Jackson, MS

We left Meridian, MS looking forward to a day’s worth of driving to Shreveport, LA on I-20. Our Pit Bull Suede has severe skin allergies. She seems to break out to almost anything we try to feed her. It took a year or two to finally find a protein for her that worked: venison and potato. The only place we could find her food is at Petsmart with a Banfield hospital attached. We found one in Jackson, MS right off the interstate. Just a quick in and out and we would be back on the road, right? Ahh, if only things worked out the way we always planned them.

I pulled the RV into the Petsmart parking lot, went over a speed bump, and SNAP! Something broke. I casually kept driving and parked in the first available space, hearing scraping along the way. I was freaking out thinking I broke it while Josh calmed me down and went into problem solving mode. We came out to assess the damage. The back hitch that holds our motorcycle carrier had snapped off of the bumper. We were dragging the carrier behind us at an angle. Thankfully the motorcycle started right up and looked OK. We untied the motorcycle, and parked it in another spot. Thankfully, there was a Home Depot in the same shopping plaza. We bought 1,500 pound ratchet ties and metal epoxy. We wanted a temporary fix, so we could get to a campsite or hotel and still have the motorcycle for transportation. The goal was to put epoxy on the hitch and ratchet tie it to the bumper. The epoxy would help stick together the hitch and bumper. One broken ratchet tie and thirty minutes later, our temporary fix wasn’t as great as we hoped. The ratchet ties pulled the hitch closer to the bumper, but not close enough. We quickly called Coach Net (our lovely roadside assistance provider) to see if any RV service and repair shop could squeeze us in. We didn’t have much luck on a Friday afternoon though.

So, we ran our errands at Petsmart, unpinned the motorcycle carrier, set in on the couch in our RV, left the motorcycle in the parking lot, and drove the RV to Lefleur's Bluff State Park. It was the closest, cheapest park we could find. After we found the park and saw they had vacancy, we drove back to Petsmart to retrieve the motorcycle. On the way back, I drove the RV while Josh followed on the motorcycle. I made it back to the entrance of the park and realized Josh wasn’t behind me. I panicked and called him immediately. The motorcycle broke down a mile or so before “home.” He called CoachNet again. They were able to provide a free tow back to our campsite. Two hours later, we were finally able to set up camp. The RV Park is actually two miles from the entrance of the park. At ten miles per hour it was time consuming driving to the RV park, picking a site, driving back to the entrance, paying for the site, and finally driving all the way back to the space we would call home for the next few days. Jackson, MS welcomed us with a stressful first day, but the state park was so beautiful, it melted our stresses away.

Our site was right on a lake. Not only did we have an RV site, but we had a huge area for tent camping. It was the first time I was able to set up our 15 foot dog runners at an RV park. Unfortunately there weren’t any sewer hookups, but on the bright side they had an awesome shower house. The park ranger was very nice and informative. He made sure we knew what sights to visit while in town and told us about the park a little. He said they didn’t get many bears, but there was “a friendly alligator in the lake who won’t bother anyone.” After our experience in Lamont, FL we certainly found this amusing. We were wary about how much it would cost to fix the back bumper, so we didn’t do much in Jackson. I learned “We Remain” by Christina Aguilera and decided to film a video. “We Remain” is on the soundtrack for the second Hunger Games movie "Catching Fire." I felt the scenery of the park reflected the Hunger Games well. While we were filming, cars kept driving by. Instead of trying it again and again from the top hoping to record uninterrupted, we filmed two separate takes. I then went back to the RV and edited my videos. I even decided to re-film the ending in our “back yard.” It was the first time I edited something this large. Check out the video for yourself, and let me know how I did!

Finally it was Monday! We woke up early and got to Camper Corral as soon as they opened. We were hoping to leave that day. They told us it would take a week to order a new back bumper. We were certainly feeling the pressure about getting to Utah. We took the news with a grain of salt and started talking about our plan B. As we pulled out of the parking lot, we saw a yard sign pointing down the street to a brand new RV service and repair shop. We already called every RV shop in the area. We decided to push our luck and see if they could help us. It couldn't hurt to try a new RV shop less than a half mile away. Their friendly staff greeted us outside and got to work on it right then. They had a metal fabricator who was able to reinforce and reattach the bumper with three inch corrugated tubular steel and tig weld to two inch triangle steel supports. Freshly painted and a new RV door handle later, we were ready to hit the road! We’re both sad we didn't get to explore Jackson. There is a lot to do there! When we go back, we will be sure to visit Ground Zero Blues Club owned by Morgan Freeman. Next stop: West Monroe, LA!

