Saturday, March 2, 2019 - Morning Walk along the Mississippi; Natchez, MS Visitor Center; Natchez Hop On, Hop Off City Tour; Lunch at Magnolia Grill; Looking for Rodney, MS; Back to Bentley

Saturday, March 2, 2019 - Morning Walk along the Mississippi; Natchez, MS Visitor Center; Natchez Hop On, Hop Off City Tour; Lunch at Magnolia Grill; Looking for Rodney, MS; Back to Bentley

Getting up so early yesterday, I guess my body decided I needed more rest today as it was a little after 6am when I woke up.  After starting the coffee I worked on yesterday's blog so I could get it posted today.

At 7 Dean and I walked south a short distance to see if we could tell if the water had dropped or risen over night.  Our first thought was it had dropped, but later we determined that it had actually risen as part of the road we drove in on yesterday is now under water.  We then walked north, under the bridge, past the hospital and Vidalia Conference & Community Center.  Along the way we noticed there is some kind of event going on in a park area near the VCCC that included a car show. 

Setting up for an event.  See another shot below:

Taken a few hours later as we crossed the bridge into Natchez, MS.

I took a number of pictures on our walk using my camera this time. 

From the left - Mel/Rhonda, Dean/Cheri, Alvin/Linda, Keith/Drena

Top Photo - flooding in the park.  We are to the far right in the front row and water isn't even near us.
Bottom Left:  I am standing near our sites - see how far away the water is.  It will have to raise several feet before it gets close to us.  We are in pull-thru sites so it will be easy to leave if needed, and there is no flooding behind us and on the road leaving the park.
Bottom Right:  This is a closeup of the area at the end of the road to our sites.

Beautiful walkway along the Mississippi RIver

Many areas to sit and enjoy the view along the path.

Marriott hotel - Town Place Suites

Vidalia Hospital - Promise Hospital of Miss Lou

Closeup of Bridge between Vidalia, LA and Natchez, MS

Under the bridge

Barge headed south on the Mississippi

Going under the bridge

I discovered later than Don Jose Vidal is the namesake of Vidalia, LA.

Spaniards were the first to fly a flag over the site of Vidalia, and the Spaniard, Don Jose Vidal, is the one from which Vidalia takes its name.

Can't think of a better way to enjoy watching the barges go up and down the Mississippi River.

This barge was interesting due to the fact it was carrying equipment on top of the barges versus what we typically see - enclosed barges where the product is unknown to viewers.

Closeup of the tugboat pushing it upriver.

When we returned from our walk we ate breakfast and readied ourselves for our outing of the day.  We started at the Natchez, MS Visitor Center, where we rode a Hop On, Hop Off City Tour Bus.  They have a very impressive Visitor Center.  We talked with a delightful woman who explained in detail different things to see and do while we are here.  We decided that we would take the tour bus to give us a good lay of the town, and anything we find interesting we can return to see more detail.  

The Natchez Visitor Center from the road we entered on.  It has a nice large parking lot that is free, and can accommodate RV's.  It is a wonderful facility. 

The Tour Bus was great and I took a ton of pictures.  This has kept me from posting immediately as it takes a lot of time to go through them, decide which ones I want to use, delete the ones that are no good and then crop them to get most of the "junk" out.  When you take pictures from a bus you cannot always get the best views so I do the best I can.

Our "bus" awaits!

Back row - Linda & Alvin; Mel & Rhonda, Cindy

Back Row - Drena & Keith, Dean & Cheri

To learn more see:  William Johnson Home & Visitor Center

I would love to read his diaries sometime as I imagine this to be a fascinating story.  

Adams County Courthouse in downtown Natchez, MS

Presbyterian Church

An old antebellum home being restored.

This is a Magnolia Tree - reminds me of Bob and Janet Carpenter's tree in Oswego - now owned by Kent Wagner and family.

See the old house - they told us the city is talking to the owners about renovating this house to its former state.

Click here to learn more about Forks in the Road.  This was very moving and I'm thankful that slavery was abolished.

