Friday, April 4, 2014

We didn't have good Internet access the last two nights, so I gave up and went to bed.  I left off on Tuesday without mentioning the food.  One of the things we've always enjoyed as we traveled is finding local restaurants to try.  In the past we relied heavily on the AAA guides.  We still use those, but supplement with Urban Spoon and Around Me apps and Travelocity web site.

Using those, we found a restaurant around the corner from the Rock and Soul Museum with a 95% approval rating, known for great burgers.  So we wander over and walk in to Wet Willies and its just a bar.  No indication of food service, except that there is a family eating food.

This is obviously a late night place.  Behind the bar is a whole row of frozen daiquiri machines.  I start to suspect that the 95% rating may not be due to food.  We eventually realize that there are menus on the bar and go up and order.  I order a hamburger, no bun and fries and Steve gets a pulled pork sandwich.  We wait awhile for the food and conversation's not really an option because the bar's music is competing with the live music from the park across the street.  Finally the food comes.  And it is delicious.  I don't know that I've had a better burger.  Steve said his pork sandwich was great, too.

On Wednesday, we started at the Blues City Cafe on Beale Street for lunch.  Beale Street is the street for Music in Memphis.  I order ribs and Steve goes with pulled pork again.  This place was somewhat reminiscent of the Smokehouse in Lafayette.  Except better.  (And I like Smokehouse!)  I have no idea how they manage to place a half rack of ribs on my plate, because when I touch it, the meat falls off the bone.  Seriously tender and flavorful.  So good, in fact, we buy our first souvenir of our trip - a jar of their seasoning.

Next on the agenda was a stop at Schwab's.  Here's part of their wikipedia entry:

A. Schwab dry goods store is the only remaining original business on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. A family owned store, their motto is "If you can't find it at A. Schwab, you're probably better off without it!"

They were started in 1876 and haven't modernized the interior.  It's an old fashioned dry goods store.  They still have one of the mechanical fabric measures, for those of you old enough to remember when they ran the edge of the fabric through that to measure it.  It was a nice trip down memory lane.

We headed over to the Gibson Guitar factory for a tour, but it's inventory week and there was no production going on, so Steve opted to save the tour for another trip.  (We will be back.)  The next stop was Sun Records, where Rock and Roll was born.

Now, I'm not a musician and not much into music, but this is a historical place.  Sam Phillips,  owner of Sun Records, created a recording studio to record the music he heard in the fields as a young kid harvesting cotton.  He felt it needed to be recorded in order not to be lost.  In the beginning he recorded everything he could and would even record weddings and birthday parties to earn enough money to keep his studio going.  For $3, anyone could come in and cut a record.  Which is how he met Elvis.  It's a fascinating story, as is the history behind many of the songs.  I love this quote by Sam:

 Elvis, Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes), Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash all got their start at Sun Records.  Again, I'm quoting from Wikipedia -

Phillips's pivotal role in the early days of rock and roll was exemplified by a celebrated jam session on December 4, 1956 which came to be known as the Million Dollar Quartet. Jerry Lee Lewis was playing piano for a Carl Perkins recording session at Phillips's studio. When Elvis Presley walked in unexpectedly, Johnny Cash was called into the studio by Phillips, leading to an impromptu session featuring the four musicians.

The recording studio is still in use and hasn't been modernized.  I believe U2 has recorded there, along with local groups and anyone who wants a touch of history.

We bought two more souvenirs at Sun.  Steve found a white polo shirt, his trademark souvenir and we bought a CD of the original recording of the Million Dollar quartet.  It's fun to listen as the musicians talk to each other, sometimes during the songs.  There are just snatches of some songs and lots of gospel.  They actually don't know who all is recorded as the session went on for awhile and musicians came and went.  But it's a good listen.

After Sun, we headed for Graceland.  I'm not a big Elvis fan and I wasn't interested in touring his home, but for some reason I did want to drive by it.  So we did.  You can see it from the road.  It's a very nice looking large house, but not a mansion.

We headed back to the trailer to rescue Obi and get ready for our trek to Paducah, KY Thursday.  But before we left our home on the Mississippi, I wanted to take one last picture.

This is the building that houses the laundry at our campground.  The laundry is on the second floor and still got wiped out by the flood of 2011.  The top of the sign is the flood crest.

Most of the rest of the buildings at this campground are on wheels and can be pulled out during a flood.

Our next stop was Paducah, KY, Quilt City, USA.  The National Quilt Museum is there, as is the headquarters of the American Quilters Society.  It's also a very historic town, having been laid out by William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame.  It's a fairly major port on the Ohio and we saw several barges being pushed along.

