle trail in Florida starts right here in Dunnellon.
And, guess what? There are a couple geocaches right on the first section of the trail. So, Jim loaded the bikes back on the car and we drove about 5 miles to the trailhead.
Actually, this trail is not a 'Rails to Trails'. It's part of Florida's Office of Greenways and Trails. How cool! What a joy to have a paved trail with no cars!
And the geocaches gave us an excuse to stop. Unfortunately we didn't find them. :-(
This second cache was called 'Slugger'. I think we were in the right general spot. Don't you? But we didn't find this one either. Oh well, it will give us a reason to go back again sometime. Maybe after Jim gets himself a new GPS huh?
We biked 7 miles in the morning and 11 in the afternoon! Pretty good for a couple of computer potatoes. Florida is a great place to bike ... it's flat!
We spent the night at one of the parks in our membership system, 
The trees worried us, but our satellite dish found an opening and connected fine! Besides, there was also free WiFi here that worked the whole time. No Problem.
It is right on the Suwannee river.
Now we're parked at my Dad's house - going for a bike ride.
Before getting back on I10, we swung by the beach to see how the Katrina reconstruction is going. It's still nowhere near normal. You can't walk on the beautiful white beach.
There are still plenty of destroyed buildings sadly untouched.
FEMA trailers everywhere
There's also lots of construction. This sign sums it up.
And there's plenty of 'now open' and 'now hiring' signs.
The Beau Rivage is completely redone and beautiful.
We just drove a short day into Alabama to get to one of our membership parks, a Resorts of Distinction park called Styx River. Not at all hellish, it's a beautiful park. Campsites in the woods and a trail to the river.
We were worried about the trees blocking our satellite Internet connection but found that they had free WiFi! Cool. It worked great at first, then it stopped working. We asked at the office and were told, "yeah, well, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, that's why it's free." Luckily, our site had a clear shot thru the trees to the southwest, so our satellite got us online just fine.
On to Florida today.
Inside, there was a replica of the Capitol Building.
And the White House.
Unlike all the other Presidential Libraries we've been to so far, this one did not have a replica of the Oval office. We were told that a major reconstruction was scheduled for the library - coming up soon. And, one of the reasons was to build such a replica. The guide said that this library was feeling 'Oval Office Envy'!
The most impressive exhibit was the statue outside called "The Day the Wall Came Down".
This is referring to the day the Berlin Wall fell. November 9, 1989 (11/9). There are two of these sculptures in the world. The other one was gift of friendship from the American people to the people of Germany and it stands in Berlin.
It was so interesting to be seeing this right after I finished reading 
. His last chapter is devoted to comparing two dates: 9/11 and 11/9. 11/9 is all about hope and dreams for the future, 9/11 is all about fear and protection. Friedman writes:
