We liked our few days at Tenkiller Lake on the nights of 10 and 11 October. We stayed at an area called Strayhorn Landing. While the lake is really gorgeous, it is obvious that the Corps of Engineers hasn’t upgraded their roads or sites to accommodate big rigs easily. The place just had that tired look with narrow cracked roadways. The site itself was lovely though with lots of hickory trees. I was really surprised to see how few people were there!
Big campsite with lots of trees and 30 amp electricity
We drove around the lake just for fun, and pretty much all the COE campgrounds had the same tired appearance. It is such a pretty place that it is really too bad. It is located in the southern Ozarks, and the dam is on the Illinois River. We were too early for the best color, and I don’t think it will be that good this year anyway with the dry season they have had. While Iowa has been flooded with rain, Oklahoma has been parched. That has changed as you can see!
One rainbowTwo rainbows! (Look carefully!)
It poured down on us as we left Tenkiller on I-40. The weather service reported 5-7” of rain west of Oklahoma City, something they desperately needed.
We went to our standard spot at the Edmond Elks Lodge. These are the nicest people! On Monday we just talked to the bar tender a bit, but when we came back on Friday, 16 October, we were treated as old friends by numerous people in the lodge. They had a choice of two entrees that night – chicken fried steak and liver and onions. I LOVE liver and onions, and this was among the best I have ever eaten. We usually stop at this spot whenever we are traveling on I-35 or I-40, and each time we remember why we like it so much.
So what were we doing between Monday and Friday? We took off in the truck (cats with us) and drove to Iowa on Tuesday, 650 miles. On Wednesday, the first day of early voting in Iowa, we did our duty. We also ran some errands, cleared out the 2 months of mail, and had dinner with all the kids, one on Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday. Then we did the reverse 650 drive on Thursday. Sigh. We took Friday as a recovery day!
Today we left Edmond and headed west on I-40. Originally we planned to stay in Amarillo, but we got a few miles away and decided to continue on to Tucumcari. As we passed the New Mexico State border, our clocks all turned to mountain time! Lovely. Tonight we are in the Elks Lodge in Tucumari. They have electricity which is handy. Tomorrow night will either be Winslow (hopefully) or Holbrook (if we are tired). That should put us into Quartzsite on Monday, 19 October.
We made it to the Red Bay RV Park, a big gravel lot with wide sites and full hookups, on Saturday, 3 October after a short drive from Mississippi. I think this is about the quietest campground in the area, and their prices can’t be beat. We signed up for 7 nights which is actually cheaper than the 6 we thought we’d be here for, but it gave us margin in case something happened. We decided to go to Cole’s Smokehouse for dinner, and I am glad we went early since they closed at 5:00 due to staffing issues! We just got our food to go – brisket for Kevin and their fabulous smoked chicken with Alabama white sauce for me. I had two pieces for dinner and 2 pieces for lunch the next day!
Sunday we went to one of the few restaurants open on Sundays in this very conservative area – the Rattlesnake Saloon. They don’t serve beer on Sundays due to blue laws, but they do have good food and a fun, unique environment. Here is a video of how you get down to the cave where the saloon is located. Note I am still having trouble figuring out the way to add videos so you can just click on them, but you can always cut and paste into a browser.
And here are some pictures to let you know why the place is so interesting!
Overview of outdoor seaingI like the LED lighting showing off the grottoThere are trees that look like they are growing out of the rock
The rattlesnakes don’t hang out in the restaurant part anymore, but the server said they are see regularly well below it in another rock area. This is a mount on the inside part of the restaurant.
There definitely used to be rattlesnakes
And just in case anyone is wondering, northern Alabama is definitely not flat! It does flatten out near the gulf, but this part of the state has lots of hills and creeks.
And northern Alabama is definitely not flat
Monday we started our motorhome fixes. We first saw Precision RV for preventative maintenance – roof inspection, blowing out our air conditioners, clean and inspect our slides, and relieve my mind about the water that occasionally comes inside when we retract the slides after a rainstorm. Tuesday saw us at Chris Berry to fix our moving midship wall. The forward side he had fixed before, and it was stable. This time the back moved, so he added a full length cleat screwed thru the tile to the subfloor. It looks lovely, and the bathroom door now shuts. It had been so far out that we had trouble before. That afternoon we saw Ricky Johnson for a lovely wash and wax. The coach just gleams, and it was only $275 cash. He is as good as any other detailer in town, and much less expensive. Wednesday was Bay Diesel. They discovered the big “CRACK” we sometimes heard after letting the airbags out was actually a broken rear Koni shock! I guess we hit one too many bad potholes somewhere. The other shock was damaged but not broken, and they are trying to get Koni to replace it under warranty. We will see later if they are successful. Obviously the replaced both shocks, and the rig drives so much better now! They also said the ride height was high in the rear which can also cause problems. Other than that it was just routine one year service on the chassis, engine, and generator. We also had dinner with some FRVA folks at Hometown Pizza which is now Mia Marlis. Same pizza, same place, just new owners. Today we went to Custom RV to get the Vroom slide repaired Velocity Truck Centers screwed up. We have been living without that slide for 2 months, meaning a much smaller bathroom and no access to my washer and dryer. It was the washer and dryer that was bothering me, so I am thrilled. We are now finishing up the 8th load of laundry! Note the washer and dryer are apartment sized so 2 weeks of shirts for each of us is a total of 4 loads, then there were 2 loads of jeans, one of towels, and one of kitchen towels and white underwear that needs bleach. But we should have it all done.
