Hey, since this is the first time I've had access to the net, I've done several updated entry/uploads all at once...scroll down until you get to the point where its new to ya....

dee

Tuesday November 28, 2006

Forget Tunica…we decided to just do a short 220 jaunt south to Jackson Mississippi. The weather has been great, but we awoke to cloudy skies and light drizzle. After packing up the rig and saying goodbye to Tom Sawyer’s place we were off and out of Memphis heading south on 55 by 9:30 a.m. We stopped for breakfast at Waffle house, one of our favorites. I of course had to have a waffle AND a bowl of grits. I KNOW I cannot eat even half a waffle so what’s up with me getting the grits too? They are so good with butter. If I lived south of the Mason Dixon line or where ever the invisible line exists where hash browns suddenly turn into grits at the eateries, I’d weigh 600 pounds. Grits, butter and fat Dennise. No question. I ate ¼ of the waffle and about 5 spoons of grits. The poor waitress thought something was wrong…I just had to assure her that my eyes are a whole lot bigger than my stomach. If she only knew.

After an uneventful yet pretty drive, we pulled into Swinging Bridge RV resort. I think they are using the term “resort” quite loosely down here. We unhooked the car and made a quick trip to the market. I was able to access wifi at the local McDonald’s but it took me forever to get the software uploaded. I had SBC freedom link but now its gotta be AT&T. Like I need more aggravation. Oh well, we are updated, I was able to access my email and send a message to the neighbor to send mail to us in New Orleans Wednesday.

Tomorrow is either Vicksburg, which grandpa has never visited , or Gulfport and find a campground with an ocean view. Paul and I went to Vicksburg so I’d prefer to keep going south.

Will update more when it happens.



oh, here is a picture I snapped of Pepe...he was trying so hard NOT to fall asleep....

Monday, November 27, 2006

A beautiful day again in West Memphis, AR. The river runs quietly by, the occasional barge passing by with sounds similar to a passing train or motorboat. The river currently flows approximately 7 miles per hour. Funny, I’ve passed over the Mississippi a million times heading into St. Louis, but it never seemed to flow as swiftly as it does here. Perhaps it is because passing over a distant bridge, the current is unnoticeable. I just sat and watched this morning in the bright sunlight sipping my morning coffee. The swift current continued to wind its way always southward, itinerant tree limbs, origin unknown, keeping pace, making their inevitable journey to the sea. (Gee, I shoulda been a writer).

It was a quiet catch-up kinda day. Since I walked what seemed like miles yesterday, I was not only sore all over, but I was simply exhausted. How funny this disease fibromyalgia is. A good day or two and then the bastard reels you back in for more misery. Good thing Paul and grandpa understand. Grandpa had spoken earlier to one of the campground hosts. His wife also suffers from this unseen disease. He said that for a period of about 6 months, she could barely get out of bed. He says she has improved since they have been here at this RV park. Perhaps it is the mild climate or maybe it’s just the ability to sit and watch the river each day that creates a sense of relaxation and quiet peace.

We will be pulling out tomorrow morning, heading (I think) towards Tunica. Grandpa said he had no interest in seeing it, however we have a lot of time before we meet up in Gretna, LA with Paul’s friend, so we need to slow down the pace and that seems like a good place to do it.

Sunday November 26, 2006

Poor Paulie…he tries soooooo hard. He has a couple of other Rv’ers helping him to set up this stupid dish. Every Rv’er in the freaking world has a dish satellite hooked up and running. Except us. Bummer. One fella brought over his signal finder and attached to the dish, it shows at least a 70% signal but the satellite strength on the TV is zippo. *Sigh*. No Bears game today unless we hit some kinda sports bar. Grandpa wants to go fishing in the pond, convinced that he can get dinner. We could send him down to the river which is right out the door but he won’t pop the $5 for the license. He took off on MY scooter…the one I haven’t even USED yet…oh well, he breaks, he BUYS ME A NEW ONE!

Paulie is on the phone with Dish. I hate these people. As soon as he is done we will be off into Memphis. First item…Walgreens…I need refills on two scripts. Just plain forgot to do it before we left. Nothing that I can’t live without. The expensive little Purple pill Nexium and a bity thing for high blood pressure which is stupid cause I don’t HAVE high BP. Argh.

We slept til about 9 and grandpa was already up. He had turned on the coffee pot, as I had kindly premade it last night before I went to bed.
I sure do make good coffee, if I say so myself.

Paulie went to get us some cream for the coffee (as he forgot the one at home that I bought). He brought a Memphis paper and a couple of sweet rolls. Of course, grandpa took the apple one and then bitched about how lousy it was. Sometimes…..he just irritates the crap outta me.

