One Goose

I guess I’ve been remiss in my duties as chief correspondent for this expedition. I could apologize and say it will never happen again……………….but then……………, well, you can figure it out. Anyway, I hope this brings everyone up to date. Sorry if it’s a little long.
We left the Corps of Engineers and Piney Point park on the 1st of February. We’d like to think we left it in better shape than when we arrived. Pretty sure we did! It will always feel kinda’ like a little bit of ours. It was all cleaned up and ready for people to start coming in.
We worked our way down the Gulf Coast. Rockport, Port Aransas, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, and into the Rio Grande Valley and Mission. We spent a little more the a week at Goose Island, just north of Rockport. We had to wait for a part for our water heater which cost a few extra days. But then in our situation, what’s a few days. The gas element still worked but we had lost the electrical side. We still had hot water, but it was made by gas.
But now we were all fixed and good to go. The weather had improved after some cold spells and that was nice. I know we really have nothing to complain about but it wasn’t as good as it could be for a while. Still, it was good to get back to shorts and sandals. Tough break huh?
We had a good stay in Brownsville. We walked across the border to Matamoras and did a little shopping and sightseeing. Came back with a bag full of drugs. Just in case “big brother” is monitoring my email, I’m talking about what would be prescription medications in the U.S. In Mexico it’s over-the-counter stuff. We took a look at our co-pay cost and got some of what was cheaper. And I got a supply of 800mg ibuprofen. We spent a whopping $20 on two sixty day supply prescriptions and a large bottle of ibuprofen. I thought about getting my teeth cleaned for $20 but didn‘t. We took a Mexican taxi back to the border from the Plaza in Matamoras. I think Kat left some claw marks in the back seat. The driver took us on a little detour through the “rich” part of town. I think both of us were a little too occupied with watching the driving to notice what part of twon we were in. But we did make it back to the bridge and Customs. A word to the wise here about going through Customs. When the Customs Inspector asks what you have in the bag, it may not be a good idea to tell him “it’s just a bag full of drugs.” I think that is usually going to illicit the response I got. I quickly corrected myself but I still had to show him what was in the bag. But he was nice and we both had a laugh. Mine was just a little more nervous. We also went to the Gladys Porter zoo in Brownsville. A very nice small zoo that specializes in endangered species. I was happy just to see the gorillas. They have a good size (12-15?) family unit in a very visible setting. We watched for some time and I think I may have seen some friends and relatives. We also enjoyed the many unusual birds. Lots of them were not even the captive residents of the zoo. Several were just native species you just can’t see anywhere else in the US. Like Green Jays, Kiskidees’, and parrots. Free to come and go as they chose.
From Brownsville we headed west down the Rio Grande Valley to Mission, TX. We stayed a week at Bentsen Grove RV resort. This may be the spot for many of our winter days. Bentsen Grove is a good size RV resort and I guess it’s pretty typical for what you would call a “snowbird” destination. There is a large hall that serves as a rec room, pool hall, cafeteria, office, card room etc. It probably holds 200+ folks for meetings and shows. There are partitions for changing arrangements depending on need. Another building houses an indoor pool and exercise room. There is a facility called the “Hanger” with an indoor tennis court, ping pong tables and other rooms for things such as wood carving, a rock shop and some others activities that escape me. There is a another building that has three or four rooms for meetings, dance lessons, Spanish classes, etc. There’s an outdoor pool (which we took advantage of), horse shoe pit, shuffleboard, a decent size lending library, laundry facilities, and a wood and metal shop. They don’t have a golf course but there is a “par three” next door and a there are men’s, women’s and mixed groups that travel to nearby courses. Within reasonable driving distance there is every kind of shopping you could want. As always in the RV community there are just lots of nice folks. So as I said this may be a place we spend lots of time in the winter. Either this resort or one very much like it. There are lots to choose from. Some with more amenities and activities and some with less. Some a little fancier and some not quite so. We kind of like the idea of being “Winter Texans”. Y’all know I’ve always been kind of partial to Texas. This is one of the reasons.
At a wide spot in the highway west of Mission we went down to the Rio Grande river and took a ride on the only hand pulled ferry in the U.S. Just four or five Mexicans pulling on a rope dragging that ferry across. The ferry holds three cars and “walk-on’s“. We just walked on, rode across, and came right back. There really isn’t a town associated with this border crossing so that‘s all we could do. Well, Kat had to feel the muscles of the old guy taking the money. He helped some with the pulling. Anyway he was all flexing and everything and he said Ohhh! Senorita! Just pulling Kat’s chain. Well, she did feel his muscles, and he loved it! Does everybody know that the Rio Grande is called the Rio Bravo in Mexico. And all this time I thought it was just a John Wayne movie. Just a John Wayne movie! Pardon my terminology!
OK. This is just getting too long. I suppose I could ‘shut up’. Maybe just do a little less bloviating. (Bloviate: to speak or write verbosely and windily). Well, that’s not going to happen. I am compelled to do this! That doesn’t mean you have to read it. But someday, somewhere, someone will look upon this and be glad I did it. Maybe? But for now, I gotta' go.
Next: Two Goose

