It's About the (RV) Journey....: August 2016

Monday, August 29, 2016

The Mighty Muddy Mississippi.............................

Heading still farther east, we spent the last few days in Arkansas. The humidity/heat has been overwhelming, so we've been spending a lot of time in the RV. Usually when we arrive at a campground, we find that we walk a lot just to stretch our legs. But in this heat? Yikes.....I take such few steps on a hot day, and I know it for sure by checking my Fitbit. Oh boy!

The campgrounds we have been staying in lately have been filled by dinnertime and empty again in the morning. We call them "traveler's campgrounds", because the campers don't stay long. Just overnight, and leave again very early in the morning. We travel much slower (because we can, and because we think its a lot safer). So usually, we leave after 9 am, and travel till lunchtime. That way we have all afternoon to unwind from driving (Tom). Works perfectly for us. Every few days, we stay for 2 days instead of just overnight, mainly to give us options if we hit bad weather. But otherwise, it is a nice break from the highway. Safety first for us!

We stayed at Tom Sawyer's Camping Resort in Arkansas for a couple of nights, and really enjoyed watching the river traffic. We had a birds-eye view early in the afternoon, but by dinnertime, all the sites in front of us were filled. We could still see the river though.

huge barge floating by soundlessly

great views from our campsite early in the afternoon

This campground has been known to flood, and one of the worst times was in May, 2011. The water was about 8 feet high, as we could see from some of the permanent structures that were standing. Hence, the "bathhouse" and laundry room were on wheels! Crazy....but it worked....and was actually very nice. We were just a bit concerned our first day because it was rainy and stormy throughout the afternoon and evening. But...by morning.....blue sky and sunshine!

that little house on wheels has bathrooms/showers AND a laundry room!

that's Memphis over my shoulder.....

peaceful moments on the riverfront

huge campground

the barges are so quiet

and really large!

what's that guy doing?

hmmm...just checking things out

there they go

We stayed a couple of days on the Mississippi River, watching barges go by from the comfort of our air-conditioned RV. I know....but its grossly hot early in the morning AND in the evening too. We managed a few errands, and then we basically stayed put....cooking (and freezing for meals on travel days) and doing laundry. Making reservations down the road. (We will be having a lot going on soon).

the barges are getting bigger and bigger!

good time to cook....being holed up in the air-conditioned camper!

gigantic

Tom braved the heat to catch some photos

way too hot for me out there

Chili....not looking too good yet

another big barge

pulled over...another is passing by in the other direction

ahh...that's better

two barges passing soundlessly, one going towards Memphis, another going towards the sea (sorry about the camper...its getting later in the afternoon, when travelers pull in for the night)

there goes a double!!!

this one is huge....and trying to make the turn in the river towards Memphis

I have laundry going in there...

almost 100! Not my favorite weather!!

even Tom is in short sleeves....must be hot...hahahahah

As the new day dawned, you could just tell it was going to be a hot one again! We were heading out, destination Tennessee! We are getting closer Jack!! (Can you tell....we just can't wait to see our cute little grandson!!)

a beautiful (yet hot) morning on the Mississippi

The campground in Buffalo, Tennessee, was perfect...clean and quiet.....and had a delightful pool that was just calling my name. It was still early in the afternoon, and not too many other campers (kids) had arrived yet. The pool was empty! So inviting!! Tom doesn't like swimming much, unless he's actually swimming laps, so he was my lifeguard. This time...he was called to duty! I was fooling around floating with the noodle, and I dropped my sunglasses. They quickly sank to the bottom of the 9 foot pool, of course in the 9 feet where I was floating. I dove underwater to retrieve them but backed off when I realized they were on the drain. I didn't like that (accidents seem to happen around drains and I didn't want to get sucked in), so my lifeguard got the net and swept them my sunglasses up for me. Wasn't that nice? Seriously, I was not going to mess with the drain! Never a dull moment, right Tom? Hahahhaha.

my lifeguard!!

the water is perfect!!

oh man.....just had an incident with my sunglasses! Tom is my hero!!! (again!)

Moving through Tennessee during the next few days! Getting closer to Virginia!!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Oklahoma........OK!

We have been traveling through Oklahoma the past few days, mostly just driving and stopping for the night. Our plan to get back east goes a little like that...drive a couple of days, stay somewhere a couple of days...so we don't suffer from traveler's fatigue. By the way, we found HUMIDITY! Yikes....we are not used to it at all. OMG! Its 100 degrees today, and the humidity is about 50%.

We stopped for a couple of nights in Oklahoma City, and spent part of a day on a little tour. The morning started out with showers and thunderstorms, but by noon or so, the sun came out. It was better with the rain...hhahhahha. The sun just made it hotter.

