GA Gypsies – Fulltiming

Oh boy, did we ride out a storm during the night last night. We had to stay in the overflow area, no trees, no shade, near a pond at the campground. Sometime during the night we heard thunder and then rain like I’ve never heard before, with some hail and wind. This kept up for nearly 5 hours, until wee morning hours. Lost power sometime during the storm. Very nice to just mash a button from inside camper and have generator come on to run the ac in the bedroom. Power was still out when we left. The little pond was overflowed, near the camper – it was a Noah and the Ark experience, we just didn’t get lifted into the water. We also found out that the 5th wheel doesn’t leak. She has a name – Boley. There is an explanation – it will come at a later time. Didn’t leave until 11:00 and made it into Oklahoma – we were only a few miles from the state line. There was a lot of tree limbs down in the park and when we left, we stopped and asked some guys for the best way to head to Tulsa – they said to avoid the area we were going to go because of the storm damage – some roads and bridges washed out and lots of trees down. We went a little north and headed towards Siloam Springs and found a state park near there to stay. The land is very lush, pretty. From southern Arkansas, where there was lots of cotton as we traveled north we began seeing rolling hills, some rocks in the hills and it changed from crop agriculture to cattle and dairy farms. Beautiful horses all over Arkansas and into Oklahoma. REAL cowboys came in the steak house to eat as we were leaving – looked like they’d been out working on the ranch, horse trailer with horses and the older man was bow legged like he’d been riding since he started walking. The real give away was the jingle bobs on their spurs – I heard them coming before I turned around and saw them. Yep – we are in Oklahoma – home of Garth, Reba, Vince, and Carrie and us right now, as home is where we park it!

We didn’t make our tour Thursday evening, and since we didn’t have to check out until 3:00, we explored Pike County. We drove to Billstown and it wasn’t very hard to find the Campbell Cemetary. It was very surreal – to be there, standing in the same place that Glen was in the documentary, looking at his parents’ graves, knowing that probably sooner than later, his body will lie to rest there. Rode into Delight and got my picture of home of Glen Campbell, then back to campground to hook up and leave. We didn’t get on the road until about 1:30 and I was tired around 3:00. We rode through the Quachita Mountains – beautiful land, we went from flat, cotton fields to rolling, lush hills with more cattle and growing hay than row cropping. Lot’s of rocks in the hills. We couldn’t find a campsite until we were north of Fort Smith – Fort Smith Alma RV Park. I was exhausted and sleeping – didn’t even know when we got there. This long of a day will NOT happen again. So tomorrow we are headed north and west – not sure if we will go north through Arkansas or skip over to Oklahoma. One of the pictures is of a little town called “Needmore”. It was about 4 houses, we missed the sign going in so stopped and took the picture coming out. Relevance – that’s what my Daddy always called our homeplace -“Needmore”. I couldn’t resist the pic.

 

Nice thunderstorm last night. The Crater of Diamonds State Park is a 37 acre field where a massive volcano brought diamonds to the earth’s surface. This is the only diamond producing area in the world open to the public. Over 75,000 diamonds have been found at “The Crater”. Other gems can also be found. We got there around 10:30. (What was I thinking – it was already 89 degrees.) I did have my hat. A lot of walking – the field was muddy, but not like GA mud – like quick sand cement – I almost lost my shoe twice. (Water shoes that could be hosed off.) We “surface” hunted until about 1:00 – didn’t find anything but jasper but it was fun. We are coming back in cooler weather. After leaving the field and washing our feet/shoes, we headed to Murfreesboro, the largest “one horse town” in the area for a Sonic drink, then a long nap back at the camper. Staying two nights here. Don’t have to check out until 3:00, so I’m going to get a picture of Delight (without pulling 5th wheel) and we are going to Billstown, which is the actual little town where Glen is from, he just says Delight because Billstown is too small for the map – want to find the Campbell cemetary. It was on the documentary they did last year. Tomorrow, we’ll start north again – not sure if the very western edge of Arkansas or crosss over to Oklahoma. We will see.

So, a relatively calm day. We made more time than any other day. Yesterday I left you in suspense – why would someone from Georgia, headed to Montana, go through Arkansas, and southern Arkansas? A lot of places looked like Louisiana. Well, my most favorite country singer of all times (ties with the Eagles) – Glen Campbell, is from Delight, Arkansas. And it wasn’t a terribly long way out of the way, so we went through Delight and saw the sign that said “Home of Glen Campbell”. That was exciting to me, but I like going in Dollar General too. Also, within 5 miles, there is a state park called Crater of Diamonds. You can search for diamonds there and I wanted to do that. So we found a campground – State Park on Lake Greeson called Daisy State Park. Hung out here for the rest of the day and got some rain, which is good for diamond searching – the rain tends to wash the diamonds to the surface.

