Tuesday, Sept. 25th dawned with thunderstorms and heavy rain. If we were the superstitious type, which we’re not, we might view this as a bad omen. This being the day we’re finally hitting the road after our landing gear fix. But, the rains stopped as we were getting ready to pull out so all good. Today we drove south down I-57 through Central Illinois, touched into Missouri briefly and then on into Arkansas on I-55. We traded cornfields for cotton fields….. acres and acres of them. They sit fairly low to the ground. Some had been picked and you could see the bails of cotton in their brightly colored pink or yellow wrappers. Reminded me of the bails of hay we see at home. Very picturesque!
We arrived at Tom Sawyer Campground, in West Memphis, AR (in route to Hickory Creek, TX). This is the same campground we stayed in last spring which sits right on the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, we don’t have a view of the river from this site. But we took a great walk after dinner and saw the pretty clouds with the sunset over the Mississippi. We walked up several narrow flights of stairs to see a new lookout point (treehouse) they built in amongst the trees to view the Mississippi. That may not have been the smartest thing to do after having a glass of wine, but we survived. Just as we were walking back and got close to our rig, Gary heard the air conditioner kick off. Then we realized that the whole campground had lost power. Oops. We still had lights and could play music, just no TV or air conditioning. We hauled out the dominoes and played. I won. Shortly after that the power came back on, and we could watch a little House Hunters International then trundle off to bed. No idea why the power went out.
Wed., Sept. 26th
We had a “chore” day… laundry, refuel the truck, and get some groceries in. While we were getting fuel at Krogers, we were approached by a woman asking for gas money. Oy. I felt bad saying no but then she wandered down the row to the next person. I don’t know if she got any “takers.” West Memphis is not exactly the high rent district. At the same gas station, an older couple was parked next to us. The wife waved me over and said are you riding across the Mississippi. I thought she meant were we taking a paddle boat. I said no. She said “oh, I saw your bikes and thought you were doing the bike path over the Mississippi.” I quizzed her about that. Apparently there is a separate bike lane over I-40 or I-55 crossing the Mississippi. I’m not sure how long it is or how hilly. We don’t have the stamina for a lot of hills. Plus it was misty all day and super windy. Not a good day for us to be bike riding. Maybe we can do that next time!
Thurs., Sept. 27th
Not as picturesque of a drive today heading west on I-40 through Arkansas. Tons of trucks, no rest stops worth speaking of, and not terribly scenic. But as Gary would say “every day can’t be sunshine and rainbows.” Actually today was more clouds and mist. But, cool temps. I had a sweater on all day! We arrived at Shady Pines RV Park, which is a delightful little RV park in Texarkana, TX. Although before we arrived I had visions of the RV version of the Bates Motel of Psycho fame. Let’s face it, Shady Pines RV Park can conjure up all sorts of images. Tomorrow we will be at Hickory Creek, TX and start the first leg of visiting family!
Friday, Sept. 28th – Sunday, Sept. 30th
Initially it was a nice drive heading west on I-30 today. Light traffic, lots of cattle grazing and wide open vistas. We saw a few VERY well-to-do ranches off the service roads near the highway, and a few that looked like they went belly up. Living in the Northeast we’re used to traffic. We’re not no pansies when it comes to traffic… Long Island, Boston, southern CT. However, the Dallas traffic had me almost crying for my momma, and we weren’t even IN Dallas. We were far away! Plus, our Garmin navigation told us to get into the HOV “Express” lane on I-635. Oh-kay. Then we see signs that “trucks towing trailers” aren’t allowed and a $200 fine would be ensued. Shoot! We’ll see if we get a $200 fine in the mail! Who knows! It’s congested and Garmin has some of the exit #s wrong due to some recent construction. Even Gary, who typically is unflappable said “well that was a little stressful” after we got to the campground… with no wrong turns, which was a combination of luck, help from God above, and me using two navigation systems to figure it all out. We breathed a sigh of relief when we got to the entrance! Whew! Lovely site! Almost worth it! We overlook Lewisville Lake, which is quite large and the lake is 10 ft. above where it typically is so we have an even better view! The water is far enough away from our site that it’s not an issue.
Later in the afternoon, we headed off to see Alison’s (our nephew’s daughter’s) volleyball game! What fun! It was a great game. They lost the first match, one the second and just barely lost the third. We got to see Mike (my nephew), his lovely wife LeighAnn and their two daughters, Alison and Amanda, plus LeighAnn’s mom Sharon and Brother Bob and Deb. After the game, we all headed off to dinner and had a chance to visit. Just wonderful to spend time with them all! Then Gary & I headed back to the campground.
Saturday we had all the Dallas area family members over for a cookout, which was a repeat of Friday night’s crew plus, Drew, the illusive teenage boy! All three kids are wonderful! Drew is a very good sport! Gary was quite jealous of his hair! We played with a frisbee, some of us tossed a football around, went for a walk around the campground and Gary & I educated them on RV living…. whether they wanted to be educated or not! I don’t know that we have any converts though! Gary did the grilling and we enjoyed a campfire afterwards with the TX girls a tad freaked out about the bugs. Note to self: don’t invite them up during black fly season in NH. Although as Gary said, he would pay to see that.
Sunday we watched the Cowboys squeak out a win at Mike & LeighAnn’s beautiful home and all enjoyed some excellent TexMex food. I got my dog fix with their three cutie pies. Lucy is the youngest and the most excitable. She was SO excited to meet her NH Aunt that she peed on my foot. I didn’t even notice at first until LeighAnn mortifyingly exclaimed OMG. I was wearing sandals, which I thought was a good thing. I figured it was just payback for the time that our Jazz accidentally peed on Charlie Evans’ leg. Dogs will be dogs.
We had a delightful day with everyone and all too soon had to say goodbye to Mike and family since Monday was back to work/school for all of them. Deb was kind enough to take us around and introduce us to her kids and grandkids who all live in the nearby area. All of whom were warm and welcoming! Then we went back to Bob’s house for dinner! We spent the night at Bob’s house rather than coming back to the camper.
Monday, October 1st
We headed to the Dallas Arboretum with Bob & Deb for their Fall Festival. The Arboretum had a fabulous display of 90,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squashes. And, 4,500 mums plus all their usual plants. An amazing display! We’ve never seen anything like it! Truly impressive! A delightful day followed by dinner at Bob’s and an evening ride in the golf carts around their beautiful community. Then we headed back to our “tiny home.”
Tuesday, October 2nd
We did some prep for our departure the following day, and had Deb & Bob over in the afternoon for one last cookout. It was a delightful day so we sat outside in the shade with a lovely breeze gazing at the lake and chatting.
Tomorrow we head to Belton Lake and visiting with all the Temple family members!
