Month: October 2019

We found a wonderful campground on the shores of the Mississippi River, just across from Memphis. It’s name is Tom Sawyer’s RV Park and yes, we even found Tom:

This park is so close that it floods whenever the river goes over its banks. And given the high rainfall earlier in the year, this campground wasn’t opened until mid-July. This will impact our stay later on…

Although not on a site right on the river, we could see across a wide open field and watch the tugs and barges travel up and down the river.

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Lola had been experiencing a bit of a fluid leak over the last few weeks and it appeared to be getting worse, spraying fluid all over our tow vehicle (Lolita). We had identified a good diesel repair facility in Memphis so we had planned to take Lola in on Monday morning after our weekend arrival to have it check. Unfortunately, the night before we experienced nearly 4 inches of rain at our campsite. This is a campsite that, until a few months ago, had been covered in river water and…river mud. This meant that we had to break down our campsite on Monday morning in rain and lots of mud!!! And that mud had a certain smell – let’s just call it “river funk”. We dropped off Lola, dropped the dogs at a groomer, and went to get some breakfast (which was really great!). By noon, Lola’s leak was diagnosed (a new part would have to be ordered so we’d have to take her back the following Monday as we left town) so we picked her up and headed back to camp, where Lola sunk into the river mud (but didn’t get stuck) and we spent the rest of the day trying to dry out and clean out the mud from our site.

The next few days were filled with exploring Memphis. Our first stop was Sun Studios, where folks such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jimmy Lee Lewis got their start. Much like our tour in Nashville, we found this an amazing insight into the early music industry. We were able to explore the actual recording studio and hear music and recordings taped in this famous facility.

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The next day we toured the National Civil Rights Museum which includes the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. We both agreed that this the best and most impactful experience we have had on our journeys so far. The way the slave and African American history was told was amazing and very stirring. There are artifacts from various freedom marches, interactive displays, short films, and so many other ways to learn of the struggles that went on throughout our nation’s history. This tour would help influence other places we would want to explore along the rest of our journey. If you are in or near Memphis, you need to go there!

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The next day we headed over to the famous Peabody Hotel to see their ducks. Yes, they have ducks that live at the hotel and every day they ride the elevator down to the lobby and then parade across the lobby to the fountain where they spend the day. We missed the parade but did visit them in the fountain and enjoy a drink in the lobby bar.

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We also visited the famous Beale Street although given it was a weekday afternoon, things were pretty quiet.

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Another fun part of traveling the country is catching up with friends we may not have seen for a few years. On a rainy Friday, Barbara Lindke came out to the campground to visit and join us for lunch. We met Barbara on our first trip on Seadream during our Trans Atlantic cruise. We failed to take a pic of us so will have to pull one from the cruise back in 2008….

We also had the opportunity to catch up with JJ Sinclair and her husband Phillip. JJ and Dan worked together for many years at IHG. We had THE BEST BBQ and visit with them on a sunny Saturday in Memphis.

We honestly could have spent a lot more time in Memphis and may have to go back again for another visit. As we headed out of town, we dropped off Lola for her final repairs and spent about an hour at a local dog park where Adele and Brandy got time to explore before we were back on the road for Little Rock!

In early October we departed Atlanta, still looking for fall weather! Unfortunately, we didn’t find it in northern Alabama with temps hitting 100 several days during our trip west.

First stop was Huntsville to visit the Rocket Center. It was way more than we expected! Lots of things to see from the early space race up to Apollo including….lots of rockets!

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There were lots of other interesting artifacts too:

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We also learned that there is a huge german influence around the Huntsville area since Werner Von Braun and many other scientists were brought over to the US after the end of WW II from Germany to help with our rocket development. One result is some of the best German food you can get! We enjoyed schnitzel and bratwurst that was the best!

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Soon, it was time to leave Huntsville and head further west.

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Our next stop was just to break up our journey between Huntsville and Memphis which meant stopping in Tuscumbia, Alabama. But we discovered that a very famous lady was from this town and we were able to tour her home, called Ivy Green. Specifically, Helen Keller was born and raised in Tuscumbia. For those not aware of her story, Helen was stricken soon after being born with an illness that caused her to go completely blind and deaf. Thus, she had no way to communicate with her parents or anyone else. Luckily, her family brought in Anne Sullivan as her teacher. Ann was able to break thru the darkness and silence and very quickly Helen was able to learn to communicate and later went on the be a global advocate for helping the blind and deaf. It was really amazing to think of how much she had to overcome to become such an influential woman.

