Route & Shove Off Date Chosen; 20 Reservations made

 Location: Heart of Haynesville RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

As I said in my last post, I've registered for the big Forest River International Rally in Goshen, Indiana. It begins August 11th and lasts one week. That established my long range destination. The next step was to choose a date to leave Louisiana. While typing this post I was reminded of the term 'shoving off' from my old Navy days. I would imagine some old Coasties that used to RV may be familiar with the term also. Since my campsite rent here in Louisiana is due on the 1st of the month, there seemed to be two possible dates, either June 1st or July 1st. To break that tie, I went to Accuweather and noticed the fore-casted temperatures for the end of May around here were in the low 90's. It appears the warm and humid summer is getting here quicker than normal. So, June 1st was chosen. 

Between June 1st and August 11th is about 70 days. On this type of trip, I usually average about 3 to 4 days per campground so that means I will need to make reservations at about 20 campgrounds just to get to Goshen. With so many stops, I have found that most of the time if I find a nice campground, I can usually find something to explore or will accidentally find a "wow" moment within about a 50 mile radius. If not, I'm only there for 3 to 4 days, so I'm not being too lazy by just hanging out at the campsite. This may sound backwards about finding a campground first instead of things to explore. Oh well, if things start sneaking up your backtrail, it is best to do some things unconventionally.

Corps of Engineers (COE) campgrounds continue to be my favorite and first choice. My Allstays program on my laptop locates them for me. Google Earth will then be used to choose not only the best COE campground in an area but, most of time, the best campsite. If the campsite is visible from above, Google Earth will also tell me approximately how level the campsite is, its dimensions and cardinal direction of the campsite. That is how I've been able to chose campsites with the setting or rising sun coming in my door or back window. The web site, "recreation.gov" will usually give me pictures of the COE campsites. This all sounds complicated, but it really isn't, after you get used to it. 

The route I've chosen has 14 COE's and 6 State Parks. I wish I could have stayed in COE's for the entire trip but they rare or non-existent in Indiana, northern Illinois and Ohio.

That's the route I've chosen. It is about 2,000 miles of towing which means an average of 100 miles between campgrounds. I have reservations locked up except for the last two. I'm still debating with myself which ones those will be. I'm waiting for a good vibe to hit me. 

 

This is the second descent sunset I've gotten since being back home. Yeppers, the picture is taken while looking out my doors. 

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe, I'll Cya down the road.