Meridian, MS

We arrived at Nanabe Creek Campground. We decided to stay for a week so we could catch up on laundry, get our mail forwarded, and take care of some RV maintenance. 

The park was mostly full. There were a lot of permanent residents. We pulled up to a cute office building that was three stories high and looked like a tepee/tree house. The doors were locked though, and it looked abandoned. A host couple came up to us though and checked us in just fine. Her husband filled our propane tank before we pulled into our site. The roads were gravel, but the sites themselves were just dirt and roots. There were so many trees all of over the park. It took us a good ten minutes to maneuver around the trees and back the RV into the site. The park had a very nice set up, but it looked like the owners just stopped keeping up with it. We had to use pliers on the water hookup every time we wanted to use it because the water spigot didn't have a knob. On a positive note, they have amazing WiFi. We were watching Netflix on our Roku, and I was using the laptop at the same time. We didn't have to use our hot spot at all while we were there.

The next morning, we saw a HUGE forty-five foot fifth wheel/toy hauler checking in. The host couple was scratching their heads trying to find a spot for their big rig. I had a feeling they were going to ask us to move because we were in one of the bigger sites. Sure enough, they did. We moved across the street into a back-in. The site was much nicer than the pull through we were just in. We still had to squeeze in between trees, but we had more than enough room. There weren't any tree roots under our RV this time. It wasn't a big deal for us to switch sites, especially after seeing how much better our new site was. There were plug ins for power on both sides. A fellow camper tested the voltage on both and said they were both great. So of course we used the plug in closest to our shore (power) cord. We plugged in; no power. This is a great reason why we got a longer shore cord. When we first bought the RV, our shore cord was ten feet long. We had to get our plug in replaced, so we decided to upgrade the length to fifteen feet. If we hadn't done that, we wouldn't have been able to plug in on the other side of the RV. We realized later that the power source on the side that didn't work on our RV was a plug in for a washing machine and dryer. This is a common mistake in the RV world. The outlets and plugs look identical, but the wiring is completely different. It won't work if you try to plug into one, but some people try to use a washer/dryer male piece for their shore cord. This will fry your entire electric system. 

As a traveler, we are constantly keeping an eye on the weather. The Weather Channel and Al Roker are our best friends. We saw that Meridian was going to get some snow. It was already pretty cold outside. Our heat runs off of propane. We turned on our heat and after about thirty minutes, we realized our heater was kicking out cold air. We just got our propane filled a couple of days before, the indicator says we're full, but our fridge, heat, and stove won't run on it. We asked the host couple about it because they were the last people to touch our propane system. They just shrugged their shoulders, said, "I don't know," recommended a repair place but didn't know the name of it, and walked away. We decided to ask our neighbor about our problem. He told us the guy who fills the propane can be a bit sloppy with it at times. He told us we might have air in our propane tank. So we turned our burners on the stove on for five to ten minutes at a time, and then tried to spark one of them. Nothing happened. We tried to purge the air out like this for days, and we still weren't getting any propane. So we had to improvise. We went to Walmart to look for an electric heater but they were all propane heaters. So we bought a bunch of candles instead and used our roof A/C unit on the heater function. With snow outside, we were able to keep the temperature at sixty-five degrees. The candles really helped. Even though we were using our roof heater, it struggles to stay warm when the outside temperature is below freezing. We learned that this is common and doesn't mean there is anything wrong with our unit.

After the snow had melted and temperatures returned to the sixties, it was time to focus on getting new tires. We went to Southern Tire Mart to get it done. It was thirteen hundred dollars for six tires and the front two are All Terrain tires. It was the first time we brought the RV to a shop to get work done while being on the road. They were able to work on it with the dogs inside their kennels inside the RV. We were both nervous about it at first, but everything worked out. The mechanic who did the work said our tires were in really bad shape. He couldn't believe we never had a blowout or a flat. We got our new tires in the nick of time. 