Okay...enough complaining about the weather. Back to OKC. Our camp host told us the easiest way to visit the city was to catch the free "trolley" bus, called Embark, which makes a loop through downtown. We knew we only had a couple of things on our list, and, they were on the trolley route. Perfect.....the weather would not be a problem then (rain or heat)!

Oklahoma City

catching the free trolley bus "Embark" at Bass Pro Shop

of course, now its raining and who doesn't have an umbrella to go with the camera???

Our first stop was the Oklahoma National Memorial Museum. To actually walk on the area that was bombed, and to imagine the terror and death that resulted, is just awful. Goosebumps. There is a beautiful and touching memorial outside, and a museum about the events that unfolded here that we did not go in. I just really couldn't handle that. Seemed like yesterday this tragedy happened, but its been 21 years. Sadder still is how many more tragedies like this we have born witness to. Do you think it will ever stop?

The outside memorial is very simple....and very somber. There are 2 entrances...one labeled 9:01, when things were normal, and one labeled 9:03, to signify when the steps for healing began. In between is a beautiful reflecting pool, with 168 chairs, in memory of the 168 people that perished that day. Pieces of the building remain, and some of the building debris was used to build the brick path that surrounds the memorial.

faces to the "chairs"-very sad

can you read that?

the entrance to the memorial

a view of the whole OKC National Memorial-it is beautiful

the chairs...representing the victims and where they were in the building at the time

Just couldn't bear to go into the museum

you can see its raining (or are the angels crying?)

a park ranger in the background (this is a National Monument)

that's a lot of chairs (chilling, isn't it?)

outside again

on the corner across the street

After our somber visit to such a sad and tragic sight, we quietly walked to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. It was a few blocks away, and it wasn't raining too hard, so we decided we'd like to walk there. Oklahoma City is very walkable, clean and fun.

The Art Museum is not too big...just 3 floors....and the third floor is dedicated to the Dale Chihully Magic and Light Exhibit. It is the largest permanent collection in the United States. (Actually, we think it might be the 2nd largest, after Chihully Garden and Glass in Seattle....)

how nice is this lobby?

woah!

close up

At the time of our visit, there was also a large Matisse exhibit on the second floor, with timed tickets. It was a popular exhibit, however it was not one of our favorites.

one we like

not big fans

We enjoyed walking through the other exhibit rooms too. The many works of art were so colorful! See....Tom was enjoying himself too...I just know it!

having fun now

love the colors

and that one too

cool

By far, we enjoyed the Chihully exhibit the most! It is fascinating to see, and the colors are just gorgeous. So rich and vibrant. I think the Persian Ceiling is my absolute favorite....the way the glass is placed and the light allowed to go through is just spectacular. An abundance of color, light and shapes. (We saw his work in Seattle as well, at the Chihully Garden and Glass exhibit located right next to the Space Needle. Hard to miss that exhibit!) Anyway.....enjoy the tour below :)

Afterwards, we checked out city exhibits on the first floor, and of course the museum gift shop. I had my eye on an umbrella (because of the weather), which was pretty expensive, but very pretty. It had images of the Persian Ceiling on the inside! I got a grip on myself as we walked around the shop, and declined the $40 umbrella! Yeah me!!

one last floor before lunch, okay Tom?

very colorful

Since it was lunchtime, we headed to the very popular museum cafe, which was just about full at 11:30! Guess its an early crowd here in OKC! The lunch was delicious, and as we ate the skies opened up and I was rethinking the umbrella! Hhahhah. By the time we were finished, the storm had passed and the sun came out. Tom double-checked it on Intellicast, and so...the umbrella was a no-go.

the best lunch!!!

check out the glass on that back wall!!

and by the bathrooms

We walked the rest of the way back, instead of taking the trolley bus. It was pretty hot, but we wanted to see the city. We headed to Bricktown, and walked along the river, which was just gorgeous. Very relaxing. Lots of restaurants, shops and movie theaters. Entertainment!

heading through the gardens

its hot now that the sun is out

sweet

really nice gardens in the middle of OKC

what does that say?? Geekinnovation.com?? (this is outside the convention center)

the arena across the street

entering Bricktown (see the bridge?)

very nice entertainment area along the river

its pretty hot though-arg!

oh hey (movie theater is nearby)

Lucky us, we also had a little dose of wildlife. We passed a plain white duck, but then we noticed on with a hairdo like Trump! No kidding!! See for yourself. Actually, I think all the white ducks were different, if you really looked at them. A couple had the hair thing going on, and another had a lot of red near his eye and beak. Totally different facial features. Okay then....enough about ducks.