Day 163 - Wednesday, April 22 - Iuka, MS to Bloomsdale, MO

 No water in the drip pan this morning. PTL! Looks like the guys got the leak fixed. I texted Brian at 7AM to tell him we were good to leave this morning, and that I would be over about 8AM to pay him.

We hooked up the trailer and headed north at 9:20. The plan was to drive 293 miles to the Bloomsdale Rest Area on I55 and spend the night at the rest area. 

Traffic an pavement surfaces were decent most of the way. Going through Jackson, TN is always kind of challenging, but not a real problem. US45 is a multilane city street through Jackson.

We arrived at the I55 Missouri Welcome Center, near Hayti, at 12:20PM. Kathy fixed us lunch and we just hung around for almost 2 hours. There was no need to rush since we were staying overnight in a rest area.

The highest price diesel we saw was $5.99/gal at a Love's Truck Stop in Tennessee. We saw it for $4.79 at a couple of stations in Missouri. We bought fuel at one of those stations. I worked at a pump jockey, pumped gas for people (really people used to drive into a station and someone put gas in their cars). I can still remember the first time I managed to squeeze $10 worth of gas in a car. In the late 60's the average retail price of gasoline was around $0.45/gallon (I was paid $1.25-2.00/hr while working at the gas stations). I bet I remember today's fill up for a long time.

And I still had 45 gallons of fuel in the tank. We rain the generator 3 hours since our last fill up. Our fuel mileage, ignoring the fuel we burned running the generator, was 7.7 mpg.

Then it was on to the rest area. It is a beautiful evening. We both are enjoying the green and actual trees. 

Parked at the rest area.

Kathy took a cup of coffee and I took and ice tea out to one of the picnic tables. It was a nice afternoon to sit outside.

We are 180 miles from home.

God is good. I pray that He bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 161 & 162 - Monday & Tuesday, April 20 & 21 - Still at Lakeshore Custom RV

Winter Storm Fern hit this area January 23-27. The icestorm did a tremendous amount of damage. Sunday afternoon when we were maybe 10 miles from Lakeshore, we were stopped by a flagman because traffic was down to one lane, on a 2 lane state highway. As we drove through the area we saw guys in 4 bucket trucks cutting back damaged trees. There was a lot of associated equipment cleaning up downed branches. 180,000 people in Mississippi were without power, 100,000 in Tennessee. After the worst of the storm had passed Mississippi "mobilized" 135 snowplows to remove abandoned cars off Interstates 55 & 22. Brian said they were without power, from the utility company, for over a week. They are on a public water system and didn't always have water. On January 31 the high/low was 27/14 and on February 1 it was 36/16. Lots of folks had frozen pipes.

Monday - We dropped the coach off at Lakeshore at 7:10 AM, with a list of things that needed fixed. We then headed to Savannah, TN, about 35 miles north of Lakeshore.

We had a good breakfast at the Dae Break Cafe.

After breakfast we drove around town a little, what a nice town, population 7-8K. Kathy then dropped me off at the Tennessee River Museum and she looked around Savannah some more. The museum was interesting. but not great. After she picked me up we found a nice shady spot on a side street and she read while I took a nap. 

We went to a Long John Silvers for lunch, it was very good. After lunch we drove to Pickwick Lock and Dam, it was on the way back to Lakeshore. I got the lawn chairs out and we had a great afternoon watching the fishermen and the birds.

This was the first time a vessel went through the locks while I was there. This is the tug Jerry Tinkey pushing barges in to the lock. (the lock is 110'x1,000', the lock drops/raises vessels 55')

This is the water being discharged from the lock. It is at least 4' high. A siren goes off to warn boaters to get out  of the area.

The barges that were lowered. The tug went back in the lock, was raised back up, pushed more barges into the lock and was then lowered again. This process to at least 2 hours.

We packed up and were on the bridge above the dam when the tug and barges finally headed downstream.

If interested you can read more about our previous Pickwick visits at:

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/days-5-6-november-15-16-pickwick-dam.html

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/days-117-118-friday-saturday-march-29.html

Lakeshore had closed by the time we got back. Brian had moved our coach back out on the "pad", hooked up the electric and had the AC running. As we looked around it looked like they had fixed all the items on our list in one day.

Tuesday - At 7 AM I checked the water leak area and found that my drain pan had collected maybe an ounce of water overnight. I went over and told Brian that it was still leaking a little. He said that they would replace some fittings. We drove down to J P Coleman State Park, just a few miles away and spent the morning looking at the Tennessee River, watching fisherman head out, reading and maybe a little napping. The main part of the park, including the campground and Lodge, are closed because of the ice storm damage. As I walked around a little I stopped by the office and talked to several ladies. They said that they have no idea when the Lodge, which has lots of motel rooms, will reopen. The pipes in many of the room froze and burst.