We returned to the Visitor Center on the bus.  We spent a little time here looking at various displays, visiting the gift shop and checking into tickets for tours.  From there all 9 of us drove to Magnolia Grill for lunch.  Fortunately, we only took two of our trucks and not all 4 of them as I am not sure we could have parked all 4 in the parking area behind their restaurant.  

You really need some decent room for duallys.  Drena, Keith, Cindy, Dean and I all set at one table and Alvin, Linda, Mel and Rhonda set at another across the room from us.  We felt lucky to get seated so quickly as it was a busy place.  I cannot believe I forgot to take pictures of the food AGAIN.  I even laid my camera out so I would remember.  I had the Napa Salad - baby spinach leaves with strawberries, pecans, grilled chicken, mushrooms and blue cheese, with blue cheese dressing.  Dean, Keith & Drena had burgers and Cindy had a shrimp po boy.  I think everyone enjoyed their meal.

We returned to the Visitor Center to pick up the other vehicles and return to the RV Park.  Dean, Cindy and I wanted to visit Rodney, MS and we asked Drena and Keith if they would like to go with us.  They did, so we took a few minutes at our rigs and left for Rodney about 15 minutes later.

Why did we want to visit Rodney?  The first night we arrived a couple who are workcampers here in the park (from Joplin, MO near where we live) told us how they like to drive the backroads and find unique things to see.  They heard about Rodney and decided they would visit.  They really enjoyed the trip and what they found.  It intrigued Dean and I as we too enjoy backroad drives ourselves.  When they told us that Rodney almost became the state's capital by only 3 votes that really intrigued me.  Unfortunately, 2-2.5 hours later we never got to see Rodney.  What a disappointment it was to all 5 of us.  With the current flooding the road was blocked off.  We even went another direction so we could come in from the other side of the road, but it was also blocked off - although there was enough room to bypass it.  We assume it was only partly blocked to allow farmers or cattlemen to get to their fields or cattle.  It wasn't too long though that we were unable to go any further without a chance of being stuck - and we weren't willing to take that chance.  So, the mystery of Rodney remained just that for us, but here's a little history about Rodney, MS.  If you care to read it here is a blog I found about a trip to Rodney.  Both were fascinating to me.

Top right:  Crystal Springs Hunting Lodge - it was apparent by the number of hunting "lodges" we saw hunting is a big pass time in this area.
Top left:  Cattle ranch we saw just before we went around the "Road Closed" sign - mostly likely so they or others could have access to some of their fields for feeding.
Middle Right:  Look closely you can see water the other side of the levy we were sitting on.
Random pictures taken in the area.

It's about 32 miles to Rodney, and the drive home seemed longer.  Maybe that was because I was riding in the back and it was about 4:00.  I started getting tired and I think I may have dozed off once or twice.  I was ready to get out of the truck and move again.  After being back at the rig, I realized the prescription I ordered on Thursday probably arrived today, but when we walked to the office it was closed for the day.  It's open Sunday (tomorrow) from 12-5, so I'll check then.

Dean and I decided to take a walk to see if there had been any rise in the water level while we were gone.  The road we drove on to get to our site Thursday was now under water at the south end.  Since they are pull through sites, everyone can drive out.  The park and the city are constantly watching and monitoring the water level.  It still has quite a ways to go before it reaches our rigs, and from what I see on NOAA's website unless some significant weather event occurs we will be gone before it would get close to our sites.  While rain is expected today for most of the morning I'm not sure it will have a big impact on us as it appears most of the heavy rain will be on south of us and east of us.

As we walked along the walkway, we saw several other couples in front of us.  We were talking as we walked along and met two of the couples with one of them still a ways from us.  As we approached them, I realized it was Alvin and Linda.  We had not being paying much attention so were surprised to see them.  We visited a bit before they headed back and we walked further on down the walkway to check things out before heading back.

