Living in a van down by the river

Thursday, March 1, 2018
3,231 miles, 10 days on the road in a 24’ motorhome and we still like each other! Well, I still like Dave; not too sure how he feels about me?  Day 1 was a short day to Presque Isle, Pa.  The MH rocked back and forth a little going down the road in the wind. Felt like 3 footers on the lake.  We stopped at Presque Isle State Park for lunch.  Looks kinda unfriendly in late February but sure when summer comes the place fills up with nature lovers. Looking for something to do we went to see the Black Panther movie.  Not our usual type of movie but enjoyed it all the same.  We overnighted in a casino parking lot. Due to my aversion to casinos (the smoke mainly) we didn’t go in.

Day 2 we left early for our destination of Cincinnati.  Don’t laugh but I wanted to go there to stop at the Sign Museum.  Sounds hoaky but it was pretty cool.  Full of neon and metal signs that we remember growing up.  It even had the old Burma Shave signs that I saw as a child from the backseat on our many trips to and from West Virginia.  I also remember stopping at gas stations in those days where the bathroom was an outhouse.  Before the interstates were running north and south.  Yep, I’m just that old.

While in Cincinnati we got tickets to the School of Rock play.  It was well done and might have to watch the movie now.  We found a spot behind a Cracker Barrel to sleep overnight.  I am sure this sounds apalling to many; this road gypsy experience.  But Cracker Barrels are one of the few businesses that let you camp out overnight in their parking lots.  Many Walmarts do and some
 big truck stops.  Truck stops are our last choice because for some reason the truckers keep their big NOISY diesel motors running all night!  I guess to keep the heat or air conditioning going?  Not sure why but if you nest among them that’s the deal.  I told Dave to go knock on the window of a big rig and ask
them to turn it off but he said he would like to go on living a while longer.






Day 3 brought us to Nashville after playing chicken with the trucks on the interstate.  Reminded me of the barges we had to navigate around on the Mississippi.  We visited the American Pickers store and was surprised at how small it was.  Of course the boys weren’t there but we did recognize some of the stuff that we saw on the tv show.  We had plans to see The Tedeschi Trucks band at the Ryman but sacrificed our tickets and didn't go to the concert.  Looking ahead at the weather app on the Ipad it looked like we better change our route from 40 west and head south as fast as possible to avoid some  bad weather.  It’s a really good thing we did otherwise we would have been in the middle of all that nastiness that went on in Arkansas and Oklahoma last week.  Love the weather channel!
We spent the night in the Nashville Fairgrounds rv parking area among about 20 other motorhomes.  These seemed to
 be people that were there to set up their wares for the flea market that was happening that weekend.  Wow! Packing up and setting up all that stuff from town to town!  Trying to  squeeze out a living.

Day 4

I forgot to mention that it had not stopped raining since we left home.  Sometimes downpours. Dave handled it well and by the time we got to Birmingham, Alabama the sun came out for a bit.  I noticed the trees are already budding there and we saw daffodils in bloom.  Nice.  We were into serious country and western (yes, they have BOTH kinds there) or Jesus stations on the radio so I suggested that we listen to a book.  We settled on “To Kill a Mockingbird” and old classic I had’t read in many years.  We quickly got into the story and it kept us alert for hours.

We ended up in Vicksburg for the night.  Finding a restaurant on the muddy Mississippi we ate fried green tomatoes and shrimp.  As of yet I have never found fried green tomatoes anywhere that taste like my mom’s.  We slept among the big rigs in Vidalia, La.

Day 5 we passed really swollen creeks and rice fields.  There was a bit less traffic as we headed for Abilene, Texas
There were billboards that pretty much smashed the separation of church and state but hey, Texas!