J & S RV Park

We parked at J & S RV Park in Monticello, Ar. on Christmas Day.  The park is not a place I would recommend.  As it is, it is the only one we could find in Monticello.  It is hardly a "tourist" RV park.  In fact, all the RVs there looked like they were there for the duration, with "stuff" scattered around.  The temperature was below freezing and it appeared few residents had prepared for it.  Many had frozen water connections, some with ice all around the leak of the bust pipes.

We didn't stay long, just over night, then we moved to Stephen's driveway.

Merry Christmas

Jimmie Davis State Park

Jimmie Davis State Park, another nice Louisiana State Park, but difficult to enjoy.  The cold front had hit here hard!  So cold, I did not get a photo.  Well, that was part of the reason.  The other part was I was too busy trying to get a small black kitten out from under the RV.  After we had parked, we kept hearing a kitten mewing and finally decided it was under the RV.  Ditto and I got out in the cold and wet to investigate.

I finally located it hunkered down on top of one of the waste storage tanks.  There was a space hardly big enough for me to get my arm in there.  But, the kitten was too far back for me to reach it.  I had to resort to trying to scare it out.  So, after beating and banging and prodding with a stick, it finally shot out and ran up to the front of the RV and jumped up on top of a front tire.

I crawled out and went up from to try to coax it from the tire, but by now it was too spooked to have anything to do with me.  It somehow climbed up into the engine compartment and up on top of the engine.  Now anyone familiar with a motorhome like ours, knows that you don't just open the hood and access the top of the engine.  You have to remove a cover inside and even then, access is minimal.  So, I removed the inside cover, but the cat was not in sight.  After shining my flashlight around some, I finally located it down behind the exhaust manifold.  I managed to grasp it by the neck and pull it out.

I got out of the RV with the little black frantic kitten in tow and as I tried to adjust my grip, it bit the crap out of me.  A little kitten sure has sharp teeth and claws.  Anyway, I dropped it.  It ran away into the woods.

At first, I thought it was okay now, but then realized it was miserable cold and wet and hardly campers so it was unlikely to find anything to eat or get out of the cold.

Our campsite was located near a small lake and the kitten had ran toward the lake which was only a few yards away.  Ditto and I headed there to see if we might capture it again.  I found the poor thing hunkered down next to a tree and apparently too afraid to move.  Being a little smarter, I put on my gloves and snatched it up again.

I took the frantic little thing back to the RV, but it was too wound up to turn loose inside and try to feed it.  So, I dropped it in a pillowcase where it would at least be warm and could settle down.

Our next stop is Monticello, Ar.  We plan spending Christmas with Stephen there.  We left the kitten with Stephen.  Here it is a few weeks later.

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park is another nice Louisiana State Park.  In fact, it seems Louisiana has some of the best maintained and outfitted parks we have visited...anywhere.  The only problem, it rains there.  And in a December winter storm, that rain is cold!

But, we were on our way home now.

Grand Isle State Park

Grand Isle State Park is located on the Gulf of Mexico.  The trip down from New Orleans was an interesting trip with many new sights for us.  We traveled down U.S. 90 to State Hwy 1.  Hwy 1 followed along Bayou Lafourche nearly its full length.  This bayou is one of the main waterways for the shrimp boats with fishing village all along the route.  It is not shrimping season so many of the shrimp boats are tied up along the bayou in various states of maintenance or just "resting".

When we got to the park, we found a nice park, but a beach in shambles.

Behind Joyce is a huge tube of heavy black plastic filled with sand.  Off-shore, sand is being pumped onto barges to be brought to shore to continue filling the big tube.  Here it is, 2009 and the destroyed beaches are still being repaired after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  The sand filled tube is intended to present a barrier that will not be washed away in storms and will help reduce beach erosion.  Keep your fingers crossed...

And then winter reached all the way down here.

Fontainebleau State Park

Fontainebleau State Park is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain near Mandeville, La.

Here, we're parked at the visitors center closer to the lake.

Joyce and Ditto in the "shade" of a dead live oak tree.

If you look closely, you'll see the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge.

Then we crossed it into New Orleans.

We didn't hang around New Orleans.  The streets of the French Quarter are not very motor home friendly and Ditto couldn't visit the restaurants and tourist traps, anyway.  Instead, we headed on across the Huey P. Long Bridge which was an experience all its own.

