A rainy day here in Tennessee......

Our Location: Big Buck Resort, Hornsby, Tennessee

(205 Sparks Road)

I had a tough night sleep wise and didn't catch more than a couple of hours. So when I finally got up around 7:30 AM I was awake and alert but still tired. I've been tired all day and managed about 30 minutes nap time around 1:30 pm this afternoon. 

Lots of ducks around here....

The day has been cool with cloud cover and mist, some rain drops, more mist, and then nothing but off in the distance it looked like fog. So not a good day to be outside for sure and we didn't spend much time outdoors. A walk to the dumpster and that was it for out door activity. 

Some of the spots available here ......

This morning we once again tackled the inside of the Igloo, this time the wood work, using Murphy's Oil Soap to give them a good cleaning and they needed it. With that accomplishment behind us the rest of the day was spent just doing a few little things to amuse ourselves. 

 

The bathhouse.....

I chatted with my sister for about an hour, then with my dad for a few minutes and that was it for phone conversations. 

The office, bistro and laundry house....

After that I read my book, took a short nap and took the trash to the dumpsters. That concludes our day. Thanks for stopping by, sorry there is  nothing more exciting to report. Feel free to leave a comment. 

 

The front of the clubhouse....

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

We're in spot # 18.

Deb

 

Cleaned the Igloo.....

Our Location: 

Big Buck Resort, Hornsby, Tennessee

(205 Sparks Road)

 

A very quick picture less post tonight. After a very good night's sleep in which I heard the pitter patter of a few rain drops in the early morning hours and Riley sleeping until 9 am we spent the morning cleaning our little Igloo. From top to bottom, ceilings, walls, floors, most of the cabinets have been cleaned inside as well. A quick wipe over the woodwork also helped to take the dust off but tomorrow will be a morning spent doing all the wood work with Murphy's Oil Soap to ensure they are clean and fresh inside and out. We will also do the inside of the windows and possibly the vents tomorrow. That will be the end of the house cleaning. 

 

After that we just basically rested and read our books, did a bit of catch up on a few things and I even managed a nap. No pictures, didn't get outside hardly at all, only for a walk to the dumpster and one to the office for a package. 

 

On the good side, it appears Amazon has gotten it's act together. One package arrived today, one will arrive by Tuesday, and the other is still pending, whatever that means. Of course its the 'pending' package that I wanted most but oh well, we'll see how it goes. 

 

So that's it, our day. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you've had a great day. 

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

 

 

Lonoke, Arkansas to Hornsby, Tennessee.....

Our Location: 

Big Buck Resort, Hornsby, Tennessee

(205 Sparks Road)

 

 

We spent the night in Lonoke, Arkansas at the Walmart there. I found the night to be fine, the big rig beside us ran ALL night which was fine for me,  it provided noise and I didn't hear anything except the steady drone of the big diesel engine. Riley on the other hand wasn't impressed with the noise and said she had a hard time getting and staying asleep. We were up at 7:30 am CDT and when I peeked out the windows, I noticed only the Class A beside us and basically everything else was semi's everywhere, behind, beside, and for rows upon rows they were lined up. They even parked in the driving lane. I thought they would have been moved but I guess not.  Anyway, we were on the road around 8 am after having packed up the few things we had unpacked to stay the night. 

Construction along our route....

 

Our first stop was a rest stop not far from our overnight spot. I had done a horrible job of cleaning the front window and had to do it again. We didn't stop long and were back on the road quickly. The rest of the morning passed with about the same amount excitement which was none, and we like that. 

Arkansas rest center...

 Construction was pretty good for the most part, a few slow downs on our side but the other side had a back up that must have stretched for 5 miles. Mostly big rigs as far as the eye could see at times. There really was no need for any slow downs, they have plenty of warning signs out and about, even 'MERGE NOW' signs but there will always be those that just have to get that last inch ahead. 

Construction back up on the West bound lanes....

We pretty much just cruised along taking I-40 East to Memphis, about 100 miles/160 km, and then we took US 64 the rest of the way. We crossed into Tennessee about 11:00 am CDT. We noticed the water laying in fields, the rivers running pretty full, and the creeks running high. They must have had significant rain fall here the last while. 

Some of the views from the road today...

 

We crossed into Tennessee with a sort of sigh as we are now much closer to home and back in the land that we know pretty well. We truly enjoyed our time across the mighty Mississippi but it's always nice to be back in familiar territory.

