We start our fourth trek south on Wednesday. We will be heading to our new home at Cypress Trail RV Resort in Fort Myers. We are excited about this new location and our new status as “permanent residents” but that doesn’t mean that we are going to rush down there. We are, as always, going to enjoy the travel and visit some new places and re-visit some places that we like. And, of course, we will visit Jett’s family in Virginia.
TS4 Segment 1 plan
The first segment of the trip, from Phillipston MA to Walland TN, will take 17 nights over 8 hops and 1292 miles. The stops:
- Schenectady NY. We will spend 3 nights at the Arrowhead Marina and RV Park where we stayed last year and enjoyed very much. Our two days will be spent touring Jett’s old haunts in and near Albany and a day seeking some of my ancestors’ graves near West Camp NY.
- Watkins Glen NY. We have never been to the Finger Lakes region of NY and will have a weekend to see what is there.
- Bedford PA. We will have one free day here and will probably spend it visiting the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville PA.
- Lorton VA. This will be a week visiting family but will be unique in that we will need to move the RV twice during the 5 days in Lorton due to booking difficulties. That should be… fun.
- Dumfries VA. This is just a few miles from Lorton and we are doing the 2 nights in Dumfries to see if this location has anything to offer. We have had so many problems scheduling visits to Pohick Bay Regional Park that we need to investigate alternatives. Between Lorton and Dumfries we will spend an entire week in the Alexandria area.
- Keeling VA. This will be just an overnight stop.
- Swannanoa NC. We will spend 2 nights here but have no particular activities planned. Maybe see if the area survived Hurricane Florence.
- Walland TN. This location was chosen for being midway between Pigeon Forge (and Dollywood) and Tellico Village (where our Gulf Waters TN friends live). We will visit friends one day and Dollywood the other day.
TS4 Segment 2 plan
We will spend 3 nights in Walland, then start the second segment of the TS4. It will also take 17 nights over 7 hops with a total of 1076 miles. The stops in this segment:
- Smyna TN. This will be a 3-night stop near Nashville. We visited Nashville before, on the GTW, but felt that we didn’t get the real Nashville experience because the place was overrun with Steelers fans in town for a Thursday night football game. Hopefully we will get a more authentic Nashville experience this time.
- Chattanooga TN. This will be an opportunity to visit Lookout Mountain and other nearby Civil War sites.
- Stone Mountain GA. We will visit Stone Mountain, a popular tourist destination. We hope to spend a day visiting Atlanta as well.
- Tifton GA. This is planned as a 2-night stop but we really have no plans for the area so it could be cut to 1.
- Homosassa FL. We were here before and really liked the area. We hope to re-visit the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and view the manatees again.
- Bushnell FL. This is our de facto home, though we have never lived here. We hope to attend the Escapees Chapter 57 Rally and, possibly, vote as we will be here for the 2018 election.
- Fort Myers FL. Home at last.
By this plan – which, as always, is subject to change – we will arrive in Fort Myers on Friday November 9. The totals for the TS4 as planned are 15 hops, 37 nights and 2368 miles. I have booked the stops for the first segment but have not yet booked the second segment, so those stops are more likely to change.