Get Us Out of Here.

Wow what a difference a day makes. It’s sunny and nice here in the swamp hole. I was able to round up some outdoor mats to shove under the wheels after Tommy dug some mounded dirt out from under the tires.

Worked like a charm! We are out!! Yeah, no tow trucks. This most likely could be a beautiful place to visit, after all, they had the barber shop around the corner where Elvis got a haircut. That’s right, where he got A haircut. It’s now a museum. But, we are unstuck and we are out of here. Going to Oklahoma City. See ya Swamp Hole.

The scenery is finally changing. Things are spreading out more, trees don’t look the same as they do on the east coast. You see cows roaming, looks more like a prairie with hills in the distance.

We are in Oklahoma City, OK at Tinker AFB. Nice place. Much nicer than Swamp Hole.

Tomorrow….touring OK City.

Pouring Rain, Snow, and We’re Stuck

Pouring rain – we have a leak in the skylight in the kitchen. Oh I can see fun on the roof in Tommy’s future. We crossed into Arkansas and saw the sign for the lovely Toad Suck Park. Can they not come up with better names. I mean Toad Suck Park?

The rain was relentless and snow hit AK and OK . I thought we were leaving the white stuff behind, but we are going right to it. 80 inches of snow wasn’t enough for us this winter, we wanted a little bit more.

We stayed in Fort Chaffee RV Park and Swamp Hole outside of Fort Smith, AK. Since it snowed so much it was a mud/swamp hole where we got the RV stuck. Yes friends, we got stuck. Let me just tell you that it is a terrific feeling to get 22,000 lbs stuck. Kind of a warm fuzzy feeling that makes you say “what in the hell have we gotten ourselves into now”. Well, it is dark out now and we’ll deal with it in the am. At least they had free laundry here, so watched a movie and dropped. Drove 326 miles.

Side note: Was not such a great nights sleep in the swamp hole since we were not able to level the rig out or open the slide and we kept sliding out of bed and into our closet.

On a happier note: Congrats to Ella for playing in a soccer tournament and getting a medal. Keep up the good work.

A Day With the King

Another beautiful day here in Memphis.  So off to Graceland we went.

 

I have always heard his house was, well, tacky. Yup, it was over the top. But, he was the King.

 

This actually was quite beautiful. A partition that separated the piano room and the living room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pool room covered in bright weird fabric. It was hard on the eyes. No flash was allowed in Graceland so you can’t quite see how loud it is.

 

 

And, of course, the famed Jungle room.

 

 

 

 

He loved his clothes and had lots of them.

 

 

 

Elvis had so many gold and platinum records and albums, more than I ever imagined.  He has a whole building with singles and albums lining the walls. This is just a few.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed myself. I would tell people who go to Memphis, you have to go to Graceland.

We went back to Beale Street and to the Peabody Hotel to see the duck walk. So cute. They get a couple of children from the audience to help.

This is a long standing tradition starting back in 1939 when 2 guys were drunk and threw their decoys in the fountain. Please check out how many people were there to see this. You can only see a fraction of how many were there. They lined the balcony on all four sides of the lobby and you could not fit any more people in that spectacular lobby. Afterwards we went back to Beale Street. The acrobats were hard at it again. Were they ever good. Amazing how they can flip over and over, 10 or 12 flips, sometimes not putting their hands on the ground.

This guy took spray paint and what appeared to be random sprays with the can turned out to be really cool paintings. So much talent here. Not only music.

 

Travel day tomorrow. We were on our way towards Oklahoma, but they were hit with a freak snow storm and got pounded. So we will drive westward, not sure where to at this point. Check back to see where we end up.

Elvis, We’re Coming

On the road again this am at 9:25 and heading to Memphis, TN. Reservations are made for 2 days in a campground, Tommy has driven 3 long days and he needs a rest. We traveled 338 miles to Southhaven, MS today which is just outside Memphis.

