What a Slap in the Face

Biloxi Ms  to  Navarre Fl   180 miles (via US98/US90 and I10)

Day 50

Warm and muggy this morning, while we walked.  About a half mile from the RV on a wooded road, the biting horseflies found us.  We did an about face, but every so often we seemed to gather a dozen or so around us.  One bit my neck and a few minutes later I saw one on Jim's cheek.  I reacted immediately with a SLAP!  It was a knee- jerk reaction, I didn't have time to gauge how hard I was swinging at his face.  As soon as my hand landed I knew it had put way more force into it than I needed to kill a little horsefly.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  It made him bite his tongue....you should have seen the LOOK I got!  I wonder if it was some sort of sub-conscious thing?  Hmmmmm....we may never know.  Been a looooong trip.

Soon thereafter we left Parker's Landing RV Park, got on a detour road....in the bowels of D'Iberville, encountered construction with perhaps the world's dumbest flagman...I mean, how HARD is it to turn the little sign from slow to stop?  He had two cars facing each other on the ONE lane road.   But eventually we found I10 and headed toward Mobile. 

On the eastern shore of Mobile Bay is the longest causeway...well, the Key West one is longer, but this one ranks up there.  We turned off of I10 to US98, a scenic road that we've taken many times.  A little bit of everything on it, farms, small towns, pecan groves...until we picked up US59 through Foley Alabama.  Love this town, if we didn't have all the family back in Charleston, this would be high on our list of 'nice places to retire'.  We drove down to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, discovering that today was their big music festival.  The beach road was shut down in town, but we managed to get around it and back on the beach road heading to Perdido and Pensacola.  Stayed on US90 from Pensacola to Navarre where we are for the next two nights. 

Almost invisible here, an orange oil containment boom, the first we've seen...in Pensacola harbor

No matter how we tried to pronounce this guy's name....it came out sounding dirty!

Ah....finally, the white sand beaches of the Florida panhandle...and warm weather!  Today was a beautiful day, but we spent it traveling.  We were eager to see the local forecast as soon as the cable was hooked up.  Well, it's not what we'd hoped for.  They said rain and thundershowers 'until after Monday, when it clears out of here'.  Guess who else will be clearing out of here on Monday?  We can't seem to win.  I need an emoticon of the little guy slamming his head against the wall here...

Oh...there go the big guns.  We are near Elgin AFB and they shoot some REALLY BIG GUNS off every night.  At least we know what they are. 

The Big Guns didn't bother Brandy!

We are planning to go to Orlando Tuesday.  Tell everyone you know there that bad weather is about to move in!

On The Bayou

Clinton Ms  to  Biloxi Ms  170 miles

Day 49

The power finally came on around midnight last night.  I'd gone to bed and was almost asleep when it kicked back on, good thing, because the electric company trucks are loud and it was getting too warm in here. 

Now that it's almost time for this trip to end, the weather is the nicest that we've had.  We walked for a bit, probably a little less than two miles this morning.  Really need those longer walks...I'm feeling all the extra calories!  Buttoned everything up and left the Springridge RV Park after 10:00 am.  this place is okay for overnight.  It's a paved park with a many permanent residents.  But there's not much else around...we picked it because it had cable and WIFI and with the power failure couldn't use either. 

Leaving Springridge Park, Clinton Ms.

Highway 49 is the shortest route to the gulf and we gladly took it, we've had enough interstate traveling for now.  We were going through a small town about a half hour later when Jim pointed out an old Bronco on a trailer.  We talked about how must restoration it was going to take, and how a nicely restored one could bring quite a sum of money.  Suddenly, a few seconds after he passed us, we heard a loud noise and saw a shower of sparks.  The man's trailer hitch had let go and somehow he brought it under control before the trailer flipped the his pick up truck.  Jim has always been fussy about any kind of hitch, always getting the safest one possible...now I see why. 

A few hours we were in Biloxi at a different place, no trains!   We are on the Tchoutacabouffa River...say THAT five times fast.  Heck, just say it, I can't!  Jim wanted a late lunch, so we went back to the 'Drive ins, Diners and Dives' place, The Shed in Ocean Springs for beef brisket.    No dinner tonight, this stuff sits for hours. 

Tonight we drove down to the Beau Rivage casino and threw money away even faster than Las Vegas...at least I got to play for a little while in Vegas, this one gives nothing back.   Nice hotel...no Vegas though.  On our way out we saw an ice cream shop.  As we walked closer we noticed that it was GELATO.  But not prices at $17/ cup like Caesars.  More like $3.99...so Jim finally got his gelato. 

