TENNESSEE...at Last!

DAY 11
  Left Holbrook, AZ and headed into New Mexico.  New Mexico is on Mt. Time, so we lost an hour.  Winds were light, but by the time we decided to stop, they were picking up again.  Santa Rosa Campground turned out to be an old KOA.  But spaces were nice and they had a restaurant on site.  That made my day!  It was quite windy and we thought about staying one more day.

DAY 12
  Fuel up at Loves and left Santa Rosa, NM for Texas.  It became very windy by early afternoon, so we pulled over about 1:00 in Amarillo.  We were now in Central Time, so lost another hour.  Oasis RV Resort is on the West side of Amarillo and we think it is one of the nicest resorts we have stayed at.  Guess what, they too have a restaurant...woohoo!

Planted Motor Home at Oasis RV Resort

DAY 13
  Extended our stay in Amarillo due to the winds and storms.  Had breakfast at the RV Park, but it wasn't gourmet by any means.  Mine was okay, but Elwyn's wasn't.  Cook had made the gravy (biscuits and gravy) so salty that Elwyn couldn't eat it. They insisted on comping our entire meal.  Think this was just a one time issue with a new cook... he was not paying attention when he added salt.

  We were just a short distance from "Cadilac Ranch", which we had read about and have seen pictures of.  We didn't bother to stop!  Could see from the road, it wasn't at all what we expected.  Yes there are cars (maybe 6 at most) planted nose down in the ground...however, they are now covered with graffity.  Guess everyone wants to leave their 'mark'.

DAY 14
  Left early (around 8:30...that is early for us...LOL) and decided to stay in Oklahoma City.  Once again, the winds were kicking up and we were weather watching.  Still didn't like the storms in the East.  So decided to stay put for a while.

DAYS 15-27
  We spent too much time in Oklahoma City.  But we sat out several storms, waited for AR I-40 to reopen, enjoyed the downtown area, attended a Arts and Craft Show, did some shopping, found a Cracker Barrel Restaurant and had several meals there.  We stayed at Rockwell RV Park, located on the west side near Camping World.  And what would an RV trip be without at least one visit to a Camping World?  The RV Park is very near I-40, but the traffic noise didn't bother us.  However, we were not too far from a fire station, which is good if there is a Tornado, but we heard sirens all the time.  Felt as though we were in Leisure World, Seal Beach, CA again!

Crystal Bridge - Downtown OKC

Family swim....

 

Arts and Crafts - Downtown OKC

New Construction

Port-a-Potty being lowared from
New Building shown above.
  Ever wonder what workers used?
 Now you know.  Good thing it wasn't windy...

   Yes, we were in OKC for two weeks and that was way too long.  It was hot, humid, windy and stormy too.  But then that gave us time to get use to it...there would be more of that type of weather to deal with as we headed to Tennessee.


DAY 28
  Finally, storms, wind etc...seemed to be letting up, so we headed East!  Our spot for the night was Ft. Smith/Van Buran, Arkansas.  We had gotten a very late start and it was beginning to get windy and stormy.  Overland RV Park was not a great RV park, but was high and dry.  Flooding was being predicted in low lying areas and we avoided staying at an RV Park near stream...thankfully.  And guess what?  Another restaurant was just around the corner.  Big Jake's Steak House! Yum, good steak, good food.  There was also a WalMart near by for groceries.   We had another lighting and thunder storm go over us.  But no Tornado's!

Jake's Steak House

So much for SALT!

LOADED!

Note:  Have discovered that Arkansas and Tennessee seem to be lacking for nice RV parks along I-40, or we just didn't discover them.

Mud Island - Mostly flooded
 by the Mighty Mississippi

DAY 29 - Friday the 13th (Now in Tennessee)
   As we drove over the Mighty Mississippi, all we could say was WOW.  We were here in 2002 and drove the same bridge into Memphis...what a difference.  Mud Island is mostly underwater, only the higher parts are visible.  The Mississippi extends much further into Arkansas and clearly there must be a lot of devastation on the AR side of the river.

