Petal/Hattiesburg, MS

We landed in New Orleans in the evening of March 9, returning from our BIG TRIP.  Lanna and Joel picked us up at the airport. 

We stopped for a delicious supper at Gris Gris before finally returning back to Jane’s house, our trailer and Boo.  Although we had a bit of jet lag, Friday was a family day, including supper at Hattiesburger with Dean and Karen, Scott, Linda and Jenna, Hans and Nettie. 

Saturday was a big day, Hannah and Jordan’s wedding!

The first week back here was more family time with the Peterson family, getting over jet lag and working on this website.  It is seven weeks behind with a lot of memories so will take some time to get caught up.

Our first week back was spent saying goodbye to Scott, Linda and Jenna and getting reacquainted with Boo. Later in the week, Dean and Karen returned from a trip to the coast. We went to supper and band practice with them, Becky and Jane before they also went back north. Friday evening was our usual meetup at 4th Street followed by supper with Lanna, Joel, Lanna’s sons, Tony and Tammy. We went to Chesterfield’s, a place neither Dave or I had been to.

The weather here is unseasonably cold, down to low 30s at night and only 50’s during the day. Brrr!

Dave is working on remaking our corn hole boards and some repairs and projects for Jane.

This guy is brave. He will spread his wings and fly very close to us.

We decided to go into Hattiesburg on Friday evening, March 24. First we had to pick up our truck at the Ford dealership where we were having some work done on our exhaust and emissions system. (ICK!!) Then, we went to pick up a beer and wander the streets, checking out the pocket museum. It is always changing and we had not seen it since December. Then we headed to Hattiesburgers to listen to Cole Hill for a while. Meanwhile, I had looked at my feet and had two different flip flops on!

The next day, we went back to Hattiesburg to attend Hub Fest. Because we have never been in MS in March, this was the first time we had attended. It was a fun day of listening to music along with Tom and Jane. It was really HOT!

Dave took Daisy for a walk when we got home; Boo went along to help.

The rest of the weekend, Dave worked more on our corn hole boards. They had de-laminated so he had to put on new tops, seal the wood and repaint. Then, we put on all of the stickers we have been saving. Once the paint is cured, he will finish all surfaces with Marine varnish and reassemble the boards so we can play again.

I continue to work on the New Zealand/Australia portions of this web site. It is difficult because the trip was 7 weeks long and we have tons of photos to upload. Boo keeps playing with her friends Daisy and Bindi whenever she can.

Dave and I decided to have a Date Day on Wednesday, March 29. I had never been to Southern Prohibition Brewery and he had not been there since before we met. We stopped there for a couple of beers. Jane met us after work and we also ran into our friend Harry Goff. Like most breweries, it is in a commercial part of town but has a really neat interior.

Then, Dave and I went out for pizza to a place Jane had recommended, Lost Pizza Co. The pizza was okay but I really enjoyed my date.

On April 1, we were invited out to supper with Tom’s Aunt Julia, AKA AJ to celebrate her birthday. It was great to meet her finally and several of Tom’s cousins.

Then Dave and I tried to go listen to music by Wes Johnson but the venue was full and we were unable to get a place to sit. Instead we went to Keg & Barrel. We watched some of the spring college basketball, sitting with a fun couple from Virginia. We never got their names but had a good time.

Jane and I decided to pamper ourselves for her birthday (SIX-OHHHHHH)!! She got a manicure and I got a pedicure at Lavish Salon. Then we walked over to Fuzzy’s for a drink with Dave before she left to spend the rest of the day with Tom. Daisy had a sleep over at our place.

On Friday April 7, we met at 4th Street bar with Maureen and Ken, Jane and Tom, Tammy and Tony and Ken Garbee. Then, Tony, Tammy, Tom, Jane, Dave and I went to Oichi for a hibachi supper. It was delicious and a fun evening.

On Easter Sunday, the 9th, we went to church with Jane and her family. It was the first time I had been to a Mass in over 6 years and I enjoyed it. That afternoon, Tom threw a birthday party for Jane at Becky’s house. In attendance were Becky and Eddy, Hannah, Jordan and Blakely, Garrett, Derrick, Lanna and Joel. We had a steak dinner and everyone had a great time.

Dave and I played corn hole on our new boards! Of course I lost but it was fun.

We went to supper with Tom and Jane on Wednesday, the 12th. We won’t see Tom again until December. The restaurant is known for being a dive with fantastic steaks. It lived up to its reputation.

Mississippi Delta Region

Hitch Itch got us and we left Jane’s yard on Saturday April 15 and drove to Indianola. On the way, we passed through Rolling Fork, hit by an EF4 tornado two weeks earlier. The town of 1700 people lost 13 people. A large part of the town was totally decimated. I could not even take pictures, it was so aweful.

