We made the most of our time in Mississippi while riding out Hurricane Irma.  We had a couple of cool days that were overcast with a spit of rain, but for the most part, the weather was ideal -- cooler and less humid than Florida -- and we were able to relax in the knowledge that we didn't have to worry about anything happening to Pearl.

We enjoyed quite a few excellent bike rides on the Longleaf Trace, just a couple of miles from our campground.  On our last day we accomplished our longest ride this year at over 50 miles. We'd done the same ride in May 2016 (our blog post with more information on the Longleaf Trace) down to the town of Sumrall. Here's some of what we saw along the way.

First up, this lovely garden spot with brightly painted bikes and whimsical garden art that someone had set up along the trail.  I had to take photos from all angles to capture its charm!

The Little Free Library at the trailhead in Sumrall looked a lot healthier than the one in Bassfield. In our post from our visit the previous year, I'd noted that the one in Sumrall had very few books, so that was a change for the better.  But I wished I'd had a pile of books I was finished with to donate to Bassfield as this is the first time I've ever seen a completely empty Little Free Library. I'm hoping it is just new and hasn't gotten any donations yet.

Despite the lack of ice cream, we did enjoy checking out some pretty murals we had missed on our ride to town last year.  From the coincidence department:  I noticed when posting this photo and looking back on older photos that I wore the same orange bike jersey on last year's ride to Sumrall!

Another day, while Barry took a solo ride, I decided to check out the nature trail at the campground.  Unfortunately, it was poorly maintained, with high grass and lots of spiderwebs. But it was still a pretty and peaceful walk in the woods.  Just me, butterflies, and lots of large spiders I had to watch out for.  They grow 'em big in Mississippi!

Back at our site, I couldn't resist taking one more shot of Pearl from an angle I hadn't captured before.  This was such a nice campsite right at the end of the lakeside row, and the folks in the next site left after the weekend, giving us even more of a buffer for our last few days.

Such a lovely view we had; you could feel your blood pressure going down here....

I enjoyed seeing this Egret (or perhaps a juvenile Little Blue Heron?), who was frequently busy working the lakeshore.

We hated to leave our idyllic spot in Mississippi, but once the hurricane passed and it appeared that most services were back in place, we needed to get back to our Florida  campground before my next orthodontia appointment on the 18th.  In our next post we'll tell you about our trip back to post-Irma Florida.

Our previous post described day 1 of our evacuation from the Orlando area ahead of Hurricane Irma. We had a good night in Defuniak Springs and hit the road again in the morning, continuing west on I-10.  Traffic was heavier than the day before, though at least we didn't have to go through more storms.

As we traveled through Alabama and into Mississippi, we saw many other Florida license plates traveling along with us.  Because most of these folks were evacuating just like us, we were a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to nab a site at a campground we'd visited before (see this blog post from May 2016) and really enjoyed at Jeff Davis Lake.  We really didn't want to travel any farther so were crossing our fingers and toes!

Barry thought there might only be a 50/50 chance that we'd find a free site since the campground is small (only 13 RV sites) and popular with fishermen, and Thursday arrivals are common for folks who want to ensure they get a site for the weekend.  

We got lucky!  Due to the fact that this small campground doesn't seem to be well-known outside the local area, only two sites were occupied when we arrived in the mid afternoon, and we nabbed an excellent one right on the lake.  

About an hour after we arrived, another rig pulled in next to us, and a little later that day, a fifth rig arrived.  That was to be the sum total of arrivals for the weekend; much to our surprise, no one arrived on Friday or Saturday!  Most of the others seemed to be friends and/or relatives who come here often.

Here's the lovely view from our site as well as some photos of Pearl as seen from the other side of the small but very pretty lake.

We did bring along some unwanted guests:  love bugs!   It is the season, and Barry had a big cleaning effort for the first couple of days here scrubbing all the little devils off the windshield and Pearl's front panel and grill.  

The weather has been gorgeous since we arrived, with low humidity, pleasant breezes over the lake, and cool evenings.  After getting acclimated to the Florida heat and humidity, it feels like fall and is a nice respite.  It doesn't appear that we'll get any heavy wind or even any rain from Irma, so we are very relieved with the spot we picked to ride this one out.

