Talladega Alabama and Fort Yargo State Park in Georgia…

With a weekend approaching we had to leave Deerlick Park and move on down the road. Since we are booking sites only a few weeks in advance prime locations like Deerlick Park are nearly impossible to score on a weekend. As a result our next planned stop was north of the Talladega Speedway. We found a nice Passport America park off the beaten path and spent the weekend at Talladega Pit Stop RV Park & Campground in Lincoln, AL.

There is not a lot to do or see in or around this park so we we used our time doing a little more future planning. We also drove over to the nearby town of Oxford to pick up some groceries. We shop for groceries frequently to take advantage of loss leaders and to ensure we always have fresh fruits and veggies.

  

The University of Georgia was not as impressive a campus as was the University of Alabama. However, unlike U of A, Georgia’s campus is more land locked by the city of Athens. Unfortunately for us it was raining a lot in the area so we only had time for a short stroll through campus and downtown Athens.

Afterward we had to stop by Terrapin Brewing for happy hour. What luck! They were running a 20-year anniversary special so we were able to try six beers for 10 bucks! This allowed us to try some exotic beers we would otherwise bypass and was a great way to end the day in Athens.

Back at Fort Yargo SP Sharon set up her outside gym in our spacious site for a long workout. While she was working out I unloaded my mountain bike and thought it would be fun to ride the 6 mile trail around the park. I hadn’t ridden any serious single track trails for a while so I figured 6 miles would be a good and fun ride.

Once the weekend ended we moved over to Fort Yargo State Park in the state of Georgia. This park is also off the beaten path but close enough to Athens GA for a day trip to explore the college town and University.

Well, unfortunately I wandered off trail multiple times and encountered such trail segments as Monster Mile and Heart Attack Hill. I bit off a bit more than I had expected but when I was finally done I felt great and really enjoyed the strenuous ride. I probably rode closer to 9 miles and was hopeful I would be sore the next day, luckily I wasn’t.

As we slowly make our way over to North Carolina to visit our daughter we have been carefully eyeing places posing the question, could we live here? So far we haven’t answered yes unanimously...

Two new stops, Meridian, MS. and Tuscaloosa, AL.

With the weekend over we left Hattiesburg, MS and drove a short distance NW over to Meridian MS. Our next stop was at a park called Bonita Lakes RV Park and this would be our first visit to Meridian. While the park was okay the town of Meridian has seen better days. There was not a whole lot to see unless you like dilapidated buildings mostly boarded up and abandoned.

While we haven’t escaped the hot weather we are seeing more wildflowers in bloom. This is likely due to the fact we are also seeing more rain. We have been fortunate in that the rain has fallen at times we aren’t out and about.

The best thing about the campground in Meridian is that it is nearly right across the street from Bonita Lakes Nature Park. There is a seven mile trail around a large lake and a shorter trail which encircles a smaller lake. Bonita Lakes is the gemstone of Meridian!

We set out onto the seven mile trail which we found to be in great shape. It was mostly shaded which was wonderful in the HOT temperatures. We experienced climbs and flats in a densely wooded mixture of hardwoods and pines. It was a really nice hike with many peeks at the lake through the forested canopy. We only planned to hike about three miles due to predicted rains so we hiked to a point on the lake and returned the way we came.

The next day we packed up and moved for a first time visit to a COE Park named Deerlick Creek Park. We chose this park for its proximity to Tuscaloosa, Alabama which is a place we never visited before. We wanted to check out this college town and explore both it and the University of Alabama.

Deerlick Creek Park is well off the beaten path but only about 20 minutes to Tuscaloosa. There is some nice hiking in the park and a bike trail. It was happily another heavily wooded park on a lake with some huge sites. While many are near the water, the water can mostly be reached only by descending a steep embankment.

Our visit to the University of Alabama was a highlight of this trip as it was way more impressive than either of us had imagined. The southern styled architecture and the large trees made our exploration really wonderful. Again we needed the shade on this hot day.

No trip to the university would be complete without a visit the the famed football stadium where many a National Championship has been won. There is a large stature of their elephant mascot nearby which was worthy of a stop as well. What a nice and very walkable campus. We were so glad we decided to visit..

Tuscaloosa has a lot of positives for a future place for us to settle down. We talked about some of the negatives and positives. We’ll keep it on the list. To add intrigue to our quest to find a place to land, on our last night in Tuscaloosa a hackberry emperor butterfly kept landing on me. I don’t know if this was an omen or if I simply made a new friend…