Around 11:30 we drove down to Iuka and had a good lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Kathy said hers was better than any Mexican meal she had while we were in Texas. Mine was good. We drove around Iuka a little, no notable changes. We drove by a "yard sale/flea market" and stopped so that Kathy could check to see if they had some coffee cups she might want. We broke several this winter. No luck. Then it was back to Coleman for more river watching. About 3:30 Brian texted us and said the coach was ready. We picked it up, went to his little campground next door to dump our gray water tank and then came back and parked on the "pad". If the leak repairs look good in the morning we will leave for Missouri.

Weather has been AWESOME!!!

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 160 - Sunday, April 19 - Byram, MS to Iuka, MS

 We left Swinging Bridge at 10 AM, drove 267 miles, and parked at Lakeshore Custom RV at 4 PM. Traffic was reasonably heavy going through Jackson, near Byram, but then light the rest of the way. The pavement surfaces on I55, through Jackson, were rough, other than than the roads were decent.

The 5th wheel RV is the photo below was on a site across from us at Swinging Bridge. The exterior looks like it would be a park model but I'm not sure why a park model would be a 5th wheel unit.

Part of those miles were on the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is a beautiful piece of Americana. We have driven this section 3 or 4 times as we travelled south from the Iuka area. I don't know if you can make it  out in the photo below but we started at the "You Are Here" and drove about 65 miles on the Parkway to Tupelo.

It was a little past noon when we took the ramp to the Parkway. We had been looking for a place to stop for lunch. God provided us one just as we were on the entrance ramp. A turnout kiosk with information about the Parkway.

Parked at Lakeshore Custom RV.

We are tired! It's tough to be old 😀. Being here won't be restful since we won't have access to the coach while they are working on it. Typically we have it over at the shop by 7:30 and pick it up at 5:00.  There isn't much to do that is restful while we wait.

God is good. I pray that He bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 159 - Saturday, April 18 - Lake Charles, LA to Byram, MS

 It was 290 miles from White Oak Park to Swinging Bridge RV Park. We left at 8:30 and arrived here at 4:00. We stopped once for fuel before we got on the Interstate. We stopped for a break after about 90 miles, and then for lunch at the Mississippi Welcome Center, about 210 miles. 

We filled the car up yesterday on our way back to the campground, from Lake Charles. At the exit we use we saw a new station that had truck pumps and diesel was "only" $4.89/gal. It was the only station around with diesel less than$5/gal. On the way here we saw diesel priced as high as $5.89/gal. In the last 50 miles before arriving at the campground we saw a station where it was $4.71/gal. It was the only other station we saw with diesel less than $5/gal. Fuel mileage calculated to be 7.6 mpg. That ignores that I ran the coach engine over 20 minutes once while parked at Lakewood, just to warm it up and pump the oil around. It also ignores that we ran the generator 1.7 hours out of this tank of fuel.

Traffic on I10 and I12 was heavy. Traffic around Baton Rouge was stop and go. Once we headed north on I55 traffic was light.

Our lunch stop was at the Atchafalaya Basin Welcome Center. It is an interesting area.

https://www.explorelouisiana.com/welcome-center/atchafalaya-welcome-center 

It was BUGGY driving in east Texas and Louisiana. After arriving at White Oak I washed the windshield and the front of the coach. Below is a photo of the windshield when we stopped for lunch.

A guy from Swinging Bridge RV park called me about 15 minutes before we arrived, to check on our arrival time. When we pulled in he was waiting for us and handed me these flowers, before guiding us to our site.

Parked at Swinging Bridge.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 158 - Friday, April 17 - Another Day in Paradise

After arriving yesterday we looked up some restaurants. We remembered eating at Tia Juanita's Fish Camp one other time we were in the area. The one we went to for lunch was not the one we remembered. It was a disappointment. We learned that Tia Juanita's is a chain and after arriving at the one in Lake Charles we remembered that the one we ate at previously was in Beaumont, TX. 

This one was marginal at best. Kathy was going to get fish tacos and I was going to get either a fish PoBoy or a fish basket, until I asked what type of fish it was. Here we are, on the Gulf, and all the fish in the place is swaii/catfish. Kathy ended up ordering shrimp tacos and I ordered a taco salad. The food was okay but I doubt we will go back to another Tia Juanita's. It was a lot different from the what we remembered about the one in Beaumont.

After lunch we drove over to a park beside Lake Charles.

