Twin Oaks RV Park

We spent the night at Twin Oaks RV Park in Elko, GA.   This was a nice park that we relaxed at on our trip to Warner Robbins and we would definitely stay here again.   It was super clean and everything was in good order.

Located less than a mile of the I-75 it was very easy to get to.  Besides the campground there was not much else at the exit so stock up before you get there.  We pulled in and they guided us to our space.  Everything was level and it was a nice shaded spot.  The spots in the front of the campground are in full sun so depending on your preference  and the season you may want to ask.

The park had plenty of things to do including a pool, gazebo and other outside activities.  It even had a stand alone building for meetings.

It also had something I had not run into before except at high end destinations.  A TV room and a coffee bar.

One downside.  It is close to the interstate and you could hear traffic while outside.  Not loud enough to hear inside of the RV but you could hear the road noise while sitting outside.  It would not deter us from staying her again and we probably will if we need to spend the night in the area.

Warner Robbins Museum of Aviation

Retirement is great and now that COVID is on the wane we can actually take advantage of it.   We recently had a short cold snap and believe it or not we had no doctors appointments for Sonya, her parents or myself.  We took the opportunity to do an overnighter up the road up to Warner Robbins, GA and Robbins Air Force base to the Museum of Aviation that is located there.

Warner Robbins is located 3 hours north of us, approximately 150 miles from the house.  So we packed up the Fuse on Tuesday night and left on Wednesday morning after I got back from an 8am doctors appointment.  OK, our schedules weren't perfectly clear but close enough.   It was a beautiful day and we had a really nice drive up US-319 to Tifton and then we jumped on I-75 up to Warner-Robbins.    It was a leisurely ride and time went by super fast.

The museum is great.  It is located just outside the Air Force Base so you do not have to pass through any sort of security and there is a huge amount of parking.  Not really any shade to park under but you could put several hundred class A motorhomes in their parking lot.  Another great thing about this museum is that admission is free.  This museum is owned by the Air Force and is the second largest Air Force Museum behind the Air Force Museum in Dayton.  Donations are appreciated and there are several ways to provide support if you want.

I am just going to leave a number of the photos from inside and outside.  There are well over 150 aircraft on display both inside and outside.  You could spend most of the day here looking at the aircraft and reading the information on the displays.  One of the most interesting things is that you can watch as aircraft are being restored in one of the hangers.  While we were there 4 different aircraft were being brought back to be put on display.

After we toured the museum we went back to the interstate to head for our stop for the night.  We could have driven back to Tallahassee but what is the fun in that.  But there was one thing we had to stop at on the way.   There is a Buck-ee's in Warner-Robbins and even better, it is at the exit you use on the Interstate to go toad from the Museum.  We got some fuel there, not because we really needed it, filling up only took 5 gallons but because the sun is still super hot in the south and we wanted to park the Fuse under the shade of the over hang while we went in. I felt guilty not getting fuel if I was blocking a pump. No complaints Buck-ee's has hundreds of pumps, most were not being used so I was not causing a backup. 

While at Buck-ees we got our food for dinner, a BBQ brisket sandwich and a BBQ Turkey sandwich.  Though not the best BBQ I have ever eaten, it is good enough to stop if going by to pick up some up for lunch or dinner and it is sold at a fair price.

After picking up our dinner we went 15 min down the road to our stop for the night at Twin Oaks RV Park in Elko, GA.

The milage for this trip is not complete since I did not fill up when I got home but we did pretty good.  We averaged somewhere around 18mpg for this excursion.  Chalk this up to the slower speeds (60mph) for half or more of this trip up and down US-319 and the really nice conditions on the Georgia roads.

Fusing in the Ozarks Fall 2021 Rally - Day 8 & 9 - Russelville, AR to Tupelo, MS to Home

After a nice overnight stay in Russelville we started our journey back home.    The first leg was back to Tupelo and the Campground at Barnes Crossing.  Sorry no photos from this part of the trip.  We just drove 5-6 hours a day fro both days to get home.  

