Hellfire and Brimstone

At Maumelle Park, Little Rock, AR

Oh, you think things are going so well…and then KABOOSH!  It suddenly felt like Hellfire and Brimstone had broken out!

It started last night at Cracker Barrel in Vicksburg.  After what seemed to be a fairly easy drive from Wilderness RV Park to Vicksburg, staying on I-10, then I-12, then I-55 for nearly all of it (instead of taking the shorter yet harder drive through Hattiesburg and Jackson Mississippi), we had a good dinner at Cracker Barrel, ask to spend the night and got the normal, “you bet” from the manager.  Around 9:30, some fool starts playing his car radio booooming extremely loud, which lasted about 30 minutes.  I told Marcia it was probably some guy waiting for his girlfriend to get off from work...and it probably was.  About 10:30 we both called it a night…and soon after that is when all hell broke loose.  The manager did not warn us that it was Cleaning Night…that they had scheduled deep cleaning with a high pressure steam cleaners…that run on the loudest generator you can imagine.  On and off throughout the night until 5:00 when the dumpsters were dumped by the garbage truck.  Then seeing a new victim to clean, the steam cleaner guy starts up again and washes down the huge garbage bins.  By 5:45 the noise subsides...but by 6:30 I told Marcia I have had enough as now we can hear cars pulling in, and highway traffic zooming along the Interstate.  Why did we wait that long?  Because the steam cleaner blocked our exit with his van, so we were stuck for the duration...although I could have unhooked the car and backed out…staying seemed to be the lesser of two evils, and decided to stay put.

Our drive through Louisiana and up US 65 was just fine.  Just 2 to 3 miles short of Arkansas, Skruffy lets out a bark.  She has trouble getting down off the chair, but with a little help I got her off while I still drove, and she came over to Marcia, and I got her up on Marcia’s lap.  She acted very peculiar…like she knew she was near her old home.  She barked and howled and we all had a good time.  In Lake Village I stopped to walk her and Bubba, and back to her chair she went.  Then, seeing we went through Hellfire last night, the heavens opened and we were POOOOOOURED upon.  When I say poured, I mean poured…all the way to Little Rock.  Sometimes it was so heavy I could barely go 45, and boy it was hard to keep it on the road sometimes.

We had reservations starting tomorrow through Thursday at Maumelle Park…but we arrived a day early, and we took a walk-in spot for one night because someone is in the spot we will get starting tomorrow.  Pictures of one of our favorite parks will follow later…for now, I think we are both going to take a nap, assuming that woodpecker in the tree above us doesn’t get too loud.  Time to LOAD the GUN….

NOTE:  It sure is nice to be back on the road....

Buc-ee's

At Wilderness RV Park, Robertsdale, AL

We arrived at the Wilderness RV Park around 4 pm on Sunday.  I did not have any veggies since I knew we would be having a number of Cracker Barrel dinners as we started out on our trip.  Looking at a map, I took off to a Piggly Wiggly about 12 miles away…and instead of getting lost, I turned onto a road which said it led to I-10, and when I got to the Interstate I passed Buc-ee’s.  I knew I had seen one or two of these before, but could not remember where.  I just “HAD” to go inside, and did that on my way back from Piggly Wiggly (since I only had a 1/2 tank, I filled up).  WOW!  It is like a WaWa gas station on steroids, along with being like the old Stuckey’s but also on steroids, along with being like a Harry and David, etc. 

I got back and told Marcia about it…it was hard to describe.  “Probably 80 or more pumps!”, I said.  Well, I went back yesterday on my tour back into Florida along the coast and had my camera this time, and inside I took some cell phone pictures…also found that I underestimated the number of pumps.

  

  

Buc-ee’s was started in 1982 in Lake Jackson, Texas, a small, 8 pump gas station convenience store.  In 2001 they opened their first travel center in Luling, Texas, a 48 pump location.  In 2012 they opened the largest convenience store ever, with 120 gas pumps, a 67,000 sq ft building with 83 restroom stalls, 31 checkstands, and 1000 parking spaces.  This Buc-ee’s in Robertsdale, Alabama is the first Buc-ee’s outside of Texas (for now…they have three in construction mode in Florida right now), and it also has 120 pumps.  In the restrooms, there are more facilities than many stadiums have…and there are sanitary hand dispensers next to each and every toilet, along with sinks with soap and paper towels so there are no excuses!  As more and more of these travel centers open up, I am sure you will come across one…step and in and try and keep your eyes off the Fudge Center, the Jerky wall, the massive amounts of clothing and other ‘stuff’…it can’t be done.

Don’t know what got into me, but I decided to go back into Florida along the Interstate, head over to the Gulf and drive along highway 292 and then highway 182 before heading back to Wilderness RV Park.  Marcia was the smart one…she stayed in the motorhome resting.  There were lots of large Hotel/Resorts like this, some large condos, many homes on stilts, and lots and lots of spring breakers.  Very few views of the Gulf, and I just had to wonder WHY anyone would want to come here for a vacation.  Nearly 3 hours later, I arrived back.

Wilderness RV Park has been a good little find for us.  It is a Passport America member, which means it is half price.  (Membership is only $44 per year, so we nearly saved that amount just on this one visit.)  The good thing, you can get the discounted price for a full week.  However, if you want to be here for a month, it is less than $400 as of 2019…that’s not bad at all. 

  

All 64 sites are pull-thru with full Hook-ups.  No cable TV, but there are many over-the-air TV stations.  Sites are close, but not too close.  We really lucked out with an end site…our door opens up to the roadway and the bathrooms are just across the road.  Since there are no tents allowed, there is little use at the bathrooms…which include two washers and two dryers laundry facility. 

The camp surrounds this large fishing pond…good place for a walk with the dogs (as long as you clean up behind them…)  We liked it so much, we decided to stay three days instead of two.  After all…the nights were still a bit cold up in Arkansas, but by the time we get there it should be just fine.

NOTE:  As I was writing the blog, Marcia was taking her near daily nap...she gets up and says, "Um...what is this water in here?"  Well, our shower is backed up nearly an inch with water.  Hmmmm...I KNOW I had the grey tank knob open.  Go outside and look, and yep, it is open.  I get down to look and that is when I realized I have the BLACK TANK open, and the GREY TANK closed.  What a rookie mistake!  That's what I get for not using the motorhome for six months!