We picked this location to be near my cousin, Tina. I haven't seen her in 18 years. Lock A is a nice campground. The sites are large and paved with stone picnic tables. They are clean and quiet. On the Cumberland river. Barges come and go up and down the river. They are surprisingly quiet. Reasonably priced $25 a night at our waterfront site #32. Tina came over she stayed we cooked out, caught up and had a couple of drinks and spent the night.
Today we took a 1.5 hr drive to Loretta Lynn 's Ranch. It is on 6200 acres. She and her husband bought it in 1966. The tour was $25 each. The Bucher Holler replica house is actually a movie set from the movie Coal Miner's daughter. , next was the plantation house that her family lived in for 22 years. There was a tour through a replica coal mine in honor of her father. The last part of the tour was the museum. This had memorabilia and lots of pictures of her family and Conway Twitty, also her sister , Crystal Gayle.
Today is Easter Sunday. We left our RV at Tishomingo State park Mississippi. We drove 2 hrs to Memphis. We arrived at Graceland on Elvis Presley Boulevard. The parking fee is $10. Then we walked inside. Paid $40 each for the tour. 10%discount for Norm's law enforcement id. We collected our ipad and headphones and boarded a bus to take us across the street to the front door. We entered, it felt like a wake. The decor is as it was when Elvis died. 1970's furniture, tv, and appliances. It didn't seem as ostentatious as he could have afforded. We went to the jungle room with time period green shag carpet. The upstairs is closed to the public. It felt like a history lesson. I wish my dad was with us. We finished up the tour in the meditation garden where Elvis, his mother and father and grandmother are buried. We had lunch at the grille restaurant. We sat in a Cadillac shaped booth. We did a little shopping before heading home.
We are going to meet up with some friends we met while on the road. Terry and sandy are in Alabama. We were going to stop in Arkansas. We decided to drive into Mississippi and sit still for 3 days. I found this park online. $18 a night with water and electric, lakefront. We will meet our friends for dinner before they head west. We will stay until Saturday and enjoy this place. Our site is large and the place is practically empty. The dogs wasted no time jumping in the lake.
We are heading East across Oklahoma. Currently just winging where we stay. Today's plan was to use Harvest Hosts and stay overnight at Native Spirit winery in Norman, OK. We drove 3hrs to get there. Upon our arrival the owner greeted us and told us to park "anywhere" " level. He said he would have lunch and come back for a tasting after we were set up. After turning in a wide circle to park the Rv became stuck in the yard and the more we tried to get out the more stuck we became. We called coachnet to get a tow arranged. They were friendly and helpful. They sent us D and D truck shop. Chris arrived in a gorgeous brand new red giant tow truck. He pulled us out of the mud yard and was on his way in under an hour. The owner gave us shovel and rake. Norm and I raked it out while he brought us dirt with a tractor to fill in the ruts. Afterwards a cold shower and a wine tasting. We had dinner in the Rv. Later we sat on their front porch had a glass of wine and observed some clouds and lighting bolts forming. Later, while trying to sleep the thunderstorm rolled in with heavy rain. Yogi, being afraid of thunder kept barking. We had to turn on the generator so the air conditioning could be on to stop yogi from barking all night. Short night of sleep.
We went to Laura's (Norm's mother) house in Hanover, NM. (January 20 To February 13) We stayed for three weeks. She had graciously prepared a spot next to her house for the Rv. We had such a nice visit. I am blogging all of this late because blogging started to feel like a job. We took turns cooking meals. We went to hot springs out in the desert one day and visited city of Rocks State Park. We went to an old West saloon and had a superbowl get together with her and Gilbert. We also went to Silver city for a day if chocolate tasting. A local fundraiser. There is a nearby Park where the dogs could walk freely. We helped Laura get some household jobs completed. The view from her backyard is stunning. There was snow one night. Carolyn and Eamon visited one weekend.
We went to this place because we had seen it on TV on the TV show man verses food. They have a 72oz steak challenge. One must eat a 72 Oz sirloin steak 3 shrimp, salad, potato and a roll in an hour. If they do its free. If not its $72. We did not try the challenge. We don't need to be eating that much. A man from Canada tried it while we were there. He didn't succeed. We did cheer him on. There's also a brewery. Norm drank Rattlesnake IPA. It was good and potent. I had their happy margaritas. They too were potent and delicious and garnished with a pepper. We slept in their parking lot afterwards. A fun night, no driving!
We have no more meet ups or schedule of any sort until May. We are making our way East along I40. We are going to try to catching free boondocking places. We found this one, Elk city Lake Park, in Elk city, OK. This is unbelievable. It is free. There is water and electric and paved site in a park. There is such privacy and grass. The dogs are happy! They can run and their paws won't hurt from cactus. We can stay for three nights. We gave decided to sit still for three days. I am going to work on taxes and finding a part time summer job. Norm is going to install the cb. Oh and the weather forecast this weekend is 80 degrees and sunny. The maintenance men here gave us pointers, avoid black widow spiders and brown recluse spiders. There is the lake. It is only about ten percent full due to a five year drought. The water has an algae in it so unfortunately no swimming for the dogs. These sites would normally be lakefront. Regardless, they are perfect.
So we are heading to Amarillo TX. At mile marker 195 we are driving half off the rumble strip due to construction. Suddenly there was a rumble noise from under the Rv. We think there is a flat tire. We can't see anything there is no place to pull over. Luckily there is a truck stop within 2 miles. We pull in Norm takes a look. The rear air bags are not holding up the back end. He discovered a hose clamp had come off the air ride system. He put a new one on. The air ride system fully inflates and we are on the road again! :)
We are having a meet up with Laura Breed, Norm's mother and her boyfriend Gilbert. We are meeting at 66Casino in Albuquerque, NM. We are boondocking, they have a room. We met up and had a great buffet $6.99. We played some slots with the five dollar free play. We relaxed in the Rv for a bit. The casino is rv friendly. We slept well had some breakfast in the morning and hit the road.