We are doing good with our walking and with all that we did today I had nearly 15,000 steps.  Once we returned, I heated up the chili from last night, then I worked on the blog the rest of the evening until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.  Once I put my computer away, I hung some clothes up to dry overnight in the shower.  I've been trying to do a load a day to keep up with our laundry while we are traveling, since we go somewhere almost every day.  I can do one in the morning or one at night and the clothes dry during the day or overnight.  I can't leave them to dry outside while we are gone since we never leave our awning out when we aren't here, in case the wind comes up.   The stand needs to be attached to the awning to keep it from falling over.  If the wind is really strong it will even blow the clothes off of the stand - even though there are clips to hold them on.  Yes, I know this from experience.  Lol!

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain so we will plan to visit some places that will be inside.

What a wonderful day we had and we have more planned for tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Friday, March 1, 2019 - Travel to Vidalia, LA; Meeting up with a Bunch of Escapees; Barges on the Mississippi; It's Cold Outside!

Friday, March 1, 2019 - Travel to Vidalia, LA; Meeting up with a Bunch of Escapees; Barges on the Mississippi; It's Cold Outside!

I woke up at 4:11am and I was wide awake.  I tried to close my eyes, but it wasn't happening.  I was ready to get up.  I turned on the coffeepot and did my morning exercises.  I have been lax the past few days so it's time to get back in to a routine again.  The coffee was done and I set down to write two blogs, one for March 26 & 27, and one for yesterday.  I worked on them until about 7:10am.  It really feels good to be caught up again.

A short time later, Dean asked me if I wanted to walk this morning.  Since I'm caught up with the blog, and we haven't walked in several days now, I immediately said of course.  We walked the entire perimeter of the RV park section, around a section where park model rentals were located, up to the office, pool area, then over to the large team roping stadium and parking area, and finally once more around the RV park section to reach our 2 miles.  It felt good to get the walk in.

RV Park - area near us

Bentley - non door side

Our site

Back at Bentley we ate breakfast, showered, and then started packing things up.  It was 10:50am when we finally pulled out of our RV site and headed toward Vidalia, LA.  

There wasn't much to see on the way to Vidalia.  I took a few random pictures.  Fortunately we only had to be on an Interstate for a short while, so it was mostly US and state roads.  They are usually much more interesting - and there were a few neat things I could have taken a picture of - if I could have got to the camera on my phone quick enough.  I hate when that happens.  

Glenmora, LA Water Tower

Forest Hill Water Tower

Our first sighting of a redbud tree this year!

Loved this water tower for Pineville, LA

Beautiful pine trees

They have had lots of rain here in the past few days.

Beautiful GREEN grass!

One of the photos I missed was an old plantation (still in operation) about 18 miles outside of Vidalia.  I couldn't get to my phone in time.  It was called Frogmore Plantation.  

Once we arrived in Vidalia, we saw signs for River View RV Park at the east and west ends of town, but we followed Bobbie, our GPS.  She did not let us down and we drove right to it.  As you may have heard on the news the Mississippi River is experiencing flooding.  They had some heavy rains in the area that have caused some local flooding, however, the river itself is raising from upstream thawing of snow and ice but it is not expected to reach high flood stage until later in the month.  The city is monitoring it as well as the folks here in the park.  We are at a high point in the park - even though we have front row parking to the Mississippi and the MANY barges that pass through on a regular basis.  I couldn't begin to tell you how many we watched either going up or down the river after we arrived yesterday afternoon.  It was almost constant.  The ones going down passed by quickly - those going upstream were a little slower going against the strong current.  It was fun to watch.  I failed to get any pictures last night as we were too busy visiting with the Escapees here in the park.

What are Escapees you ask?  Well, it's not the kind you might think of - the only thing we have escaped to is our RV's and traveling the country.  We belong to an National group called Escapees, plus we also belong to a local group (KS, OK, MO & part of AR).  We have 5 rigs here for four days to visit the area and enjoy spending time with each other.  The group consists of our Chapter President (Alvin & Linda), their son and daughter-in-law (Mel & Rhonda), our Vice-President (Keith & Drena), one of our newest members (Cindy) and Dean and I.  