We got to our small campground near Indianola in early afternoon. After getting set up and eating lunch, we got back in the truck and drove another hour to Clarksdale. We wanted to check out a blues bar called Ground Zero that some friends had told us about. We did not know it was their annual festival, Juke Joint. There was music on almost every corner and very difficult to find a place to park. We finally found something and got to Ground Zero which was packed. Eventually we found seats at the bar. Besides listening to music, we engaged in conversation with a couple of different groups and shared a catfish dinner for supper. One of our favorite performers was a keyboardist, La La Craig and we hope to hear her again. One of the bar’s owners is actor Morgan Freeman who grew up about 20 miles from her in Selby, MS.

On Tuesday, we drove to Greenville to eat at a “dive” we had heard about, Doe’s Eat Food. We shared tamales but they gave us French Fries and garlic bread, just because we had never been there before and did not charge us!!! The food was great and the staff was very friendly. The town is in poor shape with many homes and businesses boarded up. There must also be some crime as a police officer was outside Doe’s for the evening.

Nate and Kate were in Minnesota for a few days and shared a picture of all my kids. That sure does not happen often.

On Tuesday, April 17, we drove to Cleveland, MS to the Mississippi Grammy Museum. There are only two other Grammy museums, in Los Angeles and in Nashville. This one is dedicated to all Mississippians who have won a Grammy. It was definitely worth seeing.

We also visited Dockery Farms, sometimes called the birthplace of the Blues but no one knows for sure. B.B. King played here, as did many of his friends. Workers would gather here to sing and relax. They had their own style of music which later became know as the Blues.

There is also a cotton gin there which Dave found interesting.

The next day, we went to the B.B. King Museum in Indianola. B.B. was born Riley B. King, near here. His soon earned the nickname Blues Boy which was shortened to Bee Bee and then B.B.

The museum is built around the gin he worked in. It has been renamed for a couple from Jackson who donated over $2 Million to build the museum. He is buried in the yard of the museum.

We finished our day at a restaurant in Leland called Lillo’s, recommended by friends. We enjoyed a great pizza.

For our last day in the delta, we wanted to return to Clarksdale, hoping it woujld not be as busy as our first visit. On the way, Dave wanted to check our Friar’s Point, the small town where Conway Twitty was born. We had a very interesting drive there on what looked like a field road but was an actual road.

When we got to Clarksdale, we first checked out the Blues Museum there. We didn’t care for it asmuch as the other museums, probably because the only singer’s names we recognized were B.B. King and Muddy Waters.

So, we headed back to Ground Zero for one more beer in the Delta.

Memphis, TN

On Saturday April 22 we drove about 125 miles to Memphis where we checked into the Elvis Presley RV Park. We just hung out in our rig for the weekend.

After chilling at the campground for the weekend, we ventured out on Monday.  We went to Sun Studios.  We both knew a lot about it and did not want to pay the cost of a tour.  It was fun to see it though.  Then, we ventured out to Beale Street where we watched a couple of very good bands, had a few beers and a great rib supper.

On Tuesday, we went to see Slave Haven, a home that was part of the Underground Railroad.  This was a very well done, informative visit.  We even went to the small basement where runaways waited for their chance to escape by way of the Mississippi River.  Next, we went to the Civil Rights Museum which is closed on Tuesdays but it was interesting to see where MLK was at the time of his death.  The Lorraine Motel where he was staying and killed is part of the Civil Rights Museum.  A young man with a bull horn was unhappy about all of the “white people” visiting the site.

Last, we went to the giant pyramid, the Memphis Bass Pro Shop, just to see the outside and walk around inside for a bit.

On Wednesday, we walked to Graceland, about 4 blocks from our campground.  I had been there once, almost 30 years ago; Dave had never been there.  We spent almost 4 hours there and really enjoyed touring the house, grounds and museums.

We spent the rest of our time in Memphis, staying in our campground.  We played Yahtzee, Cribbage, and worked on this site.

St. Louis, MO

We drove to St. Louis on April 29.  Draft Kings Casino RV Park is beside a casino and was kind of difficult to find.  On the way, we see that there are stop signs and stop lights VERY often!.  We are actually in East St. Louis, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi.  It is a pretty large park with the Arch in the background, a couple of miles away.

As is getting to be our habit, we hung our in the campground for the weekend and it was a very windy weekend.  We were ready to go out and about so on Tuesday, May 2, we toured Anheuser Busch Brewery.   We have been on a lot of brewery tours but this was one of the best, mainly because there are so many old buildings in the complex.  They are very ornate inside also, unlike most factory buildings.  We really enjoyed it a lot.

After the brewery tour, we stopped at a couple of local breweries.  First was Civil Life Brewery and then Square One Brewery and Distillery where we added some nachos to our tab, to take the place of supper.

