Go Slow in the RV Park
Sunday, June 16, we headed to North Little Rock where we had a reservation at the Downtown North Little Rock RV Park on the banks of the Arkansas River. We had stayed at this park last year on our trip to Niagara. It's a gated park right on the Arkansas River. Our Passport America Card paid off again as this one only cost $11.56. It was pretty hot coming across Arkansas. Our rear AC on the Bird doesn't run on the generator for some reason and the dash air isn't working. So that leaves the front roof AC the only AC that works while going down the road. It's not quite large enough to keep everything cooled down, but with a box fan and a small 12 V fan up front blowing the air around it isn't too bad. It would definitely be nicer to have the rear AC working.
We filled up in Bryant, Ar just outside of Little Rock at a Walmart. Diesel was cheaper than Brownfield. Figured our mileage and we got 9.5 mpg. I thought that was pretty good for a heavy Bird (although it's actually one of the lightest birds @ 32000#).
Patsi called her brothers to wish them a Happy Father's Day. Rodney in NJ suggested we go to the MacArthur Museum of Military History because they had a display featuring the 442nd battalion of which their father was a member. The museum was pretty neat and had some great exhibits on other Arkansas military history.
Carvings made by some of the people that were in the camp. The upper carving was made from one of the ends off of a vegetable crate.
Left Arkansas Monday morning after the museum, crossed the mighty Mississippi River going into Memphis and made it to Eddie and Cheryl's around 3:30pm. They are remodeling Eddie's brother's house (his name is Ronnie also) near Tupelo, Ms and had taken this week off for our visit. Cheryl & Charla cooked a big meal each afternoon we were there and I probably gained 5-10 lbs.
My mom and aunt Jettie got to visit and rest for a few days. Mom was pretty tired after the trip and it really showed the first couple of days. She was perking up by the third day we were there. My aunt Jettie was still feeling a little low while we were there but overall she's doing pretty good for 91 years old.
Tuesday we didn't do much except eat, rest and visit. Eddie got up each morning and made a big breakfast for everyone. He and I visited each morning and drank coffee while everyone else was still asleep. All of us were pretty tired from the trip and I'm sure Eddie and Cheryl were tired from putting down wood flooring (I think that's what they did the past week) in Ronnie's house.
Wednesday we left mom and Jettie at the house and went to Sun Records in downtown Memphis. Sun Records is where Elvis started his career along with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison, just to name a few. The tour was very interesting and entertaining.
Entrance to Sun Records for a very entertaining tour.
This entertaining guy led the tour of the studio.
This is where we ate. Pork BBQ ribs at their best. Corky's is noted for their wet ribs.
Just a cool VW in the parking lot as we were leaving Corky's
Jettie making her Root Beer Float
Ronnie and Sandy (my cousin and Cheryl's sister) drove in from Atlanta and got here shortly after we returned from our tour of Sun Records and eating at Corky's. Got a lot of visiting out of the way, maybe even took a nap (I can't remember) and generally had a good day. Mom and aunt Jettie took care of themselves while we were away. They had some tomato soup for dinner with a root beer float for dessert.
Eddie and Cheryl have a great backyard with lots of small raised beds for their garden and lots of flowers and crepe myrtles on their 1 acre lot.
Eddie offered to give us some crepe myrtle (pink, white, and purple) and some of the day lilies he has growing. He had some very tall orange day lily and some that were shorter. His neighbor had some different colors and she told us about a day lily farm where we could get some different varieties. So, it was off to the farm we went. It was kind of hard to find and the man who started it hadn't been able to work it for a couple of years due to a stroke. Lucky for us, his son had become unemployed and had started helping him get the farm back in shape. Below is some of the areas that they had cleared out. It was probably about 3/4 of an acre and they still had to clear and clean out about that same amount. But there was still plenty to pick from.
Decisions....Decisions????
Digging the flowers
me
mom
Eddie giving me the finer points on something?
Cheryl & Jettie (her mom and my mom's sis)
Cheryl & Jettie
Eddie taking a break
Cheryl & Bell
Mom's tired
Tastin' moonshine cherries - not so great!
Eddie
Jettie and Charla with the moonshine
Diggin' some flowers
Diggin' more flowers
Everybody pitching in for dinner
Making it good
Ronnie (Sandy's husband)
Sandy (my cuz and Cheryl's sis)
More of Eddies garden
One of his handmade baskets (out of landscape timbers cut on 33 1/3 degree cuts)
Cheryl, Bell, and Eddie
Ronnie and Sandy
The 2 sisters
The 2 Kool Sisters
Sandy and Ronnie
Eddie and me
Computer Geeks
That ones nice
Oooo!
Posing
Cracked up
Posing again
Eddie and Cheryl's RV park
It leveled out
Ronnie (Eddie's brother and Charla)
Sandy, Eddie and me
Saying Goodbye
Me & mom at the Mississippi River before crossing over into Arkansas from Mississippi
One of Patsi's aunts was held at Rohwer
The cemetery at Rohwer
Turned around ready to leave the cemetery at Rohwer
We drove across Arkansas Friday afternoon and it was plenty hot. We wanted to make it to Texarkana to spend the night and didn't make it there until 7 pm. Got a spot at the KOA just off the freeway. Nice park.
Drove to New Boston Saturday morning to fill up at the Walmart. I think we bought diesel for $3.52 per gallon. Figured our mileage and we got a little over 8.5 mpg.
Drove on to Seymour, Tx to camp for the night. We got there about 3:30 pm and had to look for a spot. Found out that the city had some RV spots at the city park. Finally found the park. Spots were $17/night but we didn't have an officer come by to give us an envelope to pay. So, I emailed them today (June 24) asking for their address so I could send them the money.
Camped in Seymour, Tx at the city park.
Climbing up and out of a portion of Palo Duro Canyon west of Guthrie, Tx eventually getting on top of the caprock.
At the rest stop
Pretty nice rest stop
'Nother view
The long road home!
Made it home yesterday after stopping in Lubbock and having lunch at Jason's Deli with Karen (my sis) and Dean (her husband). We filled up again in Lubbock because diesel is quite a bit cheaper there ($3.42/gal) than here at home. I figured our mileage and we got 8.1 mpg. So overall we got a little over 8.5 mpg. Pretty good!!
The bird began to heat up between Plains and Brownfield. I was going around 62 mph so I slowed down to 55 mph. That seemed to do the trick. I guess that means that I need to check the radiator out. I don't know if it has ever been cleaned out or not. I did blow the radiator out with air and cleaned out between it and the intercooler. It was dirty but didn't seem excessively so. Guess it needs to be rotted out. But we made it home fine and got all the plants unloaded along with everything else.
I spent this morning getting all the plants in pots or in the ground. All of the day lilies did very well and didn't even seem to wilt. Some did lose their blooms but some still have the pods on them ready to bloom.
These are the crepe myrtles. I sure hope they do well and get established.
Crepe Myrtle on left, Muscatine grapes next to the crepe myrtle, then on the right is some yellow (I think day lily) one plant and 6 pots with bulbs in them.
Day Lily and Iris
Just another shot.
Well, it was quite a trip. Mom did pretty well. So with a little bit of TLC on the bird and getting a couple of things fixed, we should be good to go again soon.
So, until next time.....
Overthehump
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