When we arrived we checked in at the office.  The ladies working there were fun loving which is always a treat.  As we left, we met Cindy walking and visited for a short while before we moved on to our site and set up.  The VERY front row in the park (a much shorter row than ours and only located at the south end of the park) is under water.  Where we are all located, provides us with a front row view of the river, at a higher level, even though we are technically the second row.  It is great.  Keith did a good job of securing our sites last fall.

From the time we arrived, Dean and I were visiting with Keith & Drena.  Once we were setup and I had done the minimal stuff inside - open the slides, turn the chairs around, and put the things that must be stored while we travel, where they needed to be; I was outside to visit.  Drena invited me in to see their new chairs which were lovely and comfortable.  We visited for awhile before going back out to join the guys.  A couple of hours later Alvin & Mel rolled in to claim their spots.

As Mel and Rhonda were readying to setup they noticed they had a back tire that was almost flat.  We were all thankful they made it here without having an issue on the road.  Once they were set up with what was necessary, he removed it and took it to town to have it repaired.  There were two small nails in it.  

The rest of us set outside and visited until almost 6, when we all returned to our rigs for dinner and some rest.  I made some chili which really hit the spot as it is quite cool here.  It was 55 here when we arrived but the temperatures had dropped lower by the time we went inside - we were all getting cold by then.  

After dinner and dishes done, I did another load of laundry, worked on the blog until I felt like I was going to fall asleep.  It was still early, so I asked Dean if he wanted to take a walk along the river (there is a wide and nicely paved walkway along the river in both directions), and he agreed.  Even though it was pretty cold, as long as we were moving it wasn't too bad.  I tried to take a picture of the bridge and Natchez, MS just across the river.  It wasn't as good as I hoped but I'm going to share it anyway.  Tonight I'll try to remember to use my camera and see if I can't get a better picture to share, as well as some pictures during the day of the barges, the bridge and the park.

Thursday, February 28, 2019 - Travel Day to Kinder, LA

Thursday, February 28, 2019 - Travel Day to Kinder, LA

I was up early this morning, working on the blog, then trying to get some things done in preparation for our move.  I decided having bacon or ham and eggs every morning was too dull for me.  I need to be able to change it up a bit, so this morning I had yogurt (greek 0% is what I prefer, but I had to get 2% yesterday), grapes, a little granola, flax seed, and sliced almonds.  Yummm!  

I called Larry and Sandi to let them know we were going to stop to tell them goodbye as we  leave the park.  After hugs and letting them know we'd see them at one of their sibling second Tuesday evening dinners later this year, we made one last stop to drop off our trash.  We pulled out of the park at 9:39, making our way to Kinder, LA.

I tried working on the blog some, but finally had to give it up.  The roads were just too rough.  I was spending too much time fixing errors as my fingers hit the wrong keys at each bump.  We traveled 216 miles today and it seemed like it drug on forever.  We experienced light rain on and off most of the day.  It was 47 and cloudy, foggy with a light rain when we left Westlake RV Resort and it was 73, quite warm, sultry and cloudy with a light rain when we arrived in Kinder.  

The drive around Houston when we left was long and tedious, slow down and speed up, over and over again.

Traffic, traffic....when will we get out of this traffic!

There was a police motorcycle group leading and following these two over-sized buildings on the frontage road.

I didn't think we would ever get around Houston - it took approximately 45 minutes and it was another 30-45 minutes before we finally found a place to stop so I could use the restroom!  For first thing in the morning that was a LONG time to me.  We stopped once more along the way at a truck stop with a Checkers.  I had a small cheeseburger and Dean had some chicken bites.  It got us through until we reached Kinder.

As we entered Kinder we crossed Lake Charles:

Approaching bridge

Lake Charles

I thought the bridge railing was pretty interesting.

Beautiful park area along Lake Charles

We are staying at Coushatta Red Shoe RV Park, part of the Coushatta Casino.  At $19 a night it was a no-brainer to stop here.  It is a very nice RV Park, all pull through sites with full hookups, cable and they will pick you up at your site and transport you to the casino at a nicely covered walkway for free.   Since we plan to eat dinner there tonight, it is a real perk, since it continued to rain off and on all day and into the evening.  It was apparent when we arrived here at the park, they had some significant rain as water was standing everywhere.  