Water is in abundance over in this area, that is the Mississippi  with the Memphis skyline in the back, rolling with some swift currents you can see as you motor across the bridge.

The trip to Big Buck Resort in Hornsby took about an hour but we stopped once and stretched, did our business and enjoyed the warmish air, the grass and the greens we could see in various trees and flower gardens coming to life. 

Some signs along the way this morning in Arkansas...

 We checked in, Tina remembered us from our visit in the fall. She's a nice lady and always helpful. We've settled into site 18, a few down from our last site but we like this one better. The wifi connection is good, much faster than our own jet pack (we're waiting here for a booster for that very thing), and the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the lawn mowers were working, definitely a sign of spring!!! We're glad to be back. Now if Amazon can just get it's act together and get our packages here in a timely fashion life will be wonderful. 

Then we were welcomed to Tennessee......

We travelled approximately 200 miles/ 321 km today. It took us about 5 hours total. We used I-40 East and US 64 East. Both good roads, a few rough spots but those are to be expected, it's why there is construction on going. Again we used about 15 -18 gallons of fuel for the day. The temperatures are consistently warmish, not quite shorts weather but not too cool either. Roads are much busier here in the east, the semi traffic alone is astonishing. How quickly we forget. 

Some things we noticed in Tennessee. That killdeer was nesting at the very edge of the parking lot where we pulled over to stretch. Right in the town at the edge of the busy lot. Guarding those eggs she was pretty blustery.

 

 There you have it, our travel day. Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the ride, and I will tell you for the next couple of days we are going to be doing pretty much NADA, ZIP, NOTHING, except cleaning and doing laundry. So if you have no desire to hear about those things, you may want to take a couple of days rest from reading this blog. Feel free to drop a comment, I appreciate them all!

Pic 1, we noted a number of single rigs hauling up to 4 others behind, all new, all being delivered I guess. Pic 2, I could see that yellow truck coming in my mirror for a long way, love that it's a TONKA truck!! How cute is that? Pic 3 & 4, They too are hauling their house along, but they can park in different lots without someone having to sleep outside. Pic 5, is the Pyramid at the Mississippi River in East Memphis. Pic 6 is just a pretty house we noticed on US 64 East. Pic 7 is Funeral home also on US 64 E. It kind of looks like it's out in the middle of no where but is actually just a bit out of town. Pic 8 is another couple of nice houses we noticed on US 64 EAST not far from the Big Buck Resort.

Until next time..... take care, be safe, 

Deb

Gainesville, Texas to Lonoke, Arkansas

Our Location: 

Walmart, Lonoke, Arkansas

I slept like the dead last night, I never heard a sound until 6 am CDT. It was so quiet at the Walmart and when I looked outside I noticed only 3 other rigs in the lot. It was a bit crisp but not bad probably somewhere around 45F/7C, but that is a guess. 

Greener and greener as we drove along east....

 

We were both out of bed and starting to pack up the inside of the Igloo by 7:10 AM. We were both looking forward to getting on the road.  I think we are both looking forward to a less wind prone area for a while. We were on the road by 7:35 AM. 

 

Some more green, and of course water as well...

Our plans had us leaving Texas and stopping in Benton, AR for the night. Benton is just west of Little Rock. That would be close to 300 miles/482 km for the day. A bit further than we're used to driving or than we like to drive. However Arkansas isn't too friendly when it comes to quick overnights stays, or maybe it's just the Arkansas Walmart's but either way, the ones that will allow you to park overnight are few and far between, and you can only park at a rest area if it's an emergency (such as truckers being due for sleep according to their log books).  The skies were blue, the temps cool and the road was good, we of course were still going east on US 82. It goes down to a two lane highway with a few passing lanes but traffic backed up behind us as the speed limit was still 70 mph/112 km. We pulled off a few times to let folks pass but also to stretch and just get out of the Dogsled. 

Some of the views on the roads today....

We passed a number of small towns and wide spots in the road. The drive was scenic and interesting. The grass is so green, the trees are leafing out, and there are blossoms everywhere. Gone are the flat lands and in view are more of the types of scenes we're used to with rolling farm land, sweeping valleys with houses perched atop the hills at the far end. Less sky and more vegetation. Did I mention how green it is? Did I mention the grass? Green Grass? We also noted some daffodils along the way but failed to get pictures. Interesting little towns with interesting little names, the advertisements and gimmicks are smart, cute and attention getting. The road was good, a bit rough here and there with one very rough patch (which I mention later), but overall everything was good.

