Heading to Savannah

     Last year at this time we had piles of snow on the ground and it was really cold.  It looks now like taking our camper out of storage and driving it south would have been ok, but who knew!  The warmer weather this week has really encouraged us as we start off on a 1500 mile drive.  We are in no real hurry so the plan is for us to do the drive in three and a half days.  
     We are driving the Odyssey and it is pretty full.  The weather is going to change from early spring to hot summer as we go further and further south so I have a jeans, fleece and a warm spring jacket as well as shorts and bathing suits.  We like to picnic as we go so we carry a cooler and food.  Also, of course, we have a bunch of stuff for the comfort and safety of the grandkids during our week at Sanibel Island - life jackets, beach towels, porta-crib, diapers, etc.  Yup, its a big car, but it is well loaded.
     We packed the car yesterday and kept it in the garage.  It makes leaving relatively early much easier for my night owl husband.  It is exciting to be on the road again.  I have the GPS programmed and all the paperwork for our many reservations printed - just in case I can't get at the info in my email when we get to our reserved cabins.  This is a busy time for traveling due to the Easter Break for many schools so I made reservations for most of the stops in Georgia and Florida.

     The weather has been so nice and it was a perfect day traveling, just a little wind in the afternoon whoch would have been tiring driving the RV but wasn't bad in the van.  However the breeze made the  air too cool for outdoor picnicing so we sat in the car and read the Sunday paper while we ate our egg salad sandwiches.  As always I worked hard to use up the perishables in the fridge before we leave home for a month.

     Our stop tonight is just across the Illinois River in Ogelsby, Illinois.  A tiny town that only has motels and restaurants because it is near Starved Rock State Park along the river, which is the top park in Illinois according to the websire.  It is a very pretty area although mostly brown and dry right now after the snow melt and before spring rains.  We didn't see any open campgrounds so this would have been a motel night if we had the camper.  I certainly miss sitting outside on my lawnchair after a long day of driving, but the motel is nice and we are 400 miles closer to Georgia!