RV Park Office 

Small pond near the campground.

There are many park models available for rent on the grounds of the casino/rv park.

Close up of the park model.

Once we were set up, I put a load of towels in the washer right away while we set up inside.  When we finished setting up, we drove in to Kinder.  I wanted to get some hamburger and frozen chicken tenders to use for meals over the next week or so.  Kinder has a really nice  grocery store, Market Basket, that was very well stocked.  

After making our purchases we headed back to the park.  I put in another load of clothes, jeans this time.  The weather has been bouncing back and forth from cool to hot since we've been in the south, so I want to be prepared for whatever weather we face.  The jeans I had on today were my last pair of everyday jeans and after tracking through water/mud while setting up today, they could not be worn again without a wash.  Once the machine had quit, I laid the jeans out on the island and we called the shuttle bus to pick us up at our site.  I'll dry both loads after we return.

The shuttle arrived pretty quick.  It was still raining, so we were thankful it was available.  There were two other couples already on board and they all gave us a hearty hello.  RVer's are like this - it's like we are all neighbors.  We struck up a conversation with the man in front of us.  Soon we stopped and a lady boarded.  Between the two of them they had quite the discussion on the amount of snow and ice they have had in Wisconsin and Minnesota this year (where they were from).  The number of inches they've received this year were astounding compared to what we are used to in Southeast Kansas.  I enjoy hearing first hand information like this from people who experience different things than we do. 

It wasn't long and we pulled up to the casino.  We walked the entire perimeter of the casino looking at the different restaurants before we found the buffet.  Most of what I chose was good but I have to admit it wasn't as good as Downstream in Joplin.  I did pretty good sticking to my diet and focused mostly on meats, vegetables and fruit.  I did eat a small piece of cheesecake and got a smidgen of bread pudding, just to taste it since it was so different from what we typically see.  Dean and I both had two small bites of it.  I love red beans and rice, and I took a little of it - even though rice is not on my diet.  It was such a small amount though I doubt it will have a big impact.  It was very good.  At the meat counter I asked for a half slice of brisket - it was wonderful.  After our meal, we took the shuttle back to Bentley.  I have no desire to gamble.  I've never had any luck at it and there are too many other things I prefer to spend my money on, plus I had things I needed to do back at the RV.

Once back I partially dried both loads, then hung them in the shower to finish drying overnight.  I put the fan and small heater on the floor below them to direct warm air on them to be sure they would be dry in the morning.  The temperatures are supposed to drop to 50 overnight, so this will help provide a little heat for us as well.

I worked on the blog post while waiting for the clothes to dry, for the time we were in Aransas Pass and managed to post it, but my eyes would not stay open to finish our stay in Katy and our travels today.

Tomorrow we meet up with our Escapee friends for our travels along the southern and eastern coast during March.  We are looking foward to seeing all of them again and the adventures we will share together.

Tuesday-Wednesday, February 26 & 27, 2019 - Spending Time in Katy, TX with Larry & Sandi, Dean's brother & sister-in-law.

Tuesday-Wednesday, February 26 & 27, 2019 - Spending Time in Katy, TX with Larry & Sandi, Dean's brother & sister-in-law.


Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Today is our 25th Wedding Anniversary!  I am so thankful God brought the two of us together.  We've had some incredible times together and the journey continues.  We are blessed with our blended family of six children, wonderful daughter-in-laws, and our amazing thirteen grandchildren.  What a journey it has been so far and we look forward to the next twenty five years together!

We left Port Aransas this morning in the rain - fortunately, it let up as we were hitching  Bentley to the truck.  

We left Mobil Village RV Park at 9:20am heading toward Katy/Houston, TX to see Dean's brother and sister-in-law, Larry & Sandi Peine.  It was a dreary and wet day, that gave us all kinds of weather.  From a light drizzle to full out pouring rain during our drive.  Fortunately, it let up as we neared the Katy/Houston area - and for that we were very thankful.

Crossing a bridge as we leave Rockport.