Startling!!

   We decided to 'plow' forward, as we were not finding much in the way of RV Parks.  We look for information that indicates 'big rigs' or 'large pull thrus' when trying to find a spot for the night.  I finally found something I felt would work.  Loretta Lynn's Ranch and RV Park, in Hurricane Mills, TN, seemed really nice, but were we ever surprised.  Actually, it is a really nice 'campground' and a great place to visit.  Loretta even performs there several times during the year and her home is located on the ranch.  Great place for families.  But is not for 'big rigs' and I must admit, it didn't say that it was. The book just stated the size of the pull thrus and they were more than ample.  I ignored the statement that they could not accommodate any RV's over 40'.  And now I know why.  Sites are in the trees, up a very narrow road with narrow spaces, and most are not level, although paved.  The lady told us to put 'that big boy' anywhere we could fit it and to settle up in the morning.  Should have taken the hint.  However, having arrived just after she had closed the office and being that we were tired...we went for it.  After all, how bad could it be?
  Elwyn did an excellent job of parking...and then we discovered there was no cable!  And our favorite show was on...oops!  No satellite...due to TREES.  Only one channel via antenna came in, and it wasn't the one.  We spent a very quiet evening...except for the outside lightning and thunder storm.  But, we slept well.

NOTE:  Instructions to SELF...check for "Cable, WiFi and Big Rigs Welcome" when looking up RV locations.

DAY 30
  Made it to our destination...two days early.  River Plantation is a nice RV Resort, located in Sevierville, TN.  Does have gravel roads, which can get dusty, but the sites are wide, easy to get into and the staff are upbeat and friendly.  We arrived ahead of our reservation, so they put us into a pull-thru for one night.  The weather was just perfect, and as we walked around the park, everyone was sitting out on their patios, enjoying the evening.  Most told us it was the first day of comfortable weather.

DAY 31 - May 15th (if I've counted the days correctly)
  Today we moved to our "river" site and find it to our liking.  It has trees, backs up to the river and is very quiet.

View behind our RV site.

Night Heron looking for dinner in River behind us.    

  Tennessee is a beautiful State.  Lots of trees...lots and lots of trees.  It is very GREEN...and although both Arkansas and Tennessee had devastating storms this year, you wouldn't know it by driving through.  We are glad to finally reach our destination and look forward to the time we will spend here.  Already we wish we could just stay for another month or two.  But we do need to be back in Oregon by mid-June.



Cleo's Notes:
  First, I don't like lighting or thunder!  It frightens me and I head for the couch and my safe place under it at the first boom.  Also, the noise rain makes on the roof is deafening.  Some of the noise is from something my people call, "Hail."  Boy, is that loud.
  Second, I don't like HEAT.  I was exhausted while in OKC.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  I didn't eat much either, it was just too humid.  I guess I'm an Oregon Kitty for sure.  But then...I was born there!
  The weather here (Sevierville) is much better.  It was warm the first day, but has cooled off more to my liking, just like Oregon weather, a little rain, clouds, rain, sun break, and cool nights.  My people have even turned the heater on.
  There are many birds here and that keeps me busy running back and forth, front to back, back to front, looking out the windows.  Now, you may know I don't see colors, but I can tell there are different colored birds. You see, Cats see in many more shades of grays then people do...therefore, I can pick out the 'blue ring, from the yellow ring' (the blue ring is my favorite toy) and there is one bird that my people tell me is RED.  They call it a Cardinal and we don't have them in Oregon.
  Behind us, I often observe people with long sticks, with some sort of string attached, standing very near the water.  They have something on the end of the string and they keep tossing it into the middle of the water.  They will leave it alone for a bit, then pull it out only to toss it back again.  Haven't figured out what it is they are doing yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.