9-18-14 (Day 1 Tuscumbia,Al.)

New Harley, 6 Days Off, Time for a road trip!!

We left the reservoir this morning, got on the Natchez Trace, and headed to Tuscumbia, Alabama.

It was a nice day.  The only sweating we did was at the camp when we were trying to figure out what we could fit in the motorcycle.  After pulling out half of the clothes we packed on Sunday, (most of which were mine), we narrowed it down to the essentials.

Fernie must of knew we were leaving her for a few days.  I tried to give her a treat before we left. She ignored me.  I bet she will be happy when Pat comes to see her this evening.

We stopped at French Camp, sat on the patio under the big ole tree and ate a Big Willie.  The special sauce on the BLT is awesome.  It was all I could do to stay awake after leaving.

We rode 257 miles to The ColdWater Inn.  Nice folks at the desk and a nice room,

We will take our new Harley, "Amber," for her 1000 mile service tomorrow at Natchez Trace Harley Davidson which is in walking distance from our hotel.  Then we will head to Waterloo for the Pow Wow at the Trail of Tears.

We loved ole "Smokey," our 04 Harley, but "Amber" is a lot more comfortable. I hope our adventures with "Amber"  are as great as they were on "Smokey."

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/sDbQkQAAwtNCNUaS6

8-8-13 (Day 15 - Back to the Ross Barnett Reservoir)

We traveled a couple of hours today to our campsite on the reservoir. Ferny meowed almost all the way.  She hates it when her vacations end.

After getting the camper parked, we went to Salsa's for lunch.  After 4 hours of working in the heat we got things back in order.  Lauren informed me that I need to choose a cooler time of year for our vacations.

We sat around with friends lasts night and had take out from Penn's on our patio.  A great meal, with great friends, and a wonderful view.

Just think, when I work, I have to stay here.  Dang, life is good!!!!!

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/CJpcZNzVjMvaWEaQ7

8-7-13 (Day 14 - Poverty Point)

It's  HOTTTTTT

 

We left around 10 clock this morning from the mountain top at Queen Wilhelmina Campground..  Lauren was able to hook up the camper without any complications.  He felt like a pro!!!!  He only sweated a little bit when the sun beamed down on him at the dump station.

Lauren decided to take the 1.5 mile, 14 degree stretch of road that we took when we entered the campground a few days ago instead of the route that is a 13 mile stretch of downhill curves.  No brainer.

Lauren sighed a sigh of relief a little while later when he was faced with straight aways and flat country.  He loves riding the slopes and curves on the Harley, not a good thing in a truck pulling a 38 foot camper.

We rode for about  6 and a half hours and stopped at Poverty Point Campground in Delhi, Louisiana,  The state I was born in and retired from.  WOOHOO!! 

Ferny demanded to come out as soon as we got the camper set up.  She didn't last long.  She finally came back out around dark.  It was way too hot for a cat with that much fur.

We sat outside with a fan blowing on each of us.  When the temperature dropped from 99 degrees to 96 degrees we took a short stroll and looked at the lake.

We plan to go to the Rez and set up the camper tomorrow.

8-6-13 (Day 13- Scenic Talimena Drive)

We were supposed to get up early again this morning.  It didn't happen.  We got breakfast at The Royal Meal Trolley across from our campsite and headed out around 10.  We had a nice, hot, day to ride.  Although, when we were on the mountain it was a lot cooler than the valley.

We got on the Talimena Drive just outside of the campground. We were in Oklahoma in a very short time. 

We stopped at the Visitor's Center at the end of the Talimena Scenic Drive in Oklahoma.   We only saw 2 motorcycles on this stretch of ride.  They passed us twice. 

The views at the vistas were pretty, but after a while they looked about the same.  Lauren wanted to bypass some of them, of course, I insisted we stop at each one.

We took a nice ride through the town of Talihina then on to the Indian Highway.  Another pretty, curvy, road.  There were numerous signs of Big Foot Crossing.  We never saw him.

When we got here last night our water hose was not long enough to reach the faucet.  We used the reserve in the fresh water tank last night.  We stopped in Mena, Arkansas and bought a hose.  We got back on the Talimena Drive and completed the 13 miles loop we had missed this morning.