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Time to get back on the road and turn west towards Memphis. We’d have a week of exploring, connecting with friends, and hopefully finally finding some fall weather.

We wrapped up our time in North Carolina and reluctantly headed back to Atlanta. From cool nights with our windows open, we were going back to temps in the 90’s and dry. We’d have a very busy two-weeks of catching up with friends and family as well as many, many doctor appointments (ah, the joys of getting old!).

We decided to stay at the KOA in Cartersville again. It was a basic campground but we had liked it the last time we were in town. But, that changed big time during this visit. As noted previously, we had a lot of doctor appointments. One in particular was some minor surgery that Jill required to remove a skin cancer growth above her eye (a little more about that later). We got up at 5 in the morning so we could get to our 7 AM appointment, took several hours while they ensured they had removed all that was required, and finally got back to camp around 1 PM. About an hour later, we started hearing a bulldozer scraping the road next to our RV, followed by a steam roller, and next came a truck laying down tar. At this point, I went out to move our car which was only a foot from all this work.

After moving the car away from our site and potential damage from the rocks and tar, I went to one of the campground managers to see what was going on. My first question was, “Jay, what’s going on?”. The answer was “What do you think is going on?” Not really being in the mood for twenty questions, I replied “I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking” . Well, Jay didn’t seem happy to have to be answering questions so he indicated that this was “progress”. After more questioning, he finally informed me that some of the roads were getting paved. I tried to understand why they hadn’t given us a heads up but Jay indicated they had no warning and that I should just shut up and accept it. At that point, I was done with Jay and went into the campground office in order to cancel our planned visit in November (which we had already decided to do before this since the campground was too dusty, no grass, and farther out from Atlanta).

Jay followed me into the office and continued to harass me about complaining and at that point I reiterated that I was just looking for an apology for disturbing us or for at least not giving us a heads up of what was coming. Jay was not having it and called me names (belligerent, arrogant, etc.) and kept arguing with me while I waited for another customer to finish with Jay’s wife (Ann). When it was my turn, I indicated that I wanted to cancel our November visit. Ann advised me that she was refunding our money and that we were to leave immediately. When queried as to why I was being made to leave I was told that I was rude and complaining in front of a customer. Basically, they don’t like anyone to complain or disagree with them and if you crossed them, they were happy to kick you out. For those who remember Seinfeld, I felt I was dealing with the “Soup Nazi” – if you violate any of their unwritten rules, “No campsite for you!”

Thus, in less than an hour, we packed up our RV and headed out, happy to move to a better and more friendly campground closer to Atlanta, on Lake Allatoona. In a way, we felt we had gained a badge because we must not be having enough fun if we don’t get kicked out of a campground somewhere!

As a follow up, we complained to KOA Corporate (this was a franchised KOA Campground). They responded quickly, apologized, provided a $50 gift card and followed up directly with the campground.

As noted earlier, Jill had some minor surgery which we thought would be really minor. What we didn’t realize was that this would be very impactful giving how close it was to her eye lid. By the time we got to a restaurant after the procedure, Jill was having to assure the staff that no domestic violence was involved!

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The other big news was regarding the reconnection with our son Chris. For those who may not know the background, we adopted Chris when he was 6. We had some great times with him but also lots of challenges. When he turned 18, he went his own way and soon after we lost connection with him. A few weeks before we returned to Atlanta, Chris (now 32 years old) reached out to us. After many challenging years, he had settled down and gotten much more responsible. He is now managing a Papa Johns shop in Atlanta and working almost all the time. In addition, he’d been in a very steady relationship for several years and was now expecting identical twin girls!!! So, in the course of a few weeks we had gone from having few family to having a son, a daughter in law, and future grandparents (call us Lolli and Pop).

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We’ll be heading back to Atlanta in November for a baby shower! In the mean time, heading west thru Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana! And we know that at least the first portion of the trip will be HOT!