Paulie and I are off in the car about 11 am. We head first to the visitors center and pick up a few brochures. Then we find Beale Street. Very picturesque…and disgusting in the daylight. Delapilated store fronts, actually bar fronts, peeling paint and an ATM on every corner. There were lots of places to eat and the smells were fantastic. Since I am not a good walker yet, we only went up two blocks and then back on the other side. We stopped at The Pig’s…BBQ with an attitude. We split a pulled pork with beans and fries. Memphis BBQ is unique, it has a vinegar base almost. The sweet sauce was great. Even the beans had vinegar in them. We really enjoyed our lunch which we followed up with a renowned southern fired peach pie. Of course, I had to take a pain pill…swilled down with a Killian’s Red…it hit pretty fast. The I had a stupid hot flash. Hmmmm, maybe related to the pill and the beer?

We walked back to the car and started our quest to find both a Walgreen’s and a grocery store. We had to get one of my refills….oooops. Guess I blew that one. We finally got back to the RV park around 3 pm.

Remember earlier when I lent grandpa my scooter and said he’d have to buy me a new one if he broke it? Well, guess what. He broke it. Snapped the go forward lever right off. I am not a happy camper…we called the scooter store and all they could do was have someone call us on Monday. Crap.

After I took a ‘lil nappie, Paulie made us a nice dinner of steak, baked potato and corn along with a salad. Quite tasty. He is so good to us.

Well, we saw the last ugly minute of the Bears game. That damm Grossman. What a putz. He needs a sports psychologist. The same guy never shows up to the game for chrissakes. That’s why I hate getting to involved watching sports. My team always breaks my heart. We will just watch a bit of TV tonight…Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal are on. At least we’ll get a few laughs tonight.

Here are a couple of photos of the Mississippi about 20 feet from our campsite at Tom Sawyer's RV park in West Memphis, AR.

Friday, November 24

We slept til about 9 am. Auntie Avril came out just as Gene was getting Pepi out for his morning walk. She said breakfast would be ready soon. I had wanted to take her out for breakfast but she beat us to it. She had made French toast and bacon and it was wonderful…she even heated up the syrup!
After breakfast, Paul disconnected the car and he and grandpa went off in search of a Bridgstone tire. Auntie Avril and I just talked ourselves silly til they got back around noon. Around 1:30 we decided to try to drive a couple of miles towards Memphis before traffic got bad. Peggy and David were entertaining some friends and we would have to miss visiting them at the farm this trip. We stopped at a KFC for dinner (since we didn’t have any lunch) and filled up the tank. We decided to stop at the West Plains MO Elks club. They had 30 am hookups and water and all for a $5 donation. Incredible. We all turned in early, but Paul and I watched TV til about ten.

later...
dee

Thanksgiving Day 2006

Well, we had a good nights sleep, and were up and moving about 7. The tough part about loading the motorhome is that the majority of stuff we will use is stuff we use daily in the house and therefore have to wait until take-off day to load it up. It is very tiring. After putzing around for several hours, we finally hit the road about 11 am.

By this time I had a sore hip, sore butt from walking and I was walking into stuff. I have so little stamina, just vacuuming the kitchen floor had me winded. I stretched out on the new sofa/futon, which is by the way, quite comfortable, Pepi along side of me and slept until we were way past St. Louis. We hit a bit of traffic in the Springfield but it was clear sailing the rest of the way. Just as we passed Cuba MO, Paul was flagged down by a passing car, the passenger pointing to the toad. After pulling off, Paul discovered that the right front tire was shredded. Earlier, I had heard a thump, so there must have be something on the road that wasn’t visible. Paul called OnStar and they said someone would be there to change the tire within an hour. Of course, this meant we had to get the temp tire outta the back of the Vue, which meant unloading the entire back end, including my new scooter. After the mechanic helped get us back on the road, it turns out we had only been down for about an hour. I had called Auntie Averil so she knew we’d be a bit late. I think we rolled up about 5ish. We had a great time catching up, and then we had our turkey dinner, hauled all the way from Springfield. It was just as good warmed up as it was fresh. We all just sat around and talked until about 10 p.m. and then we headed to our rolling home to retire for the night.

As usual, I don’t sleep well the first night in the rig (it’s the change of bed or excitement or just plain stupid). I was up to the bathroom at least 8 times. Snickers decided to sleep in between Paul and me….by our heads, and she kept putting her paw on my cheek, hoping I’d pet her. Paul seems to be snoring a lot again…have to mention this to him. He isn’t breathing thru his nose, he is breathing thru his mouth and doing the sleep apnea stop breathing for 15 seconds tricks again. Grrrr.

Here is a wonderfully flattering picture of me and Auntie Averil....she's gonna kill me.....