Longview, TX

Yup, back in Longview Tx....had two glorious days of sunshine and temps in the high 70's.  Now it is grey with drizzle.....seems a cold front has tracked us down and will soon be seeing those 40's and 50's again....boo-hoo!
Tomorrow we will make our way to Beaumont.  Staying for about a week....looking forward to exploring the area as we have never been there.
Not much else to report....getting caught up on the laundry today.  Sure do love my in house washer and dryer!

North Little Rock Photos

As promised I have some photos for you today. 

Here is our site....not much room between neighbors, but ok for a night or two.

This is an old rail bridge which has been converted into a walking bridge.  We can see this from our site.  It takes you over to the Clinton Presidential Library and also connects to more walking paths.  We decided to check it out yesterday.

Here we go!  By the way, this rv park is fenced and you are given a gate code to get in and out.  There is also a small pedestrian gate adjacent to this walking bridge.  Very convenient. 

This is a view of the park from the walking bridge.  The black arrow marks our site.  If we ever come back through here again, I would like to stay in one of the back in sites along the river front.  I think they run about $25 a night vs. our $11.50 Passport America Rate for the "cheap seats".  I would really like to explore more of those walking paths and the park was surprisingly quiet for being so close to the interstate.  Funny, I have never considered myself a "water" person, but it is just so peaceful...just something really calming about the water.  The furballs and I could sit and watch the river for hours I think! Also...this is a busy little park and you are required to make a reservation for the passport sites, but I would recommend you make a reservation for ANY of the sites or at least call ahead for availability. 

Once across the bridge, we did decide to check out the Clinton Library.  It was interesting.  The photo is of the replica of the Oval Office which is on the 3rd floor of the library.  That was pretty neat to see and it is probably the closest I'll ever get to the Oval Office!
Today is another travel day as we continue our journey to Texas.  We plan on spending the weekend in Longview visiting Bill's Mom and brother.  Then it will be on to Beaumont!

The Sun....The SUN!

Finally as we made our way to Little Rock......the sun popped out and the grey skies gave way to beautiful bright blue ones!  The temps quickly rose into the high 60's.  We are parked in North Little Rock in a small city park called Downtown Riverside RV Park.  We are in the "cheap seats" do to our passport America rate, but we can still see the river.  I plan to get out today with my camera so more about the park and the area next post.
Last night we headed out to the local walmart, one of our needed items....a gallon of milk.  We both bout dropped our teeth when we saw the price....$4.18 for a gallon of milk.  I'm guessing that price has to do with the horrible drought this past year.  Anyway....despite the high milk price, we plan on enjoying our 2 night stay here in North Little Rock!

Hey...throw me another roll!!

Here I sit in Sikeston MO this am, my feet up in my easy chair!  Nice little park, Hinton RV, for a quick night or two.  Nothing fancy.....fairly level gravel sites, full hookups, plus decent cable tv.  They advertise wifi, but it is pretty bad.....weak signal and really slow. 
Last night we ate dinner at Lambert's, "Home of the Throwed Rolls"!  What a hoot!  Yes, they do actually throw the rolls at you and yes some miss their mark and end up on the floor.  You are NOT required to eat those....LOL!  Anyway I had chicken pot pie with a side of dumplings and candied yams...and those rolls....oh my....thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Plus they come around and offer you "sides" of fried okra, fried potatoes, mac-n-cheese, and apple butter and molasses for your roll.  Real comfort food served in a relaxed atmosphere....my kinda place.  It was all especially good after a day on the road....a cold grey, wet day.
Once back at the rv we settled back in our recliners...cozy as little bugs in rugs....in front of our little electric fireplace.
Today we relax and tomorrow we head to Little Rock.  The weather looks like it might be improving a bit warmer and dry, but still really grey skies.  I soooooo need to see the sun!