Feeling positive about our new tires, we went back to Nanabe Creek Campground to tackle our next problem: laundry. We do not have a washer/dryer in our RV and not ever campground has a laundromat. Being on the road, our laundry gets pretty backed up. We had about five loads to do. There were four washers and three dryers. Only one of each worked, but they didn't put any "out of order" signs up. We lost about seven dollars because of it. I personally made "out of order" signs and put them on the machines that didn't work. One of the other campers was venting about there only being one washer and one dryer for an entire park. He said, "At least they finally put a sign up. They've been taking my money for about a month now!" He was very appreciative to learn that I put the signs up. The next day, we saw the host couple with a repair man trying to fix the washers and dryers. I guess the signs got their attention.

We have a mailbox with a UPS store in Wilmington, NC. Instead of having a P.O. Box, we have a street address which comes in handy. Anytime we stay somewhere for a week or longer, we try to get our mail forwarded. It came a couple of days before we were going to leave. Josh ordered a cell phone signal booster and installed it quickly on our RV. We have a small antenna on our roof. We ran the cable in through our kitchen window where it connects to a phone cradle inside. When the phone is in the cradle, the signal booster is applied. It really works too! Josh's phone signal can be white (no 3G), but after putting it in the cradle he has full blue signal (3G). You can buy the Wilson Electronics Sleek Cell Phone Signal Cradle Booster on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FGWGPS/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1   Even though we still couldn't figure out why our propane wasn't working, we felt accomplished for our problem-solving and teamwork to get everything done. We hit the road in hopes of getting to Louisiana by the night. 

Opelika, AL

My Uncle Charlie and his fiance Jennifer were getting married in about a month. We decided to back track and start heading to Boca Raton, FL. We left Decatur, drove back through Montgomery, and stayed in Oplika, AL. The drive through Montgomery took longer than usual. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for at least an hour. We were next to a boy's high school sports team through most of it. They read the windows and looked up my YouTube channel. They all had huge smiles as they pressed their cell phones against the windows. They were all playing my videos! They truly made me feel like a celebrity.

Opelika is a small town about thirty minutes west of Auburn. We stayed at the Spring Villa RV Park. The park was on a property that used to be a plantation. The original plantation house and slave quarters were still on the property. The park itself was very open. We were far enough from the road to not hear any traffic. We were surrounded by woods. The park had full hookups, but no WiFi. We both had very poor cell service, making our mobile hot spot obsolete. We only picked up three channels on our TV antenna, so we relied mostly on DVD's for our entertainment. 

At first it was very eerie to stay there. When we would walk the dogs near the plantation house, Honey would bark at the house. We never saw anything there. We stopped walking them near the house after it happened two nights in a row. Apparently one of the slaves killed the slave owner in the stairwell near the top floor. The house has been said to be haunted ever since by the slave owner's ghost. We asked some of the locals about this, but no one knew what we were talking about. You could tell the slave quarters had been burned down, but the main structure remains.

All around the park were trails. We went on a day hike with the dogs. We weren't sure how long the trail was, but we prepared for anything. While walking we saw a lot of animal tracks. I'm not an expert, but I'm we saw plenty of paw prints and hoof tracks. We came to the end of the trail when it hit the main road. The plantation land was very large and extended to the properties across the street. We decided to keep going. After only being twenty feet into the property I stopped dead in my tracks before hastily turning around. There was a dog laying on his side. Thinking he was asleep, I told Josh and we backtracked across the street. Josh made it clear to me then that he was sure the dog was dead. I've never seen a dead dog before, so I made him go back to double check. Unfortunately he was right. We put a ten foot stick in the ground near the entrance of the property as a marker and called the local Animal Control. Unfortunately we never got a call back from them, and the dog's body was never picked up. 

The park would put deer corn out late at night. We watched multiple deer enjoy the treat, but could never catch it on film. Several nights we heard coyotes howling. When the sounds got closer we would fire a shot from the shotgun. That would usually stop the sounds. One time we had the dogs outside when the coyotes were howling. Both of them became on edge and barked and growled towards the woods. The howling stopped after that. 