Wright Patman Lake

Y’all just ought to see the sunshine from where we’re sitting. We made it to Wright Patman lake, not too far from Texarkana. Texarkana is part of the Ark-La-Tex. That’s what they call this area. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Texarkana is split down the middle by the state line between Arkansas and Texas and Shreveport in Louisiana is southeast of here. That’s where we get our TV news from. But then I listen to radio stations from Dallas. The Big “D”. The Ark-La-Tex is comprised of a dozen or so counties I think. Well that’s the general idea anyway. Oh! And we are in Texas. We’re parked at Clear Springs campground overlooking the lake in a southern pine forest. Maybe I’ll try to send a picture. But if I don’t, imagine pine trees about 1’ to maybe 3’ in diameter and 50’ to 100’ tall interspersed with some oak, pin oak and gum. The forest floor is mostly bare and covered with pine straw in the camping area with some brush and vine maple where it has not been cleared. It’s all very nice and clean and quite picturesque.
We’ll be doing some volunteer work here for a while. Don’t know what or exactly where yet, but we’ll find out soon. There are 3 or 4 campgrounds here at the lake and we don’t know which one we’ll be in. The ranger who we report to took a few days off so we’ve been parked here waiting. He’s coming by this afternoon so we’ll find out what’s up. We went into Texarkana day before yesterday and did some exploring. Yesterday we did some cleaning and waited around for the tornadoes. Yup! We’re in Texas so there were some tornado warnings! Not much to worry about, but you wouldn’t convince Kat of that.
So we found out we’ll be at Piney Point campground. How does that sound? Is that southern enough for you? We’ll be cleaning up the campground and doing some painting and light maintenance. Working on fire rings, picnic tables, and barbecues I think. The campground well be closed after November so it will be pretty much just us with another couple up the road a piece watching the gate and doing some security. We’ll probably be here for two months or so. At least that’s the plan for now. But we’re flexible!
I guess our volunteer efforts put us more in the category of non-recreational campers. Kind of like our current neighbors George and Joanne. They’re here for 4 months living in their trailer. They have a big yellow tent with freezer, great big commercial size roaster oven and all kinds of stuff. George has a cord of wood or so and sits by the fire in his big office chair all day playing with Peaches and Chico, (a poodle and Chihuahua) while Joanne drives into town to work. Now I should have thought of that! Anyway, the Corps of Engineers lets you stay for 120 days, Nov-Feb, or the winter months. Not many people are here anyway.
So what a game huh? The Buckeye’s are #1 and will go to the BCS Championship game. I wouldn’t move to our new site until after the game. It’s the weekend anyway and I told the ranger we couldn’t move because I had good TV reception where we were and I didn’t want to take a chance and lose ABC. Sometimes out in the country and in the trees like we are, reception gets a little “iffy”. At that point he showed us all of his OSU stuff. Although in this case it was one of those other OSU’s . In his case Oklahoma. So he understood and we’re gonna move today. Getting back to football, now all of us Buckeye and football fans will wait and see whose next. I would prefer that it not be Michigan. They had their shot and lost. Being a west coast guy and PAC 10 fan, I would kind of like to see USC close it out against Notre Dame and UCLA and then go to the championship game. Both teams, along with Texas, have been preeminent for the past two or three years and it seems appropriate.
The trip here from Oregon was good. We stopped in Pleasanton, CA to see our friend Toni and her new beau John. John’s house was nothing less than stunning. He has a great patio/deck area with a view. And he fixes a pretty fair to middling barbecue. We seemed to hit the fall colors just about right all the way south and east. From the Rogue River Valley in Oregon south into California and then again in east Texas the colors have been spectacular. We keep saying that there is no real reason to go to New England for fall color when we have it all out here in the west. We stopped at Meteor Crater, AZ and went passed the Grand Canyon. But just like the last time I did this we didn’t stop. Maybe next time. We even saw some gas for $1.99 but unfortunately I had just filled up for $2.07. Butwwe haven’t seen it for that price again. Maybe soon? Perhaps most importantly we finally got a “Whataburger“! Being who I am, I am always in search of a good burger. The last time we came through the “Whataburger” area we didn’t stop. Kat wasn’t impressed but then she had some funky little thing where as I had the double meat, bacon & cheese A-1 burger. Pretty good, but next time I would skip the A-1 sauce. That would make it close to the “Jack in the Box” Ultimate cheeseburger but with the bacon. Very good! As is the “In and Out” burger, especially with the twice cooked extra crunchy fries. But the prize goes to the “Hardee’s” Philadelphia Cheese Steak Big burger. At least so far. And that came from Sanford NC. I believe that would be the same as “Carl’s Junior”.
To be continued…………….