Today is travel day....on our way to Sikeston MO!  Home of Lambert's Cafe and the only throwed rolls!  I can't tell you how many times we have been by this place, but never stopped.  That is going to change......we will be in Sikeston for two nights and one of those nights dinner is going to be at Lambert's!  I hope it is as good as they claim.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bill did get the tv cable connector replace so hopefully no more problems on that front.....and so far the stairs are holding.
Illinois is on central time, when we arrived we had to push our clocks back an hour from Indiana eastern time.  Yesterday we had to do that yet again due to daylight savings time.  The dogs and I are having a little trouble adjusting to the new time, our inner clock just doesn't recognize all these time zones and "savings" time.  Bill......oh Bill can sleep anytime, anywhere....no problems there.  But me....I was in bed by barely 8pm last night and awake by 4am. 
It rained here last night and I'm not sure what the day is going to be like as it is still dark.  Hoping it's dry and hoping the temps start to rise as we head deeper south.....I sure do miss my flip flops and sunshine....where the heck has all the sunshine gone!

Satellite Issues.....

Our journey to Litchfield was uneventful.....just the way we like it!  But.....but...."Murphy" sure does seem to love us.  Yesterday our outside steps gave way.  They are only two years old and a weld has cracked on one of the supports.  We found that we can put blocks under the bottom step and if we stay to the side that is still supported we can still use the steps.  Which is a good thing....cause I can't imagine climbing in and out of the fifth wheel without them.  We are hoping we can get by until we land in Texas.  Then we can figure out if we can repair them or if we just need to replace them altogether. 
Our next issue with Mr. Murphy is our direct tv set up.  We had been having increasing difficulties with "tuning" in our signal and then one day we found we could only pull in one of the two signals needed.  We have a second tuner box in the bedroom so we hooked it up and had no difficulty in finding the signal....we checked out both cable leads on this box and had no problems with either.  So.....we naturally figured that the original tuner box in the living room was defective.  Called Direct tv and they sent us a new one, hooked it up and everything was fine.  No problems the whole time we were in Indiana.  In our set up yesterday, we begin having the same problems with this new tuner box that we had with the old.  We hooked up the bedroom tuner and once again we quickly and easily found the signal.  Finding it hard to believe that we had yet another bad box we begin playing with the cables, trying to determine which if any where bad.  This was a long and very confusing process.  Every time we thought we had the problem isolated....we would switch to the new box and NOPE that is not it either.  Finally...quite by accident...I discovered that moving around one of the cables from the wall outlet to the box would cause the signal to come and go.  It seems we have a bad connector in the wall outlet.  I managed to twist the cable into a position that held the signal and it is still working this am.  Billy will replace the faulty connector today and hopefully that will take care of our problem.  MURPHY....please go play with someone else!
The weather here is still cold and last night I awoke to the sound of a thunderstorm complete with hail and heavy downpour.  Fortunately, it only lasted a short time.....maybe that means a warm front is trying to move into the area.  That would be a very "Goode" thing!  LOL!

The Journey Begins

Yesterday was spent by both Bill and I finishing up last minute projects, trips to the grocery, and saying our goodbyes to family and friends.  Today we start our journey south.  We will be stopping in Illinois at a little rv park in Litchfield.  We are planning on spending the weekend there.  We try not to travel on the weekends anymore, being stranded on the side of the road on a Sunday was no fun at all this past summer.  
I'm looking forward to our journey, I love being "on the road".  I guess it brings the gypsy out in me!
Oh yes, my dinner with the "bitches" at the John Purdue Room was fabulous.  The food was wonderful and the company outstanding....of course!  We each added the "wine flight" to our dinner that night.  Each course was then paired with a small glass of wine.  I'm usually not a wine drinker, but I decided to give it a try.  I was pleasantly surprised as I enjoyed every one of the wine choices that evening....even the red paired with the main course was perfect!  My Auntie Di and Uncle Jim are the wine connoisseurs in the family.....I could not help but think of them with each glass....wish you could have been with us!