I stayed in the outside lane as far over as I dared to allow the much faster traffic to pass.  I was so close the tailpipe dragged along the curb.  Looking up in this photo you see the railroad trestle.  The bridge is an auto and railroad bridge built as one.  As you get up above the Mississippi River, the auto lanes are suspended on either side of the railroad tracks.  When a train passes, the bridge bounces.  Kind of scary!

Lefleurs Bluff State Park

Lefleurs Bluff State Park is located on Mayes Lake in urban Jackson, Ms.  Once past the industrial complexes of downtown Jackson and into the park, it is difficult to believe you are not out in the wild somewhere.

Hugh White State Park

Hugh White State Park is located on Grenada Lake near Grenada, Ms.  We camped at the Outlet Channel Campground just below the dam.

Jacksonport State Park

First stop on our winter trip to the Gulf is Jacksonport State Park in Arkansas.  It sits alongside the White River which was up and roaring this day.

Cape Fair Camping

Sitting at Cape Fair Corp Of Eng. campground, just relaxing by the fire.

Berry Bend (COE)

Berry Bend Campground is located on Truman Lake.  It was chosen as a central meeting place with Dusty and Traci.  Since we were there with Dusty, it rained, of course.

Rocko's debut (Dusty's new trailer) - at least with us.  Dusty had to set up in the rain.  It wasn't pretty. We did not get out much.  Site backed up to the lake about 200 ft. away.  Sarah, Roger & boys came.  Had birthday cake for Laurna.

Pawnee State Recreation Area

This is where we met Tom and Julie.  We had the grand-girls with us and they were to catch their mom and dad here and go on to Utah and Idaho.  The campground was pretty nice, a bit crowded though.  Tom and Julie and Mollie (dog) showed up and spent the night.  We slept 7 adult size people and 2 dogs.  Sure made it crowded, but we made out okay.

Hillsdale Kansas State Park

The NY grand-girls came down for a visit and had to be taken to meet their folks who were traveling to Idaho.  We were to meet Tom and Julie in Nebraska.  So, our first trip in Pumpkin was to Pawnee State Recreation Area near Lincoln, Nebraska.  The first stop on the trip was Hillsdale Kansas State Park.

Hot!!! Being July, it was naturally hot outside.  Inside, Joyce and I were comfortable, sitting in the front seats.  The girls, however, complained.  It was hot back there.  Gripe, gripe, gripe.

Update: Eventually, I got some special vent covers that allowed us to drive with open vents.  That helped keep the air moving through and not get so hot.  Later, I learned we could have just run the generator and used the coach air conditioner.  Well, we were new at this.

New home for Pumpkin!

Here she is! A 2000 Coachmen 31.5 ft.

Joyce seems to really like the kitchen

But, Ditto is not too sure of the steps

Oh well, it's only money

We finally decided that taking cash from our stash instead of a loan was the best deal for us.  I’m not a paying-interest type girl, and the application fee they required would fill the great big gas tank at least once.  And the loan process was degrading.  This sucks, and screw you, we said to Bank of America.

I fumed and fussed about the money, but at the end of the day I realized I’m fortunate to have enough money to buy an RV.  I’ve learned that every minute I spend worrying about the future, I lose part of today.   So, I made all the budgetary adjustments and Tom made arrangements to go get the RV tomorrow.  A small calculation showed cost of gasoline just to get it home will be $20.73.

Now, how to pay for it

The only other concern we had, besides the doors and levelers, was how to pay for an RV.  Do we finance it, or do we plunder our accounts.  I punched numbers, crunched numbers and I laid awake fretting about numbers.  No matter the decision I made, someone was going to get some of our money.  If we financed it, the bankers got interest.  If we cashed in, the gov’t got taxes.

I spent most of the week-end worrying about money, the future, and day-dreaming of reading a book in the Smokey Mtns, squeezing through the tunnels in West Virginia, or pulling the boat to Beaver Creek every spring for the white bass spawn.  Tom spent most of the weekend looking through the voluminous “Owner Information Manuals” we’d brought home with us.  Normally I’m accustomed to “settling for” and “making-do” and seldom get to choose exactly what I like or what I want.  This felt good.

And how odd is it that Floyd Boze’s son is the neighbor of the people we’re buying it from?  The people who are selling us their RV eat eggs laid by chickens I once had.

