Thursday, July 23, 2009

Day 4 – 948 miles … A king, very natural and discoveries

We started this morning, having to deal with the “awning incident”. Now, our motor home, a Sunseeker 2900 LTD is one of the entry level motor homes (think THE entry level). This isn’t bad and honestly the unit is serving us very well. It is optimized for a budget buyer, so it doesn’t have some of the features of other more expensive models. For instance, our motor home doesn’t have any slides. These are sections of the RV that extend to the side when you are parked … basically, adding much more room inside. The other thing this model doesn’t have is a ladder to get to the roof.

P1040802 While at first getting to the roof did not seem a priority at the beginning of our trip, now it was a necessity. Our awning “leg” was bent all the way back and is sitting on the roof. The roof for the unit is about 11ft above the ground … hmmm … I had a “wand” that is 6 ft long, which is used for the awning, so I could use it to reach the top … but I couldn’t. So … the dilemma; pull the “leg” down with the wand, which would cause it to fall to the ground and potentially tear up the side of the RV … or … stand on a 50 gal drum being used by the truck stop, for trash that was half full … hmmm …

P1040801 As I wrestled the trash can to the side of the unit, a large number of truckers started gathering outside the nearby building for what they thought was the upcoming show … apparently, the news had spread at the truck stop … “idiot in an RV, come watch”. As I started to practice my balancing on the rim of the trash can, I heard Michelle say over her laughter … “we’ve lost the damage deposit anyway". Why is it she has to be the voice of reason … I pulled on the leg with the wand … and it came “gently” down, now dangling on the side. The crowd had now dispersed, disappointed that the “wife” had come out to spoil the show. Using some zip ties (these are as valuable as duct tape for repairs), I secured are now broken awning. Of to fill the fuel tank (paid at the pump, so I wouldn’t have to show my face inside) and then for our day.

DSC07278 We got to Graceland around 1030A and parked in the back. I’ve driven through Memphis dozens of times and have spent many days in this city, but I’d never made the pilgrimage to Elvis’ house. We bought our tickets for the platinum package … mansion, car collection, airplane tours.

DSC07334  I’m always impressed by the power of music and how fanatical and devoted fans can be … while I enjoy his music, I’m not the typical fan that was here.  Graceland is, as it should be (I guess) a snapshot in time … it was frozen in 1976. To me, this was the most interesting part of the experience. I enjoyed the state-of-the art kitchen from 1976, the security cameras of the era, the shag carpets, the suede chairs, etc. The car collection was Ok, I guess impressive for 1976, but not really exotic by any stretch. The airplanes I found interesting, while the Jetstar (think DSC07286corporate jet) was as expected, Elvis had a 96 passenger (ex-Delta) jet converted for personal use … “Hound Dog One” was cool to walk through, his pride was a quadraphonic 8 track system installed on the plane :) … I wonder what will become of Graceland in 20 yrs???? Kate has listened to Elvis often, but didn’t get the attraction … now when she found out his daughter was married to Michael Jackson … she became more interested … funny huh?DSC07350

From Memphis, we headed towards Fayetteville … our plan was to find a park along the way to stop for the evening, have a slow night and most importantly a bonfire (the bonfire request started on Day 2 and hadn’t stopped). Some research and some recommendations took use to Petit Jean State Park, about 15 miles from I40, near Russellville, AR.

DSC07440 Arkansas is not the “Natural State” out of coincidence, as we get off the highway, cross the Arkansas river and make our way up a mountain, the beauty of this state (at least this part) was evident … wow. Petit Jean is a great park, on top of the mountain, with a lake, in the trees with hiking trails everywhere. This park has a lodge, restaurant, pool, great sites … and seemed empty, although many of the sites had campers on them. Again, wow … truly a great setting.P1040918

We picked spot #14 on the A campground, this is a full-service site, meaning we had water, electricity and sewer. We got settled, bought some wood and went for a nice walk to the playground. On our way back we climbed rocks down by the creek.

P1040958 It was around 8P when we got back to the site, Michelle started on dinner and I, with the help of 4 kids, prepared for the fire. My fire starting skills, have included siphoning gas from the car to act as “kindling”, but I was lacking a hose … so Zach stepped in and orchestrated the girls to gather pine needles and little sticks. This took some time, as Genna, while grasping the concept, didn’t grasp the quantity … so 3 pine needles at a time, took a great deal of time. Zach built a teepee, paper on bottom, pine needles, small sticks, then the wood we bought. I lit the paper … and we had fire!

Now the reason for a bonfire, was not the fire itself, but to act as a backdrop to the marshmallow roasting. We had all gathered “roasting sticks”, prepped them and where set. Kate, Zach and Jaci, all did their roasting (think playing with fire), as I don’t think they ate more than one, yet the bag was almost gone. Genna came out a little later (she’d been playing inside), and demanded to roast her “mashmellow”, she’d already eaten a few out of the bag.P1040986

I “bait” her stick (a long one for safety), she watches her brother and sisters, I explain that she holds the marshmallow over the fire, then pulls it out and eats it. Now, not all my plans are well thought through … while a long stick does keep her away from the fire, it does pose a potential problem.

She puts the marshmallow in the fire, it lights, she pulls it out, sees fire, and starts waving her stick, 3 ft long, with a ball of fire on the end. She’s no dummy, she’s not going to eat that. So she swings it around and starts chasing me with it. I can tell you from experience getting to a 2 yr old, with a ball of fire at the end of a 3 ft stick is not easy. Michelle and Kelly are laughing hysterically, which only gets her to chase me further … Genna, has discovered fire and it is powerful! Definitely, not good.

3 comments:

Elaine said...

You have me laughing hysterically too! I can just picture Genna chasing you with a ball of fire. I can't stop laughing!

Maria said...

So you went to Graceland and you're walking in Memphis! Now I'm impressed

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