Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas

       We boondocked last night in the WalMart parking lot in Columbus, MS.  Boondocking is when you are totally self-sufficient.  That is, you've got no plug in for electricity (you use your generator), you have no connection to water (hopefully your tanks are at least 1/4 full), and you're storing all the nasty stuff in the grey and black water tanks.
       One of the challenges we've always had while traveling is that I (Ken) tend to wake up really early and want to get on the road.  Muggy on the other hand, likes to sleep in.  Well, this RV'ing stuff lends itself quite satisfactorily to this situation.  This morning I awoke at 4:00am.  I made coffee and had a bit of breakfast and by 4:30 was ready to go.  So, with Muggy ensconced in bed, we headed out following US Highway 82 across Mississippi.  US 82 begins in Brunswick GA and ends in Las Cruces, NM.  We could have started on US82 in Georgia, but for this trip we joined up with the highway in Tuscaloosa, AL.  Here's a link with some information about US 82:
http://www.usends.com/80-89/082/082.html
       A really cool unexpected diversion today was experienced just west of Greenville, MS when we turned off the highway to visit Warfield Point Park, (url:   http://www.warfieldpointpark.com/admission.html ).  We rested in the cool shade along the MIGHTY Mississippi.  When you see the river at this point in its journey, you can understand why it's called mighty!!  As we enjoyed the quiet sounds of the river and the many red-winged blackbirds in the trees, we witnessed a very specific purpose this river serves.

Several barges went by both up and down the river.  It's one thing to say you know there are barges on the Mississippi; it's quite another thing to witness the barge traffic.  The barges are huge and one can only imagine the power of the boats pushing them.

      Just after leaving Warfield Point, we crossed the Mississippi on yet another wonder: the US 82 bridge over the Mississippi.  Check out this link for information about this bridge which is the "longest cable stayed bridge span on the Mississippi.
http://www.greenvillebridge.com/index.htm

We continued on across Arkansas.  Did you know that Arkansas is the largest producer of rice in the world?  We didn't either!!  And it's really a beautiful state...well, they've all been beautiful so far!  We pulled into Texarkana and joined up with I-30 for a couple of miles.  I couldn't figure out why the exits were numbered #1 and then #223 until I realized we left Arkansas and entered Texas.  Then, we turned north to our destination for the next couple of days, a place called Millwood Landing.

Great Folks In Albertville, AL

If you're ever in Albertville, AL, you will meet some fine folks!  We had the pleasure today of meeting Jeff and the crew at Gilbert and Baker Ford on highway 431.  They took great care of us today and while the RV was being serviced, we went to the town library and relaxed (and did some homework!).

Then, we headed south toward Birmingham.  Unfortunately, there was a terrible accident on 20/59 West and we were at barely a crawl for an hour!  The semi trailer in the median was a mess!  We pray everyone was ok.

Just Chillin'

Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Wow!  A great night's sleep for both of us.  First night we have actually spent in this RV.  A very low key day.  Lots of reading, conversation, walking, swimming.  I'm reading "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"; an absolutely amazing book!

We realize we really aren't too keen on the prospect of long term stays in RV parks.  This is a really big park and there are LOTS of RVs here.  And it appears that a lot of these folks stay for an extended period of time.  There's definitely a positive, social aspect to it as there are activities that one can choose to get involved in.  The neat thing about it is that there's no rules as to how you're supposed to enjoy it. For one person it may be fishing from the shore or boat alone, for others, it's card games in the activity center, for others it's something else.

For us, it's hitting the road again.  We pull out tomorrow morning, first to have some necessary preventative maintenance done and then, by noon, to be on the road to Tupelo, MS.

I spoke with my nephew tonight.  He blessed our socks off by sharing a memory from his younger days and some things that Muggy and I had discussed with him.  He and his wife are in a discipleship class and are recalling the influence that others have had in their lives.  And to talk about sharing the experiences and the love of Christ.  I told him we were looking for the divine appointments God had for us on this trip and he's the first appointment.  How cool is that?!?!?!

We are well and pray that all is well with all!!

We're Doing It!

We casually approached the morning; just not in a big hurry as we want to set a pace for this trip that says "take your time".  At 9am, Erik bid us farewell in the driveway and we were off.  We headed west to Columbus and thought we were going to have an easy day (best laid plans of mice and men!).

The first hour or two was pretty quiet as I think both of us were grasping the reality of what we're doing and that we are actually doing it!!

There was and is some concern about the RV as the farthest we've ever driven this one from home is about 10 miles.  A slight acrid smell in Columbus; thought it might have been a belt, but we pressed and the rig ran great.

An error in calculations today had us spending much longer on the road than we cared to.  Number 1 was forgetting to calculate time change from eastern to central.  Second item and a note to self here, when a street name says it's a road and a drive, MAKE SURE you know which one you need!  We finally rolled into Mountain Lakes Resort at about 5 (Central time, so 6 eastern, making for a nine hour day.  Way too long!!  We will set a goal to never duplicate that feat again on this trip.

Tonight we are parked (see pic below) near Gunthersville Lake (all 63,000 acres).  The scenery we drove through today was beautiful. We plan to stay here two nights and just begin to relax and take a few deep breaths!


Muggy prepared a great meal for us using a convection oven for the very first time and it was superb.  A walk by the lake, a quick swim in the pool and now for some quiet time to read.

We are incredibly blessed to be enjoying this opportunity and we simply must express our thanks to God for His creation and our opportunity to enjoy it!