Monday, April 28, 2008
After a little screwing around this morning at the Salvage Yard I finally got the rim I needed for the car and brought it and the car to Wal-Mart's Lube and Tire Shop and dropped it off. Sharon and I took off for Cracker Barrel across the street for Breakfast. By the time we finished Breakfast the car was ready and we stopped back and hooked it up and we were on our way again. We managed the day and a half delay and we were rolling again toward Louisiana.We got through the rest of the day without incident and hopscotched between gas stops getting it for as cheap as we could. We stopped in Dallas and Greenwood, Louisiana and then stopped for the night at the Shreveport, LA. Wal-Mart. We left in the car almost immediately looking for some Cajun food. We drove around Shreveport for 45 minutes trying to find a restaurant but failed miserably. We were willing to try a little crawfish trailer we found until we realized that they didn't have anything that wasn't "spicy." And they couldn't recommend any other Cajun restaurant for us. So we finally settled on a Catfish Restaurant that we drove by a couple of times on our "Shreveport Tour." The food was absolutely fabulous as we both had a Catfish Dinner. It was a little spicy but not too much for either of us. Sharon had regular catfish and I had the "Blackened" Dinner which I had never had before.We came back home and settled in for some TV but it was already 8 o'clock so there wouldn't be too much TV tonight. But we did settle in as we also watched the traffic going through the parking lot here at Wal-Mart. The light of day didn't dissipate tonight until almost time for bed. Sharon tried to log on to the internet without much luck tonight but she did manage to retrieve our e-mail before she gave up after about an hour or so.We hung in there until 10 and then went to bed. It seemed like it would be quite quiet here tonight even though the highway was not far away.Tuesday, April 29, 2008
We were not much in a rush to get on the road this morning even though we did have a couple of stops to make today. Our first stop was going to be Poverty Point National Monument which turned out to be not a National Monument after all. At least the State didn't want it designated that way and were trying to have it taken out of the system. We stopped long enough to see the movie about the Earthworks and Indian homes and then took off again.This time we were on the road for Greenville, Mississippi where I was stationed in the Air Force for 1 month during Basic and Hospital Corpsman training. We stopped at the Visitor's Center just outside of Greenville and it turned out to be a mocked up Paddlewheel River boat. The Mississippi Rest Areas are the most unique in the country. When I asked the girl at the counter about Greenville Air Force Based I didn't get a quizzical look so I knew I was in the right place. There was a museum on the second floor of the Airport Terminal which is the location of the base. We went out for a visit which was about 5 miles from town. We stayed about an hour and then headed out again.For the rest of the day we would bed heading north toward home. We actually went a lot further than we had intended when we couldn't find a campground or a Wal-Mart. We finally drove to a Wal-Mart Campground in Blytheville, Arkansas. It was about 8 o'clock when I finished driving and settled in. Sharon went in to Wal-Mart and got us a pizza for supper. It was a DiGiorno and it was very good. But by that time only the beer tasted really good.Needless to say we sat in front of the TV for the rest of the night and the only show I really wanted to see, I slept halfway through it. Someone was supposed to be killed on NCIS tonight and I missed it. As soon as I woke up I went to bed and passed out as soon as I got there. It was a very quiet night here.Wednesday, April 30, 2008
We left Blytheville this morning with nothing on our minds except to drive as far as we could today without killing ourselves which translates into not as far as yesterday.Our first stop was at Flying J for gas which would be our cheapest fill all the way home at $3.35. We also dumped our holding tanks at Flying J which would alleviate our stopping at a campground tonight.Lunch was on the agenda for our next stop at Lambert's Café in Sikeston, Missouri. We can't go through anywhere near Sikeston without stopping at Lamberts. After lunch we crossed over into Illinois and planned to stop at Springfield, Illinois at a Wal-Mart there. I had a disagreement with another driver about whether I cut him off or not, and he followed me to Wal-Mart. We had words for a few minutes and I wasn't about to get out of the motorhome and confront him. First of all, he was wrong and it wasn't worth it to prove it. We decided that we wouldn't wait for him and his redneck friends to come back, so we left and got back on the road again.Our next attempt for an overnight was at Lincoln, Illinois. We couldn't find the Wal-Mart in the new book but they had a Cracker Barrel and my reasoning was...... if they had a Cracker Barrel, they had a Wal-Mart. I was right as the new Wal-Mart was right next to the old Wal-Mart.We had nothing planned for supper so I ate the Chicken Wings that I had ordered at Lambert's. We hadn't refrigerated them so I at them at room temp. Yum, Yum After the wings I printed the Newsletter and got the labels on them and ready mail. We haven't got the stamps to mail them yet but that'll happen in the next day or so.We plunked in front of the TV for the night and stayed up until 10:30 tonight. Seinfeld was back on at 10 so I watched that before I headed to the sack. We'll be rolling north again tomorrow morning.Thursday, May 1, 2008