A long lonely looking highway.

Foggy, dreary looking skies - but it is still beautiful!

I always wonder what else might have been sitting here with this old windmill; now all alone, it's as if something is missing.

Lots of water standing in various areas.

We began to see fields.

We followed this guy for quite awhile before we could finally get around him.

Starting to get dark again.

The rain hit and hard.  We were happy when it finally let up.

Heading to our park for the next two days.

Traffic, traffic and more traffic.

We pulled into Westlake RV Resort in Katy/Houston, TX shortly after 2:00pm.  We were glad to be here.  We set up in a light rain, then called Larry and Sandi, before walking down to their site.  By then the rain had let up even more, so the walk down was not too bad.  We visited for awhile before Dean asked them if they would like to go to dinner with us tonight.  We suggested Longhorn Steakhouse and they agreed.

We all needed to change clothes, so Dean and I walked back to Bentley, changed and then walked back to their site.  Sandi drove us in their van.  It's easier for them to get in and out of their van, rather than trying to climb up into our truck.

Traffic was pretty heavy, and it rained most of the way there, but we made it and had a wonderful dinner.  I had a filet, broccoli and a side salad.  Dean had a rib eye, rice and a side salad.  Sandi and Larry ate much lighter.  Sandi had a grilled chicken salad, and Larry had chili.  The food was great.  We drove home in rain, and the weather is calling for rain almost daily this coming week.  They dropped us at our RV before they headed back home.

We enjoyed an evening of relaxing after the long drive we had today.  


February 27, 2018

We slept in (for us) this morning, then Dean fixed breakfast for us.  Eggs and bacon was just perfect.  

Last time I washed the sheets we had on our bed yesterday I told Dean there were two small tears in the sheet.  I knew that meant it wouldn't be long and we'd need to replace that set.  Sure enough, Dean got his foot caught in that little tear and now it's a great big tear.  I changed the sheets on the bed this morning and suggested we stop by Kohl's and buy a new set.  While I could get by with one set of sheets, I prefer immediately putting clean sheets on when I remove the dirty ones to wash them.  We checked with Larry and Sandi to see if they would like to go along but they declined and we'll get with them later.  We made a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a few things we needed, and then we visited a couple of RV dealerships to see if we could find any globes for our over the island lighting.  We will need three new ones, since it is doubtful we'll find a match to the two we have remaining.  No one had anything close to what we needed. 

We did not find any sheets, or at least any I was willing to pay the price for at Kohl's.  They have sales often so I'll keep looking.  We returned to Westlake RV and then walked back to Larry & Sandi's to visit for awhile.  It was good to catch up with them and hear how all of their kids and grandkids are doing.  

About 1:00 we drove to Denny's for lunch.  Dean and I have not ate at a Denny's in quite awhile.  I can't remember what he had now (he's still asleep, or I'd ask him).  I ordered their cobb salad, with avocado slices (for an additional $.99).  I could have added slices of prime rib steak, chicken or salmon for an additional $4 each but I thought it was too high and besides the salad looked like it would be quite a lot of food; and it was.  However, when they brought mine, prime rib slices were on it.  I told our waitress I didn't order the prime rib, only the avocado.  My salad had avocado on it, but she went and got more.  Then they charged me for the prime rib when they brought our ticket.  I told her I did not order it, specifically because I thought $4 was too much.  The salad was already around $10-12 without anything else added to it.  She took it off at the register.  The picture on the menu showed the salad with prime rib and avocado, and that is exactly what she brought me, but the additional cost was clearly mentioned.  Despite the mix-up with my salad, it was a very good meal.  

After our meal, we drove back to Larry and Sandi's and visited for another 3 hours or so before heading back to our rig.  We did a little prep work to get ready for moving tomorrow, then I settled in to work on the blog - mostly cropping pictures and such.  By the time I had finished, I could hardly keep my eyes open, and I headed to bed. 

You'd think by now, after writing this blog for over five years, I would remember to take pictures of our meals, who we see, etc.  I sure wish I had taken a picture of Larry and Sandi to include here.