This I10 bridge is MUCH MORE impressive when you drive over it on your way into Lake Charles. The longest span is 421' and the bottom of it is 135' above the water. The federal Department of Transportation says the bridge is "structurally deficient" but the Louisiana Department of Transportation says its OK. (Glad I didn't know that before driving the motorhome over it 😀)

We sat for awhile and enjoyed the great day.

Then back to the park. Kathy made Rice Krispy treats and we sat out on the patio and enjoyed them.

A Google aerial of the park. The RV park is the grassy area on the right.

At dusk we again walked over to the river and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Note the lady sitting on the dock with her dog.

One interesting note, last night it was later than this when were down there and there were still a bunch of empty boat trailer waiting for fishermen to come back in. Tonight, Friday night, there were no trailers down there. Don't fish bite on Friday evenings?

Playground equipment at the park.

Thank you Lord for a great day!

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 157 - Thursday, April 16 - Victoria, TX to Lake Charles, LA

 It was a beautiful morning in Victoria. We hated to leave. Maybe we should  consider spending a week here next winter/spring. 

We missed some things while in Victoria this trip. No deer and no alligator.

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/12/day-16-saturday-december-14-enjoying.html 

We left at 9 AM, hoping to get through Houston before lunch hour traffic. I don't think we have ever been through Houston at a time when there wasn't at least one section of bumper to bumper, stop and go, traffic. We made our normal stop at the rest area at mile marker 814 on I10, where we had lunch and took a break.

We arrived at White Oaks at 3:30, 281 miles.

We sat for awhile and watched the boats coming in. It was pretty dark when we walked back to the coach. there were still 5 vehicles with empty trailers. Kathy said, "Why do we go all the way to south Texas when there are places this nice much closer. With no sewer connections, just a dump station, a long term stay would be a little different. We do stay at Soo Locks campground for a week at a time, they don't have sewer connections at the sites. I take showers in the clubhouse and Kathy takes quicker than normal showers. We can go a week without filling up our gray water tank. We can go longer without filling up the black water tank. 

I looked at some temperature data for this area. Nov 2025 one night 32 another one 38. Dec 2025 one night 28, one 30 and one 32. Five other nights the lows were in the 30's, but above freezing. Jan 2026 had nine nights with lows below freezing, the coldest was 23. Feb only had 2 nights below freezing. In Mar 2026 the coldest overnight low was 34, on the 17th.

Spending a week here during the last half of March, or in April, looks very doable. At $12/night they probably don't give discounts for weekly or monthly rates. The only negative we have found is that T Mobiles signal is terrible. You can text, and probably make calls, but there is no way you can stream anything. Kathy can't barely open Facebook. Some type of cell booster would be a benefit.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you  and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 156 - Wednesday, April 15 - Harlingen to Victoria

We left Lakewood at 10 AM and were set up at Victoria RV Park at 3 PM, 210 miles. We stopped at a rest area for lunch. I drove the coach and Kathy followed in the Flex.

Parked at Victoria RV Park. ($18/night for a full hook up)

One of the times we stayed here last year there was a 6' alligator in the creek on the right.

Looking back at the RV's from the other end of the grassy field. A nice sidewalk makes a one mile loop around the area.

Todays excitment was at the beginning of the day. Less than 5 miles from Lakewood Kathy called me and said something was dragging. I pulled off at the next exit and stopped to check.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled the hitch/ball from the coach and put it on the Flex, so that I could use the trailer to help a guy at the campground. I had problems locking and unlocking the pin that holds the hitch in the receiver. Apparently when I put it back on the coach I didn't push the hitch into the receiver far enough to get the locking pin in the hole. The hitch pulled out of the receiver and the trailer was being pulled down the road by the safety chains, with  the skid pad on the jack supporting the weight some of the time, thus the sparks.

I had hardly started running the jack down to raise the tongue up so that I could reinsert the hitch in the receiver when two Hispanic guys came around the corner of the coach. They were driving a pickup pulling a trailer full of round hay bales. They saw us stopped and stopped to help. They sent me to get the key for the pin while they jacked up  the tongue and got the hitch lined up. By  the time I got back with the key they were ready. One of them unlocked the pin and pulled it out. The two of them lined the hitch back up and shoved it in the receiver before sticking the pin back in and locking it in place. One of the guys was probably in his 50's and the other one was in his 30's. After thanking them they went back to their truck and headed down the road. 

This is a double PTL incident. If the safety chains had failed the trailer could have skidded into another vehicle and someone could have been injured. The second PTL is for two "angels" who showed up immediately and basically did all the work.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

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