Saving the quilt museum for our full day in Paducah, we headed downtown to the historic district and checked out the murals painted on the flood wall.  Paducah is protected by 12 miles of flood walls that were built after a 1937 flood devastated the city.  In the downtown area, the wall is decorated by historical paintings that are quite well done.  We went through the wall and watched the tug boats moving the barges around.  My impression of ports is lots of activity, but with container shipping and other mechanization, there's not much activity on land.  And that had moved upstream a bit from downtown.  We could see the huge crane used to load the containers onto barges.  At least I think that's what the crane is used for.

We did stop at a quilt store and I bought some equipment.  I did reign in the urge to buy any fabric; I have more than enough!

And we finally make it to today, Friday, our last day before we head for home.  We drove into the quilt museum and spent most of the day there.  Interesting and amazing quilts that I found somewhat intimidating.  I don't have the time, energy, or imagination to create most of what I saw.  My last project was a quilt for Maria, our granddaughter.  In case you can't tell, it's a combination of the American and Russian flags.

But the quilts do inspire me to go home and sew.  Maybe I'll get some of my unfinished projects done. 

And we came away with a few more souvenirs.  I bought a tshirt and a couple of books.  

We're back in the trailer and trying to figure out what all we need to do before we head for home tomorrow.  We should be home by late afternoon tomorrow.  If anyone wants to stop by and say hi in the next few days, we'd love to see you!  We have missed all our friends.

That's all for now.

Deb

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

This is the view out our back window.

That's the mighty Mississippi River rolling by.  Thanks to Diane and Roger Norris's blog,  

http://travelwithwhippets.blogspot.com , we are staying at the Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park.  Diane is Charley, Becky and John's cousin and travels full time in their motor home.  Only they winter in south Texas.  Anyway, we've gotten lots of good tips from them and this is one of them.  The view above is from our back window.  Right now from the side window I'm seeing the lights of Memphis, Tennessee, where we spent the afternoon.  We're here for two nights and I'd love to stay for more.  I love to watch the water.

Sunday we were still at Natasha's.  We spent most of the day packing and getting ready to leave the next day.   Steve did take some time out to watch basketball with Maria.

I had previously been thinking that we had managed quite well for 3 months with a limited amount of "things".  Not so limited - it took two loads to get it all out to the trailer!  Steve took one load Sunday afternoon and we loaded up the rest Monday morning.

But even with all the shifting of stuff from the truck to the trailer, we managed to get on the road out of Dallas shortly after 10 am.  We had a long day of travel to a campground near Benton, Ark.  We were traveling mostly east but some north, so East North East, I think.  We should have been heading into colder climates, but Mother Nature seems to have some tricks up her sleeve.  In areas, the trees were greener than in Dallas, we saw some daffodils blooming and even some redbuds.  There were certainly more flowering trees than we had seen in Dallas.  Arkansas is a bit hilly, so we may have been seeing the effects of some micro climates along the way.

We did manage to pull into JB's RV campground before dark and even had time for a walk down to the lake before supper.  We had stayed here overnight on our way down to Dallas in December and found it a reasonable place.  They have long, level pull through sites for us transient RVers and are close to the highway, although you wouldn't know it.  No water view,  but the view from the back window wasn't bad.

We got the inside of the trailer sorted out and it felt like home again.  As I sit here looking at the lights of Memphis, I realize how much we are enjoying this.  The setup in the trailer works quite well and does feel like home.  Except maybe not to Obi.  After our time in Dallas, he wasn't exactly thrilled about getting back into the truck.

This morning we left JB's campground and headed for Memphis.  That took us around Little Rock, Arkansas.  Did you know that Little Rock is a port?  It sits on the Arkansas River that flows to the Mississippi River.  The Arkansas River is quite wide and we saw barges being floated down it. I'm learning a lot on this trip.

Tom Sawyer's RV Park is just south of West Memphis, Arkansas, which is just across the river from Memphis, Tennessee.  We were parked and set up shortly after noon and took off for some sightseeing in Memphis.  We decided on the Museum of Rock and Soul, just south of Beale Street, birthplace of the blues.

The Museum was a great trip down memory lane.  They show a short film and then set you up with an audio device and headphones, so that as you are going through the museum, you can hear about the displays and listen to some of the music associated with the displays.  There was a lot of music from my childhood and teenage years.  A lot of interesting anecdotes about how people got started and how some songs came about.  Elvis Presley's "It's all right" was just the musicians jamming during a break, singing an old blues tune with an upbeat.

Obi's insisting that it's time for bed, so that's all for now.

Deb

Saturday, March 29, 2014

I think I have posted a picture of our truck and trailer at the top of the blog.  I haven't attempted to do much in the way of dressing up the blog, so I'm starting to investigate what I can do.