Painting in Corvallis

It won’t be long now and we’ll be on our way to Texas. Going to make that our winter home. At least for now. But the weather has been good here in the Willamette Valley. We have to turn on the furnace in the morning to get the chill off and run our little ceramic heater for awhile before we go to bed, but that’s about it. It’s one of the challenges of our lifestyle. It ain’t like living in a stick built house with gas, or electric that you can set and forget. We have to be attentive to our fuel levels and power usage or we’ll run out of propane or blow a fuse. Not that we’re willing to change with anybody. I just mention it in case you’re curious.
It’s been good here at Oregon Fish and Wildlife in Corvallis. We’ve done some painting and office work for our keep. Two OSU students are doing a wall mural and we painted the customer lobby to match. We have a nice spot near a pond all by ourselves. We’ve been feeding the birds and watching the bunnies. Jade, the cat, enjoys both. We get to hear all the animal stories of people who come into the office with problems or questions. It’s been interesting. One of our jobs was to log in deer teeth that hunters voluntarily sent in. We’ve seen lots of animals, unfortunately, most of them are dead. Cougars and deer mostly. Somebody brought in some kind of foreign deer, kind of albino looking. I get sad when cougars are brought in. But apparently they’re not endangered or on any kind of list out here. Richard, the biologist, says they are even expanding into previously lost territories. That’s why they come in dead. A big one was brought in last week. 120 pounds! Huge feet! The biologists check them all out and then cut them up to destroy them. We never know what we’re going to see in the dumpster or see laying around outside the labs.
We are staying on property that used to be Camp Adair. Camp Adair was a WWII US Army infantry training site. There are a few buildings left and we’re right next to a 100’-150’ smoke stack that was part of the incinerator. Rumor has it that the area is haunted! We haven’t been bothered yet. But then, Halloween is only a few days away. There were four Divisions that were trained here and all saw extensive action in Europe. I can’t recall all the numbers but all of the divisions were in action starting in 1944 and lasting maybe 180 days, give or take? I believe the lowest number of casualties I saw was 900+, but the average was 1500 or better. Anyway it would have been well over 3000 in 6 months. Funny how times change huh? Another little factoid. Camp Adair was built on a town called Wellton or Wellberg or something like that. It was one of two or three towns under consideration for training sites in late 1941. On December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, the US Army came to the schoolhouse in Wellton(?), and told the townspeople they had until noon to vacate the town because it had been chosen as a training site. I haven’t heard that children and grand-children of Wellton(?) were suing the government in attempts to become rich because of all the indignities heaped upon them. Times do change! My point is……………. Well I’ll let you figure it out. But I am proud to walk around old Camp Adair. I don’t know that it’s haunted, but if it is, I’m in real good company.
If I walk past the smoke stack and by the old supply room about a quarter of a mile I come to the Santiam Christian school football field. The last two Friday nights I’ve walked over to see the SC games. This is 3A high school football. Schools about the size of my Alma Mater, Grandview Heights, Ohio. That’s 400-500 students total in grades 9-12. But they’re pretty good. Last night I left at halftime when the score was 41 to 0. They played Creswell and I was talking to a pastor who had a son on Creswells team. He said they were a little short handed this week because two of the star players were off on hunting trips. I expressed my surprise and opinion. Another parent nearby had the same opinion as I. The pastor was a little more diplomatic. But I guess it’s Creswell. By their community standards, going hunting may be the proper choice. Maybe they need the meat? Maybe the “stars” were avoiding the humiliation? But from what I saw, it would have taken a whole ’nother team of stars to compete with SC. And they even had an invocation before the game! Shhhhhh! And really not fair!
So we’ll be in Texas for a while. Then back to Oregon in the spring. We have positions lined up. We’re going to a Corps of Engineers park near Texarkana and do some volunteer work. Then we have a job at Oregon State Parks in Goose lake in April. That’s on the California border in eastern Oregon. And then we go right next to home in Oregon at the Fish and Wildlife District Office in Clackamas. We took that so we could spend some time getting rid of all our stuff in storage. This looks like it will be our lifestyle for the foreseeable future and there’s no point in paying storage forever. In July we have Rally’s in Oregon. The big National Rally in Bend and a Fish and Wildlife thing somewhere to be determined. And then! We’ll head back east to pick up where we left off.
So remember! If you hear an unexpected knock. It might be us, extension cord in hand.