Domo Arigato 'Mr. Gelato'

By the way, there is NO oil on the beaches here, they are still pristine...but for how long?

This day went way, way better than yesterday.

Tomorrow:  East.  That much I know.  Jim says 'he'll let me know' when he decides.  Heck, I'm just along for the ride.

Well, it WAS the13th

Little Rock Arkansas to Clinton Mississippi 355 miles


Day  whatever.....uh, 48?


The day started off badly, I suggested that we stay put, pull the covers over our heads and wait until tomorrow and start the day again.

Jim was upset that the KOA put us in a pull-through site (meaning that you can make the swing without having to back up to get out) that wouldn't allow us to actually pull through...even with the Jeep unhooked. We intentionaly didn't unhook the Jeep last night to make leaving one step easier this morning. So he unhooked the Jeep, which would have to be re-hooked a few minutes later when we pulled out.


It was already warm and muggy so the extra work wasn't putting him in a good mood (psst - that 'good' mood never showed up at all today) then he came in and kicked the dogs water bowl over. A few minutes later he asked me to hit the button to pull the living room slider and too late we realized that one of the kitchen drawers wasn't closed completely and it crushed the moulding on the slider. A minute later I kicked the dogs dry food all over the place. We almost forgot to put the TV antenna down (the cable didn't work worth a darn at this place) and finally, even with the Jeep unhooked he still couldn't make the swing out of the 'pull through'. And it wasn't even 9:00 yet!

Ouchie

Thankfully, the actual traveling went well today. It's hot and muggy, but that's okay, we like it better than cold. We made it on to I40 east and stayed on it until I55 near Memphis. Coming from Arkansas, there seems to be NO good way over the Mississippi

River. I cringe at the thought of the I40 bridge through Memphis, its old and so congested. Today was even worse on I55, and old metal bridge and twists, turns and narrow bumpy lanes. Not a pleasant few miles.

Back over the big, big river

Finally, the traffic thinned out a little past Elvis Presley Blvd and we started thinking about lunch. So tired of sandwiches, so we pulled into a plaza and had a Back Yard Burger. I think they had to go out to kill the cow...we were the only ones at the counter, slow.

Then back out to I55 south. This may just be the most boring stretch of north/south interstate east of the Mississippi. It's green though, so very green this time of year. One problem with that is that much of the green is KUDZU! Good grief, it's so bad in parts of this state. In the distance it resembles a giant green blanket covering everything. Did you know that years ago Burpee sold it in their catalogs as a 'erosion control plant'? I must admit it does stop erosion, at the same time killing everything it covers!



There are extremely few RV places in this part of central Mississippi. We realized that from last year when we tried to stay around Jackson. I called ahead and booked at the best place I could find, which takes us about 10 miles out of our way, and later realized that it was the place we ended up at last year. It's not bad, tight spaces on asphalt, but a nice place with great WIFI and cable. Many permanent residents, but quiet, feels safe and convenient to everything.

We ate mustgos (leftovers) and took a half hour ride up to Yazoo City. This is the town that the horrific tornado touched down in on April 24, this year. Earlier on I55 we drove past where the same tornado had crossed the interstate and were astonished at the width of the swathe it cut through a dense forest. Seeing Yazoo City was jaw dropping. This tornado was such an annomily for this part of the country. It was a mile and a half wide and traveled for 80 miles! The path we saw seemed to travel down a country road and took down just about every tree, huge oaks twisted and splintered, some uprooted like they were just pulled out of the ground as easily as a weed plucked out of a garden. I know

how loud a single large limb is when it snaps, but can't begin to imagine what the sound of hundreds of enormous, old growth trees would be like being splintered!

One of many destroyed homes in Yazoo City

It was just starting to get dark by the time we returned to our RV park. Jim started to watch Dances With Wolves and I had just gotten on line with the laptop to read a little and start the blog post, when....poof, the RV park had a power failure. That was an hour ago, and I am watching my battery drain.


And, unbelievably, a minute ago I thought I smelled 'something'. The dogs have NOT had one, even ONE little 'accident' this whole time on the trip. I started looking around, Molly was fast asleep, Brandy was under the table looking up at me and Rookie, was under the table and would NOT look at me. Can you guess who was guilty? But where WAS 'it'? Let's face it, this is a 30 foot box and the door to the bedroom was closed...I screamed when I found 'it'...THE STUPID DOG SHIT ON THE COUCH!The good news is that 'it was firm'.


