Thursday 24th November – Thanksgiving

As I mentioned, everywhere would be shut today so we had no plans to go out.  We had a lazy morning.  It was overcast but I went for an orientation walk and bike ride.  Here’s our view of the Mississippi:

I have to say, having seen the river numerous times now, it may be a vital part of American history as far as human exploration and sale of goods – but it is not pretty!  Even on a sunny day, it is functional – the swirling currents in the grey waters are home to huge ugly barges and industrial ships carrying freight, not day-trippers in pretty sail boats.

I took advantage of one of the best points for this campsite – FREE laundry!  Certain that there would be no other crazy people wanting to do such boring tasks on Thanksgiving I was surprised when I had to queue to use the machines.  Turns out it’s Canadians and others who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving who do washing on this holiday….that’s why they look at you strangely when you give them a cheery ‘Happy Thanksgiving!’  But I got into conversation with a Canadian lady about the usual things us RVers talk about – where are you headed?  Where have you come from?  And what are you planning around Christmas now the weather here is turning?  At this point, I realise that I have failed to tell you that we have booked a State Park in Florida for Christmas, as it turns out that this lady and her husband are going to be in the same park as us – what are the chances of that?!  When we had our planning day back in Texas, we had to face the reality that we had been warned about – Florida in December is ridiculously busy, mostly due to the fact that it’s the only State where you are guaranteed sun and warm weather at this time of year.  And the PRICES are mad!  We were looking at RV sites for $70-100 per night, way above what we could realistically afford, but it was okay as they were all fully booked in any case!  Our friends at Passport America were no help – our money off membership was not valid between November and March at all their sites in Florida.  It seemed that all retirees, holiday-makers and most of the rest of the population were heading down to Florida for Christmas so the sites can charge whatever they like.  Thankfully, we discovered the wonder of Florida State Parks.  I got a login for their website and, although we’d been disappointed at the expense of some near the start of this trip, these parks were now going to come into their own.  We managed to book 7 nights at Collier Seminole State park, just on the verge of the Everglades in South Florida for $176, over Christmas – so bang on budget.  We had no idea what this would mean for our Christmas, what facilities there were in the area or whether we would literally be isolated in the middle of nowhere?  But we had to book something or we risked being on the roadside somewhere.  This goes against all my ‘winging it’ intentions for this trip and the freedom to just end up where we end up, but it was essential for that time of year so I just had to suck it up.

As the evening drew in it was time to cook Thanksgiving dinner.  With our tiny oven I think we did a great job – turkey, roasted sweet potato, honey-roast parsnips and Simon even made a successful attempt at Yorkshire puddings!  Here’s the evidence:

What you can't see is that we're watching the NFL on TV in the background, we fully went for it.  It was Dallas Cowboys Vs Washington Redskins but don’t ask me who won!  When the match was over I was sure there would be some cheesy holiday TV on somewhere – I think I hit the jackpot when I found an ‘Anne of Green Gables’ remake with Martin Sheen in (he wasn’t Anne) but I don’t think Simon was as convinced!  It was better with pecan pie to accompany it….

As we’d travelled, various locations had reminded us of classic movies we have seen or feel like we should have seen.  For example, Dodge reminded me of Blazing Saddles and we’d watched ‘Lincoln’ after visiting Springfield.  Tonight it was time to watch JFK starring Kevin Costner which neither of us had seen before.  We both really enjoyed it and, even having visited the Sixth Floor Museum only recently, it made us reconsider some of those conspiracy theories!  Definitely one to see if you haven’t previously had the chance.