Time to Catch Up

 

It has been a month since my last post.  As we are in our “home base” of Knoxville I have not been doing my regular updates.  However, I realize I left ya’ll hanging in New Orleans with my last post and did not complete the journey.  Sorry about that.

From New Orleans we stopped for Easter weekend in Meridian, Mississippi.  We did drive around the downtown area (mainly to find the Wal-Mart to grocery shop) but mainly stayed around the RV park for the weekend. 

From Meridian we made a two night stop over in Athens, Alabama.  Not nuch here, just a stop before heading to Nashville and Knoxville.  The interesting thing is that a week later this area was hit with very severe weather including a tornado that hit part of the town.

From Athens we made a stop in Nashville to visit with our friends the Sherwood’s.  As we store our remaining household items at their house this allowed us to store two of our dining table chairs giving us more room in the living room.  While here we then actually took a plane to Portland, Oregon to visit with our daughter and her husband.  This was the first time I had been on a plane in 5 years!  I do not miss the hassle of airports and the cramped traveling.  BUT, we had a great time in Portland seeing all the sights and visiting with our daughter and her husband.   Here are some pictures from our visit:

Happy mother and daughter taking an “ussie” at a stop on the Columbia River Highway.

View of Portland from the aerial tram to the top of “Pill Hill”.

Me at a cider tasting event.  NO, I was not asleep!  Great time tasting many local hard ciders.

Our daughter and son-in-law having fun at Smash Putt.

Yes, it always rains in Portland (you’re welcome Tyler).

Back to Nashville and then head to Knoxville with our trailer.  This time we decided to stay at a different RV park as it has a better monthly rate and hopefully no stink bugs. The park is in Lenoir City and is a little closer to our daughter’s house and my nephew’s.  The spaces are huge and, so far, no stink bugs.  We will see if they come out when we return in August/September.

Since being in Knoxville we attended a lacrosse game to watch my nephew’s son play, took a nice evening boat ride on the river in my nephew’s boat and attended the high school graduation of my nephew’s daughter.

Our youngest daughter (right) with the graduating senior.

Family fun on my nephew’s patio.

We are here for another week then head up to the Chicago area for a week to get some repairs done on our RV.  Besides the replacement of the microwave we now have a new issue as one of our AC units went out this week and it has been hot here!

Route:  From New Orleans we took Interstate 10 east to Interstate 59 north stopping in Meridian.  From Meridian we continued on Interstate 59/20 north to Birmingham where we picked up Interstate 65 into the Nashville area, stopping in Goodlettsville.  From Goodlettsville we took Interstate 65 south to Interstate 40 east to Highway 321 south to Lenoir City.

Lafayette and then New Orleans

 

We are finishing up our stay in New Orleans and will begin heading up to Nashville.  Let me get you caught up on our activities.

We last were in Duson, LA which is just outside Lafayette. We did not do much sightseeing except to stop at the Acadian Cultural Center.  Acadians traveled from France and settled in eastern Canada but then were forced out back in the 1800’s with many of them ending up in Louisiana and are called Cajuns.  The Lafayette area is where many of the exiled Acadians ended up. My family background, both mother and father, is French-Canadian with my parents being the first generation to be born in the US.  What I learned at this Cultural Center is that my mother’s side, LeBlanc, is a registered Acadian surname, so I learned something.  I am most likely part Acadian.

Following our stop at the Cultural Center we went looking for a lunch spot and found Prejean’s.  We had a great lunch.  If you are ever in the area check them out, you will not be disappointed.  I had the catfish grand chenier.  Here is their description: Southern catfish rolled around Prejean’s seafood stuffing, fried golden brown & smothered with crawfish étouffée.  Served with rice dressing and corn macque choux.  One of the best meals I have had.  Fran had their gumbo with a side salad.

From Duson we moved on down I-10 to New Orleans.  I found us a very nice park just a few miles outside the French Quarter that honored our Passport America discount so the space was only $39 per night as opposed to $80.  Most of the RV parks in this area go for $100+ per night.  The nice thing is the park has a shuttle to the French Quarter for only $6 so we did not have to worry about driving the big truck and trying to find parking.