On Wednesday, May 3, we did several things in downtown St. Louis.  First, we went to the arch museum where we saw a 30 minute film about the building of the arch.  I was on the edge of my chair, as if it were not a finished product.  How scary!!!!  Dave had seen this film before and I am glad we saw it.  It was a miracle, there were no deaths in building this gorgeous monument.

Later, before and after our arch tram ride, we walked around the museum, all about St. Louis as the “Gateway to the West”.  We had tickets for tram to the top of the arch and it was really cool too.  Both of us had ridden to the top in our previous lives but it was neat to do it together.

We had some time to kill so wandered off to Brewhouse Historic sports Bar, a couple of blocks away where we each had a beer and a little conversation with Jacob, the bartender.  He gave us an idea for a place to eat supper later.

Meanwhile, we also had tickets for a riverboat cruise, on the Tom Sawyer.  It was a beautiful day to be on the river and we saw/learned a lot about St. Louis commerce.

After the cruise, we went back to Brewhouse.  We were undecided if we were going to eat downtown that  day or return another day but it was too early to eat and we still had time on our prepaid parking.  While there, another customer did not seem to think we had selected the best place to eat, but we ended up there anyway.  We figured adding on to our parking time would be less expensive than starting over another day It was across the street from our parking ramp and next to the Cardinals stadium.  It was busy, with a game starting shortly after we arrived.

So, we shared a rib supper at Salt + Smoke.  We were both disappointed in the meal but we can say we tried St. Louis ribs.

On Thursday, May 4, we visited the Cahokia Indian Mounds, about 15 minutes from our campground.  This was the first “city” in North America.  At one time, there were between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants and the mounds are the tallest in North America.  They were well worth the visit.  Boo got to come along this time too!

Hannibal, MO

Saturday, May 6 was time to move on again.  This time we headed to Mark Twain Cave Campground in Hannibal, MO.

We hung out at our campground for the weekend.  On Sunday, we were able to have our Bloody Marys on our patio for the first time in a very long time.  We wanted to check our the winery located on the edge of our campground.  The sign said open and the hours listed it as only open Saturday and Sunday, noon to Six.  When I entered at 4:45, the woman said it was closing in 15 minutes.  That was not enough time for a sampling and she confirmed they were only open those two days.  Oh well!!

 

 

 

 

On Monday May 8, we headed to the Visitor Center in Hannibal.  The man working there was very knowledgeable and friendly.  With his help, we had a lot of good ideas on things to do.  First off, we headed to the Mark Twain houses, the original homes of Samuel Clemens, Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher.  This was really neat and informative.  We learned a lot about how Sam Clemens grew up and the background of his Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn books.  Then, we wandered the historical main street of town.  We browsed in a few shops and museums and ended up at the Rumor Has It Bar and Grill.  We enjoyed a beer outside, chatting with the daughter of the owner.

On Wednesday, we stopped at Dutch Country General Store to pick up a sandwich.  We had a “Build Your Own” and it was not only huge, but delicious.  We took the sandwich, some chips, wine and Boo, and headed to Lover’s Leap.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch looking over the town of Hannibal and the Mississippi River.

We went out again on Thursday.  Our first stop was the Native American Museum and store.  We were really impressed with the pottery and paintings.  It was a good stop.

Then, we went to the Drake’s Steak and Ale for a couple of beers and some appetizers, which were our supper.  We had a good time chatting with the bartender before she got super busy.

We decided to go out for supper for our last night in Hannibal and chose a Mexican restaurant, one of our favorite types of food.  We were both disapointed in the food and the service.  Well, it can’t be great all of the time!!

 

The next morning, we enjoyed our Bloody Mary’s before leaving the campground.  We were not in a big hurry because it was raining, off and on.  Finally, it was time to leave, to be out by noon, as required.  We gt a little wet hooking up.  This was the first time we have ever set up or torn down in the rain (except a light mist a couple of times).

Our next stop was a brewery, Parkside Brewing Company in Burlington, Iowa.  It rained very hard for most of the trip, to the point it was hard to see.  A hundred mile trip took us over 3 hours, driving 32 miles per hour much of the time. 

This was a Harvest Host stop and we went in for a beer before we even set up for the night.  The brewery was very crowded with some young softball teams but we enjoyed a couple of beers and chatted with the bartender.

Later, after getting the rig and the dog settled, we returned for a pizza supper and chatted with the owner.

The next day, we stayed in another Harvest Host spot.  This was a winery and we had stayed with them before, but they moved locations so it was not exactly the same.  This was The Cellar Winery in Madrid, Iowa.

It was Mother’s Day and they had live music but inside because of cold and rainy weather.  It was hard to find a place to sit but finally another couple shared their table with us.  Dave and I shared a bottle of wine and returned to the trailer for the night.