We got a leisurely start this morning since we only had a couple of hundred miles to go to get to my sister's house in Racine,Wisconsin.About 50 miles up the rod we managed to get onto a highway that we didn't want to be on. We needed to change highways in Bloomington/Normal IL and we didn't do it so we had to drive west to get back on the right track again. We had gone 16 miles before we realized it.But back on track and heading north we realized that the gas fill that we got at Matthews, MO would not take us all the way to Oak Creek, WI. We would be about 20 miles short by the time we got to the next Flying J. So we stopped near Beloit, WI to put in about 20 gallons.We found a Post Office in Lake Geneva, WI and stopped to mail some letters and buy stamps for the Newsletter. While Sharon was in the Post Office the meter maid came by and gave us a ticket. I was in the bathroom at the time. Another $12 flushed down the drain. We were actually straddling 3 meters and it could have cost us $36 if Sharon hadn't come out when she did.Just outside of Lake Geneva we noticed out step was out and it wouldn't retract. We pulled over and found the problem after about 15 minutes so I went about fixing that before we went on. It was just a wire that had broken on the magnetic activating mechanism. It wasn't a big deal but it did take a few minutes to fix, and then we were on our way again.We rolled up to my sister's in about an hour and we were ready for a couple of drinks. We were close to Dinnertime about then and after Dinner we settled in for cards. The usual fleecing of the relatives commenced. We got done losing about 10, and we returned to the motorhome for the night. We're now spending our last couple of days on the road for this year. Sharon is anxious to get home and see Stella.Friday, May 2, 2008
We only had an hour and a half to travel this morning to get to Sean and Julie's in West Bend, WI So needless to say we had Breakfast and Lunch with Marge and Wally and lunch with LouAnn, their daughter.It started to rain this morning and we were hoping that it wouldn't turn into anything substantial. It came down pretty hard for a few minutes but after that it dissipated for the rest of the day.We said our good-byes and dished out hugs and kisses and we were on our way at about two this afternoon. As I said it would only take about 90 minutes to get to West Bend and our first stop was Oak Creek, WI at the Flying J to fill up our tank. unfortunately the price was at $3.63 which was the most expensive we've paid since we left California. This gas would last us most of the summer however, as we won't be traveling extensively.As we came into West Bend we heard the brakes grinding in the rotors. There's another expense that looks like it will have to be taken care of during the summer.We rolled into West Bend and Sean was home. He was building computers for work yesterday and he was home cleaning up the mess. We didn't expect him to be home but we were glad to see him. We usually have to wait in the motorhome for everyone to come home.Mark, Stephanie and the girls didn't show up until just after 9 and I was ready for bed about that time. I did stay up until about 12:15 before I finally broke up the party. At least I broke up my party by announcing that I was going to bed. I came out and headed immediately for the feathers. Sharon came out before I actually got into bed.Saturday, May 3, 2008
After getting up this morning we headed out to the OMICRON Restaurant for Breakfast. We went with Sean and Julie and Katelin, and Mark joined us with Olivia and Lexie. Sean said the restaurant was just a little "greasy spoon" but it looked like it was quite clean and the food was excellent.We all had a good Breakfast and Sharon and I took off for home right after eating. We went back to Sean's and got the motorhome ready and took off almost immediately.There were no incident on the way home and we were glad because of all we'd been through all winter.We got home about 2 P.M., and got in the car and went to see Miss Stella Mindok. We visited for about an hour and got our instructions for returning tonight, and baby sitting, and then we left. On the way home we stopped at Jen and Tom's to let Augie out of the house for awhile and then we came back home. This was the official end tod the winter solstice.Saturday May 3, 2008 The End
