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We finally dragged ourselves away from Raccoon Valley SKP Park this morning. It was nice sitting still and just being for awhile but we have places to go and things to do–mostly reading the signs along the interstate freeways for the next few days and amusing myself, and hopefully you, with my interpretations of them.

The first one was one of those “Pass it on” ones. You know the ones providing a person who represents some attribute we should all aspire to emulate. This one was a tribute to Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in America baseball. The word they used was “character”. But the phrase they chose to go with it irritated the heck out of me. It said, “Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson.” Anyone who has ever seen the movie “The Graduate” knows the Mrs Robinson referred to in the song that starts with those words was not someone to emulate. I wonder who on earth chose those words to put on this billboard and why they did it?

I saw a car with two kayaks on top of it. I think of kayak people as being those who love to get away from it all in the peace and quiet of the backwaters of the country. But they were also towing a jet ski. What kind of people does that make them? Hopefully not ones who go out to the peaceful places then turn on that thing spoiling it for the rest of us.

We stopped at the Kentucky Welcome Center, of course, to pick up another state map. We are getting quite a collection of them. Dave looked at that map and started talking about taking a different route. Remember that we are already on a different route from the one I originally researched? So, I researched this second one? Now he’s talking about a third route. I know we write our plans in chalk but, c’mon. So I looked at the map and discovered he’s just talking about a different route to the same campground I was hoping to stay at tonight. OK, I can handle that.

As we were leaving the Welcome Center I saw a sign that said, “Drive smart.” Define smart. People who weave in and out of traffic so they can arrive someplace 60 seconds sooner think they are driving smart. I prefer the bumper sticker I once saw that says, “Drive friendly.” That make so much more sense to me.

We went by a sign advertising Colonel Sander’s Cafe’ the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Eleven secret herbs and spices. They seem to me to be putting more pepper in than they used to do. I wonder if someone has been messing with the Colonel’s secret recipe?

I saw a truck driver who has apparently had his limit of tailgaters. His sign said, “Push, pass, or get off my a**.”

In the town of Mount Vernon, Kentucky, where we stopped for lunch we were reminded that today is Sunday. I haven’t see that many church clothes in years. I felt like I’d been transported back to the 50s except back then we didn’t go out to Sunday dinner; we went home and read the funnies while Mom finished fixing our big meal. I know I dressed up for church for many years after that but I don’t remember many members of my church in Plymouth, Minnesota, dressing up quite that much. Many churches, like much of life, have become much more casual. Or at least at some of their services they have. We even had an usher who wears jeans to church. That would NEVER have happened back in the 50s!

Anyway, we drove through the town of Mount Vernon as we decided where to eat. After the meal, Dave once again began talking about what route to take out of there.  Should we take the scenic route or the fast route?  The scenic route would take us through lots of small towns like the one we’d just driven through with it’s narrow, twisty streets and low hanging trees. According to our GPS the scenic route is ten miles shorter but will take 30 minutes longer. Of course, in Kentucky so far the freeway had been as scenic as any other road. So, we might as well stay on the freeway. OK.

The sign said, “Born and Bred in Kentucky.” That phrase has always bothered me. Don’t you have to be bred before you can be born? When they speak of breeding stock they aren’t talking about how they raise them, are they?

An Allied Van Lines truck passed us with stuff strapped to the back of it. Oops?

Signs directed us to the “Kentucky Bourbon Trail.” Apparently it takes you to the most famous distilleries. Put that together will all the churches and religious billboards I’ve been seeing and it seems this is a state where God does not disapprove of strong drink.

The road sign sign said, “Move damaged vehicles to shoulder if no injuries.” So if you move the vehicle before realizing you are injured can the insurance company use that to deny your claim?

When we stopped at a Flying J to get diesel we decided to get on their scale to see if we could document the weight we may have lost when we replaced our sofa bed with my new memory foam bed. Nope. Still 130 pounds over weight. I wonder if I shouldn’t publish that in case my insurance company should ever decide to use it to deny a claim?

We are now in Lake Shelby campground in Shelbyville, Kentucky. This is a popular park for sports and parties but there’s only one other RV here. We have water and electricity for $12. And all the entertainment we could ever want being provided by the birthday party in the shelter near us. I’m guessing the birthday celebrant is a preschooler judging by the number of infants and toddlers in attendance. This is an entire family event, though, and people keep arriving even though the meal part of the party was more than an hour ago. I suspect it will go on until the kids get too fussy to stay unless they just go to sleep while the adults continue visiting. I remember doing that as a child.

Lake Shelby is also a popular fishing spot.There is a boat ramp at the end of our parking lot. And several people lined up on the bank with their poles in the water. Three boys just came in carrying paddles and life jackets. They must have been out for awhile because they are now trying to drown themselves in the drinking fountain. I’ve never been one to fish but I’ve come in from canoe trips being that thirsty so I can relate.

One of our favorite places to canoe was Minnehaha Creek in the Twin Cites. Once you got down on the creek you’d never know you were in a major metropolitan area. Until you came to the DQ’s canoe landing. Smart people the DQ owners.