If you want to comment on the blog, you can click on No Comments at the bottom of a post. If you're following by email, you'll have to click on a link that will take you to the web to post a comment.

We all managed to survive Olga's departure, but it isn't easy.  Natasha and Olga are very close and Olga has taken care of Maria since shortly after she was born.  Maria has also had to adjust to daycare, but she seems to be doing okay there.  She's certainly tired when she gets home.

Olga's dog, Sonia, did not go back to Russia with her and is missing her.  I could hardly get her outside at all Thursday.  If she goes out now, she looks for Olga first.  She's spending most of her time curled up in Obi's little chair.

I took all three of the dogs for a walk yesterday, which was a bit much.  So this morning, when Sonia actually showed an inclination to go with Obi, Salami and me, Steve came along to help out.  Obi seems to be slowing down.  It's a sad day when I can walk faster than the dog!  But he is 10 now, so it's to be expected.

But the neighborhood is looking like spring.  Several houses have annuals out.  And at least half the trees in this neighborhood are live oaks, which look like deciduous trees but don't lose their leaves.  At least not all at once.  I think they actually lose them all year long, so you have to keep raking.  But it gives the illusion that spring is really here to see trees in full leaf.

Olga and Natasha planted some miniature roses around the pool before she left.

Olga also planted some hanging planters and started tomato plants that are growing in the kitchen window.

Olga made it back to Kolomna just fine.  She has skyped several times today, but has missed Natasha.  Natasha and Mike are out looking at cars to replace Mike's car.  This time Olga said she was going to bed, hopefully to sleep.  

Steve thinks he needs my help mounting a TV on the wall, so I'll call it quits for now.

Deb

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

I think spring has arrived in Dallas.  It's 9 pm and 61 degrees.  The next two days are supposed to be in the 80's.  Maybe it's time to head north.  The trees are starting to have green buds and some of the neighbors have planted frost resistant annuals like pansies.  

It's been a busy time here.  Mike's brother, John and his wife, Enza, flew in on Saturday for Maria's baptism on Sunday.  The baptism took place Sunday afternoon.

It was a lovely day.  The weather was perfect.  We had dinner before hand at a lovely Mexican restaurant near Natasha's and then drove over to the church.  Maria was fairly well behaved, enjoying a bit of play time with the lady sitting behind her.

Monday morning Maria went off to day care for the first time.  It was a bit traumatic for all involved. Mike picked her up around noon.  Enza said she fell asleep while eating a cookie!  I think she was tired.  But Olga was glad to have her home for the afternoon.

Steve and I had taken off in the morning on Monday to visit Ikea.  Ikea is a Scandinavian home furnishing store unlike anything else.  It's one of the few stores outside of home improvement stores that Steve enjoys shopping in.  We had several things we wanted for the trailer and were hoping to get them at Ikea.

The rear of the trailer had two recliners in front of the big picture window.

Our vision of living in the trailer was a desk across the back.  We left one of the recliners in West Lafayette and substituted an Ikea chair we already had.  Neither of us ever sat in the recliner, so we convinced Natasha to take it for the game room upstairs.  I found two folding tables that would fit across the back to use as a desk as we figured out how we wanted to live in the trailer.  We then moved the dining table to the middle of the desk area so we have a T shaped work area.  That has worked well for us, so we were looking for materials to make the setup permanent.

4 or 5 hours later, we had two counter tops that will be used for the work area, table legs, two desk chairs (the ones we are using have permanent homes in West Lafayette) and a multitude of other pieces and parts.  We will be getting rid of the table and chairs that came with the trailer.  (Anyone need a nice oak table and 4 chairs?)  Natasha has already spoken for the extra recliner, which we will deliver the next time we head from West Lafayette to Dallas.

We're working on the list of things Natasha would like to have done.  The furnace company came in Tuesday and will be putting in a new furnace tomorrow.  Steve got the last of the baby gates that we bought in December installed.  

Tomorrow will be a tough day.  Olga leaves for Russia and won't be back for a year.  She's been an integral part of this family for the last year and it will be a big adjustment for all.  I guess I should be planning what to cook for dinner tomorrow.  Olga usually does the cooking, but that is something I can take on for the rest of our time here.

Our current plans are to leave on Monday, March 31.  I have a dental appointment on April 8, so we plan to be back in West Lafayette by then.  But we are going to take our time and see a few things on the way home.  We're trying to figure out what those are now.

That's all for now.

Deb

Thursday, March 20, 2014

The cold weather gave way to a summer day.  Tuesday, the high was 82.  It was a nice birthday present!

That will certainly be the high this week, although we may have another day or two in the 70's.