More views while on the road......those planes, one is landing at, and one took off from Clinton International Airport in Little Rock, AR.

 

At noon we left Texas in the rear view mirror and headed into Arkansas. Two hours put us at the outskirts of Little Rock, a bit past Benton, our original stop. We instead opted to drive the extra 50 miles/80 km to Lonoke, Arkansas. Benton is on the west of Little Rock and Lonoke is on the east. We now do not have to concern ourselves with morning rush hour. So a total today of 352 miles/566 km, it took us 7 hours to drive including 3 stops of approx 10 minutes each. We consumed approx 27 gallons of fuel. We traveled on US 82 East, I-30 East, I-440 East, I-40 East. All good roads EXCEPT about 5 miles not far into ARKANSAS where I-40 was horrendous, I thought for sure certain we had two flat tires. The thumps, bangs and herky-jerky of the Igloo had me thinking something was seriously wrong. I was about to pull off to check (which I dislike doing on the Interstate) when I noticed the big rig in front of me slowing down as quickly as I was, as I slowed down I also noticed the noises and movements were less. I pulled over a bit but still kept moving and as soon as my tires were a bit out of the regular groove the noise pretty much went away. Then we came to a bridge and the noise went away completely, only to return once we were back on the pavement. Worry over, it's the roadway. After that little stretch the rest of the drive was good once again. 

Some things we noticed a place called Ta Molly's, a large cow indicating a ranch, the lights/chrome twinkling at us from the billboard, the hundreds of Razors at the Suzuki dealer, the boot, and horse atop their high posts, that plane sitting in the middle of the field, the starburst at the fire works store and the Family Dollar in the middle of no where.

We scampered into Walmart to ask about overnight parking as there were no campers of any kind in the lot but it was full to overflowing with big rigs. It is the first time I've ever been asked if I'm in an RV or a big truck. When I said RV the lady said 'absolutely you may park overnight.' So I'm thinking come dark the big rigs will be out of here and gone. I even noticed a police car making the rounds of the lot about an hour after we arrived. We did a quick 'lunch' shop in the store before coming back and setting up the Igloo for the night. After lunch we headed back into the store to pay for our  nights parking as last night we shopped only for the dry products we wanted, and saved the produce for today. Kind of makes me feel like I'm paying for staying, if you know what I mean. 

 

Love the Blossom, Texas ball. The small towns and of course Texarkana just at the Texas/Arkansas state line....

Back outside we put away the groceries and finally sat down to rest. I had called my dad earlier to say we'd made it and were safely tucked away for the night. He was happy to hear from us and although we usually talk for about 15 minutes, my brother Rick was there so it was a quick chat. 

Some of the place names we noted today. You can even get to Atlanta, Georgia from Texas!!!  That would be Paris, Texas as well.

So tomorrow will be an easy day for us, less than 200 miles/321 km to our destination of Big Buck Resort in Tennessee. Even though the weather looks like rain ahead for many, many days we'll still enjoy our time there. We have a few things to do while in the area and hopefully the rain won't be too constant or heavy and we'll be able to get outside and enjoy some spring weather. 

Water towers from Texarkana, TX and Arkadelphia, AR. We have arrived in Arkansas, and of course passed through Emmet and Little Rock today as well.

After that it was time to edit the pictures Riley had taken today through our streaked windshield. So please forgive the streaks and splotches in the pictures.  That completed, time to write this post. As I write it is still warm and sunny, we have the big door open and the time is 6:40 pm CDT. It's actually pretty quiet with the door open, not too many vehicles going past. The noisiest part of the whole time we've been here is the big rig beside us with his engine running. We're hoping he wakes up soon and moves on. Not a refrigeration truck so it's just to keep the noise from bothering him while he sleeps and he's been here since we arrived. We had limited options of places to park as the entire front end of the lot was lined with big rigs, parked side by side and this was the only open slot available at the time. Many have moved out since we've been here, a few more have pulled in but also at least 2 more RV's are here, another 5'er like us, and a big Class A. I'm sure there will be more as we very close to I-40. 

We passed over the Arkansas River today. It's very large and seems to be a pretty busy river.

So on that note, thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to drop a comment. 