We returned to camp and walked to the train depot.  We had a milkshake, then took a 2 mile ride on the train.  Lauren tried his best to get out of this.  He didn't.  The engineer was nice enough to take our picture. You can tell by the picture he really enjoyed it!! 

They are building a new lodge and we were told by the engineer that there has been evidence that a bear or bears has been in the area.  We didn't see one.

I was planning on hiking the Lover's Lane Trail while we were here.  During the train ride the engineer told us about a woman that went hiking on this trail a few years ago and disappeared.  It is a mystery of what happened to her.  After hearing this story, hearing about evidence of bears in the area, and seeing Big Foot Crossing signs.  I decided to skip this hike.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/twR4zUJpFR8MbWVM7

8-5-13 (Day 12 - Queen Wilhelmina)

It took a while to maneuver the truck and camper out of the tight spot at Shady Oak Campground this morning.  Thankfully, we didn't tear up anything getting out.

Lauren has wanted an upgrade for our camera for about a year now.  Guess what, he got his wish.  I accidently dropped the camera on the pavement at a Wal-Mart in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  The camera we have had for 4 years is done.  OUCH!!!!!!!

It is the camera that I took pics through Stugis, Mount Rishmore, Cody, etc.

This camera also took our pictures at Yellowstone, Glacier National Park. etc.

Not to mention, it is the camera of OUR Alaska adventure.

We were broken hearted when we realized that this camera was DONE!!!

We saw a Best Buy and pulled in.  Lauren told the sales girl that we needed a new camera because we were on vacation and His wife broke ours.  She laughed. Thought he was kidding.  He wasn't.  Unfortunately.....

Before we went into Best Buy we decided to put Fernykat in the camper so she wouldn't be hot.  She decided to play hide and seek.  We couldn't find her when we got back.  She climbed under our bed, that is usually slid out.  Lauren had his flashlight and tools to dismantle the bed.  Thankfully, her highness decided to make her appearance before Lauren dismantled the camper .

We made it to the campground at Queen Wilhelmina State Park after about 5 1/2 hours.  It was a long ride.  It is very nice park,

Fernykat loves it.  If  Fernykat is happy, everybody is happy!!!!

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/T8iVCmaL8WnDSYho6

8-4-13 (Day 11 - Rained Out)

Rain early

 

Fernykat had enough of us sleeping this morning.  She jumped on me and meowed as loud as she could.  Glad she did. It was almost 8 o'clock.

It was really humid this morning.  We decided to wait and see what the rain was going to do before taking off on the motorcycle. We didn't ride.   It started raining around 1 pm. 

We washed clothes, stocked up at Wal-Mart, and loaded the Harley in the garage.  We stopped at McDonald's on the way back from Wal-Mart.  I had a dip cone and Lauren had a caramel shake.  It wasn't the dip cone that Zesto makes, but it was okay.

We took advantage of the cooler temps and built a wonderful campfire tonight. 

We are heading toward the Arkansas/Oklahoma state line tomorrow for a few days.  We are planning on riding the Talimena Scenic Drive. Fortunately, the prediction is for a lower chance of rain.   Unfortunately, the prediction is for the high temperature of around 102 degrees.

It has only been in the 90's and hot one day during the last week.  Most days, the temps have been staying in the low 80's.  Today it was in the mid 70's.  We are going to melt!

I hope our Fernykat alarm clock for the next few days goes off early enough to beat the heat.

campfire at the end of the day

8-3-13 (Day 10 - Ozark Moonshine Run)

 Grand Canyon Of the Ozarks

When we heard thunder at 6 a.m., we thought we were in for the day.  We weren't.  It cleared up around 1:30 and off we went.

We went around curve, after curve, after curve.......  Another pretty ride on some pretty curvy roads, on a pretty day, in Arkansas.

We looked up and saw a hawk flying above us with a snake in his claws.   Needless to say, there is no picture. I was too busy praying that he wouldn't drop it. 

We might get another ride in tomorrow if Mother Nature will let us.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/TfG9pw5xoyhTumZcA