Wednesday was our French Quarter day as the weather was beautiful.  After getting off the shuttle our first stop was to get a beignet and coffee at Café du Monde.  We were amazed at the long lines and found out the reason is that it is spring break for schools in Louisiana so many families were out in the area.  It took about 30 minutes but we got our fried dough and powdered sugar fix.  They are messy! 

For the rest of the day we walked around the French Quarter as we both were here just before hurricane Katrina and did a lot of sightseeing then.  This time we did go inside the St. Louis Cathedral, which is just beautiful.

St. Louis Cathedral

Interior of Cathedral

We did make a stop to have a hurricane drink.  Wow, that ended up being pretty powerful with the 151 rum.  Thank goodness we did not have to drive back to the park.

For lunch we stopped at Mother’s restaurant.  It has been a local favorite since the 1930’s.  I had the Crawfish Etouffee with turnip greens, yum.  Fran had red beans and rice with a salad. 

Today, Thursday, we headed out to check out the Garden District.  This is where many of the historic mansions are and where some famous people live.  We found a walking tour online so we followed it.  It took us past the houses of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning’s house, actor John Goodman’s house and actress Sandra Bullock;s house.

This is the front of John Goodman’s house.  I guess those are his dogs.  The photo was too cute to pass up.

Many of the homes are huge and have been nicely restored and are well maintained.  Very nice area to walk or drive around. 

We headed to the City Park as Fran wanted to check out the sculpture garden next to the Museum of Art.  Here are a couple of pictures from the garden.

For lunch we found a local hangout nearby called Liuzza’s by the Track.  Their signature dish is BBQ shrimp Po-boy. Oh boy was it good.  The place is a neighborhood and seats about 30 people.  Great service and great food.

Following lunch we took a drive around the lower ninth ward area to see the effects of Hurricane Katrina.  It is sad to see so many vacant lots after all these years. 

Sightseeing was over as the rain moved in, so I thought it was a good time to update the blog.  As I mentioned the next few days we are enroute to Nashville where we will park the trailer and then fly out to visit our daughter and son-in law in Portland.  When we return we will then head to Knoxville for a month.  As a result my blog posts will be a little less frequent over the next couple of months.

Route:  From Duson, LA we headed east on Interstate 10 right into New Orleans.

Continuing South

 

Time to get you up to date.  My last post had us in Vicksburg, Mississippi a couple of weeks ago.  Presently we are in Duson, Louisiana (just west of Lafayette).  So let me tell you how we got here and what we have done.

We left Vicksburg and drove about 75 miles south to see Natchez, Mississippi.  We stayed in a park right on the Mississippi River over the bridge from Natchez in Vidalia, Louisiana.  This allowed us to add the Louisiana state sticker to our map of states showing where we have been since starting our “Life on the Road”.  In fact this is the first time we have ever taken an RV into Louisiana.  I picked Natchez as it sounded like a neat little town with some neat old homes and it was close by.  It is a nice little town and driving around to see the old houses was nice, but other than that it was just a quiet place to spend a few days.  The weather was colder than we hoped for with some rain and thunderstorms.

From Natchez we were originally going to proceed south in Louisiana but found out that my niece and her family, who live in Houston, were available for the weekend and wanted to meet up near Galveston as they have an RV.  We agreed on meeting at an RV park on the Bolivar Peninsula at a little town called Crystal Beach.  We had a great time with them and doing some sightseeing of Galveston.

My niece’s kids and husband on the beach which was just across the highway from our park.  You can drive on the beach and camp with your RV if you are so inclined.  The weather did not cooperate for us to bring one of the RV’s on the beach, too cold and windy.

My grand nieces and nephew.

Having some fun at the pirate museum.

From Crystal Beach, Texas we headed back into Louisiana and arrived at Duson yesterday, Tuesday.  We are here for a week then onto New Orleans for 3 days before heading north to Nashville.

Route: From Vicksburg, Mississippi we took US 61 south to Natchez where we picked up US 84 west into Vidalia, Louisiana.  From Vidalia we took US 84 west to Louisiana 28 west to US 167 south to US 165 south to I-10 west to Texas 124 south to Texas 87 south.  Got all that!

