Washington DC -- Day 1

After we got the Bus settled into the campground site, we took the car and began to explore the DC area. We left about 1:00pm and wanted to be back by 4:00pm for a 'sightseeing' meeting that the campground puts on each day. They explain how the subway and bus systems work, and what our options are for seeing the area.

With such a short time in a new city, we opted to visit the Great Falls National Park in Virginia, and then return for the meeting.

After the meeting, we decided to see a little more of the area. We opted for 'Old Town' Alexandria. Along the way, we stumbled onto the Fannie Mae building (but did not get a photo), and the new National Cathdral, where we did get pictures!!

We made it to Old Town Alexandria, but the sun was going down......... as you can see from the picture above. Here's a pictorial view of the old town...........

Tomorrow, we will drive into DC.

Going To Washington DC via The Skyline Drive

We left Memphis early on Thursday morning and headed out for Washington DC. Our plan was to take route via the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We left early enough that Patsy took a 'sunrise' photo on the Mississippi River bridge going into Memphis.........



Along the way, we had a call from our daughter, Deanne, and had to work with her to do some travel planning and scheduling!!! I had to find a motel where I could "steal" some WIFI so that I could look at a website that she was using. Here, Deanne, is where I parked while we talked............




We drove a little over 600 miles on Thursday, which helped us to get close enough to Skyline drive to be able to take it. We decided to take the Bus on the drive, and had to divide the drive into two days because of an overpass on the Skyline that was too low to allow us to pass through it. We drove the first part on Friday afternoon, and finished it on Saturday morning befoe we drove into Washington DC and checked into the campground. The fall color process has not really started in Virginia yet, but the drive is still beautiful. Here are some pictures ..........



We stopped by a gift stop along the way at a National Park campground to pick up the grandkids some T-shirts. Patsy found some pre-packaged 'S-more' kits!!



As we drove further northward, there were some signs of leaf color change, but it was mimimal. The following were shot through the windshield of the Bus as we drove:

We finished our tour of the Skyline Drive, and got to the campground in Washington DC about 11:00am on Saturday morning.

More later..............

Memphis, Tennessee & Beale Street

On Wednesday, we woke up with Patsy feeling much better. After starting the day out doing laundry (we did sheets and rugs because the park had free laundry!!!) , we decided to spend the day in Memphis.

We went to the Mud Island River Park first. The park is a scale replica of the Mississippi river from it’s origin to where it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. When we found a place in the parking garage, Mark spotted an old Mercedes that I think he wanted as a tow car….

We walked out the 1/3 mile to the park to save $4 each. The walkway was one floor above the monorail system. Here are some pictures of the area from the elevated walkway, including the walkway…………..


The “river” was about 5 blocks long. Here are some pictures, starting with a description of the project………


Here is Mark and Patsy standing in Memphis…… at the two interstate bridges across the river, and the two railroad bridges………….


Here is Patsy standing in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The following pictures are close-ups of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street……..


Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the end of the river……….


After the river park, we drove down to Beale street. It was Biker night, and they were expecting a lot of motorcycles to attend. It was slow during the early evening, but picked up as the sun went down (notice the 3-D effect in the billboard below)……………..


We also chose to have dinner on Beale street. Here are photos, including one with Mark and Sue tasting the seafood gumbo before we went in and ate!!

Tomorrow morning, we plan to leave the park early and head toward Washington DC. It will be a two-day drive.

West Memphis, Arkansas

We left North Little Rock early Monday morning, and arrived at the Tom Sawyer RV Part in West Memphis, AR at about 10:30am. Our sites were empty, so they let us check in early. West Memphis is just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, TN

Unfortunately, when we woke up Monday morning, Patsy was really ill. Compounded by the fall that she took on Friday morning, Sunday, she came down with a bladder infection. Luckily, we had some antibiotics that we carry, and she got right on them. By bedtime Sunday, she was feeling a little better. However, she woke up at 5:00am on Monday and was feeling very sore………… probably from the fall. She took some tylenol for the pain, and soon was vomiting. By the time we got to West Memphis, she was really bad and still vomiting. We asked about doctors at the campground office, and got a 1:30pm appointment with the family doctor of the lady at the check-in counter.

After doing urine and blood testing, the doctor was convinced that she had a very bad bladder infection, and gave her more antibiotics and some pills for nausea. She continued to vomit and be real sick until about midnight. By Tuesday morning, she was finally sleeping, and during the day she seemed to improve and got more rest.

Mark & Sue and Greg & Mandy arrived here at about 11:00am, and we had a good visit. We decided to cook fajitas that we brought from HEB in Texas on the grill and everybody made something to go with them. Patsy finally felt good enough to join us late this afternoon, and continued to improve. Just to be safe, I signed us up for another night here in the campground……… so, if Patsy is still feeling good tomorrow, we will tour Memphis with our friends. However, Connie and Manuel will be leaving early on Wednesday morning to drive to Red Bay for their appointment on Thursday to get some work done on their motorhome.

The other two couples will head for Red Bay on Thursday, and Patsy and I will take off for Washington DC. We did get some good news via email tonight. About 4 weeks ago, I wrote to Senator Kay Baily Hutcheson’s office to get a tour of the White House (It is no longer open to the general public). The email stated that we are approved for a tour on October 10 at 11:00am. That is the Friday of the week that we will be in Washington DC.

Tom Sawyer's RV Park is located on the Mississippi River, and you can sit and watch the barge traffic on the river. It is nice and quiet!

I'll post more pictures later, but here are some pictures from today. The first one is of our rigs at Tom Sawyer RV Part (l—r: Didelot’s 5th Wheel, Faure’s Phaeton, Esparza’s Phaeton, and our Bus):

A picture of Greg and Mandy riding their bicycles that Sue Didelot painted to hang in their rig:


Our fajita cookout on Tuesday night...........

On Wednesday, Patsy woke up feeling much better, so we are headed into Memphis to do our tourist thing. More later...................