Battened down and ready

Originally published 1 March, 2014

We are battened down and ready for the upcoming storm.      Let 'er rip!

​We both slept like logs last night....waking up at nearly 10 a.m. We wanted to waste no time, and it was overcast and spitting a bit of rain......something we haven't seen in quite some time. After 3 weeks in the desert, humidity and moisture are like long lost friends! We're nearly in Arkansas so we just start driving and have a bit of breakfast as we travel.

​It's chilly......cloudy.....there's a lot of water (i.e. lakes and such) around. It's lush, green, and there are trees instead of scrub. The eastern U.S. is so different from the southwest. And since we made a fairly rapid transition from one to the other....it seems abrupt. We also noticed that out west...EVERYTHING in the motorhome is covered in dust. It's a very dusty place.

Welcome to Arkansas!

​We trek eastward, making fun of a road sign for "Toad Suck Park" in Arkansas. When we were looking at houses in Zebulon when we first got married, Laurie refused to look in Lizard Lick, simply because of the name. Today, she assured me that "Toad Suck Park" would get the same treatment. It IS in Arkansas...so one must expect such things.

Traffic jam on I-40 at the Arkansas/Tennessee line

​On our trip, we have listened to music, and often times, to old radio serials. You can download them on I tunes for free....and we've listened to The Shadow, murder mysteries, Dragnet, and Sci Fi stuff. They're silly and hokey...but a fun way to while away the time while going down the road. We've used Pandora and listened to comedy, and also just listened to music. Laurie got me a car stereo and new speakers for Christmas. I installed them in the motorhome before we left...and they've certainly been used this trip!

Crossing the Mississippi River and headed east!

​We hit heavy traffic just west of Memphis. Luckily it's moving eastbound...but westbound is at a stop.....and this goes for over 4 miles. We came through the construction on the way west...but it was at 1 in the morning. It looked like an unpleasant way to spend the day.....and we were very happy to keep moving.

Back to our home state of Tennessee

We crossed the Mississippi river bridge and turned into south Memphis. While I could say it is one of Memphis' lesser known jewels, I would be a liar. South Memphis is arguably the worst neighborhood in Memphis, if not the entire state of Tennessee. And during our roll through lovely south Memphis...we saw yet another...ROYAL INN! This one was no less a hellhole than all the others we've seen across the states and Europe.

As with all Royal Inns.......sketchy place, sketchy area

​Tunica is about 30 miles south of Memphis. We drive south on route 61 and come to Harrah's Casino. Harrah's has a great campground, with a lodge, big screen TV room, pool table, swimming pool, laundry.......all the amenities! They keep it clean and well taken care of. They even have free regularly scheduled shuttle buses going to the casino, about a mile away. At 15 dollars a night, it's by far the cheapest campground we've stayed in. The only drawback is they want 12 bucks a night for internet. I mean really.......but we pass on it and use the hotspots on our phones.

The Harrah's Tunica RV park

​We get things set up and I get a shower......we check the weather and are very happy with the decisions we've made to hole up here instead of Oklahoma. Laurie has an appointment for a pedicure set up tomorrow.....and I ran off tonight to play poker.

They are having a pretty good size tournament (over 400 entrants) and it starts with 3 separate "flights". You buy in and if you're in the top ten or twenty, you advance to Sunday's finals. I'm guessing, but first place will probably pay around 15k. Nice work if you can get it. ​

Not a huge stack.....but I'm still it it.

​I got in on the last flight of 3...and played well enough (finishing at 12:30 a.m.) to make the finals tomorrow. I'm not sure how many places they'll pay.....but I hope I make the money! Finals start at 2 pm! They closed the poker room at the Goldstrike in January...and I was happy to find that most of the dealers and floor staff that I had grown quite fond of wound up at the Horseshoe. It's now my official Tunica favorite poker room.

Off to bed. We traveled far, and did much today. We have a full load of fuel and propane...and we're ready for the storm.

Quote of the day- "I understand now....when people from out west say that we're wasting water where we live. It's SO different here and there."- Laurie
​
Song of the day- Ain't nothin' wrong with that- Robert Randolph and the Family Band

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