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Plasticman · 11-28-2016, 07:42 AM

My wife and I completed our road trip from Madison, Alabama to Abie, Nebraska and back yesterday. We traveled to see our oldest son and his family for Thanksgiving. The reason I'm bothering to post about this trip is I wanted to share our experiences with the places we stayed.

In order they are:
1) Pin Oak Campground, Natchez Trace State Park (Lexington, TN). Excellent place to stay, already planning to spend a week there this summer with the grandkids. We laundered the essentials here (they have a very nice bathhouse with Laundromat in the middle) as we had not done so before leaving after working all week. Beautiful views if you get a lake view lot.
2) KOA Kansas City East (Oak Grove, MO). East to get to, make sure to take the hearing protection they provide as a sleeping aid. We took advantage of the opportunity to purchase propane for the trip here. The campground is right next to I-70. I would stay here again as a one night rest stop or if I was going to a ball game. If I make this drive again I'll break it up. It was really too far for one day.

On the return we stayed at the following places:
1) 370 Lakeside Park RV Campground (St. Peters, MO). Very east to access, just off I-370. It was very quiet here, great location. The city has spent a LOT of money making this a nice destination location. They have a long walking trail around the lake (we took the 4.2 mile one), 3D archery range, large outdoor covered seating area, two fenced in dog areas (one for small dogs, the other for bigger ones) and lots of RV pull thru parking. If I make this drive again I'll break it up. It was really too far from our starting point for a one day drive. We will definitely being visiting here again.
2) Clarksville RV Park (Clarksville, TN). East to get to, just off I-24. Neither one of us heard much highway noise when we tried to sleep. Again, this was a nice one night place to stay.

Overall we drove 1962 miles over 6 days. I got 8 MPG going through the mountains in TN/AL/KY and 11.5 on the rolling hills of MO/NE and flats of IA/KS if I kept the speedometer at 65 MPH. We have a 2003 National Tradewinds 375 with the 330 Cat. Due to the potential for freezing weather, we always filled our water tank as soon as we arrived and then packed our water hose away.
My wife and I are 50/49 YO so we felt pretty good about the trip. But I did learn a lot as this was our first real long distance road trip in the RV. The original estimate for fuel costs was $650. I think that was pretty spot on for this trip.

I'll add pictures later.

Just thought I'd share.

Rob

woodworker414 · 11-28-2016, 10:00 AM

Plasticman; thanks for sharing. This kind of info is always good to know.

MSHappyCampers · 11-28-2016, 10:42 AM

Thanks for sharing Rob! Glad the trip went well for you guys!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

Plasticman · 11-28-2016, 12:25 PM

Our RV parked at Pin Oak RV Campground, Natchez Trace State Park.

Parked in Abie, Nebraska next to our Son's house.

twogypsies · 11-28-2016, 02:02 PM

Great pictures and report. When you get time, it would be helpful for many others to do a review of the parks on campgroundreviews.com

DannyA · 11-28-2016, 06:58 PM

Sounds like a great trip. We stay at Natchez Trace very often, live close by.

KT4Wextra · 11-28-2016, 08:42 PM

A good thing your took your house with you as a village of 68 people wouldn't have any motel/hotel. How was traffic on I-70? If you want to go again I would suggest taking US60 across southern MO to Springfield and then US13 north to Clinton Mo and Hwy 7 over to I-49 into KC and pick up I-29 north. I went from west side of Atlanta to Council Bluffs in July, 1000+ each way. My first stop was Corinth MS (US72 from the MS state line to Corinth is a 4 lane cowpath) then north thru Jackson to I-155 over to Kennett MO and 2 lanes to Poplar Bluff MO (2nd stop)then US60. With the exception of about 75 miles in AL and 50 miles in MO it was all 4 lane. US60 is fairly new 4 lane with very little traffic, very few big rigs (7-8 years old). We are retired so we don't push our travel and limit it to around 250 miles a day but I'm sure you are still working so getting to your son's house is a priority.
Other than farming what else is there for an occupation around a small community like Abie. it must be hell in the winter, nothing to break the winds.
We are traveling to DD in NW Houston (Magnolia TX) 800+ miles, for Christmas and most of my route is non interstate 4 lane hwy (about 80%).
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, safe travels.
Marv

BuzzWolfAR · 11-28-2016, 09:44 PM

Great report. I found pulling our TT, that 400 miles is about as much as I want to do in a day. Always like to arrive during daylight hours.

Really enjoyed your report. I agree with posting your experience with RVParkReviews. I always do that so others know what to expect.

JeffAZ · 12-02-2016, 10:48 AM

Congrats Rob, I'm sure this is the first report ever on irv2 about a trip to Abie, Nebraska. I spent my first 30 years of life in Nebraska and have never heard of Abie, had to look it up. At first I thought maybe it was a typo. This town is small even by Nebraska standards. The nice things about little towns like this is no HOA to worry about when parking your rig.

I remember driving with my son through the Nebraska sandhills enroute to the Black Hills a few years ago. He was excited to read the population signs of every little village we drove thru. I think the smallest had a population of 12. Good times!

Plasticman · 12-03-2016, 10:08 AM

The only work in Abie is farming. There are larger cities within commute distance that have more options. We both work so getting there and back was our priority.

KT4Wextra · 12-03-2016, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plasticman

The only work in Abie is farming. There are larger cities within commute distance that have more options. We both work so getting there and back was our priority.

I was born and grew up on a farm in SW Iowa. I also had to look up on the internet where Abie was since it is not large enough to be listed in my US Atlas. I traveled a lot on business in Iowa and Nebraska but Abie was not a community on my agenda. I imagine in a small town like that no one is a stranger and the tavern is the local gathering place.

That distance means pushing 2 hard travel days and a little tiring as well. My trips back to Council Bluffs were usually 2 nights/3 days (no RV) or 5 days with the RV. I've done it in a little over 16 hours but I don't advise that, there were parts of that trip I don't remember.