The day after Christmas, we left Minnesota before 4 AM, heading to Mississippi. We arrived there about 9 PM. It was good to be back, although we knew we could not pick up our trailer until the next day. Jane let us stay in the house for the night.

We wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with our southern family and friends, before heading to Texas, for the start of our winter. First steps were to retrieve the trailer from where it was stored in Bill and Louise’s yard, and take it back to Jane’s yard. Then we began the tasks of reorganizing. All of the winter clothes from Minnesota had to be stored away. The outdoor fridge had to be reinstalled and the food put back into kitchen fridge. Food left in the cooler also had to go back into the fridge. All of this took less time than expected.

We only had 5 days to meet with friends before pulling out. We went to the Thirsty Hippo one night to listen to the Lanna Wakeland Band and to Blu Jazz to listen to Cole Hill sing.

We spent New Year’s Eve in downtown Hattiesburg. Lindsay was playing at Blu Jazz again until 10 PM. We ran into some of our friends but most people drifted to other venues. We spent the rest of the time with Tom and Jane, waiting outside for the first ever ball drop in Hattiesburg. We were coatless!! It sure was different from a Minnesota New Year’s Eve.

The next day we roasted a turkey (gift from Dave’s son Mike) for Jane’s family and Tom. Tom made a traditional bean dish, guaranteed to bring good luck to all who eat it on New Year’s Day. It was off to bed early for us, as we planned to start out early the next day.

Departure day found us at the Hattiesburg RV Center, getting one of the trailer tires replaced. It turns out we have a bent axel that affects one tire. That will have to be monitored and decisions made in the future. We finally “got out of town” about 4 PM, bound for our winter home.