Vicksburg, Mississippi

 

As I mentioned in my last post we stopped in Vicksburg, Mississippi for a few days as part of our southern swing.  We left Vicksburg yesterday, Tuesday, and are now just down the road a bit in Vidalia, Louisiana.  We did some sightseeing while in Vicksburg as it is the site of one of the most important battles of the Civil War.  But before I get to that I have to mention our meet up with a former co-worker of mine.

On Monday afternoon a motorhome pulls into the space next to ours and, as I usually do, I look out the window to watch them set up.  As I see the guy setting up his utilities I say to myself that he sure looks like Dennis Wilson and then I notice the license plates on the vehicles are Indiana, which is where Dennis lives.  He then turns around and my observation is confirmed, it is Dennis and his wife.  I go outside to say hi and learn that he had read my blog and Facebook check-in and decided to stop in Vicksburg on their way back to Indiana from Texas (they are snowbirds).  What a surprise.  They stayed a couple of nights which allowed us to spend some time catching up. 

As for Vicksburg, the town touts a historic downtown area which is nice but so many of the shops are vacant.  It appears the town is trying as it is a nice area, but they need to get the businesses to come.  There are 5 casinos in the area, plus the military park, so I would have to believe that they do get a fair amount of tourist traffic.  We drove the town then headed to the military park. 

As background, Vicksburg was where an important Civil War battle was fought by General Grant of the Union and General Pemberton of the Confederacy.  The defeat of the Confederacy in this battle allowed the Union to take control of the Mississippi River and cut the confederacy in two.  The military park is one of the most organized ones we have visited. The tour road takes you first through the Union lines with the areas of encampment clearly marked with markers explaining who was there.  You then end up on the Confederate side of the battle lines with their markers.  You get a great appreciation for the field of battle, the terrain, and how close they were.  Throughout the park are markers and monuments for tribute to the various units that fought and died in the battle.  Very interesting place to visit.

Entrance to the park.

This is the largest monument in the the park.  The Illinois monument.

A restored Civil War gun boat, the Cairo.  The display includes many pieces actually from the sunken boat.

In search of warmer weather!

 

It has been a couple of weeks so lets get caught up.  When I last left you we were in West Memphis, Arkansas trying to organize our new trailer.  I think we have finally succeeded in getting that done.  We are still opening cabinets to find things but slowly we are getting into a routine.  While in West Memphis we identified a couple of issues with the rig that we needed to get resolved.  The first involved one of the window shades.  I went to pull down one of the shades and it came down but would not retract.  It sounded like a spring had snapped inside.  I took the shade down to see if there was a way to roll it back up and get tension back but was unsuccessful.  I called the company that makes them and they decided the shade needed to be replaced (under warranty) and would send us one within a week. 

The second issue was with the slide that the TV is in.  The slide was crooked when it was out causing a gap of over an inch and not allowing the slide to seal properly.  This concerned me if it rained.  I contacted our dealer to get their thoughts and how to handle it.  Fortunately there was a Jayco dealer just 20 miles away outside of Memphis in Mississippi.  Our dealer made arrangements with the Mississippi dealer to look at our slide.  This past Monday we packed up and drove to the dealership where they adjusted two of our slides so that they seated properly.  I had already made reservations at an RV park across from the dealership for us to stay a couple of nights in case the repair took longer than anticipated.  We were in Southaven, Mississippi.  The weather warmed up slightly, into the 60’s, but was still close to freezing each night.  Our plan was to continue south to find warmer weather.

On Thursday we left Southaven to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Just before we got to Vicksburg I stopped off the highway to use the restroom in our trailer and noticed that the TV in the living room was sticking out of the cabinet.  This is a 60 inch TV that is on a motorized mount that goes down into a cabinet.  I went back and checked and saw that one side had come off the mount.  Oh boy, this did not look good!  We were only 30 miles from the RV park in Vicksburg and the TV seemed secure so we moved on.  We arrived at the park and set up then I took a look at the TV issue.  We were able to get the TV off the mount and figured out what happened.  It appears the mount was not properly seated when it was installed causing one side to jump off when we hit a bump.  Fortunately it did not cause any damage to the TV but it was a chore to get the TV off and then properly seat it back on the mount as the cabinet is high and the TV is large.