Ohio to the Fish Hatchery

You may have thought by now that we had fallen off the face of the earth. Not really, but, we can see one of the spots where you do from here. Let me explain.
We’re parked at the Nehalem Fish hatchery near the Oregon Coast. We’re here because we had a change in plans between Ohio and Wyoming. I kind of wanted to get the tow car which is/was in Oregon. For the record, Jeaneane did not. But I did talk her in to coming back to get it. We had intended to resume our travels East. Enter gas prices, rumors of higher gas prices, and oil field problems. I don’t know how many of you have stopped every day to fill a 75 gallon tank? I know we can all do the math and look at it on paper and all. But to actually take it out of your wallet or more properly see the credit card balance spiraling (no), shooting upward is a different story. And remember, we’re on a fixed income. And it ain’t fixed real high. Anyway, we were paying $175-$200 at the pump with rumors that it was going higher. This was at the time the Prudhoe Bay thing happened so we were hearing $4 or $5 a gallon was possible. Near Chicago it was already $3.25 or so and the rural areas where we tend to be it was higher than average too. By the time we get this all figured out we’ve already spent a bunch and it takes a bunch more to get back; well, once again, you can do the math. So we’re here in Oregon.
But we did have a very nice stop at sister Sandy’s and we did some other neat things at cool places along the way.
It’s always good to see the family. It may be a little more frequent than it use to be, but it’s still nice to go to Columbus, Ohio; “The Heart of it All!” Sis and the whole family are fine. Jeaneane got to meet everybody. I guess for want of a better term she got her initiation into the Sines, Randolph, and Verrilli families. Speaking for me and on behalf of the all the family in central Ohio, we’re proud to have her. She just seems to fit right in.
Before leaving Ohio, Kat and I attended the Ohio State Samboree in Lima. (for clarification that’s pronounced like the bean, not the city in Peru) Samboree’s are kind of RV’ers conventions put on by the Good Sam Club, which is a National RV Club. This Samboree was held at the fairgrounds and 460 RV’s and owners attended. There’s hospitality with coffee and doughnuts, or hotdog feeds, games like beanbag baseball, Samgo, horseshoe tournaments and tractor pulls. I won’t go into explanations other that to say it my not be what it sounds like. Think senior citizen and it may get you close. There are also seminars on many RV and motor home topics, as well as product demonstrations and vendor displays. Plus nightly entertainment and lots of RV’ers just like us. Mostly it’s fun and informative and we met lot’s more nice people.
From Lima we went to see cousin Nancy near Chicago and stayed at The Empress Casino in Joliet IL. We had a tour of the area and a good visit with my cuz! She is doing well in her new digs. She and Kat hit it off real well right away. But then why wouldn’t they. We’re even committed to a camping trip sometime in the not to distant future.
From the Chicago area we went to Forest City, Iowa to attend the Winnebago Grand National Rally. Much like a Samboree but this one is put on yearly by Winnebago Industries. But the GNR is huge. There are as many as 1600 rigs at one of these. This year was down to 1400 probably because of gas prices? Winnebago and Forest City seem to go all out for this. Forest City had their yearly festival at the same time. I think maybe that’s the plan. Winnebago is the primary employer so it’s a natural. Anyway, if you picture a small Midwestern town where Dick, Jane, and Spot live, this would be it. On parade day there was a chicken feed and they had barbecues lined up ¾for 3/4s of a city block. It was small town, but it was neat to see. And as you probably had figured out, most of the parade was tractors. Oh! And RV’s. Winnebago works a lot of folks during the week so people can have things done on their RV’s. So we had a few things fixed that needed it. Also part of the plan and great customer service. I guess the most impressive part is to see 1400 RV’s in the same general area and everything working smoothly. Everybody had 30 amp power, water when you needed it, and a sewage truck too. And of course we met some nice people.
From there we(I finally) made it to the Corn Palace in Mitchell S.D. Been by there a few times and never made it inside. Not a destination certainly, but it was kind of cool. And if you don’t know what the Corn Palace is, I won’t spoil it for you. See somebody we sent a post card too. We also stopped at Wall S.D for a visit to Wall Drug. Now that’s a stop I just shouldn’t have to make again. But Kat hadn’t seen it, sooooooooooooo! But the same rule applies to Wall Drug as the rule for the Corn Palace.
We went through the Black Hills and stopped at Mt. Rushmore. Jeaneane thought that was awesome. She liked the Avenue of the Flags and the whole thing. I would say that Rushmore is always worth a stop. It’s just that kind of a place. We passed by the Crazy Horse Memorial. Maybe we’ll get it next time, but it just didn’t look like much progress had been made since Heidi and I went through there some years ago. Although it’s still being worked on, just very slow it seems. I know it’s taking a long time because Janene and I went through there back in my flight school days in the late 60’s before Whatshisface even started carving on the mountain.