Left 5 minutes earlier today! We are making progress (but being on Central Time helps me get up earlier). We made it all the way across Mississippi and crossed the might Mississippi River. We left Columbus, Alabama and drove due west all the way to Greenville, Mississippi and then just a bit further across the river into Arkansas – Lake Village – Pecan Grove RV Park. We are just across the road from a huge oxbow lake off the Mississippi. Plans have changed for tomorrow – heading a little further south in Arkansas. I will leave you in suspense. There is a place not too far off the unofficial path that I want to go to. Tomorrow.

Got the turbo pipe (I’ve been technically corrected as to what “blew”) replaced. Thank you, Lord. The Ford dealership was open and they had the part in stock. Tony got back to the camper and we prepared to leave – even earlier today. Who remembers Hee Haw? And the song that said, “Gloom, despair, and agony on me; if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all”? Tony has always called that “Puckett luck”. Well, when he walked around to get in the truck, he just opened the door, didn’t get in, and said, “We might not be going anywhere today.” We had a flat tire on the camper. Tony decided to walk across the campground to find the grounds guy. As he walked away, I was praying, “Jesus, help us out here, please.” And then a guy just appeared walking across the lot, and he had an air compressor. He brought it over and pumped up the tire. We called the Ford place and they said come on back. It took less than 20 minutes for them to change the tire – there was a huge nail in it. So we were back on the road again and made it to Columbus, Alabama to Parkwood Campground. The guy who answered asked if I was in Mississippi – I thought that odd. But, he had seen caller ID that said Statesboro and he knew there was a Parkwood Campground there too. How funny. He said, “We use the honor system, just put your money in the box and these two sites are available – take which ever one you want.” We never even saw him. And so tomorrow, we hope to make it out of Alabama and hopefully across Mississippi.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Our first day on the road. We got a late start, had a little hiccup with hitching the 5th wheel to the truck. Then we met my brother in Metter and ate lunch. We got on the road around 3:30 PM and made it to Fort Valley, GA.  Stayed at the Fort Valley Ponderosa Campground for the night. Only made 124 miles today. This could be a very long trip! Hopefully we’ll make more miles tomorrow.

 

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Left Fort Valley heading for Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Didn’t leave until 11:30. I have been exhausted with the move and finishing the quilts, plus the heat has really slowed me down. I wasn’t going to do it, I really wasn’t going to stop at any quilt shops along the way but there was one in Opelika not too far out of the way, so off we go. When we got to it, Tony said I don’t think I can get the truck and 5th wheel in and I said there’s another road a little further, you can make it. BAD CHOICE. He turned in, but we have a short bed Ford and there was a steep incline. After pulling up and backing back, (and did I forget to mention that the slider on the 5th wheel rubbed the truck?) we got turned around but I didn’t even want to go in the shop. I haven’t even looked at the truck – the 5th wheel is fine. After that, we didn’t travel much more today – I needed sleep, so we stopped outside of Opelika, Alabama at Lakeside Campground and I slept the rest of the afternoon. Tony made a Walmart run and we listened to the thunder during the night. Oh, we did make a short stop at Lane’s in Fort Valley for some peach ice cream.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Got up earlier with plans to make it to Tuscaloosa, Mississippi or possibly Arkansas. Just outside of Clanton, Alabama, about three hours into the trip, VOOOOMMMMM. What was that, we both said. Tony thought the turbo blew out in the truck – no power pulling the 5th wheel up hills. We pulled over and Tony got out – it was cracked. And there are still GOOD people all over this country – a couple had just left their home and passed us, then turned around to come back and help. They told us where the nearest campgrounds were. God provides angels. So very thankful that a minor disruption was not a major catastrophe. Thank you, Lord. And by the way, duct tape works wonders, but when a big job is necessary, it is gorilla tape to the rescue! It worked as we limped 11 miles to a Yellowknife Campground in Clanton, so we are settled in here for the night and plan to be at the Ford dealership in the morning. Prayers that they have the part in stock and the time to repair it. A bonus was I got extra rest and am finally beginning to feel a bit more energetic and alert. I’ve been living in a fog for the past 2 1/2 months. Early to bed and hopefully on the road again tomorrow.