This was a quiet week for us at Arkabutla Lake, MS located
just south of Memphis. What a beautiful and relaxing place! Most of the campers
from the weekend had left leaving us pretty much alone in our little part of
the park. Mature trees surrounded us, with little glimpses of the lake through
them.
Monday was a perfect
day: temps in the mid-70s, warm sunshine, slight breeze…beautiful. Since there
wasn’t WiFi in the park, we headed to McDonald’s in Hernando to catch up on
computer stuff, including finishing last week’s blog. As the hour grew later we
decided to have “linner”--at least I wouldn’t have to cook that night! That
evening brought thunderstorms that lasted through the night.
Tuesday brought more sunshine and
warmer temps, and higher humidity. Ugh. That didn’t deter us from riding our
bikes around the park for a while. Afterward, Dick decided to take a “bird walk”
to shoot photos of the many birds in the park: blue jays, cardinals, and
woodpeckers. The humidity drove us inside the remainder of the day, which was
OK because the humidity also brought out the black flies—and they bite! And the
bites itch!
We walked around the park Wednesday morning for about an
hour, hoping to catch photos of more birds.
Then, Dick decided to hop aboard the motorcycle to tour the countryside…70
miles worth! He saw beautiful estates, farms, more water—all in all a
worthwhile trip. I sat outside to read, knit, and watch the many birds that
graced our site area, utilizing the wonderful reclining chairs we got from friends Gary and Pam before they left Bay View. (Thanks, guys; we love 'em!) When Dick returned he joined me outside for a while, to
read and also take photos of birds. The only downside was that the pesky black
flies had a feast of my feet, ankles and legs. Funny thing, you don’ t feel them
land or bite—but oh my, afterwards…
Thursday was laundry day, but before we left for Hernando
Dick decided to ride the bicycle around the park. He got to the farthest point
on his ride when thunder and lightning hit, along with a heavy down pour.
Needless to say, he got wet! After drying off we went to town. He took these photos of the beach and play area before heading home. Notice that the beach is under water!
After laundry we hit the local DeSoto County Museum. This
area is quite historical, dating back to the mid-1500s during the time of
DeSoto’s exploration of the area. Located in the northwest corner of
Mississippi, DeSoto County is named for Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto,
supposedly the first European to reach the Mississippi River.
We found the museum to be quite interesting, as it showcases
artifacts and exhibits from the time of DeSoto’s arrival, to present day, and
includes days of the riverboat (complete with a working model of a paddle
boat); the parlor of an antebellum mansion; and artifacts from the Civil War.
We
discovered that Jerry Lee Lewis is from this area, too. An exhibit in his honor
is featured, which includes a piano he played in his younger years. We also
discovered that Grisham’s book, “The Firm,”
was written here. Who knew??
Indian artifacts found in DeSoto County link it with
prehistoric people of the Woodland and Mississippian culture. The Mississippian
peoples built earthwork monuments throughout the Mississippi River Valley,
meeting Hernando DeSoto when he explored that area. Historians believe the
Mississippian culture declined and virtually disappeared due to environmental
reasons, or most probably due to the European infectious diseases brought to
this country. The Chickasaw nation, decendents of the Mississippian culture, settled
this area, claiming much of western Tennessee and northern Mississippi as their
hunting grounds. However, negotiations between the US Government and the
Chickasaw nation concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Pontotoc in October
1832, resulting in the Chickasaw ceding their land to enable European-American
settlement, even authorizing forcible removable if necessary in order to
extinguish Native American claims in the Southeast. From 1832 to 1836,
government surveyors mapped 6,442,000 acres of the Chickasaw land, assigning
640 acre sections to individual Indian households. The Chickasaw nation was
assigned a total of 2,422,400 acres of land. (The remaining land was disposed
of at public sale, the Indians receiving at least $1.25 per acre for their
land; the government land sold for $.75 per acre or less.)
After spending a goodly amount of time at the museum, we drove
a short distance to have lunch at Subway. Yum! Then, we returned to our site to
do preliminary preparation for Friday’s departure.
Friday dawned another perfect day: sunshine, low humidity,
slight breeze. We were on the road by 10:15 for a relatively short driving day
of just over 5 hours. We arrived in Carterville, IL to Kamper’s Supply by 3:30.
Friends Marvin and Shirley own this dealership, and we have all work done on
our camper by their sons John and Curtis. (They’re amazing!) We got our rig
parked outside bay #1 (we’ve moved up from our site at bay #2 from last time!),
and got settled for our stay. That evening was pizza with Marvin and Shirley at
Pizza ‘n’ Pasta Express in Carterville. Good stuff! Yum!
Temperatures dipped to the low 50s and high 40s that night.
Brr! I’m sure we weren’t the only ones in the country experiencing this deep
freeze at this time of year, but man it was cold!
Saturday morning after breakfast Dick and I headed into
Carbondale to run errands: Dick’s haircut, groceries, and a new phone for him.
While he spent time at Cricket getting his phone I ventured over to Macy’s for
a bit of shopping.
That evening we had a potluck dinner with Marvin and Shirley’s
camping group, Kamper’s Klub, in Marian, Il. Friends Randy and Jeri smoked and
BBQ’d a ton of ribs for the 24 or so people who were there. We also noshed on
salads, fruit, veggies and dip, cheese ‘n’ crackers, baked beans with pulled
pork, as well as other items I can’t remember. For dessert there was cake; I
brought fresh strawberries with angel food cake and whipped cream. The north
wind was keeping us real cool, so not
coffee was real welcome!
Sunday morning was another cool one, with temps only in the
mid-40s. Dick decided to tackle the bed issue (last week I mentioned that when
the bedroom slide was moved out the bed didn’t go with it…). He needed parts, so
off he went to get what he needed. He spent most of the afternoon that issue,
and as of this writing, it’s still not completely finished. We are able to use
the bed, though. Thankfully!
Sunday evening we joined Marvin and Shirley, and Randy and
Jeri for dinner at O’Charlie’s. Fun times with good friends and good food. Can’t
get much better than that!
After dinner we went to the home of Randy and Jeri for games
of Pegs ‘n’ Jokers. Whoohoo!! Gals came out on top winning 3 games to zip!!! I’m
sure there’ll be more games ahead of us while we’re here.
That’s it for this week. We plan to leave by Friday if all
goes well with the camper. A few parts need to be ordered, and there’s nowhere
we’d rather be to have them installed and other issues fixed than here at
Kamper’s Supply!
Stay well, stay safe, stay strong.
Hugs to y’all!
RJ and Gail
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