In the Big Horns of Wyoming we spent a few days at Prune Creek campground just relaxing and doing what we do. It was U.S. Forest Service land so we did a little fishing. I managed to catch a couple of small Brook trout. But they went back. Not worth the hassle of keeping. At first Jeaneane liked the Big Horns better than Yellowstone, but I think that was before we saw the geyser basin right near Old Faithful. I don’t know that we were there at any more active time than normal but the geysers sure caught Kat’s eye when we were there. By the time we had driven through most of the park and were leaving she was committed to coming back sometime soon and spending more time. We also got lucky and were able to stay at one of the campgrounds for a couple of days. I say ’lucky’ because it was Yellowstone in August and we had no reservations.
In Mountain Home, Idaho, Jeaneane found an old friend from her youth that she had not seen for 40 years. Roberta and Jeaneane had one of those visits that just excludes everyone else. Like the kind you have after 40 years not seeing someone. I let them catch up while I washed the motor home. We did meet Ivan and had dinner and saw their place. Ivan makes wagons and has the best chuck wagon you can imagine. He happens to have one for sale, so if any of you out there are interested we can put you in touch. But I should warn you! Chuck wagons aren’t cheap. Think five figures.
We made it back to see all the kids. All of our people are OK. They be doin’ what they been doin! No significant changes that we could detect. We hung around for a while and got our medical checkups and prescriptions renewed and stuff. Went to DMV, checked on insurance and renewed or changed this or that and then it was time to move on. Well, first we got a cat!
If you are reminded often enough, that you don’t have a cat; told often enough, that you really should have a cat; asked often enough, if you think a cat would be a good idea?; persuaded often enough, to just go ahead and do it; well then, in time you begin to think a cat wouldn’t be so bad. When you finally concede that point, there is no going back. You get to that point and you’re going to be getting a cat! We got a cat! We went to the Humane Society and got a cute little gray cat named “Green Eyes”. She quickly became “Jade”, and then “Bago Jade”. We were going for something with a traveling theme. We have a “Winnebago” motor home so it was a natural. So she’s Jade or Bago that is of course when she’s not that “darn cat”, or if it’s really bad, that “little feral b&%#!” But she’s a good cat and travels very well. At first she hid under the couch, but now she lays on it. She does get big green eyes when it gets a little to rough or noisy. She is already trained to a leash. Well, she walks on it some, but she is OK when we put her out on the leash. Except of course for the ever present entanglements. Chairs and picnic tables are hard with leashes. But she is entertaining and company and a darn good bug catcher. She can get from one place to another really quickly and is two parts insanity.
So we’re at the fish hatchery because we wanted to do some volunteer work for a free site. One of the things us RV’ers do. We work 4 hours a day 5 days a week for full hook-ups. It’s an Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife hatchery. The work is easy but for the fact we’re not so young as we use to be. We do some light cleaning and landscaping and some fish culture stuff. They raise salmon, steelhead and trout here. We feed the fish occasionally and always get to “pick morts”. That is, net the dead fish in the morning. We’re dealing mostly with fingerlings and there are always some mortalities. There are 20 ponds (12 active right now) that have between 25 and 50 thousand fish in them. There will be as many as 30 “morts” per pond every day. But right now they are battling end of summer heat and low water. So the fish have a little “Ich” and are being treated. Because of that the mortality rate is up more than usual. We work with a crew of 4 but mostly we are left to our own and they don’t worry about us much. We are volunteers. I suspect they don’t want to mistreat us. And all the guys here are easy. We have a very nice spot in a great setting. We’re on a concrete slab bordered by flowers and surrounded by lawn and trees in the middle of the Pacific Coast Mountain range. We’re about 12 miles from Nehalem and the ocean. The down side is we are very isolated. No cell service, no TV, 2 very suspect FM radio stations and that’s it. I couldn’t even find out if the Buckeyes beat Texas until Monday. I still don’t know any details. I guess they did put a pretty good whuppin on’em.
And I think it’s time to wrap this up. But I wanted to catch up. We’re heading into town to the Cyber Café to have breakfast and to get this off and then take a walk on the beach.