 We decided to go check out Opelika as a town. I looked up a local open mic night. Most of the time, we go to the venue a day or so before and check it out. We were lucky enough to do this on the same day. Later that night, I was dressed up, tuned, and ready to play! I was a little nervous but completely ready to shine. We enjoyed watching others sing, play, and jam together. A harmonica player even came out! We had a blast getting to know the townies at Eighth and Rail. We learned that Opelika was an industrial city. Opelika's downtown had small town charm much like my hometown Salisbury, NC. After a fun night of music and conversation, it was time to head back to the park.

The most surprising thing about Opelika was the diversity of the area. Downtown was normal with local businesses surrounding the streets. A couple miles down the road however, the quaint town turned into a high crime area. Different people even asked Josh at different gas stations numerous times if he wanted buy crack or other drugs. But just a couple more miles from there was our campsite in the middle of the country. As you turned on the road that lead us to the Spring Villa Park, there was a sign that read "This road is subject to catastrophic sinkholes." As an RV driver, it made us nervous to drive on the road. We saw numerous school buses on the road though, so we felt safe enough to drive on it. At the open mic, we asked the locals about it. They told us there was a sinkhole on that road years ago, so the city had to post that sign. They assured us we had nothing to worry about. 

I called my soon-to-be Aunt Jennifer to ask her about the wedding details. She told me that there were family complications, and they were going to have an intimate wedding instead. While we were in Decatur, we learned that Josh's ninety-five year old grandfather had been in the hospital for dehydration. He was having trouble taking care of himself properly. The family helped get him into a home. After everyone left, Josh's sister Kathy was left to take care of his affairs since she was the only relative living in the same state. Kathy has family of her own and with her third child on the way, we knew she could use some extra help. Since my uncle's wedding was called off for all the guests, we decided to change course and head to Utah to help Kathy. Next stop, Meridian, MS!

DeFuniak Springs, FL

We were very excited to get out of the wild of Lamont, FL and head to our next stop, DeFuniak Springs, FL. DeFuniak Springs was an average town; it was nothing special. We only stayed there for three nights. Our brake light came on as we were driving into town. A brake light will concern any full-time RV'er. We decided right away to get the brake problem taken care of. 

It cost us three hundred dollars to get a mobile mechanic (we found through Coach Net) to come out and change our master solenoid. While Josh was overseeing the work being done on the RV, I took the dogs to a quaint gazebo area in the park. The park was about a two hundred foot valley leveled out into three different sections. We stayed on the top level. The gazebo area and fishing dock were on the bottom level. There wasn't a bad spot for the view anywhere in the park. It also turned out to be a great time to practice for my audition for The Voice. I decided to take to social media and posted three audition song videos for my friends and family to choose from. See my next post to find out which song won the vote!

Juniper Lake RV Resort was a beautiful place to stay. The owner, Donna, had started the park with her late husband and two dogs. She was very sweet and very blunt about what was going on in the park. Certain parts of the bathroom were being replaced and the laundry room was in repair while we were there. The park is connected to a neighborhood. Josh and I took advantage by walking a two mile loop every day while we were there.  The best part about staying there was the free cable. We actually got more than sixty channels, which was a great way to pass the time. We watched Duck Dynasty and Honey Booboo for the first time. 

As we made our way out of town, we stopped by the local Walmart for our weekly shopping list. One of the items we picked up was temporary window paint. 

It was a great way to market myself online! I got a dozen views and a couple comments on my YouTube page telling me where they saw the RV. I was overwhelmed by the support I got from complete strangers! Yet they had taken the time to look up my video and listen to ME SING! I couldn't believe it! It made me realize the true motive for my dream: to move someone with my gift of singing.

Decatur, AL and Nashville, TN

We were thankful to continue heading north. Hopefully we would escape the cold, windy weather! On our way to Decatur we passed a brown historical sign reading "Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament - Next Exit." We decided to be spontaneous and check it out. About twenty miles away from the bustle of the city, through rolling farm hills, we found it! White picket fences lead our way to a beautiful castle and Vatican-esque plaza. There was a church, gift shop, Nativity Scene, Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, and an entire building dedicated to the now Saint John Paul II and the teachings and history of the Eucharist. We didn't get to go on the tour, but we enjoyed praying together and walking around. We knew we had to get back on the road soon, but it was nice to take a moment to be with our heavenly Father.

Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Point Mallard RV Campground is a part of a huge complex of fun things to do. A track, soccer field, ice complex, indoor/outdoor tennis courts, batting cages, chapel, water park, golf course, driving range, bike trail, and RV park are all collectively Point Mallard. Their RV park was the largest park we have ever been to! They also have a pretty big section for tent camping only. Basic amenities were included minus cable. We even had curbside trash pick up multiple times throughout the day. The office and camp store was well stocked. The host couple was nice enough to explain how to connect to the park's WiFi. A host couple is a couple who is staying in the park for at least three months. They help with park maintenance, and other campers are encouraged to see the host couple for any issues that come up after office hours. Josh and I have considered doing this!

The Voice audition in Nashville, TN

After weeks of planning, we decided to rent a car and drive from Decatur to Nashville for The Voice audition. It was awesome and a bit strange to drive a car again after months driving the RV! When we arrived at the Nashville City Music Center the line wrapped around the entire block! There was a bike show in town so we were thoroughly entertained while we took an hour or so to walk around the block. Longest walk ever! By the time we got to the door, I had to say goodbye to Josh and continue the rest of the journey without him. I wasn't alone though! I met two awesome chicks in line: Tammie and Dominique! We stuck together through the entire process. We distracted ourselves with conversations about past auditions and our dreams of becoming a singer.  I didn't make it, but I am so proud I gave it my best! The Voice's audition process is much less stressful than American Idol or X Factor. I only had to wait in line for one day and not two. All of the singers were very respectful of each other. It was nice not having to deal with all the crazy people that come out for American Idol. Josh met one of the girls who made it through the audition to the next round.  We got the RV because getting on these shows is like winning the lottery, and we are just going to keep "buying those tickets"!

The next day we decided to take the motorcycle out and ride around the town. Decatur is a quaint city filled with neighborhoods and restaurants. The only place in town to watch Superbowl XLVIII was at a Chile's. We were hoping for a small business to go to like in Wilmington, NC, but this made it clear that Point Mallard Campground is pretty much the best thing the town has to offer. We ended up having a pretty good night though. We ate way too much and enjoyed the game and commercials. 

While we were staying at Point Mallard, we met a very sweet couple from Texas who was staying in a fifth wheel across from us. Every day we walked the dogs, we gawked at their rig in amazement. It was the first RV we ever saw with a telescoping slide out. We knocked on their door one evening, and they graciously invited us in. I had a fun time bonding with the wife while Josh talked RV logistics with the husband. We enjoyed swapping stories about our travels with them. It was the first time we met another couple we got along with and liked since we've had the RV. 

After staying in Decatur for three weeks, we were ready to continue our journey. The weather had different plans for us though! We found out that Decatur was going to get snow. The temperature was already below freezing for the past week. Our sewer hose and tanks froze. We couldn't even get the RV to start on most days. Since we realized we needed to prolong our stay, we decided to take advantage of our surroundings and walk to the ice complex. Josh had never been ice skating before, and I had only been once in New York City. Surprisingly, there were a lot of families at the rink that day. The prices were so reasonable, we ate lunch there too. You can tell from the pictures and videos we had a blast! Later that night it snowed. It snowed for four days straight. It was a lot of fun playing in the snow. The dogs also got to wear their Ruffwear boots in the snow for the first time!

After a month long stay in Decatur, it was time to start heading to South Florida to visit some of my family. We hit the road and started the drive to Opelika, AL. Check out two new YouTube videos I filmed during our stay!

A Little About Ourselves

Meet our home for the next year or so! This is a 1986 Jayco Jay Mini 25 foot with a Ford Chassis diesel engine with only 47,000 miles. The fridge, oven, and generator run on propane and electric. We have a solar panel and satellite dish on top.
My boyfriend Josh and I sold our cars to get an RV and travel. Singing is my passion and, after going to an American Idol and X Factor audition, we realized getting on the show is like winning the lottery. The producer might choose you because you remind them of their sister. At the same time, the producer might not choose you because you remind them of their sister. So we decided this would be the easiest way to hit up all the audition cities. I work customer service online for Mayday Games, so where ever there is Internet, there's a job. It has its perks, but like any job it can be pretty demanding at times. Oh! I almost forgot the other important two people going on this journey!