The cycling is excellent here, a big reason we love this campground so much.  From our campsite, it's about 2 miles over to the Longleaf Trace, a paved rail-trail, mostly on a very hilly connector trail. Once on the Trace, the grades are mild, and there are very few other trail users this time of year, so we feel like we have the trail all to ourselves. We can ride into the small town of Prentiss just a couple of miles north for groceries or south to several other small towns.  

Paisley has also been enjoying our time here in Mississippi. There's a part of the park we can walk to where there is never a soul after dinner, so we can let her off leash to chase her ball for awhile.  She sleeps very well after these sessions!

I sure didn't expect to be writing this particular post when I published the last blog post about my braces and promised that the next one would be about our RV.  I guess you could say it is, but not our bedroom renovation, that's for sure!  

How quickly things can change when a hurricane is approaching,  On Monday night, we expected to be staying put, but while watching The Weather Channel about Hurricane Irma on Tuesday, the latest track looked worse for central Florida  It appeared that Orlando would not be a good place to be when Irma came to call, most especially in an RV.  For that reason, we made an executive decision to evacuate from our campground west of Orlando.  Barry thought we should leave on the very next morning (Wednesday), a very wise decision, as it turns out.  

All of a sudden, our day became a whirlwind of unexpected preparatory activity.  We stocked up on far more groceries than the few items on our list, did three loads of laundry, brought in outdoor items from our campsite, got an "Occupied" sign for it so we could get the same site back when we eventually returned, and planned our evacuation route and stops.  We would stop for one night in the Florida panhandle, then make our way to a campground we'd enjoyed before in Mississippi, hoping this location would get us far enough west to avoid the storm, or at least the worst of it.

Wednesday morning we did a pump-out in addition to our usual campground departure tasks and managed to get on the road by 9:10 am, a good time for us.  

Governor Scott had cancelled all tolls on Florida highways, so we got a free ride on the Turnpike up to I-75.  There was traffic, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it would get a day or two after our leaving.  And although gas was more expensive than before Hurricane Harvey, we ran into no problems with shortages or long lines.

What did come as an unexpected surprise was a large cold front coming through the central and northern part of the state, bringing heavy downpours in spots.  The rainy weather and a small wreck south of Ocala made for slow-going on the road for awhile but only cost us perhaps 30 minutes overall..  

Overall the moderate traffic moved smoothly northward.  Much to my surprise, there were nearly as many vehicles heading southbound; perhaps some were vacationers returning to prepare their homes for the hurricane, since this was Labor Day week and a lot of folks were having fun vacationing until Irma reared her ugly head.  We also saw work trucks likely returning from helping in Houston, now gearing up for more shifts ahead in Florida.

Once we turned westward on I-10, traffic was much lighter.  We still had some rain to go through, but past Tallahassee, all was clear.  We forgot about the time change to central daylight time, so when we reached our destination, it was earlier than it felt to us after the long day on the road.  

We spent the night at a very nice RV park in a rural setting outside of the town of Defuniak Springs, which I'd never heard of.  The park, Sunset King Lake RV Resort, a Good Sam park, sits beside King Lake.  It was a large park with over 200 sites, though many were permanents and park models. Still, there were plenty of sites available for travelers, and we saw a few other rigs we'd passed on the road that day.

Our pull-through site didn't have a lake view (few did), but a short walk took us there. There's no swimming allowed in the lake, only boating, but there's a pool as well as a clubhouse, library, large laundry room, and multiple bath houses.  Our pull-through site had full hookups (electric, water, sewer, and cable TV), making it a very comfortable stop. We would certainly return to this park if we're ever passing through again.

This was a very dog-friendly park, with plenty of green area, a small fenced dog park, and poop bag and disposal stations scattered around, a welcome touch. Paisley really enjoyed exploring the park with us.  I'm sure she was as happy for a change of scenery as we were!

We also found this to be one of the friendliest parks we've visited, with many residents stopping by to say hello as they walked or drove their golf carts by.

We were in good spirits even after a long day as we felt incredibly relieved to be out of central Florida ahead of the traffic jams we anticipated were bound to occur, not to mention gas shortages and lines.  We were looking forward to getting even farther west the next day, where we planned to ride out the storm.  

​We hope everyone reading this will be safe in this massive hurricane, or far enough away from it not to have to worry.  We'll share the the rest of our evacuation story in the next post,