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Drove the whole length of Illinois today, bottom to top. Now, finally, in
Wisconsin. Should be home by tomorrow afternoon.
Roads clear but cold. Snow in fields, not on roads.
Did I mention it is COLD up here?
Second motel of the trip tonight. The first was in Illinois on the way
south last December, when it was also below freezing and therefore too
cold to camp.

Had a few today. Haven't been this cold since Florida (really).

Lots of Minnesota cars headed north. Spring migration.

Saw our first little patch of snow here in southern Illinois. Oh oh.

R^2
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Rolling, Day 3: The rest of Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and now
Illinois. Birmingham had terrible roads under construction, Nashville
required lane changes and no one would allow them, so I just cut the
bastards off. Hwy 24 in Tennessee was good but picked up a lot of rush
hour traffic at 2:45. Just got into Illinois to camp at a state park.
Winterized the camper tonight. All water tanks needed emptying because it
will be 32 tonight, no problem, but then 22 by tomorrow night. Gray
weather but no rain. Yeah!
Looks like, with about 750 miles to go, we might actually be home by Wed.
night. We should have snow on the ground but not the roads by mid-day
tomorrow, so maybe a motel Tuesday night since it is getting too cold to camp. Maybe even into Wisconsin by then, or pretty close.

Rolling, day 2. Had an ok RV park last night, north of Tampa off I-75.
Took some back country roads for a change through horse country until we
hit the west coast. Been on Hwy 19/98 headed north for much of the day.
Lunch in a mom and pop pizza/salad buffet. Church crowd overflowed the
place. OK/good/cheap food. Clear skies, 10-20 NW winds, sun! Not
overwhelming... traffic. Stimulus money working to give us good paved
roads.

Visited Yankeetown, FL. A classic, old, FL town that time has passed by.
On a river connecting to the Gulf in north-central Florida. Deep channel.
Hidey hole if coming across the Big Bend of the Gulf from the Panhandle to
South Florida. B's marina and campground. Manager is Helen (aka "B").
Charming area but a challenge with the boat behind the camper. Roads very
narrow with close overhanging trees.

Camped tonight just south of Montgomery, Alabama. Supposed to get down to
freezing tonight - will take some getting used to this again.

1209 miles to go until landfall (or is it snowfall?) back in Minnesota.
Weather and roads are good, and just might stay like that all the way
back. If we are lucky.

Got our crew lined up for sailing in July. We will stay in Minnesota and sail on Lake Pepin with our new boat. Sorry to miss the North Channel trip this year. But we did just finish up living on our (older, smaller) boat for most of the winter, full time. And we really want to take our grandkids sailing - we get them at home for two weeks.
See picture of Capt. Constance and Gwennie, and my First Mate.

Left Marathon (Florida Keys) today; drove through the Everglades and are
now in a nice RV park just a little north of Tampa. At this rate, we
should be home in Minnesota by Thursday or so. Roads look clear; no snow
on the ground until central Illinois, and none on the roads – for now.
Of course, with our luck, there is plenty of time for blizzards to develop.
Stay tuned for progress reports as our campervan, trailer, and boat
continue on our 2000 mile crossing from the Keys to Minnesota.

Yesterday, on Friday, February 26, we had enough. This was actually a
nice sunny day, with lower winds. We took advantage of this and pulled
the boat. Spent the day cleaning, organizing, unbending sails, and in
general getting the boat ready for 1) 2000 miles of trailering into a
northern Midwest winter, and 2) getting her put away for several months in
our backyard and boat storage unit, at least, in case we decide to stay on
Lake Pepin with our new boat instead of going to Canada with the old one.
Had a great cookout / fish grilling / on s/v Blue, a 40-foot-ish catamaran
with our new friends Richard and Kelly. Hard to say goodbye to our newest
sailing friens.
Moved into the campervan overnight, with the boat and trailer attached.
Ready to move on.
Of course, this means that the weather in Florida will finally get nice -
it always does after we leave.