We started out on Tuesday morning after a nice stay at Ivy's Cove in Russelville.  After stopping for some diesel, off we went.  Going back along a path we had already done is not as much fun as we have when seeing new things but it was the shortest path to home.  Interestingly enough our milage was not as good as the day before.  On this stretch of Interstate highway we only averaged 14.7mpg.  After fueling we headed another 20 miles down the road to the Campground at Barnes Crossing in Tupelo.  We got our spot  assignment and surprisingly enough, it was the same exact spot we were in 1 week previous.

After a good nights stay at Barnes Crossing we headed for home.  I filled up twice on this last day.  First outside of Montgomery where I got 13.4mpg and the second time at the Walmart just North of Dothan, AL and on that tank we got 15.7mpg.   The 15.7mpg is a little misleading since this was mostly on US231 at 65mph.

Ok so lets see how well the Fuse did for the whole trip.  We traveled a total of 2,034 miles ignoring the Dothan to Tallahassee leg.  We did not fuel back up once we got home and Dothan is only 70 miles from the house.  We consumed a total of 129.38 gallons of fuel.  This works out to 15.72 miles per gallon for the entire trip.  

We used very little propane on the trip but we did fill up at the KOA in Harrison.  It has been several years since we got propane and the tank showed 1/4 tank.  We filled up and it used 5.3 gallons to fill it up.

Fusing in the Ozarks Fall 2021 Rally - Day 7 - Claremore, OK - Russelville, AR

We started out Day 7 in Claremore, OK at the Will Rogers Downs KOA.   Our original plans were to go into Tulsa and see the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and then go to the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee.   Sonya and I decided to invoke our new retired lifestyle options and change the plan and make it an easy day.  We skipped the Air and Space Museum and headed straight to the Five Tribes Museum making it a short day.  As part of our reset we also decided to skip Fort Smith, AR.   It was closed so seeing it would have been outside only.  We would travel a little further down the road and to stay at the Ivy's Cove RV Retreat again.

So off several toll roads and on to Muskogee.  We stopped to see the Five Civilized Tribes Museum.  Siri continued to have a since of humor and brought us up a road that was Singh and full of switchbacks once we got off the Interstate.  Anything bigger than a Fuse would not have made it.  She failed to note that by adding a couple of minutes to the trip we could have gotten there on nice wide straight roads with almost no change in elevation.  Siri has had a lot of laughs as she tried to kill us on this trip.

The Five Civilized Tribes museum is located next to the VA hospital in Muskogee, OK.  It was originally the Union Indian Agency Building where the Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent for the 5 civilized tribes that had been relocated to Oklahoma conducted business and lived.  This really was of interest since Sonya has a great, great, great grandmother who was from the Cherokee tribe and I have a great, great, great Grandmother who was from the Muskogee Tribe. (this may be missing or adding too many greats) 

The museum itself took an hour or so to visit.  Lots of interesting historical stuff on the first floor about the 5 tribes and some very nice art on the second floor.  It also gave us a perfect place to stop and eat lunch.

We did stop and get a treat on our journey.   We stopped at a Braums Ice Cream & Dairy Store just outside of Ft. Smith.  We had seen signs for several on our travels around Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas but had never stopped in.  Well we won't make the mistake of passing one up again.  The ice cream was great.  I had an orange freeze that was out of this world.   Next time we will stop at one and try out the breakfast menu or the burgers and shakes.

Then we continued on to our stop for the night in Russelville, AR.   We stayed again at Ivy's Cove RV Retreat.  We thought that this was a perfect one night stop RV park for us a week earlier and this time as well.  This time was a little different.  They were full for the night when we called but when we said we were in a 23 foot Fuse he said he had one spot so long as we did not mind being in the last overflow site.  No problem from us.  Unlike the last time we stopped and were in a 50-60 foot space, this time we were in a space that was 25 feet long.  Nay longer than the fuse and we would not have fit.  Good news was it was next to the laundry/bath house so we were set.  It is interesting  that Ivy's Cove is not the fanciest campground but it sure does feel comfortable to us and we would stop again..

