Auburn University…

We hadn’t planned to be in the Auburn area this long but had stay to for a couple of reasons. First and foremost was a tire issue with one of our front tires which we were planning to tend to while we were at Gaffney Freightliner in SC. I have been watching the tire closely and it now appears unsafe for any further travel adventures down the road. We decided we really must have it replaced right away. The other reason we lengthened our stay is that we like this state park and the college town of Auburn.

We spent some time leisurely walking around the Auburn University campus and the some of the buildings are quite spectacular, especially Samford Hall. There was also an earth day festival going on in the Auburn Arboretum where we had a nice stroll. While we were walking around admiring the campus it appeared as if the sororities and fraternities were enjoying an Old South themed day in the front lawn of Samford Hall playing croquet.The ladies were in dresses and floppy hats and the men were in khakis and polo shirts.The themed event added to the picturesque spring day.

Sharon also noticed there was a softball series being played this weekend so we decided to watch the Sunday afternoon game.  The stadium was very nice and there was a big crowd there to enjoy the game with us.  It was a slugfest and a back and forth game down to the last inning where Ole Miss spoiled the hope of the home team for a three game sweep.  The final score was 11-9.

We were a bit confused at first with the War Eagle vs. Tigers words printed in several locations. So a quick search on Google gave us clarification regarding these two names. It turns out that Auburn University’s nickname is the TIGERS and "WAR EAGLE!" is their battle cry. Now we understand the campus lingo a little bit better.

With the flowering dogwoods and the azaleas in bloom it was sure enjoyable walking around the campus but not nearly as enjoyable as walking around this scenic state park we are in. We took several hikes in and around the state park and  noticed there are tons of mountain biking trails. One of the shorter but scenic trails took us around the lake over to the spill off to the remnants of an old CCC built dam. The spill off results in a really beautiful waterfall that was quite an unexpected treat.

The rest of our time the last few days was spent on researching RV tires and seeing what was available in this town or nearby.The park ranger was helpful in providing reputable dealers and I finally found a place that can get me a replacement tire like the ones we have now, Goodyear G670’s. Although they are very pricey the next best local option were some Firestone tires that are much cheaper but don’t support nearly the weight load the Goodyear tires do. So we will get the new tire installed and then continue the trek to Gaffney where we will begin the Freightliner school on Thursday…