Steve and I looked at a couple of county campgrounds nearby for future reference.  Both were on the same lake, Lewisville Lake.  One was nice and shady and a number of spots had lake views, but the roads were terrible.  As Steve said, the speed bumps were superfluous.  Many of the spots would be too short, but they seemed to have enough long ones.  The second campground had 4 spots total, I think.  And maybe 3 trees.

No clear winner here, but either would do in a pinch.

The Mavericks had a game last night (which they lost by one point).  It still makes me smile to watch Olga and Natasha yelling at the team as they watch.  My two Russians are pretty Americanized.

Maria keeps growing and accomplishing new things.  Here she is eating a banana with very little help.

How do you tire out 3 grandparents?  Have them walk Maria.

Which these days means walk back and forth with her while she walks.  She seems to love to walk, but isn't quite steady enough yet to do it when she's not hanging on to something.

I finally got some sewing done and finished a project today.  It's just a sleeveless top, but it felt good to get something done.  I've started on another project I brought along.  We'll see how far I get.

That's all our news for now.

Deb

Monday, March 17, 2014

My last post said it was a pleasant experience to walk Obi.  That changed as cold weather moved in.  I know it's not as cold as almost everywhere else, but walking in the low 40's requires more than two layers of sweatshirts.

One purchase I made for our New Zealand trip a few years ago was a 3 season jacket.  It has a outer layer that functions as a jacket and a zip out liner that can be worn alone keeping you warm down to freezing.  For below freezing, you wear both layers.  It has gotten a lot of use on this trip, in all variations.  But the forecast for Dallas was fairly warm, so it's in the trailer.  I brought a hoodie and a fleece jacket.  So for the past two days, I've borrowed coats to walk Obi.

But at least we didn't get snow.  Apparently, DC got 6 inches and it barely made the national news.  What a winter!  It's warmer today and the high here tomorrow is currently predicted to be 79 - at least on my iPhone.

Mike has a marathon of games at home the next two weeks.   Having home games means we'll see a bit more of him, although not a lot, as they prepare for the games.  The NBA has a grueling schedule.  We're watching them play the Celtics right now.  I think they played Oklahoma last night.  I'm at the kitchen table and Olga and Natasha are on the couch cheering on the Mavericks.  Olga knows all of the names of the players and follows all the games, as does Natasha.  Occasionally we get a glimpse of Mike on the sidelines, but he's not always on the court.  Most of his work is done before the game and during training sessions.

Mike's university, Suffolk University, did a nice article on him in their alumni magazine.  For those of you Steve didn't send the link to, here it is:

http://www.suffolk.edu/magazine/152.php#.Uyes9Hm4mlI

This is the first time I've added a link, so I hope it works.

Tomorrow Steve comes back from Indiana, so I get to drive the big truck in Dallas traffic to pick him up at the airport.  The Dallas traffic bothers me more than the big truck.  I'm really fairly comfortable driving the truck.  We had originally thought we'd go with a smaller truck, but the one ton diesel does pull the trailer nicely.  We're glad we took the advice of all our farmer friends to go with the big truck.

Although we have seen bigger.  We spotted this one as we pulled into Disney's Fort Wilderness.  It actually had "Private Vehicle" printed on the side.

I'm sure it does a nice job of pulling the trailer!

Deb

Friday, March 14, 2014

We made it to Dallas yesterday and got moved into Natasha's.  We'll be here for two weeks or so and since she doesn't have a drive way long enough for us to park in, we've stored the trailer.

That means we had to empty the refrigerator.  Not fun.  But it's done and now Natasha's refrigerator is crowded.  But at least it's warm enough here that we didn't have to winterize the trailer.

Today was laundry day.  Tomorrow Steve flies back to Indiana for a meeting.  I'll hang out with Maria (and Olga, Natasha and Mike) for the next few days and see what I can accomplish on the Debbie do list.  Steve will be back on Tuesday.

The weather is mild enough that walking Obi is a pleasant experience, at least when I can stop him from sniffing every mailbox.  Mostly he's being good and trying to get along with Natasha's dogs.

Maria will be walking any day now.  She walks a lot pushing a doll stroller.  Some day soon she'll just let go and be on her way.

One of the things we need to work on is our route home.  We liked Beaver Dam so much we could head back there for a few days or go through Memphis and/or Paducah, KY.  Paducah is the home of the American Quilter's Society and their quilt museum.  

Our friend Diana emailed that the iris are coming up next to the garage at home, but that there is snow next to them.  Hopefully in two weeks that will be gone.

I do remember one Easter in Pittsburgh growing up when we got 18 inches of snow the night before Easter.  But I'm pretty sure Easter was in March that year.  Hopefully by April the threat of snow will be gone.

Wherever you are, keep warm and safe!

Deb