I know this picture is in one of the collages but I just love this house up there on the hill. It's huge and the trees give it a very nice overall feel. The cattle down front give it a sense of peace and contentment. The green is starting to show more and more and I'll bet with the spring rains that green is like a royal carpet in front of the house.

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

Deb

 

Crosbyton to Gainesville......

Our Location: 

Walmart, Gainesville, Texas

(1800 Lawrence Road)

 

 

A great night's sleep last night, I heard a few little noises but nothing much and I slept until just before 7 am, it was still dark when I started moving around and getting my room packed up to move. Shortly after 7 am I heard Miss Riley moving around as well. She also is aware it's moving day. 

 

Some of the landscape along the way....

 

All those turbines were just a few of the many we noticed.

 

The outside temperature was 29F/-1.6C and a very slight breeze made things feel colder still. The top of the Dogsled had a thin skim of frost. We packed up quickly, hooked up, dropped our donation and headed out. Riley noted 3 or 4 deer off in the field beside us as were pulling out. We seen another way down the road during our drive today which made us have a 4 or 5 count. The most we've seen since leaving Ontario. 

 

This is US 82 East...

.

 

We were on the road around 8:15 am CDT and managed to get things rolling nicely. To say the drive was boring would be accurate. It was pretty but there are only so many rolling hills and flat fields you can witness before finding them a bit ordinary. We stopped twice during our drive today. Both were just quick stops, less than 15 minutes each but we felt they were long enough. 

 

This is also US 82 East.... Love that Lone Star!!

We travelled approx 255 miles/408 km and had a side wind pretty much the whole way. Not a bad one but enough so that we knew it was there. We travelled approx 6 hours, stopped for less than 30 minutes. We travel at approx 55 mph/88km and used approx 20 gallons of fuel. We arrived here in Gainesville, Tx around 2:30 CDT and are parked at the very end of the lot nearest to the roadway. 

 

See the riders by the wind turbines? Those prickly pear cactus grow everywhere, see them among the bottom of the trees?

 

The temperature reached between 60F-65F/15C -18C but with the wind it  seemed cooler. We had beautiful blue skies and extremely empty roads. We travelled US 82 East the entire day. It was mostly a 4 lane road but at times went down to 2 lanes but only for a few miles. The road is in excellent shape with a few spots of construction but no delays. Many of the little towns were slow downs to town speeds but some remained at 55 mph/88km down from 70 -75 mph/112-120 km. Some were a town in name only and without any real 'town' visible, mostly just farms, houses and few little churches, or buildings. Very few had stop lights or signs for the east bound traffic. An excellent road to travel and I would travel it again.

 

Cows, horses, and a stone ranch house....

 

Fewer oil rigs in view, we even passed a horse training facility named 6666. It appears to be a very busy place with multiple stables and a number of horses in the fields. A lot less fixer up abodes as well. Many of the houses today were made of stone, a brownish tinge to the over look of the house. We noted one spot that had recently been visited by fire, came within a short distance of the house and out buildings. You could see where they had started a fire to make a fire break and keep the fire from spreading to the yard, buildings. There are fire bans in place all along this area due to high winds and dry conditions. 

 

 

Can you guess what highway this is? US 82 East....still....

 

We have been travelling in the rolling hills, similar to Tennessee, Kentucky and our own Ontario as well, for the last number of miles. Much less flat and more long sloping vistas as we approached Gainsville. 

 

Witchita Falls, Narcona, and a few other little towns that I can't recall the names of....

 

So there you have it, our travel day. Not too exciting but it's getting us closer to our longer stay destination of Hornsby, TN. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to leave a comment. 

 

This is Witchita Falls, Texas.

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

 

Blossoms, and interesting things that caught our eye.....

 

Deb

Crosbyton, a quaint but dying little town....

Our Location: 

Crosbyton City Free RV Park, Crosbyton, TX 

The night was pretty long and sleep was pretty short as the wind whistling and rocking us pretty good kept our little peepers open and the sandman couldn't reach the Igloo. We put the slides in around 8 pm due to the extremely high winds. That meant Riley would take my bed, I would take the recliner and HRH Miss Kitty would find some place to call her own. That worked well until about 12:30 am when I woke up after having already had a few hours sleep. Riley was awake as well and we each tried to be quiet so other could sleep but finally at 4 am I headed upstairs to crawl under the covers and not just a fleece blanket as the winds had also now brought along a nice cold temperature with it and the downstairs was cooling off fast. 

