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Sunday, November 30, 2008

A little more of Vicksburg

It turned alittle breezy and cool today,but the sun peeked thru the clouds now and then. We did alittle more touring around and here are some more photos. I would like to suggest visiting www.atticgallery.net it's a fun site just as it is a fun gallery. It was visited by our own Randy Mason for RareVisions and Roadside Revelaations seen on KCPT. Margaret's Grocery was also featured. I enjoy outsider art as I create some
myself every now and then. Enjoy!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Vicksburg National Military Park

We are in Vicksburg, MS staying at the Amerastar Casino RV park. This is a photo of the casino the park in across the street and up the road a block or two so it is a long walk but they have a free shuttle.

We explored the VNMP today, it is a 1,800 acre National Park, America's most monumented national park, where the fate of a nation was decided in 1863. Within the park is a Union ironclad gunboat which had been submersed on the bottom of the Yazzoo River for 102 years. The largest National Military Cemetery of Union dead in the U.S. is located in the Park.
Vicksburg was under siege for 46 days and surrendered to Grant July 4, 1863.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENNIS :)

Sunday, November 23, 2008

A lazy Sunday

It was a warmer morning, I was up early, went up and did a couple loads of laundary and had a nice shower before Ken was up. We had breakfast at Tunica McDonalds and took a little walk thru the nature trail behind the museum. We found these strange fungi, have never seen round fungi before.
We got back to the RV and the cats were still fast asleep, it was a good day to relax and watch TV movies.




Tomorrow we will be hitting the road again.



Saturday, November 22, 2008

Frozen H2O


I woke up to no water, the temp must have gotten in the teens. There was only 1 bottle of water in the frig and the cats water dish was empty, so I shared the bottle half for them and half for my morning coffee. (I now have 3 bottles of water in the frig and a gallon of water for the toilet for the next frozen H2O morning.) We went to Waffle House for breakfast and back to Clarksdales WalMart Ken saw a toy he wanted to get for the grandkids and it wasn't at the Walmart in Memphis. We also stopped at a Pecan road side store, so we have pecans and peanuts to snack on. The cotton left in the fields after harvesting sort of looks like snow, we stopped and took a few samples to look at.
(We had water again when we got back.) (Some interesting info?)

A 550 lb bale of cotton will make 12oo pillowcases, growing season for cotton is 160 days, not all the bolls ripen at the same time when they were picked by hand they would go out 3 times to pick, now they wait til most of it is ready and machine pick it.



Friday, November 21, 2008

Another Cold Day

We have been visiting the other casinos to see what they are like. Our favorite is still the Hollywood but Harrahs is next. I couldn't believe there are $100 slots, the Horseshoe and Sam's Town seem to have more of the higher $$ slots. We still have 5 more to look at, don't think we'll get to them all.
It's still cold here, last night was 24 degrees and only 43 today and another cold nite tonight.
Ken also wanted to go to WalMart today only a closer one, 23 miles north just outside Memphis, to get a few things and get his Subway fix. I don't know what we did before WalMart!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Mississippi Blues Trail

We needed to find a WalMart, Ken needed prescriptions refilled and Clarksdale 30 miles south had one and it is on the Mississippi Blues Trail so we drove down. The Delta Blues Museum is there plus several blues joints. There was no photography allowed in the museum so I took this from their brochure, it is a reconstruction of Muddy Waters log cabin which was on Stovall Plantation. Clarksdale is known as the "Birthplace of the Blues" and is a mecca for blues enthusiasts from around the world. The ticket agent at the museum was from Wichita KS and moved there because he played the blues. We decided to have lunch at Ground Zero a blues club and restaurant owned by Bill Luckett, and actor and local resident Morgan Freeman and Howard Stovall. I had a down-home plate lunch and Ken a BLT. Everything is covered with signatures of patrons, I mean everything but the food.
We then visited a couple of eccentric shops filled with expensive folkart. I liked the bleach bottles covered with fabric scraps, beads and bits and pieces of stuff, the price tag was $100, I think I read it right. I should get busy, huh!!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Monday, November 17, 2008

Still Chasing butterflies

We were out looking at Victorian houses in Memphis today and I spotted this little guy on the sidewalk. It is a Red banded hairstreak, a new one for me I believe. They do stray north to Mo but more common here in the south. I also saw a Painted Lady and a Monarch today, temp was near 60 this afternoon. Our big thing to do today was ride the trolley, it costs a $1, they are beautiful old trolleys with wooden interiors. We went back to Beale St from Riverside Dr Visitor Center. We had BBQ ribs today at Superior Restaurant and Bar which had live music today.
Each moment is a place you've never been. Mark Strand

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Beale St

We had sunshine today and it was a little warmer. Sat. was cloudy, windy and chilly a good day to visit a couple of museums. Here in the casino complex, of which there are 9 casinos spread out over 5 miles or so along the Mississippi, there is a Riverpark and Museum. We toured it and learned all about the Mississippi and the men who tried to tame it. Then we visited the Tunica museum and learned about the history of Tunica. It is named after the Indians who lived here and the main crops are cotton, rice and catfish farms. Back in the 60's, I think, it made the TV news with the Sugar Ditch, about the blacks and the poor conditions they were living in.

Today we drove to Memphis and visited Beale St. We had BBQ pork sandwiches at The Pig on Beale and I had a slice of sweet potato pie, all was very good. This is the Peabody Hotel lobby, where the Peabody ducks reside, can you see them here. In 1933 a couple of hunters were enjoying a whiskey or two and released their live duck decoys and so the ducks became a tourist attraction.