The replacement blind arrived and we got it installed.  Now that leaves one last issue, a gremlin in our microwave/convection oven.  Back when we were in West Memphis the microwave began to act up in that the touchpad would freeze at times and not allow you to input anything.  To reset you had to unplug the unit and plug it back in.  This is a little hard as the plug is high up.  We did this a few times a day and it was annoying.  I went online to Samsung to ask them if there was a setting or something else that I could do to resolve the issue.  They mentioned to do the unplug thing and to check some settings but other than that they gave me information on how to submit a service request.  I changed some of the settings and this resolved the issue for a couple of days and then it came back but now the light and fan under the microwave would come on without us doing anything to the unit.  I have let our dealer know of the issue and how they, or Jayco, want to proceed on resolving the issue.

Meanwhile we have found some warmer weather.  We arrived in Vicksburg and it was around 70 degrees and will be in the high 70’s for the weekend.

From here we plan on doing some sightseeing of the Vicksburg area then move to Natchez, Mississippi to check out that town.  From there we will go to Lafayette, Louisiana and then to New Orleans before we head to Nashville and then Knoxville for a month.

Route: From West Memphis, Arkansas we took Interstate 55 to Southaven, Mississippi.  From there we continued on Interstate 55 to Jackson, Mississippi where we took Interstate 20 to Vicksburg.  In Vicksburg we picked up US 61 south to our RV park.

We made it …… and left!!

 

When I last left you we were almost to Joliet, Illinois to pick up our new rig.  We sped up our trip to avoid a winter storm that was going to hit our route.  We made it to Indianapolis last Friday and spent the night (cold, but no snow).  On Saturday we drove into Joliet with no weather issues and dropped off our old rig at Rick’s RV and then checked into a hotel right next to the dealership.  We got to see our new rig for the first time and we were really excited with how it looked.  This new model is 6 inches wider with a bowed ceiling so the interior feels very roomy.  The plan was to complete the sales paperwork on Monday while they prep our new rig, move the satellite dish from old to new on Tuesday and for us to move all our stuff on Wednesday. 

The storm did come and dumped over 5 inches of snow in the Chicago area.  The route we had taken was hit hard by ice, so we most likely would not have been able to make the drive if we kept to the original plan.

Our plan went off without a problem and the staff at Rick’s did a great job on the satellite install (to my specifications) and were able to make a spot under the sink so we could hide our trashcan (Fran was very happy).  It snowed another 2 inches on Tuesday and the temps were in the teens everyday.

We moved all our stuff on Wednesday.  Amazing how much stuff we still have with such limited space.  Since we had limited time (another snow storm approaching) we did not organize any of our stuff.  We just put it wherever it would fit.  Wednesday night we had a great reunion with our wine group at a local restaurant in Naperville.  We had a great time catching up with everyone.

On Thursday we picked up our rig when Rick’s opened and went in seek of warmer weather.  We did not like the cold!  We made it to Benton, Illinois.  The first RV park we stopped at only had two spaces available as their park was saturated with snow and ice from the storm.  The two available spaces would be a problem in the morning when we went to leave as the roadway would be ice.  We left that park and went to the KOA park down the road.  This is the same park where we first stopped when we started our “Life on the Road:.  This park was in a little better shape and was able to accommodate us.  We set up easily and I was very happy with the automatic leveling system.  Just push a button and watch the rig level itself. 

Our first night we identified a couple of issues, nothing major, but they will have to be addressed by the dealer.  It was still cold in this area and the park was very sloppy from the ice storm so we continued our journey south and made it West Memphis, Arkansas to our favorite park, Tom Sawyer’s.  The park is a little muddy but our site is a concrete pad so not so much an issue.  We plan to stay here for at least a week to organize our new rig.  The weather is in the 60’s with highs in the 70’s next week.  The Mississippi River is high so I don’t know how much longer the park will be open.  As the river rises with the snow melt the park will flood as it does every year around this time.