Robert C. Byrd

We survived tropical storm Alberto! But at times it seemed close as far as Kat was concerned. We were staying at Jordan Lake state park near Raleigh NC and we had somewhere between 7 1/2 and 8 inches of rain in a 6 hour period. There were some pretty good size streams running beside the RV for a while. Kat didn’t get out our owners manual to check our flotation capabilities, but she was talking about it. But the sun did come out and we made it to the North Carolina beach to see nephew Mike and the lovely Phyllis.
After our very nice visit in North Carolina we headed on north. We stayed at a very nice park in West Virginia. Robert C. Byrd West Virginia that is. For those who don’t know it, Robert Byrd is the senior Senator from West Virginia and pretty much a pain in the ass liberal to all of us conservatives and Republicans. Actually after the death of the Senator from SC and I can’t recall his name right now(it came to me, Strom Thurmond), Byrd may be the senior Senator period. But he’s still a pain in the ass! Senility has begun to set in and when you combine that with his hatred of Bush, the Democrat loss of power, and the fact that the liberal media never questions anything he says, you have a colossal pain in the ass. But my point here is, that if you drive through West Virginia you can see why he is popular in his state. You can almost see the federal dollars ooze out from everywhere you go in federal projects. Dams, highways, bridges, parks, you name it. Or should I say it’s been named Robert C. Byrd. Half the state is named after him. I guess if I was from West Virginia I’d be tempted to vote for him too. He obviously brings lots of pork home. And my apologies to Democrats. I’m just talking about Byrd.
So then we got to my home state of Ohio. Ohio was all good!
And now we’re in Iowa getting ready to head for Oregon. It’s two RV conventions later and we have been busy. However time dictates that I send this off incomplete and catch ya’ll up on everything somewhere down the road. We’re going to go get our tow car so we can do life on the road with a little more style. Life on the road is good. With a car it will be even better.
For all of you, even those who may think us nuts, remember, “all who wander are not lost!”