The Pumpkin is found

Tom called late in the afternoon, and talked with the owner of an advertised rig.  It sounded good so Tom set up an appointment for us to look at it the next time we ventured out of Cedar Creek.  We were just too tired to think about another drive out our road.  And this one was located about 75 miles away.

But wait!  It had doors.  It had levelers. It had brand new tires.   It seemed unreasonable low priced compared to others we’d seen.  It was, however, eighteen inches longer than our 30 ft limit.

Levelers.  Doors!  Tires!!  Affordable.  We called back; can we come look right now before dark?

From the outside it looked like all the others.  We did our mental checklist.   No big dents, check! No faded paint, check. Roof good condition, check.  No rust in outside storage compartments, check.

The seller was really nice.  He showed us all the outside features.  Tom was totally absorbed with the generator.  The man spit his tobacco and opened the hood so Tom could evaluate the biggest engine I’d ever seen crammed into such a small place.  Ten cylinders!  The engine was clean, free of grease, and smelled pure. The seller spit again and swore it runs like a deer (There were John Deere logos all over his place, so maybe he meant like a Deere).

I asked about the mileage.  Well, the owner said, we just got back from New Mexico with it and we didn't do too good.  We were driving about 75 in a stiff head wind.

Drive it a little easier and she’ll do you okay, he said.  The owner was a younger man, full of piss and vinegar who had a garage full of big, fast, motorcycles and ATV’s.  Tom and I once drove fast, too.

We never go fast anymore.  And if the head wind gets too stiff we can just pull over and take a nap, I thought to myself.

I've known Tom long enough to know when he’s feeling good about something.  Okay, I said to myself, if this is the right one for Tom, it’s the right one for me, no matter what the inside floor plan is.

We opened the door and my old knee managed the steps pretty easy.  I’d needed a hoist to get into some of the RV’s we’d looked at.  I glanced up at the interior and I felt breath leave my body.  I actually gasped.  And my breathing remained alarmingly shallow the entire time I was looking at all the beautiful, just right, things.  The wife demonstrated the unique qualities and features to me.  I noticed the stain glassed window in the door and pinched my arm to see if I was alive.

Drive it, the seller said.  We did.  But we already knew.

The passenger door was so wide, the step so low.  It rode so smooth.  The seat fit perfectly and felt just right.  Tom looked so good in the drivers seat.  Ditto found her spot on the sofa behind the drivers seat looking over Tom’s shoulder.  She liked it.  Her tail was wagging almost as fast as ours. The evening sun shone through the stained glass.

While we were out for the test drive, Tom asked if I’d noticed the For Sale sign in the window.  Sure did, I said.  That sign was $4000.00 lower than the Internet price.  Could this be?  We’d discussed on the way there how much we could talk him down from the original price.  Now, here was a sign in the window with a price less than what we’d decided to ask for.  Could this really, really be?

When we got it back to the seller’s I wanted to make sure about the levelers.  Can you demonstrate the levelers to us, I asked apologetically, expecting it to be a big hassle and an ordeal.  He grinned and walked to the entry door.  Make sure it’s in parking gear, he said.  He spit and punched a button, and big robotic feet slowly extended from the bottom of the RV.  Just watch these here yellow lights and they’ll tell you when it’s level, he said, standing there with his hand in his pocket while we watched the big coach gently sway and settle itself.  We’ll buy it, we said.

Tom made a feeble effort, but the guy said he couldn't come off the price since he’d just lowered it by $4000.00 that morning.  He sorta chewed on his tongue and cheek and said he might come down another $500.00.  Tom said it was okay, he’d not haggle over $500.00.  At that moment, standing wistfully beside that RV, I knew Tom or I wasn't capable of haggling over anything.   We’d found what we wanted.

Deciding what we want

Okay, we said to each other, let’s just back off and take it easy today.  But once we’d made the decision to have an RV we both were like hounds on the scent.  We spent hours at the computers, searching floor plans, prices, and features.  Was it best to buy old and cheap and be prepared to put money into it?  Was it better to buy small, easy to maneuver, and make do with little space.  Or is big better?  Was it a good decision to buy one at all?

We were soon driving off to look at more.  We drove all the way to Camdenton where we looked at a very old one.  I could live with an old RV.  I live with an old man.  The old RV had good tires, a new manifold system and had been re-plumbed.  And it was cheap.  But it had absolutely no storage. I couldn't find a place to keep my heating pad, my bottle of aspirin, or tube of Ben-Gay.