 

Route:  From Joliet, Illinois we took Interstate 55 south to Interstate 80 east.  From I-80 we picked up Interstate 57 south to Benton, Illinois.  From Benton we continued on I-57 south to I-55 south into West Memphis, Arkansas.

Almost There

It has been more than two weeks since my last post so let me get you caught up.  When I last posted we were in Las Vegas to attend the wedding of our friends daughter.  What a beautiful outdoor ceremony and we decided to go the formal route with me wearing a tux and Fran wearing a beautiful black dress.  Here are the “trailer people” all cleaned up.

The big item, literally, that I wrote on in my last post was that we had purchased a new fifth wheel, a 2015 Jayco Pinnacle, and that we had to drive to Joliet, Illinois to pick it up. So, beginning on January 18th our journey began to Joliet with the plan to arrive on March 4th. 

First stop was Winslow, Arizona.  You know, “Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona”  from the Eagles (70’s reference).  Actually we stayed outside of town at an RV park near the Meteor Crater park.  For those of you not familiar with this area there is big hole in the ground near Winslow where a meteor crashed into earth thousands of years ago.  Just off the interstate on the road to the crater is a very nice RV park, so we stopped for the night.  290 miles driven.

Next stop was Albuquerque.  We stayed for two nights here as we had not previously done any sightseeing in this area and we had to do our laundry.  The problem was it was really cold and really, really windy.  The first night there was a wind warning with gusts up to 70 mph.  Fortunately we had no issues.  We did go see the Balloon Museum and walked around Old Town where we had a nice lunch.  Being outside was not fun with the cold wind.  290 miles driven.

Next stop was Amarillo.  This stop was for the entire weekend so I could watch all the NASCAR Daytona races.  The weather was a little nicer during the day, but still only in the 40’s with it getting below freezing at night.  298 miles driven.

As I looked at the weather on our route I decided we needed to speed up as the potential for getting caught in snow and/or ice was a strong possibility.  Our next stop was Checotah, Oklahoma.  We had stayed here back in October on our way west.  This was just an overnight stop and we are now officially into very cold weather.  The days barely are getting to 40 and the nights are always below freezing.  At every stop I have to make sure to keep our water tanks full as we cannot connect up to the park water.  370 Miles driven.

Side note.  The normal route would have been to go north at Oklahoma City to get into the Chicago area but we were taking a little longer route so we could stop in Nashville to visit with our friends, pick up the other two dining table chairs for our trailer that are stored at their house and put some items into storage.

Next stop was our old favorite, West Memphis, Arkansas, Tom Sawyer’s Mississippi River Park.  With the weather so cold nobody was here.  We have never seen the park so deserted.  The river level was up but the barge traffic was minimal and it was so cold you really did not want to venture outside.  We stayed for two nights so we (Fran) could do laundry.  350 miles driven.

Next was Nashville, Tennessee.  We made it in on Thursday afternoon and had planned to stay until Saturday morning.  In fact we paid for the two nights but I continued to monitor the weather and a storm, called Titan, was making its way east and would be hitting our route through Indiana into Illinois just as we were hitting the road on Monday morning.  The potential for ice and accumulated snow was high.  As a result we decided to leave on Friday morning.  We had dinner with our friends and took care of our storage needs and moved on.  232 miles driven. 

The storm was projected to hit Sunday evening into Monday morning and the distance from Nashville to Joliet is about 450 miles so I found a nice park in Indianapolis for us to spend Friday night and then we would go into Joliet on Saturday, two days earlier than our revised plan.  270 miles driven.

As I write this we are in Indianapolis and have spent the last night in our current rig.  The weather looks OK for the drive into Joliet although they are getting some snow there today.  If everything goes as planned we will be in Joliet until Thursday, staying in a hotel, and then will head south in seek of warmer weather.

Here is a picture of our new rig.

Route taken:  From Las Vegas we picked up US 93 which took us to Interstate 40 east.  We followed Interstate 40 all the way into Nashville where we picked up Interstate 65.  From Interstate 65 we will pick up Interstate 80 into Joliet.