Branson and Beyond

Jeez! I just realized it’s payday. Sometimes we lose track of time. I was pretty certain it was either June or close to it. LOL!! Just yesterday we were in Sams Town Casino and Gambling Hall in Tunica MS, going up the escalator to look around and I put my arm around Kat and said, “we sure are fortunate! How tough is it to run around the country going different places and doing neat stuff?” Just so y’all know we don’t take our travels and lifestyle completely for granted. We are very lucky to have found each other and to now have the ability and means to do what we do. Very lucky indeed!
Well! We did go to Branson. It was alright I guess? We saw some shows and did some looking around. We went to a Broadway Review show that featured Merle Osmond. One of the Osmond brothers for those who didn’t know it. He was better than I thought he might be. Kat thought so too! Pretty good really. And we went to a “50’s” show. Kat liked that a little better. I liked the Broadway stuff better. Just personal preference. The last two days we left Branson proper and stayed at a State Park. But from there we went to see the showboat “Branson Belle” and took the dinner cruise. And in Branson we did lot’s of walking around and looking and eating. It almost seems like we are trying to sample every buffet on our line of travel. It was hard to find an eatery that wasn’t some kind of buffet in Branson. I would like to report that the walking balanced out the eating. I’d like to……. But I’d be lying through my teeth. And I should point out that walking in Branson is not an easy think to do. The sidewalks are very poor or non-existent and the crosswalks were the same. I guess that’s somewhat of an excuse. And any excuse in this case is better than none at all.
We spent some time in Memphis and I met Eddie. That’s Kat’s cousin who lived with Kat and her family for a while when they were in their school years. Eddie and his family were very gracious hosts and made sure we saw plenty of Memphis. He even loaned us his pick-up while we were there. According to Eddie there are three must do’s in Memphis. You have to do barbecue, see Beale Street, and go to Graceland. I’m going to give us credit for all three. In actuality we only drove by Graceland and looked. For us that was close enough. But I’m not trying to pick a fight with any Elvis people. We just weren’t that interested in Graceland. Beale Street was interesting! We went to the Club 152 to see an Elvis impersonator. Eddie’s wife Lynda is VP of his fan club. Rafter something is his name I think?? (Sorry Lynda) So we had a table right up front for the show. I must tell you that Rafter put on a good show. He said that he was not an impersonator but did his show as more of a tribute to Elvis. But! If you sing Elvis songs, dress like Elvis, act like Elvis, wear a whadayacallit hair styled wig like Elvis, mimic facial expression like Elvis, talk like Elvis, move like Elvis, and do it very well, people are going to think you might be impersonating Elvis. Which we did, and we enjoyed. So if you’re ever on Beale Street stop in and watch Rafter. He treated us nice and it’s the least I can do. He even came up to our table to sing a song for Kat, much to her delight. We walked up and down Beale Street to see the sights. Kat was surprised to see drinks being served on the street. You can buy beer or hard liquor in open containers right on the street. I guess in that respect it’s not much different than Las Vegas. But there the similarities end. I suppose if you imagine an old part of a southern city given over to music like the “Blues”, lots of drink, lots of tourists, lots of revelers, lots of locals trying to make a living off the tourists, and then you throw in some ethnicity and racial mix, well then maybe you have a picture of Beale Street. Or maybe you could go to Bourbon Street if it’s open yet. We had barbecue several times and it was all good. Here it is all pork and not so much sauce as I/we think of as typical. Pulled pork really, or ribs, and it’s treated pretty seriously down here. I think they would give you a recipe if you asked, but then they probably would have to kill you! We were coerced into trying the barbecue sandwiches with Cole slaw and found that it was very good and now eat them that way because we like it. Next it will be “slaw dogs” just like cousin Eddie! I think ‘cuz’ would be proud
Tunica in Mississippi is a casino town just south of Memphis. Eight or ten casinos along the Mississippi river and nothing really special. Maybe it would be for those who like to gamble. But that is not us. We lost a few bucks, $20 or $30 maybe but that took two nights and we had several drinks while we were losing it. Real big spenders!!
We went to Montgomery Alabama to meet Kat’s uncle Rupert (Charlie). Charlie is 92 years old and a real piece of work. He still drives and gets around very well, has a rapier like wit and is just about as curmudgeonly as can be. He kept us smiling for a couple of days. He and Kat’s cousin, Shirley took us to dinner and had barbecue take-out on successive nights. He paid the bill at the seafood buffet (what else) we went to and was joking with the young and cute cashier. She was too flustered to do the math and when she finally was able to tell him it was “$65. He said, “$65 dollars!!!!!, Oh, I thought you said $55.” Then he was describing a car trip from some time in the past with Shirley and another person who was driving. The driver must have had problems navigating because Charlie said “by the time we figured out where we were we were three niggers short of Chicago!“ Kat and I really did crack up at that. And that’s the way it was for two days. Kat did learn a great deal about her family from Charlie and Shirley. All her family except her mom and dad stayed in the Memphis area and she knew little about them. So now both of us are a little into genealogy.
On the wildlife front we haven’t seen too much. There are lot’s of turtles in the area and we’ve seen many. Not long ago I was driving down a country road and saw a turtle up in front of us. I managed to miss it by driving over it but I could just see it as we passed over. I still see the poor thing sucking in his head just as a very large bus type vehicle passes over and sets him spinning. And when the spinning stops he comes out of his shell and serenely walks back the direction he came. Or so I thought?
We went thru Hotlanta and saw Doug from the old neighborhood and had a nice visit. And we stopped in Sanford NC to see nephew Mike and Phyllis. Are all well. Now we are on the way to the Carolina Beach to join up with Mike and Phyllis again. Mike has a working vacation and Phyllis is going down with Garrett who is taking one of his friends. We’re staying at an RV park in the vicinity.
So……….. It’s into the teeth of Alberto!!!!

