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!!