This is our complex, the RV park is behind the casino making it a nice easy walk to the casino and we can walk next door to the Resort Casino too. (We haven't been there yet.) We noticed at the Harrah's RV park you needed to drive to or take a shuttle to the casino, Sam's looks like a long walk or a shuttle so we now know why this one is so popular. In front is a harvested cotton field, all the casinos are surrounded by cotton fields. We learned that Tunica is the third biggest gambling destination in the U.S.
More from Memphis tomorrow.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Down the road

We have driven thru 6 states in the last two days and we have settled for a few days at the Hollywood Casino in Tuncia, MS which is about 30miles S of Memphis. It started raining when we hit Memphis but maybe it will be a little warmer, but doesn't sound like it. The RV park here at the casino is really nice and almost full. It is $15 a nite but they had an internet special of $12. We went over and got our cards and played the slots some, if we earn so many points within 24 hrs we get a discount on one of meals, so far we have earned 10 cent breakfast. I did win a little which is nice, I believe I won enough to pay for 6 nites here. Hopefully, the weather will be alittle nicer tomorrow for me to get a few photos.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Decatur, IN

Hello, things are going well here. Our slide and a few other little things have been fixed. We wait tomorrow for a replacement door for an overhead compartment that the leak damaged then we will be on our way south. We get to stay in the RV at night at a parking area that has electricity only, it is provided for the RVers getting repairs. We take it in early in the morning and pick it up at 2. It was 22 degrees this morning, we got to scrap the frost off our car before we left. We feel a little homeless for a few hours as we drive around the area with the cats in the back. There is a large Amish community just south of Decatur, and a town that claims Swiss background famous for it's furniture.
Today we toured the Fleetwood factory, it was very interesting. We were the only ones on the tour no production was really being done just some small jobs. They can make 5 motorhomes a day. They make it all there from the chassis up, they now use Cummings diesels ours is a Caterpillar. We saw the 45 ft to the 34ft and what changes they are making on our style.Monday wash day.

Arnold's Drive In where we ate today and yes Happy Days was being shown on the TV.


Look what we found!!

There is supposed to be a village Ceylon but if there is it is only a street or two. The Wabash river used to flow under but the course changed. It is no longer used it is by passed.
Till next time from ???? where.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

ACD Museum

We are parked in the Fleetwood lot in Decatur IN, Monday early we take the RV to another building to be fixed. It is cold, rainy and there were snow flurries so it was
a good day to visit the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, IN. ,

Friday, November 7, 2008

Cataract Falls

We are still looking at bridges, today is our last day as we are heading to Decatur tomorrow. We didn't get much rain yesterday but it is getting colder. We checked out Cataract Falls today, they too were flooded in June. It's not a tall falls but there is a lower and higher falls and it is a pretty area. We then took the car to Wal Mart here in Crawfordville and had the oil changed. It takes synthetic oil, which I didn't know when I bought it, and of course it costs more.
Next report from Decatur, IN and the Fleetwood Manufacturing Plant.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Bridges of Parke County

Here are a few pics of the bridges we found today, we found about 20 more today. We missed only 4. We may go find them tomorrow if it doesn't rain. It was a beautiful day temp in the 70's. We learned that the Bridgeton bridge was burned down 2002, and through the help of donations it was rebuilt in two years. It took 300 popular trees to rebuild half donated from the local farmers. The arsonist was caught and he gets out of prison this year for good behavior. The State Sanatorium bridge is being moved to private land and the Catlin bridge was moved to a golf course. Three bridges were moved to Billie Creek Village and they charge an admission. The Amish have a big community in the area and we saw a farmer harvesting his corn with his 6 big horses. We had a big day driving 120 miles through the country side and through tiny villages, but it was a fun day it reminded us of a scavenger hunt.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Crawfordsville, IN

We decided to move on into Indiana, the museum didn't hold Ken's interest this morning so we didn't go. We found a campground open here in Crawfordsville, IN, Sugar Creek Campground. We can drive and find around 30 plus covered bridges in the area. We found 7 this afternoon and most we drive thru to get to the next one.
The campground is very nice I'll get pics tomorrow. We may stay for 3 nites and enjoy the awesome countryside here. The trees still have some color. We may have only 1 nice day left to enjoy, rain and colder weather is on the way. The 70 degree temps have been great!!
More from Parke County Indiana tomorrow.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Moving On

Yesterday, we took a drive up to Fort Madison, IA and back down thru Nauvoo to Keokuk, IA. The museums in Fort Madison close Labor Day, but we had an interesting visit. We stopped at the visitor center and visited with the little old fellow there. He told us about the history and some fun facts. Roy Rogers and his troup would come thru on the train going east and they would stop a few days to rest up the livestock. One of the trips thru the locals had the idea of asking him to perform and this started their big rodeo days.

We also got to visit with the director of the Ft. Madison, he is the only paid employee for the fort and allowed to work only 25 hrs. to keep up this attaction which is only open in the summer. He was at the fort cleaning up after their last program the candle light program. The fort was flooded for the month of June, and he has had a time getting the fort repaired and then free from raccoons and mice. The riverboat in the pic, was a casino last year but now only the raccoons are having fun on board.

We moved on this morning, we are in Rantoul, IL tonight. We are at Prairie Pine RV, this is the sign at the entrance. It used to be part of the Air Force Base that used to be here. Tomorrow we will probably visit the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum and rest a little. Then move on Wed.


Sunday, November 2, 2008

A day in Nauvoo, IL

We enjoyed our day in Nauvoo. We visited most of the buildings, learned about tinsmithing, printing, brickmaking, wainsmithing, gunmaking, candlemaking, barrel making, bread making, and shoemaking and driving oxen! All this is free and even get a little brick, little horseshoe and nail ring for free. All the re enactors are missionary couples. We had a nice dinner at the Nauvoo Hotel and then attended the little play at seven.