Tennessee

 We had a good evening and I got most of the chores done before retiring for the evening.  I awoke at 6:45 and finished getting everything ready to depart short of the water and power hookups.  We had a quick microwave breakfast sandwich and finished off the cantaloupe.  It turned out to be a bit longer day than planned but that's just part of RV life.  We took our time getting out pulling out of the campsite about 8:30, stopped at the dump station to empty the tanks, then made our way to the main gate to check out by 9am.  It would be a pretty straight forward trip, somewhere about 250 miles, mostly Interstate, then an overnight stop at a State Park.  

We made our way out to the interstate and doddled along not wanting to get there before check-in time.  I had driven about an hour and decided to stop and make another latte' and grab a smoke while I had a chance.  I'm not sure just what it was that caught my attention but I took a closer look at the tire on the passenger side of the car dolly and saw polyester cords showing.  I have a brand new spare but, realized I only have the jack that came with the Murano.  I could manage jacking it up to change the tire but, the only lug wrench I have is also for the Murano and it is definitely NOT the same size lugs on the tow dolly.  I got back inside and we began looking for a suitable tire center as near as possible and got back onto the interstate at a slightly relaxed pace now trying to baby the soon to expire tire long enough to get it changed.  Found a place about 25 miles away and only 3 miles from the interstate.  I had only planned on having them mount the spare and I would have the tire changed at a more convenient time or day.  As the attendant was getting the spare off of the mount, he pointed out that the Other Tire was also showing cords.  No time like the present.  We left the new spare on the mount and just got 2 new tires put on the dolly.  No more worries.

Back on the road, we stopped at a rest area to let the dogs out and fix some sandwiches.  No concerns about getting to the park too early and I have to admit, its a bit less stressful driving 5 under the speed limit.  The last time I crossed the Mississippi River, I had to make a few detours as one of the bridges was undergoing repairs and all traffic was being routed across the 1 remaining bridge.  This time wasn't so bad, traffic was about as dense as expected and we made it through Memphis without incident.  We exited onto US 64 and it looked like we would be arriving almost exactly at the campground check-in time of 4pm.

Our first stop in Tennessee is at Chickasaw State Park, about 2 hours east of the mississippi river.  The Park entrance was a simple turn off from the road but you immediately come to a Y in the road with signs pointing both directions with lettering too small to make out without stopping and blocking the road while you try to read it.  Then the Park office (to the left) had NO parking area available except for cars.  I took up a generous 5 spaces hoping to have enough room to make the U-turn necessary to get out and (to the right) which would take us to the campsite.  I can make a U-turn in the RV pretty easy, but the car on the tow dolly adds a bit more to that turning radius and I barely had enough space.  Making our way into the campground, it was only moments before that deep sense of calm washed over and we were at peace among the forest on a twisty path to our pull-through site for the night.

Since it's only an overnight stay, there was nothing more to do than get into place, drop the landing gear, hook up the water and power, open the slide out, and settle in for a nice quiet evening.  Free Wi-fi was among the amenities, You get what you pay for.  I was able to check my email, but unable to download a 400k pdf.  This wasn't a huge disappointment, Not really worried about getting online much, but it did mean you wouldn't get to see this when I finished it but rather later when I could get back to the highway and enough signal to upload it.  Wednesday will be another short drive, this one only about 200 miles and I can already feel the temperature dropping.