Well, I guess it was fitting....the day started out kind of shitty and ended up really shitty!

Power still out... no A/C, no fans...

Tomorrow: South, and a better day!

Walking the Big Dam Bridge

Oklahoma City, OK  to  Little Rock AR.  335 miles

Day 47

OK City was already trying to form storms when we left this morning.  We took I40 and stayed on it ALL THE WAY.  Actually, you can get on it in Wilmington NC and ride all the way to Barstow CA!  Again, we passed the tornado area shown on the news this week.  Further east on I40 we saw several other places where the tornadoes touched down, some about 80 miles away from OKC...

The weather was nice and the landscape almost glowed green.  Eastern Oklahoma is more hilly and greener than most people think.  We tend to think of Oklahoma as prairie and it's not.  Must have been all the cowboy movies.  Arkansas has more lakes than most would think, and small mountains.  And it is the birthplace WALMART!  And Bill Clinton.

The interstate was in bad shape for miles, it would get better and worse.  Much construction going on, some is a complete reconstruction, right down to the dirt.  They tear it up and start with a new roadbed.  When they do this, they close one side of the highway for miles, as it usually means replacing bridges too.  It's time, you can only patch so much...and our highways are showing their age.

On one stretch, we had to switch onto the westbound lanes, so there was two-way traffic.  We had TOM TOM on, not that we needed direction, but to keep us aware of how many miles we were from our destination.    Suddenly the TOM TOM comes alive with 'MAKE A U-TURN!' Jim wondered what was going on with it.  Then TOM TOM orders 'SHARP RIGHT!'.  I figured out what was wrong....I told Jim,  "TOM TOM is freaking out because it knows that we are driving along I40 on the WRONG side of the highway!"   We got a good laugh out of that.  I was waiting for TOM TOM to scream, 'We're all gonnna die!!'

There didn't seem to be a lot of RV places in the book I use, so I  called the KOA here in North Little Rock ahead of time to reserve a spot.  However, we did see quite a few on the highway signs.  We know what to expect at a KOA however.  After a little relaxing time and when the sun got lower we took a walk.  I'd read in the KOA book that there was a walking and bicycling path along the river.  Jim and I started out to find it.  Right down the street was a sign *Big Dam Bridge*.  Of course, that started us putting 'Big Dam' in front of everything we saw....a big dam rock, a big dam pond, a big dam pothole.  Eventually we found the BIG DAM BRIDGE. 

We walked across the Arkansas river on the foot and bicycle bridge that is the BIG DAM BRIDGE.  It was crowded with walkers and bikers.  There are miles of walking paths along the river.  Nice, very, very nice!

Big Dam Ramp up to the Big Dam Bridge

Big Dam walking/biking path

BIG Dam geese...and there were plenty!

All together our little hike was over 4 1/2 miles long.  Oh...and I so should NOT have made fun of 'wounded knee' back a couple of weeks ago.  And I so should not have bragged that MY knees never bother me. And I so should NOT have told  my sister in law that I always baby my  knees in aerobics.  I so should have not said those things, because whenever I open my mouth like that it bites me you know where!  Yes, my right knee is hurting! 

Came back to the RV, gave one of the dogs a bath...it's smelling a little 'kennellish' in here after three dogs and so many weeks in a 30 foot box.  Oh, and thanks to KOA's practically all having cable TV, we got to watch Jim Cantore working himself into quite the dither over the storms in Kansas and Texas. 

Tomorrow...East and South, how's that for being exact?

Oklahoma, Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain...

St Joseph Missouri  to  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma   385 miles

Day 46

Jim wasn't too thrilled with disconnecting in the mud this morning.  So much rain yesterday.  Beacon RV Park, was down in a gully between a commercial and residential area.  Don't know how it got a 5 star rating, it didn't look like a 5 star.  But, it did have a nice laundry, a storm shelter, trees, grass  and a kick-ass WIFI. 

Leaving Beacon RV Park in St. Joseph Mo.

Looking at the map and weather channel, we decided to head south (to get WARM!) and continue on to Oklahoma City.  We drove all day in gorgeous weather down I35 arriving at 4:30.  It was warm and muggy...yay! 

Hard to believe that just 24 hours earlier all Hell was breaking loose here with the tornadoes.  This evening was much nicer!  Although, the TV news kept breaking in and warning that there could be some severe storms and tornadoes...Something that the did not anticipate this morning when we decided to head this way.  Part of that decision was also based on the fact that we really do not like taking I70 through Missouri, especially the St. Louis area.  No big cities today, not even OK City, we are just a tad north and east of the downtown. 