We looked and looked. They were all too long, too short, too beat up, too expensive, too many miles, too nasty, bad tires.  Maybe we needed to look at the jinxed one again.

But it was a bus RV, no passenger doors.  I had to crawl over the engine cover.  I don’t crawl well over anything.  I also felt claustrophobic with no doors. I was beginning to want an RV with driver and passenger doors.  And; It still had bad karma!

Worn out from looking at RV’s, we agreed to ease off the search.  But, after Tom went to bed that night I heard an RV calling to me, so I fired up the computer and there it was.  A beauty.   A little pricey, but it was the one. At three o’clock in the morning I e-mailed the auto sales lot and told them we were very interested. Next morning, bright and early, some guy called to tell us this baby had everything.  We’re on our way to look at it, we told him.  He told us the “coach”…(like Cinderella’s, I thought) was being sent to the shop for detailing and we wouldn't be able to see it for a few days.

We were almost glad we didn't have to go look at it because we were exhausted and befuddled at all we’d seen.  This delay gave us time to think about and to consider all we’d seen and learned.  Let’s just not even think about it this weekend, we said.  Let’s go fishing instead.

But we couldn't keep our minds off RV’s.  The voices were speaking to us.   We’d learned a lot we didn't know about RV’s and we were beginning to settle on little details.   It definitely had to be between 25 and 30 feet.  It had to be low mileage.  It had to have good tires.  And I was getting stubborn…it had to have doors.

And the more I thought about it, the more I was beginning to think automatic levelers were really important, too.  The thoughts of two old broken down people, trying to park a 30 ft RV wheel on a board and a brick, in the dark, after a day on the road was not an appealing vision.  I shared this vision with Tom; him yelling at me to pile the boards just right so he could back the RV onto them.  Maybe he’d be the one to pile boards while I tried to perch the RV wheel on the board pile.   We agreed we wouldn't buy one without automatic levelers.

So, okay, narrowing it down some…must have automatic hydraulic levelers and must have doors.  We called the guy with the perfect pricey one.  Sorry, doesn’t have automatic hydraulic levelers.   But, you said it had everything.  Well, he said, frankly I don’t think you’ll find the kind of RV you’re looking for with automatic levelers.

Searching for Pumpkin

The RV decision made, we did most of our searching and shopping sitting at our computers with our shoes off.   When we began our search, we had no idea what we were looking for, or any idea what we wanted.  We chose a few advertised RV’s that sounded good and went for a first look.

The first we looked at was a huge thing being sold by an old retired queen and his partner from California who had been together for over 40 yrs. They’d thrown blankets on the steps and over the furniture to protect them from sunlight and dirt.  It was decorated very tastefully.  In fact, it was quite pretty!  But it was too big and Tom said he was a little bit dubious of its age.  Tom says that with age little things begin to break down…like seals, and gaskets and valves.  We’re familiar with that phenomenon regarding our own bodies.

We went to look at another.  This one was very nice, very well taken care of, low low mileage, price was right.  The owners told us how they’d purchased the RV in November in preparation of retiring and traveling.   Shortly after Christmas he was diagnosed with stage three esophageal cancer and is now stage four.  He looked really sick, and showed us his feeding tubes.  Meantime the wife told me how they’d bought the RV from a widow whose husband had died unexpectedly of a blood clot.  Even though that RV seemed acceptable I was apprehensive.  I know bad karma when I meet it.  That RV was old folks jinxed.

Pumpkin Chronicle

There is a difference between moving and being on the move.  We've had our fill of moving and we’re done with that.   Being on the move still stirs our souls.

We love the isolation where we live.  We hope we won’t ever have to leave it until we’re carried out.  But sometimes we get the urge to GO.  There are still back roads we've not traveled, and places we haven’t seen, a few places we've never been, some places we’d like to see again.  We've often longed to GO.

But, we hate motels, public restrooms, restaurants with cheap food and high prices, crowds of people.  And we want our own stuff with us.  If we could just figure out a way to take our home and our stuff with us we’d GO often.  We’d GO a long way.

One day our oldest granddaughter called to tell us we are about to be great grandparents.  A few days later we were with our youngest granddaughter.  That’s when we realized there are still sights to see, emotions to feel, things to do.  And that’s how we arrived at the decision to get an RV.  We’ll GO. And we’ll take home with us.

And, this will be the Pumpkin Chronicle.