TTYL,

Linda

Did you know pirates kept their loot in caves along the banks of rivers? Do you suppose that has anything to do with the fact that most of us today keep our money in banks?

You were the Boatswain on a pirate ship. Following is your Article of Agreement and the prize captured. How rich are you?

Article of Agreement

Captain and Quartermaster received two shares in a prize. Sailing Master, Boatswain, and Gunner receive one-and-one-half shares. Other officers one-and-one-quarter shares. Sailors, one share. If one lost a limb or became a cripple in the common service, one received more of a share.

The Crew

Captain, Quartermaster, Sailing Master, Boatswain, Gunner, seventeen sailors, and two additional officers. – No one was maimed during the capture.

The Prize

• Three chests of jewels (each chest contains 17 jewels; each jewel is worth $250.00)
• Nine silver bars (each bar weighs three pounds and silver is worth $80.00 per ounce.)
• Thirteen bags of gold dust (each bag weighs two pounds; gold dust is worth $190.00 per ounce)
• A variety of gold and silver coins worth $5,730.00 

Want some more fun activities like that one? Check out:  http://www.piratemuseum.com/ec.html

TTYL,

Linda

It’s a windy day on the road today. I am quite certain it is nothing like riding a bucking bronco; nevertheless, that’s the image that came to mind as Dave tried to keep our RV between the lines on the road.

We passed a farm/ranch/whatever-it-was with a very long fence needing the attentions of a Tom Sawyer.

The vet had an amusing sign:

Sit. Stay. Spay.

Good Owner.

In Jasper, Texas, at a Conoco station we bought diesel for $1.79/gallon! It was cheaper than regular gasoline.

Street signs here are red. The first one I saw said “Bevil Loop” so I thought red might mean it was a dead end road. But the next sign was also red. Maybe they just want travelers to be able to actually see them?

The next sign I noted said “Entering Beauregard Parish”. We are definitely in Louisiana now where they have parishes instead of counties.

In Merryville, Louisiana, we stopped at a visitor center to pick up a new highway map and to pack away the Texas one that is getting pretty battered.

The next sign I noted said, “No Driving on Shoulder.” Texans have to be told that. According to my observations, it’s standard procedure in Texas to drive on the shoulder if there’s someone behind you that would probably like to pass you. Dave doesn’t do that. At first, I felt like we should but then realized if we pulled over for someone to pass and it turned out not to be safe for them to do so we could be held liable. No, thanks. Let them take their own risks and hope they don’t injure us doing so.

It appears the last weekend in March is festival time in the small towns along U.S. 190 both sides of the Texas/Louisiana border. Azalea Festival. Crawfish Etoufee Cook-off. Dave doesn’t like festivals so we are trying to visit these places during the week so as to leave them to their crowds on the weekends.

We passed a field full of row after row after row of parked small house trailers. Dave thinks they are FEMA trailers. I wonder what they will do with them? Are these the ones that made people sick? If so, are they planning to reuse them? If not, why store them?

We planned to stop in DeRidder for lunch. Neither of us wanted to stop at the Cajun restaurant. The DQ was on the wrong side of the road. Dave kept driving expecting there to be more. There wasn’t. I raided my emergency stash of food and we kept on going down the road.

Now we are seeing tree trucks that remind me of Oregon except these trees aren’t nearly as fat. We passed a paper mill, too.

As is usually the case with U.S. highways, we have railroad tracks running along side us. Suddenly Dave said, “Truck on the tracks.” It might have been a signal maintainer. He sure was being careful about stepping out of the truck there where the shoulder was steep and the ballast loose under foot.

We passed a pizza place and a Subway that both had signs only along the front of the building. Without having a sign out on the road we don’t know they are there until it is too late to stop. Dave never saw either of them. Finally, in Kinder, Louisiana, we found a McDonalds with signage that warned us to prepare to turn. I feel much better with some Chicken Selects in my stomach.

South of Kinder I saw a place called the “Cobwebs and Dust Flea Market”. Truth in advertising?

Now we are parked for the night at the Quiet Oaks RV park.  More truth in advertising–except for the occasional train whistle, of course.

TTYL,

Linda

Richmond, Texas, that is. Our first night at Shady Oak RV park, we saw two other Views pull into the park. It wasn’t long before there was a knock on our door and a fellow was asking if he knew us. It was one of the View owners coming to see if we’d been to any rallies they’d been to and to invite us over for happy hour. So we met John & Peggy and Larry & Virgina, all from Wisconsin, and talked, among other things, about how glad we are to not be Up North at this time of year.

We spent the weekend doing household chores–like laundry and house cleaning and all that fun stuff.

Monday we went into Houston for a day of errands.

We went to REI and stocked up on freeze dried food.

We had a recall on our Sprinter done. We waited about an hour  for it to be our turn to get a 2o minute fix. Helfman Dodge had a nice waiting room where we got a bunch of computer work done. I like it when they have tables near electrical outlets.

We went to Smitty’s RV and Welding to find out what to do about our hitch. We’ve been told it’s going to fall off. They said, “Yes, it is.” They will put in a bracket to hold it better. They will also put a wheel on the upright part of the Segway lift so it will roll instead of drag when we go through dips at driveways. On Friday they will do these things.