Meet Honey and Suede!

Honey is on the left and Suede is on the right. Let me give you a little history on our little girls.

We found Honey in the fall of 2010 in Spencer, NC. I was bringing a friend home on the back of my scooter and at an intersection in the neighborhood, I saw Miss Honey bear at the corner barking at a fenced in Dalmatian. She was so little and so cute!...and skinny. I called Josh right away and he skated down. Josh scooped her up and got on the back of the scooter and I drove us home! I'll never forget seeing her ears flop in the wind from my rear view mirror. She seemed so comfortable in Josh's arms. We put up 'found' posters all over town, got some calls, but the owner was never one of them. She got parvo within the first 6 months of having her. The surgery was outrageously expensive, but the vet told us how to try and beat the disease at home. Give her 1 ice cube every hour and take her out. No food. For 3 days. And we had to keep her in a separate room because parvo is highly contagious and we didn't want to get Suede sick. Sure enough, our little fighter Honey pulled through! And we've had her ever since. Her favorite toy is the rope. She'll fetch anything you throw for her. And if you tie her up outside, there's a 90% chance she'll dig up that area in 15 minutes. We're not sure what kind of dog she is but we've been throwing change in a change jar for about a year now.  A DNA test at Pet Smart is only a hundred bucks. Hopefully we'll know for sure soon!

We got Suede when she was 2 years old in 2010. I think. LOL Suede belonged to one of Josh's friends and they couldn't take care of her any more. Josh has known Suede since she was a puppy so of course he wanted to help. I was nervous about having a Pit Bull as a dog, but only because of the negative association I had learned from society. Josh compromised and asked if we could have a trial run before we accept full responsibility. My entire opinion about Pit Bulls and animals in general changed for the better from that day forward. Suede is the sweetest dog I have ever met. She nuzzles you when you lay down, and she is the best snuggler! She was bit by her mom when she was a puppy and had to have a drain tube that went through her head and out of her neck. She was also hit by a car and broke both of her hips. I didn't know Suede when all of this happened to her, but I'm glad she had owners that did everything they could to save this precious little angel. Since we've had her, we have had complications with her skin. Now we believe she is allergic to fleas but we were told everything from chicken to beef was the issue. She's been on deer meat and potato diet for 2 years now. Suede does not get along with other dogs. I don't know why. It took a couple of weeks for her and Honey to even be in the same room. Even after having them for three years, the last time they got into a fight was about 3 months ago. Don't get me wrong though! At the end of the day, they are a pack and they love each other. They sleep together and play. Suede's favorite toy is the tennis ball. Not only will she fetch but she will rip the entire thing apart in minutes. She loves stuffed animals too. She loves to pull the stuffing out them. We just decided that until we see Cesar Milan, Suede is just going to stay away from other dogs until we can fix this issue. She's come a long way and we broke a lot of her bad habits. We love our dogs so much. Our lives would not be complete without them!

Nice to meet you!

Josh and I met in May of 2010. A friend introduced us. I didn't have anywhere to stay at the time, and Josh let me stay with him for awhile. Our chemistry didn't allow us to be friends for too long. 2 months later, we were dating. We rented a house in Spencer, NC for a year, and then moved to Wilmington, NC. We've been in Wilmington for the past 2 years and ready to leave. It's a nice town; there's always something to do and with the beach being 15 minutes away, where can you go wrong? After hitting up the music scene and enjoying some of the downtown nightlife, we realized this town just isn't right for us. We like to go to punk shows together. We walk right up to the stage, and enjoy the music. We dance. We shove. We dance to ska. Being a wallflower is not in our vocabulary. We both have big hearts and are always willing to help others at the drop of a hat. Wilmington just doesn't seem to have enough people like us, so we're leaving. We don't have a set destination in mind, but with all of our options I'm sure we will find a town we like somewhere!

Ever since I was a kid, I have a wanted to be a singer. I recently learned how to play guitar and have been addicted to it!! Check out my YouTube channel to hear me play! Like! Subscribe! Comment! Share!
My YouTube Channel!
My mom's YouTube Channel! - She posted a lot of videos from when I was in high school.
I'm excited to have a blog for our new life and to share our journey with others.