Alligators in Memphis

This was our '15 minutes of fame' in Memphis. We were staying at T.O. Fuller state park when we were approached by a TV truck and crew. They asked if we would mind being interviewed for TV about the alligators in the park. We said sure, why not? Well, actually I said that. Kat agreed, but only if I did the talking. So we both got on TV. I just did the talking. I tried to get the video but this is the best I could do. Oh well!

Alligators not a large concern for Memphis campers
May 24, 2006 04:07 PM MDT

Mississippi wildlife experts are warning campers in the central part of the state to be careful of alligators this weekend.
With alligators also spotted recently near T.O. Fuller state park, some campers there are wondering if they should be worried about alligators, too.
There are at least two alligators at McKellar lake, located in T.O. Fuller State Park. Randy Sines and his wife camped there Wednesday, but weren't worried about the animals.
"I have seen them in the Everglades and they didn't seem too dangerous," Sines said. "I wouldn't think they would bother me."Chris Baker, a curator at the Memphis Zoo, said the alligator warning in central Mississippi is active because the gators are breeding. "If you have a female that has built a nest, she will actively guard that nest," he said. "If you get really close to it, she will attack you."
Baker and the Tennessee State Parks say there's no need for campers like the Sines to worry about alligators here in the Mid-South.
"You've gotta have aggressive alligators that have been fed by people, are not afraid of people and associate you with food," Baker said. "I don't think we've got anything like that here."
Experts say if you see an alligator on land, back slowly away. Alligators are fast in the water, but slow on land.

This is from NBC Channel 5 news in Memphis TN, Brook Sanders reporting.

Oh! We never did see any alligators. We didn't "beat our feet in the Mississippi Mud" either!