TUG PUSHING A BARGE..THE VIEW FROM OUR RV

 

ON THE MISSISSIPPI AT MEMPHIS

What a gorgeous country but I couldn’t deal with the weather. We have been dodging bad weather since we left Oklahoma. The days are beautiful and sunny but that is deceptive. Two tornadoes hit near the park we were in Oklahoma shortly after we left. Near Little Rock we sat out severe storm warnings and here near Memphis a tornado watch. Thankfully they did not appear so I hope our luck holds out.

We love this park in West Memphis, Arkansas across the river from Memphis. There is green all around and we are right on the shore of the Mississippi River. Barges (some up to a half mile long) go by our doorstep and the world’s largest tugboat is here. Across the river is all trees. The sites for RVs are huge and there are full hookups. Who could ask for more?

Yesterday we ventured into Memphis itself and had lunch at the famed Peabody Hotel. It is famous because twice a day a group of ducks waddles across its own red carpet to the fountain in the lobby to the strains of a Sousa March. Unfortunately, we missed their morning parade at 11. In the meantime, they were very happy at the fountain.

Of course we had to take a cruise on the river on a paddle wheel steamboat. In a strong southern accent, the narrator told of the history of the river. According to him, the river banks of this stretch of the Mississippi are more of a wilderness now than they were when the steamboats plied the river with their cargoes. This is because there were small town regularly spaced along the river then to supply the fuel needs for the steam. It is certainly true by our park. No sight of civilization anywhere.

We were surprised how small Memphis really is. We peeked at Beale Street, home of the blues and the new Hernando De Soto bridge and heard that this town is where Danny Thomas established the St. Jude Hospital for Children.

FAMOUS HOTEL PEABODY DUCKS IN THE LOBBY

 

DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS FROM THE BOAT

 

OUR FRIEND'S BOAT ON LAKE TEXOMA

 

LAKE TEXOMA, TX AND LITTLE ROCK ARKANSAS

We took an Easter weekend break from Oklahoma City and joined some women for a campout on Lake Texoma with Wendy and Trudie. The other women were members of the Women’s Chorus in Dallas. Lake Texoma was formed in 1944 by placing a dam on the Red River on the border between Texas and Oklahoma. This created a 89,000 acre lake with two wildlife refuges, two state parks, and lots of other resorts and campgrounds. The lake is especially known for its great striper bass fishing (we caught one). We were on the Texas side in a small resort with only a few RV spaces but rental cabins for those without an RV. We got a space right on the lake.

Two of the women, Jude and Sue, brought their “party boat” and we all had a great time exploring the lake, fishing and swimming. They are interesting, adventurous people who have had fascinating experiences including canoeing the Yukon River from its source to the Bering Sea (over 2000 miles). One is a psychiatrist (formerly an anesthesiologist) and the other is a surgical nurse. Great meals were pooled together, even a great Easter morning brunch with mimosas.

Back in Oklahoma City, we were able to take advantage of the excellent medical facilities to get some medical help for Lovern’s recurring UTI problems and finally seem to have a handle it. This was thanks to Doctor Wendy who was able to get Lovern into an urologist right away.

The medical problems have caused delays and changes to our carefully planned itinerary but that is one of the advantages to RV travel. We finally left Oklahoma after two weeks and are enjoying the lush greenness of Arkansas. Trees as far as you can see. We can see why people are retiring here. The tornadoes would keep us from living here though. In fact, an adjuster for FEMA is parked next to us in this park and is helping people get trailers who were wiped out by a couple of hurricanes a few weeks ago. In nearby Hope are 30,000 trailers that were never allocated to New Orleans hurricane victims. They are sitting in storage with mounting costs to taxpayers.

The Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock was very impressive. There are over 76.8 million official document, 1.85 million photographs, and 75,000 museum artifacts. A timeline displayed highlights and world events during his tenure focusing on his major initiatives such as “Balancing the Budget”, “Building a Global Community”, “Protecting the Earth”. These tended to depress us though, knowing that the Bush Administration has negated all of them. The life-size replicas of the President’s cabinet room and the Oval Office were very well done.

OUT OUR FRONT DOOR AT FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS

 

CLINTON LIBRARY IN LITTLE ROCK

 

OUR RV PARKED AT WENDY AND TRUDY'S IN OKLAHOMA

 

SADER AT WENDY AND TRUDY'S IN OKLAHOMA

 

OUR FIRST TIME EVER IN OKLAHOMA

The wind blew us out of Albuquerque, through the rest of New Mexico, Texas and part of Oklahoma. Fifty mile per hour winds threatened our driving and our awning.

We parked our RV beside our friends, Trudie and Wendy’s, house in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Our view was across their pond and the trees beyond. What a welcome sight. They graciously showed us the area and took us on a tour of some of the Oklahoma wineries. Who would ever imagine wineries in Oklahoma? They are just beginning to be established and some of them are quite good. There are 34 active wineries and over 500 acres in vineyards. Unfortunately, the current Oklahoma law does not allow them to ship out of state or even out their county. Until recently, Oklahoma was a dry state.

Wendy and Trudie shared the Sader dinner for Passover with us. We had a booklet (Hagada) so that we could follow along and understand what each dish represented. We feel blessed to have experienced that with them.

Wendy gave us a tour of Oklahoma City. The memorial of the bombing of the Federal Building was a sobering sight. Chairs representing those killed were arranged according to the floor that they were on. The smaller chairs stood for the children that were killed.

The great diversity of cultural buildings and activities was a surprise to us. Downtown was beautiful and very clean. The citizens can be very proud of their city.

OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING MEMORIAL

 

OUR PARK IN MESA WHERE WE STAY FOR TWO OR THREE MONTHS IN THE WINTER

 

LEAVING MESA

We enjoyed our four months on our lot in Mesa, visiting old friends and getting needed medical, dental and financial issues done. We finally left Mesa on March 31 after some medical problems caused us to leave later than planned. The delay caused us to cancel the visit to Flagstaff and the Lowell Observatory but it is close enough that we can visit it from Mesa next fall.

Our route took us through scenic hills up to US 40 where we spent the first night at Sun Valley near Holbrook near the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. We had seen them before so we did not stop. The road to Albuquerque from there passed variegated cliffs of red, tan and black. At the state line of New Mexico, the hills became wind-sculpted mounds with intriguing caves carved in as well. Surprisingly brilliant red lumps of hills came nest and gradually became sheer cliffs with mesas. Near Grants miles of fields of lava made us wonder where they had originated as no volcanic mountains were nearby. . Our trip delay also made us cancel our plans to visit Chaco Canyon which is still on our to do list.

. We had wonderful visits with our old friends Sitara and Sue and with Elizabeth catching up on old times and new happenings. Now we head to Shawnee, Oklahoma near Oklahoma City to visit other old friends.

CLASSIC RV AT OUR ALBUQUERQUE PARK

 

CLIFFS NEAR ALBUQUERQUE