Southwestern RV Trip – Days 63-64, The Final Two Days

We got back on I-40 in North Little Rock Tuesday morning and the road thru the rest of Ark was pretty good but we noticed lots of flood waters on both sides of the road and when we got to the Mississippi River, it was way out of its banks.  By the time we got into Tennessee the winds had picked up and I fought the gusty conditions the rest of the way to Parker's Crossroads.  Usually I’ve reported how the road got better when we got into TN but not so today as it was just okay most of the day and bad for the first 35 miles thru and east of Memphis.

We pulled into Parkers Crossroad RV Park about 2:30 and got set up for the night.  While not very fancy, this is a good place for an overnight stop with good utilities, cable, and internet.

For our one night stops we leave the car connected so we are confined to the coach for meals unless the campground has a restaurant.  Since we were also trying to use up the leftovers, I decided to try something different with meatloaf - a burrito.  I used a flour tortilla, pieces of meatloaf, picante sauce, hot pepper cheese, cheddar and pico de gallo.  I assembled the first five ingredients and nuked to warm everything, then topped with the pico.

It was actually pretty good and worth the try but it would never replace a meatloaf sandwich for me.

We got going earlier than normal on Thursday so we could stay ahead of the thunderstorms – driving in the high wind was bad enough but I would not want to do it with rain as well.  As we drove through Tennessee I was amazed that all of the rivers were well out of their banks and near home, Fort Loudon Dam was spilling water from all gates – our Tellico Lake is connected to Ft. Loudon Lake.

At some point, I had read on the IRV2 forum that taking I-840 was a good way to get around Nashville so I gave it a try even though it looked much further on the map.  As it turned out, it was a 76 mile route while it was 59 miles thru town so a difference of just 17 miles but boy what a difference.  It was a lightly traveled road in good condition through the pastoral TN countryside vs the heavily traveled, tense drive through town and roads that were surely worse and I have to believe it was likely quicker and I know it was a safer route.

We rolled into Almost Heaven South about 3 pm and it was great to park the coach and be off the road especially after fighting the winds every day.  It was a 1750 mile drive home and our total trip was 64 days and 4155 miles (for the coach) and I hope you enjoyed riding along.  Thanks for reading and leaving comments.

I enjoyed our trip and would have more so without the hip pain but I’m hopeful of getting some relief this week.  The only real disappointment was the colder than normal temperatures in AZ  - we drove all that way for the normally warm weather.  

It's always good to go but also always good to get home and sleep in our own bed and get clean in a big shower.  Now I'll rest up for a day or two then get started on all of those spring yard chores.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

3/13 – 3/14/19 event dates