So on this segment of our journey we traveled 248 miles and got 15.5mpg.  All of this was on the interstate system at 70mpg.  

 

KOA Tulsa NE / Will Rogers Downs KOA Journey - Claremore, OK

We spent Sunday night in the Tulsa NE / Will Rogers Downs KOA Journey.  The campground is located just outside of Claremore, OK.  A couple of miles off of I-44.    First thing of note is that this is located at  the Cherokee Casino / Will Rogers Downs Track, so if lost, follow the signs there.  It was rather unique to drive up and see the campground next to a reasonably large horse track.  Did not even see the casino until we got to the park, it seemed rather small.  The campground was pretty large with over 100 sites and overflow sites in the racetrack parking lot.   

Our site was a back-on site right across the road from the office.  Good in that we were close to the bath house.  Bad in that there was a flood light on at the office and we had to block the light out on the cabin door window.  Our site also backed up to the track.  Had the ponies been running we would have had nice seats from our site to watch at the turn.  Well timing is everything and we missed out.

Being at the casino/track, there was food available for dine-in or takeout.  We did not check it out,  but it was available and it was only a flat,  couple of hundred yard walk to get there.

The site was nice and level.  It had been raining before we got there so there was some mud but the site was well drained so no standing water.  All the amenities were there, but no cable tv.  We did get a good number of stations using the antenna.

The bath house was connected to the office.  The showers were large and clean.  No issues there.

We would have no problems staying there again.  The only downside was there were no trees but I guess they would interfere with the view of the track.  Got to decide if you want shade or horses.

Fusing in the Ozarks Fall 2021 Rally - Day 6 - Harrison, AR - Claremore, OK

 

We left the Rally in Harrison and continued on our journey.  Or next stop was Wilson's Creek National Battlefield.  This was about 1 hour and 30 minutes north of Harrison.

The battle at Wilsons Creek was the first civil war battle west of the Mississippi.   The park has a very nice and modern museum and a 5 mile driving/hiking/biking loop around the battlefield to see the important sites.

Our first stop was the museum.  This was a very nice and modern facility.  Lost of information on lead to the ware and in particular the lead to the war in Missouri and the other boarder states.  

There very interesting displays and interesting information on the battle.  The battle flag of the Cherokee Braves is on display.  This was a Native American unit made up of multiple tribes fighting for confederacy.  The flag has 5 red stars representing the 5 civilized tribes.  

There were many other displays in the museum and a movie that explained the battle.  Artillery from both sides was also displayed.

After the museum we took the driving tour.  It was a five mile loop around the battlefield with stops at the important locations.  It was apropos that we saw people touring on horseback at a battlefield that had a large amount of cavalry present. 

When we finished with our battlefield tour we headed for our stop for the night, the KOA in Claremore, OK.  

Today we traveled 233miles.  Our milage was 14.2mpg.   We did a lot of idling in the park as we did the auto tour around the battlefield.

Fusing in the Ozarks Fall 2021 Rally - Day 6 - Harrison, AR

Day 6 of our trip and day 3, the last day of the Fusing in the Ozarks rally started off great.  The weather cooled down overnight and the morning started off with the best weather you could have, at least for someone from Florida.  The temperature was in the low 60's and very little humidity.

The last day of the rally is always a little sad.  Saying goodbye to old and new friends.  Making plans to see everyone in the spring and maybe on the road.

This morning we had numerous breakfast breads and more fellowship.  Hugs and handshakes all around and then most of the Fuses trickled out of the park.   We stopped with some others to fill up with LP and then off Sonya, Lily and I went to continue our journey.