Tonight we hopped in the Jeep to drive by the the areas on the news last night that were destroyed by one of the tornadoes.  Really amazing how so many buildings can be completely ruined and right across the street everything is perfect.  We also noticed that the KOA Campground is at the same exit that the Love's truck stop that was on the news is located.  We stay at so many KOA's....we were wondering if we'd made it down here yesterday if we'd have been there.  Man...now THAT would have made for an interesting blog entry!

We are in a gorgeous RV park, that we wish we'd chosen when we visited here  last year .  This Twin Fountains RV Resort is beeyooteeful!  All level concrete pads (somehow Jim got it to be not level...but we won't go into that) great free WIFI, cable, pretty grounds, grass, trees, in a good location and reasonably priced.  The only slightly negative I can see is that some of the sites are close to the highway, most are not. 

Nice, roomy and level sites at Twin Fountains

He's  ready to leave, I'm getting 'the look'

Tomorrow's forecast is threatening.  They are saying that the weather may be a carbon copy of Monday's storms.  We had planned on staying an extra day and seeing a couple of things that we missed last year, OK City  has plenty of things of things to see and do.  One thing that we do NOT want to see is a towering super cell with a funnel dropping out of it!  We saw some of the tornado chasers getting ready for tomorrow and that was enough.  Hurricanes?  Bring 'em on, but tornadoes scare the bejesus outta us!

So...on the agenda for tomorrow?  East.

Yup, Called This One Right!

Gretna Nebraska  to  St. Joseph Missouri  155 miles

Day 45

When the weather is bad here, it is very, very bad. 

We woke up to cold temperatures and heavy, heavy rain.  The radar showed storms all around us, especially in the directions that we going.  The rain never stopped as we headed east on I80 through Omaha then south on I29 towards Kansas City Missouri. 

Jim grew weary of fighting the gusty winds and trying to see through the sheets of rain on the windshield.  We considered going through Kansas city then turning east on I70. We wondered if we really could outrun the storms, but decided not to try and stopped for the day after only 155 stressed filled miles.

For the rest of the afternoon we watched the weather channel as these horrific storms dropped tornadoes on Oklahoma.  We were heading in that direction, so we are very grateful that we stopped when we did.    One of the things that helped here in St Joseph, to deter the formation of tornadoes  was that it stayed very cold for this time of year...only in the mid to upper 40's!  I've been cold all day, the minute the heat turns off, I'm cold again.

It is still raining hard, but they say it should end soon...good, makes too much noise on a motor home roof!

Tomorrow - I haven't a clue...

Mother's Day Away From Home...just isn't the same

Omaha Nebraska

Day 44

Our oldest dog, Molly, (13 yrs old) has been shivering quite a bit lately.  I know dogs shiver when they are in pain, but the old girl seems fine in all other respects - especially eating.  I was thinking it must be the cold, but wanted to be sure that nothing else is going on.  The floor is cold in the RV, no warm basement below this house.  We have the heat on and it's nice in here, so it must be the floor.  To test this theory,  I let her sleep between Jim and I last night.  She fell fast asleep, snoring away,  and never shivered.

I spoke to all three of my grown children today.  While I was on the phone with my oldest, Paul, I dropped my cell phone into the dishwater in the sink.  I didn't think I could move as fast as I did plucking it out.  It is acting a little wonky (like dialing 99999999999 all by itself) but I think it will dry out all right.

We enjoyd a lazy morning here at the KOA then made our way over to Jim's brother's home.  From there we drove to visit dear friends of theirs at their lake house.  We had been to this weekend house several years ago when it was in its original condition, now they have just finished the second renovation.   Amazing what they have done, I felt like I was living a Home and Garden Channel program. 

By the time we got back to Omaha it was dinnertime and we had reservations at a lovely restaurant downtown.  Mothers' Day deserves a special place.  Our nephew and his beautiful wife were able to join us and they had  some big news for us.  They are expecting a baby in late fall.  What a lovey family this will be...some things you just know.

Anyway,  even though I ate halibut, the cheesecake did me in.  Ask me if I care.

Tomorrow we leave here and head south east.  However, looking at the weather tonight, I see chances of severe storms, including tornadoes in that direction.   Hmmmmm, may have to rethink this.

Till tomorrow....wherever we end up.