Not a great picture but you can see the front and there is two more semi's in front of the white truck giving him a push.

By 4:30 we were both asleep and speaking only for me, I didn't hear anything else until after 8 am this morning. The winds are still pretty high but will be diminishing as the days goes on. As I write this around noon they are getting a bit less blustery but they have a long way to go yet. 

We put the slides back out in anticipation for the diminishing winds and for a while that seemed like a good idea but it wasn't for another hour or two that they actually became noticeably less. Now at around 1:30 pm, they are finally starting to be much less effective in their ability to rock us around although the wind gusts are still knocking us around pretty good. They are becoming less and less frequent and even their intensity has lessened somewhat. Hopefully by dinner time they will be a thing of memory and the sustained winds will be enough to cause the flags to unfurl lazily. We can all hope, right? 

  

While outside doing a few things this morning I noticed this massively long rig on the road going past. It was pulled by a big rig and being pushed from behind by two more. I kid you not, they were tight against the tail end side by side and helping to push this thing. It was doing barely a good running speed but I'm sure it must get faster out of the towns. According to the fellow in the trailer beside us, who happens to be a local, it is some kind of driving gear for something and it going from California to Canada, he didn't say where in Canada though and I never thought to ask. He says its the second one to go through in a month. I'm guessing it must be eastern Canada somewhere and therefore it's not a problem to stay to the south away from the busier areas. This thing must be a nightmare to move, it's massive. The picture isn't good, it was a really quick one and a very poor angle but you'll get the idea. The white truck is the spotter truck behind. 

 

According to the same local fellow who's staying here for a bit as they are renovating their house, the winds have been like this for at least 3 days already. He says he's lost shingles off of his business roof here in town and I can say on our little drive we also noticed a number of shingles doing the flipping and flapping thing. He claims it will warm up by Wednesday into the mid 80F/29C range. I think this fella has two rigs here, both travel trailers, one is using the full hook ups but the other doesn't appear to be connected to anything. They appear to have been here a bit longer than a couple of days once I had a good look this morning. 

After hot drinks and setting things back up again we both decided we'd head out to see the little town of Crosbyton, Texas. The Big Dog's bowl is only half full so he needs a drink anyway. We both love the small town appeal but there truly is a dying that's taking place here. Very little appears to be open and running, most are empty or in the process of getting ready to close from the looks of things. We found two fuel stations and one Family Dollar. A few other business locations that seemed open but didn't provide a name. We didn't drive to the ends of town so maybe we missed a few things but from what we've seen it's an ugly death happening here. 

Numerous old tractors, vehicles, etc were about and appeared to be simply left where they were last parked. Interesting area to say the least. A fire department, a county building, a school and the post office, along with a couple of museums (one of which isn't open Sun-Mon), and a number of homes, along with many, many closed businesses seem to make up the town. We did note that not far from us there is another RV place with metered hookups and only one spot full, approx 6 more were empty. I didn't see any office or indication of where to sign in but at least we now know it's there if necessary. An interesting note are the number of trees in blossom here, they literally line the residential streets, as do dumpsters. The blossoms add a certain small town quality to any place, a homey feel almost. It's a very pretty sight to see.

 

I chatted with a young lady from Fort Worth as we filled up at the fuel station. She mentioned that the wind is less further south, below Dallas/FW area. So perhaps we'll take that route next time. She also mentioned that further south had received snow this year, something unheard she said. Also something to keep in mind. 

 

We also left a contribution at the Family Dollar store where we managed to find a few things of interest. So we'll have left our hard earned Canadian bucks in three places here during our two day visit. Doing our part to help the local economy.

 

Back home we have noticed the wind is getting less and less gusty now at just after 1 pm. Hopefully it keeps just getting less and less until there is no more. That would suit me just fine. The rest of our day will be filled with reading and a few research projects. 

That blue/white motorhome is in the metered hook up area we noticed on one of the back streets. When you leave the little park we are in, turn left on the side road, and it's straight ahead a few blocks.

Hope you've enjoyed your Monday as well. If not, I hope it hasn't been too bad a day with a few bright spots at least. Never fear, it's now behind you so don't have to worry about another for a few more days. As of the addition to this post at 7:30 pm the wind has died down with only very occasional gust and those are few and far between. It's been a very quiet afternoon. On that note, thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment. 

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

That's a big Texan needed to fill those boots!!

 

Deb