Traveling notes

We were up and packing early. We have most of the clothes and household items. We worked on the freezer and refrigerator for a while and then made a trip of errands. We stopped at the Junaluska water and sewage to ask that our water be turned off Thursday. I learned later that there is a $100 charge to have it turned back on. The charge to just leave it on is $32+ per month. This is robbery by the government but what is new? We then took our trash and recyclables (with some from our neighbor) to the collection site. From there we went to Dr. McLelland to deliver our flu shot record. We then rushed to the lake to do our walk. While there, we saw the rose flower babe, and Evelyn got to get some advice on what to do on our knockout rose plant. After that we went to get my credit card and I apologized to the woman I threw the credit slip at yesterday. I also gave her a dollar to pay for the call she made to me yesterday. We then went to Wal-Mart to ask them to call Weslaco to have one of my prescriptions renewed. They had to wait for the doctor to call, renewing the script. I will have to get it filled on the road. We came home and worked on the refrigerator (that had been allowed to mildew while in storage) and got most of the things moved into the coach. I then went back to Wal-Mart and tried to get the prescription but could not--no call. I went to the hotel to get e-mail and to the post office to mail a package to Olivia. I also went to Taco Bell to say good-bye for the winter. I took some Halloween candy because I knew we had too much for our visitors. I came home, moved many of the things we have outdoors into the storage unit or the living room, and decided to hook up the car tonight before we went to bed. It was a good thing because our chicken lights did not work. I played with them until I did get them to work. I am glad I finished because there is light rain predicted for after midnight tonight. We ate part of a roast that Evelyn had cooked because we didn’t have space in the freezer. We will sleep indoors tonight, shower and leave in the morning. We don’t want to leave too early because we are only an hour and a half from Knoxville, and I want to miss the morning rush hour traffic. To our surprise we had four trick or treaters. They were cute in their costumes: a lobster, a commando, a dragon and a mummy. We still have candy left. Bad news for fat people.
Wednesday we got up and finished taking things out. The neighbors came to wish us well, and we were off shortly before 9. It was a lovely morning, unlike what we had expected. It ended, however, when the off and on rain began. We stopped for lunch at a Flying J in Knoxville, gassed up and drove to the next rest area. We were both sleepy so we took a nap. Oh, the simple joys of motor homing! We wakened to a rain shower which followed us to Nashville. The nap caused us to arrive in Nashville during rush hour, but we were going in most of the way while the heavier traffic was going out. There was a wreck in the east bound lane, making it worse for those escaping the city. We made it through the city and went to a Sam’s Club because we couldn’t find the Wal-Mart. We like to wander around in the club, but found a couple of chairs like the ones Bob and Carrie sold us only they had attached folding tables. They were only $20 each so we found a willing woman with a membership card, allowing us to purchase the chairs. We came back to the coach, put them under the bed for now and rested until time for bed. We are not eating out and won’t for a day or two because of all the food we had to bring along. It would have spoiled over the winter. We have the beef roast and stuffed pork chops left and will have it for several days.
We were up and off too early. We are on a different diurnal clock because we changed time zones. So we wakened at 6:30 central time. We were hooked up and ready to go. I made coffee and left. We drove an hour and stopped for gas, at which time Evelyn got some hot chocolate and I got more coffee. We drove some more and stopped for more fuel (it is around $2 pg) when I decided to run through the gears. As the Lord would have it, I dropped the fuse I have to remove into the engine compartment. I tried to get it but pushed it out of sight. I had to buy a new one. We drove to within an hour of Memphis and stopped for a shower and lunch. We drove on and went past Graceland to get to the Wal-Mart to unhook the car. We drove back, the time now being 3 PM. We bought platinum tickets for $27 each (geezer rate) and took the shuttle to the mansion. We toured it with a recorded guide and saw much of the grounds where Elvis played and lived. There were many videos and displays of his gold records and copies of the checks he had written to charities in the area. He had a racquetball building, horses, and swimming pool on the grounds. We also saw his car collection and the two airplanes he owned. It was cool but were able to stay indoors most of the time. I learned that he read a great deal but also learned that he, like Solomon, delved into many false religions. He, his parents and grandmother are buried on the grounds. His twin brother who died at birth is buried in Tupelo, MS. As we left the grounds, a worker gave us directions to Beale Street and off we went. We found it without incident and drove around to find a parking spot. When we did, we went to club 152 where there was an Elvis impersonator. He was entertaining and we shared one crab cake for dinner. From there we went across the street to B. B. King’s bar. We shared an order of fried pickles and listened to a very good band. The strange thing is that they were to begin playing at 8. At 8:15 they finally started, causing me to observe that if a band is to begin at 8, they will begin during that hour no matter what happens. We came home by 8:45 thinking it must be midnight. We had some popcorn and went to bed. We hope we will be in Lafayette, LA tomorrow night.
Friday was a driving day. We had bought propane yesterday so we ran the furnace last night. The temperature dropped to 26, and Evelyn had been cold last night at 37. She was much better last night. We dressed and left Memphis at 8:30. We almost missed I-40 because we thought the approach ramp looked closed. It wasn’t so on we went. We drove a while and found $1.999 gas at a Pilot truck stop plus a hot chocolate and coffee. It was a good thing because we could not find a rest area until 1:30, south of Jackson. We had lunch at a rest area marked closed. I was about to drive past when we saw two motor homes parked there. I nearly turned us over getting into the approach ramp. Around 2:30 we continued to I-10 east of Baton Rouge. We turned west and drove into the sun. There was a jam, and we were on the bridge over the Mississippi River. We were both nervous but said nothing. Faith gets tested in many ways. We arrived in Lafayette as dusk faded. We were blessed to find a nice spot and parked for the night. The last time we were here there were FE MA trailers in most of the spots and many local people had taken most of the others. We were surprised that so many spaces were left. We set up and had soup for dinner. I called our friend, Roland Simon, and learned he had just been released from the hospital today. We had hoped to take him with us to Mamou tomorrow morning to visit Fred’s Lounge. He didn’t feel like going. We will try to visit him Sunday afternoon. We will try to contact our other friends, the Trahans, tomorrow. We stayed home tonight to my surprise. Evelyn likes to dance but wouldn’t dance last night in Memphis and didn’t want to go to Mulates for dancing tonight. Go figure. Perhaps she was very tired. Traveling is tiring even in a motor home.