We like to watch this show on the Food Channel called Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. Tommy got the books for Christmas. We found a dive in the book named Tom’s BBQ and we headed there for dinner. Yum, worth the trip. After dinner, went to downtown Memphis to Beale Street.

What a fun place. Lots of live music, both inside and out. There was an acrobat doing his tricks in the middle of the street. He did 10 flips in a row without using his hands. He was good. We had to go to the Peabody Hotel. This place is incredible. It is a historic place and every day they walk ducks, yes ducks, out of the hotel and back up the steps to the hotel at 9 am and 5 pm. The lobby is so ornate with an amazing piano bar area.

We were lucky to be able to see Elvis and Chris Daughtry (from American Idol) just shooting the breeze walking down Beale Street.

Tomorrow, Graceland is calling. Elvis, I am coming. Thank you, Thank you very much.

Whoops Hairpin Turns Ahead

Was chilly overnight. On the road at 9:25 am. No reason to start to early due to rush hour traffic.

Route 40 east of Ashland, NC was closed all the way into TN due to a rock slide and the road would be closed for months. I just want to say Maps Lie! The road we took to get around it was Phew! something else. Hairpin turns like I have never seen before. People from that area will laugh at us, but driving this bus on turns like this, WOW!

There were signs that showed this, but they should have shown this.

We stopped at Look Out Loop and what a beautiful sight. This was someone’s home they put in a loop for people to stop and enjoy the view. They named the house “The Cliffhanger” and was it ever. What appeared to be a deck was actually where they parked their car overhanging a cliff.

Thank you Cliffhanger for allowing us to see your piece of heaven on Earth.

It’s Finally Here! We Leave Today

Today is the day we start out on our trip of our life time. The house is secure, the RV is loaded to the hilt.

It amazes me that I could pack that much in the freezer. You should see this thing. OK I think you will. I am known for being able to pack. Tommy is always surprised that I can pack whatever it is I am packing the way I do and nothing is ruined.

Both Erica and Kerry came over this am. Kerry brought Ella and Paige with her. We sat and talked for awhile and had coffee while Tommy was hooking up the car to the RV, drained the hot water tank and shut the water off. It was good to relax instead of running all around, really doing nothing since it was all ready done. A few last things to unplug in the house then it was time to try to plug up our tear ducts. Hugs, tears, laughs, a few pictures, more hugs, tears and away we went but not before one more hug.

The day could not be more beautiful. We just come off a week of rain so the sun looks even brighter. We left at 9 am and the traffic was light, so it was smooth sailing Uhh.. driving.

Flowers were sent to the house yesterday. I could not believe they were being delivered and I couldn’t think of who would be sending them.

Of course it was my sweet Tommy with a card saying that I was the only person in the world he would ever want to do this trip with. So sweet!I am a Lucky girl!

We drove to Hillsborough, North Carolina and stayed where…. in a Walmart parking lot. Had chili for dinner, called home, and went shopping. What a day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone.

We Leave in the Morning

Spent the evening over Erica’s after a full day of running around doing the last minute stuff. Had to drive over to Mom’s house to properly say good bye since saying bye in the DQ parking lot last night didn’t seem right. Stayed for just over an hour. It felt like a better “see you soon” good bye. Dinner was good as Erica has become a really good cook. We played games, Family Feud and Dominos, which was the first time I had played either one of them. It was a fun, sad, happy night. Erica and Jaida are not taking me being gone for 7 months very well at all. I still think it’s weird to be so happy about doing this trip, after all I have wanted to do this since I was 12 or 13, and having my heart hurt so bad for leaving. I also know that 7 months is long time but also very short. I know there may be times I wish I had more time. All in all, a great night with the family. I am challenging them now for another game of both Family Feud and Dominos in the fall. Practice up!

I want to send congratulations out to Jaida for receiving an award at school for honesty. There will be a breakfast at school to celebrate. Way to go! I am proud of you. Keep up the good work.