The dinner with the FRVA folks was interesting. I sometimes forget just how broad a range of interests RVers have. We all seem to hang with people that have our own interests. For us, that is big western skies, deserts, mountains, outdoor activities, and music. These 3 couples were into Florida golf resorts, very upscale living, and an entire other lifestyle. I am sure they found us just as foreign as we found them! Nice people though. But it makes me glad that people with those types of interests generally stay east leaving more space for us out west.
Tomorrow go to Carlisle, AR then we are spending a couple of nights at Tenkiller Lake, OK before heading to Edmond, OK. More on that later.
We left Minnesota and headed south. I was tired of cold and wet! We had to make a decision about where to stay for about a week before our appointment in Alabama, and Kevin found a great Corps of Engineers spot in Mississippi – Enid Lake. It is about an hour south Memphis on I-55, so off we went. We spent Thursday, 24 September, in Pine City, MN at the Walmart. Friday night we actually spent at Big Woods Lake next to the house to do laundry with our good washer/dryer combo. We also had my oldest son’s family over for dinner – Papa John’s pizza! Saturday was spent at the Walmart in Bowling Green, MO, and Sunday we stayed at the Elks Lodge in Sikeston, MO. We arrived at our site in the Wallace Creek campground at Enid Lake on Monday, 28 September. Our site is 96, and it is on a tiny loop with only 3 other campsites. The campground is astonishingly quiet, and no one has been camped near us the entire time – nice! It is very shady, and Kevin had a challenge trying to find a spot for the Starlink. As it is we have decent service most of the time, but it randomly drops for a couple of minutes until a new satellite comes into view.
While we are here we went to the Memphis Camping World on Friday, 2 October, to do the exciting task of buying a new toilet! (Life as an RVer is always fun, right?) We had an Thetford AquaMagic II toilet, and it was just a pain to do routine maintenance on. What maintenance is required on a toilet? The rubber seals dry out and need to be replaced every year or two, plus there is a ball that acts as a stopper when the toilet is not in use that needs replacing occasionally. To do those tasks on the Thetford requires completely removing the toilet, and Kevin just got tired of it. So he bought a Dometic 410 which is designed for easy maintenance. I like it because of the water it fills the bowl making it better at cleaning. The whole removal and replacement was done in less than an hour the same day we bought it. I like it! It is much quieter than the old one, an unanticipated bonus. Oh, and we did get some good Memphis BBQ, but I can’t remember where.
Wednesday we went to Vicksburg National Battlefield. As with most Civil War sites, it was sobering. The Visitor Center was smaller than most of the others we have seen, but the historic battle lines were marked extremely well. Vicksburg was won only with a prolonged siege, so the troops on both sides really dug in their artillery. Since the park was established in the 1890s, there were still people around who had fought and remembered the details. Here are some photos from the trip. Note these are from my iPhone since I forgot my Canon!
Lots of the monuments to various military groups were this type of tall pillar.
And of course the number of Civil War graves was incredibly sobering. The taller stones identify soldiers by name. The shorter ones for those unidentified. There are lots, and lots, and lots of shorter stones.
The real jewel of the park are the recovered remains of the gun ship “Cairo.” The Cairo was sunk in the Yazoo River near Vicksburg in December 1862 when the Federal forces were probing the area and removing mines. It was one of the early “Ironclad” boats, and when it hit mines it sank quickly into the silty water. All the crew was rescued, but the boat was left with virtually al the personal effects inside. The boat was left in the silt until 1959 when the location was discovered. It was gradually brought up in pieces in the early 1960s and amen to a shipyard along the coast. It was taken apart, cleaned, and stored. But the climate was not salubrious, and the NPS accepted title to the Cairo and moved it to the Vicksburg park. It was partially reconstructed and preserved until a huge canvas tent. Amazing!
The tent covering the boat
I love how NPS used the laminated wood support to show the original outline of the boat while supporting the original remnants.
The hull showing where the mine blew a hole in itThe boilers used 1 ton of coal an hourIt was paddle wheel drivenSome of the original iron cladding
We ate lunch at Walnut Hill, a relatively famous restaurant that has been serving Southern food since 1980 in an historic 1880 house. They had a plated lunch special. I had fried chicken, smothered squash, and green beans. Kevin had baked brisket, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The vegetables were fabulous! My chicken was very good, but Kevin said the brisket was just so-so. Of course it was LOL! I would recommend it anyway.
We did drive the historic tour route, and the old buildings were impressive. The town was so thoroughly destroyed in the siege that all the buildings are post Civil War.
Yesterday we drove to Memphis again to get Kevin a new pellet grill. He’d had his eye on one, and Camping World had it on sale plus he gets another 10% discount so the price was right. He made burgers on it today, and I think it will work out well. He is really having to play Tetris in the storage bays to get it in though!
Tomorrow we head to Red Bay, AL for work on the MH. Saturday is always a good day to find a campsite during this “snowbird migration” season that is beginning. We have appointments Monday through Thursday, and I am SOOOOOO looking forward to getting the bathroom/bedroom slide fixed after the idiots at Velocity screwed up the cables.
