Saylorville

I guess I better catch up on here again. It seems like it is easy to write something on here each day when we are traveling, but when we stop for awhile it is harder to find things to write about. We pulled into volunteer village here at Saylorville Lake on the 15th.  We were hoping to get site #12 again as it is located on the end with our door side facing a grassy area and a trail through the woods. Not only were we glad to see it empty when we arrived, but since we were here last time the campsites were leveled and paved. They did a fantastic job! I will try to post some pictures. We have put out the bird feeders and have been enjoying several types of birds coming to visit.

I work (If you can call it work!) on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. That gives us late afternoons and evenings to relax here at the motorhome and Thursday through Sunday to spend with the kids and their families. There are several couples here that we know from before and we are enjoying seeing them again. Work here is fun for me as it is always outdoors and usually involves operating machinery. The people here are great to work for and really appreciate their volunteers.

The trees were just budding when we arrived and now most of them are leafing out. The lake is at it's normal level so we will probably be putting out the boat docks and swim bouys soon. It usually floods soon after that and we have to remove them again, but we will see what happens this year.

It is great to be able to spend some time with the kids and grandkids here again. We have a new grandson to get to know and a new granddaughter should be arriving before we have to leave here.

Mount Pleasant, Iowa

We left Memphis and drove to Cape Girardeau, MO on Saturday. It was rainy there most of the time, so we didn't get out much, We took a short drive through the historical downtown area after Mass on Sunday. We stayed until about 2:00 on Monday to avoid driving in a rainstorm passing through the area. After it stopped we drove up to Bowling Green, MO. After a couple of quiet nights at the Cozy C campground in Bowling Green, MO we drove on to Mt. Pleasant today. Janice spent her highschool years near here and so we hope to visit an old friend or two. We will be at the Crossroads RV park for a couple of nights and then on to our volunteer gig at Des Moines on Friday. We had a call early this morning that we have a had a new grandson born overnight. Mom and baby are doing well and will be waiting for us in Des Moines when we get there.

Memphis, Tennessee

Wednesday we drove to Memphis and stayed there until this morning at the Agricenter RV Park. We had passed through part of Memphis a time or two before on other trips, but had not stopped to explore. We took a little time to look around this time and really enjoyed it. Our day started at the zoo on Thursday. I was surprised at how large it was. Of course we took a few pictures.

I had tried unsuccessfully to get a close up picture of a green jay in Texas, finally got one here.

After a day of walking, a ride on the tram was welcome.

At closing time we left the zoo and headed down to Beale Street. It is a popular historical downtown street known for its many jazz, blues, and rock bars and restaurants. We had supper at BB King's Blues club and stayed there until late listening to the bands play.

The next day we slept late and then headed back downtown. There is a large pyramid there that is a Bass Pro Shop and hotel, so we stopped and looked around for awhile.

Then we headed back to Beale Street. We walked up and down the street checking out the shops.

This was a very interesting store that now has the fourth generation working there. They even have a small Beale Street museum on the upper floors.

At five o'clock we managed to be back at a table at BB Kings and the band began to play.

The view out the front window from our table.

Home made peach cobbler fresh from the oven for dessert.

At night they close the street off to motorized traffic and the fun begins.

Today we left Memphis and now we are in Cape Girardeau, MO relaxing in the Cape Camping and RV Park.

Same Place, Another Day

We enjoyed the peaceful and quiet of the forest so much here, we decided to spend another night here before heading out. The weather here is beautiful and we just stayed at the campground and rested. Spring is coming a little later here that it was in Georgia, but a couple of plants were blooming. The first one is a red buckeye also known as a firecracker plant as the blooms look a little like a string of firecrackers.

I haven't looked this one up yet. It was just one lonely plant out in the trees.

A set of stone steps heading up from the lake here. The park has many old CCC stone structures.

One of our bird feeders was destroyed over in the park in Georgia. We are guessing that a hungry squirrel was responsible.

The rest of these pictures are from Mom's yard in Georgia. Everything is in bloom there and she has quite a green thumb.

Tomorrow we are heading to Memphis TN to do some exploring there.

On the Road Again

We left Carrollton, GA this morning and headed toward our volunteer position in Des Moines, IA. We had an easy day and stopped for the night at the Corinth campground in the Bankhead National Forest in Alabama. We have a really nice pull through site here in the forest. We hated to tell our southern family goodbye, but we are looking forward to spending time with our kids and grandkids back up north. We are due to start at Saylorville on the 15th, so we have plenty of time to wander on the way back up there. I have a few pictures from Georgia to sort out and post on here, but I will keep this one short.