Tuesday we spent cleaning out all our cupboards and shelves to see how many things we aren’t using that we can throw away or ship back to our storeroom to lessen the weight of our stuff. We are trying to get rid of all the “someday we might want to use this stuff” so we have more capacity for the “we use this every day stuff.”

Wednesday we ran local errands. First we went to the Post Office to mail back all the DVD movies we have that belong to NetFlix. We are suspending our account since we never seem to have time to watch movies any more. We have seven days to send back these movies before they charge us $20 apiece for them. If we get the urge to watch other movies, we can rent them for $1 at RedBox which is at most McDonalds and some Wal-Marts now.

Then we took enough stuff over to the UPS store to ship five boxes to the store room. It’s not as much as it sounds like since the piano keyboard gets its own box as does the piano stand and the tire chains which are either too awkward or too heavy to go in with anything else.  

Then there’s a box of piano sheet music. And this one:

A lot of that last one would probably have gone into the estate sale if we’d been thinking more clearly. Some day we’ll need to resort stuff in the store room and decide, once again, which to keep and which to dispose of.

In the meantime we keep doing chores here. Such as going to Hobby Lobby and buying a piece of strip wood to put in the silverware drawer so the holder slides instead of falls. The sharp knives are in a holder under the silverware holder and it can’t be good for the tray to keep falling on them.

We also went to KFC/Taco Bell for lunch. The last time we drove by it was still under construction but today it is open for business. It turned out to be the first day they are open so the employees are practicing their new jobs. And the food is free! From 12-2 and from 5-7 Wednesday and Thursday each person who comes in gets one free meal. Friday is the Grand Opening and you get to pay for your food. We repaid them for our free food by helping them learn what else they need to do–for us they need to get knives and butter which they said they will do. We like KFC’s original flavored chicken strips but we eat them with a knife and fork. No knives meant we couldn’t cut them up. We also like butter on our biscuits. Today they gave us some clarified butter they use for cooking and promised to order packets of butter. Good people;  I hope their place is a success.

Then we went to J.C. Penney for Dave to buy new underwear. I made him throw his out. I asked him if he didn’t put his fingers through the holes trying to put them on and he said, “Yes.”!

Then we went to Kroger to buy groceries. They have Mocha Mix! I can have cereal for breakfast again! Which I think I’ll go do now.  We have another two busy days planned here.

TTYL,

Linda

Today we traveled east on I-10 between Quartzsite and Phoenix, Arizona.  For some reason I was aware of vehicles with trailer hitches on this route.

Several years ago someone passed a law that allowed semi tractors to pull a second trailer if the first one used a 5th wheel type hitch. That apparently has been expanded to other types of hitches. I’m not sure they realized all the implications of doing that. Today we saw a motorhome pulling a car that was pulling a flatbed trailer holding an ATV. As far as I know, there is no special driver’s license required to do that as long as the combination does not weigh more than 26,000 pounds. Most RVers never give a thought to weight limits so I wonder how many of these double tows are over the limit for their driver’s license and/or their tow vehicle rating. And how do they park anywhere?

I saw the left half of a double wide mobile home being towed down the highway so I was watching for the right half when a second left half went by. So I started speculating. Maybe they put a hitch on opposite ends of the two halves so the roof lines would clear curved underpasses. But most mobile homes get backed into the parking sites. How would they place one with the hitch on the wrong end? Then the two right halves went by. Oh, well. That’s not nearly as much fun.

Then we saw a sailboat on a flat bed semi trailer. It was longer than the trailer. Dave estimated the length of the boat at 60 feet.

Then we saw a trailer that was a combination RV and horse trailer with several stalls for the horses. I wonder if the trainer lives in the RV and takes the horses from race track to race track? Maybe they were headed to Santa Anita on Route 66.

Then we saw a big pickup truck pulling a small travel trailer.

Then what looked like a small pickup truck about to be devoured by the big fifth wheel chasing it. Probably the second pickup was as big as the first one but it was dwarfed by the tall bedroom hanging over the truck’s bed.

We also saw a vehicle with it’s tow bar folded up in front of it looking like a gun sight.  

And we saw some semi-trailers parked by the side of the road being used as billboards.

And a semi tractor pulling an empty flatbed which made us want to warn him he’d lost his load.

And a green tractor pulling a red container which made me think of Christmas.

We saw a car pulling a small U-Haul trailer, then a pickup pulling a small flat bed trailer of household goods, then a pickup with it’s tailgate down to make room for the couch it carried, then a full-sized moving van. Lot’s of people moving in the middle of the month.

Some semi-trailers advertised companies, some advertised products, and some traveled anonymously down the road.

We saw a semi tractor with no tailer, his hitch exposed for all to see.

We saw an RV pulling a U-Haul car dolly with no car on it. It was wagging down the road like a puppy’s tail. I hope the car is parked someplace safe and not also wagging down the road with no driver.

We saw a truck hauling another truck on it’s flatbed.

All those hitches and not a picture of one of them. Sorry, Robert, you’ll have to pretend this is radio instead of TV and see them all in your mind.

TTYL,

Linda