Saturday, November 2, 2019

Continuing our trek to Florida


Our travel day from Bentonville was forecast to be a very rainy day, with major flooding, following almost constant overnight rain and storms.  We considered delaying our departure by a day, but looking at the radar map in the morning, it looked like we would drive out of the rain as we moved south towards I-40.  We waited for a break in the rain, and quickly got the slides in and the Jeep hooked up.

Driving out of the RV Resort, we could see the evidence of heaving rain and flooding on the golf course!












The creek under this bridge was overflowing and had completely flooded the gold course!  The water was touching the bottom of the bridge, and coming dangerously close to washing over the road.

Further up the road, there were areas where the road was partially covered by water.



Thankful for our high clearance, we went on through.













We only had a couple of miles to get to the interstate, and once there, we could still see evidence of flooding, but there was no more water on the road.



As expected, by the time we reached I-40, about 40 miles south, we were out of the rain and the rest of the drive was clear.  We had a longer then normal driving day (290 miles), but almost all interstate, so it was not too bad.  We stopped for the night at a small RV Park right off the interstate, where we had a nice long pull-thru site for $20.  It was a nice little campground – easy to get in and out of.



While walking Casey, we found these two classics in the back of the campground – straight out of the Long, Long Trailer!



The next morning, we got back on the road and made our way through Memphis as we clipped the corner of Tennessee and turned south into Mississippi.












Our destination for the next couple days was Tombigbee State Park in Tupelo, Mississippi.  We don;t often stay in state parks, but the website said they had FHU big-rig friendly sites, and we called to verify and make our reservation.  Unfortunately, the driving directions to the park are a little vague, but after a hair-raising drive on a twisty-turny, narrow road through the woods, we made it to the park.



We got checked in and set up on our site – a little tight, but it’ll work for a couple days.













Just down the road from the campground is the Park and Memorial on the parcel of land that once belonged to Elvis Presley’s family – his birthplace.



The site consists of a museum, a few historic structures and the memorial.  We stopped in at the museum and watched the short film about Elvis’ early years in Tupelo.  It was interesting . . . I didn’t know he was a twin, did you?  Elvis sang in the choir at their little church, and hung out at the local radio station watching various singers perform.  When he was 13, the family loaded all their belongings into their car and moved from Tupelo to Memphis . . . and that’s where this story ended.



We didn’t buy tickets to the museum, but just walked around the gift shop admiring the memorabilia and multitude of Elvis items available . . . no pictures allowed (even in the Gift Shop!), but I snuck this one so I could show my sister, Sandi . . . she totally needs these pajamas!! LOL



Outside, we followed the pathway around the grounds, past the home he was born in,



and the little church where he began singing, moved to this site in recent years.













To be complete, they brought the outhouse, too!  LOL



There’s a status of Elvis with his first guitar, at 13 years old,



and up at the memorial, a statue of young Elvis becoming the superstar.



It was a very nicely done memorial – beautiful grounds.



The next day, we continued on and made our way into Alabama for a quick overnight stop.












From Alabama, we finally made it to Florida . . . and I missed the sign!!

Oh well, you’ll have to take my word for it that we’re here.  We had a few days before we could arrive at our first winter destination, and a beautiful weekend coming up, so we picked a small park on the Gulf, and were lucky enough to snag a beautiful site overlooking the water.



We spent the next three evenings and three days enjoying the sound of the water and birds, and some amazing sunsets!















We walked to the little town beach and fishing pier at the end of the road,



but otherwise just relaxed and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine – it was a beautiful weekend!


Friday Night



Saturday night














Sunday Night















We had a great stay at the beach, and we’re happy to be back in warm, sunny Florida!!


2 comments:

  1. You guys must really research the internet to find these neat RV parks and be near to Elvis' birth home. Your pictures of the park in Florida at Old Pavilion look just like ours😀. Very interesting blogs

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    Replies
    1. Glad you guys had a nice weekend at Old Pavilion! It was a nice find for a few days. Usually finding places like that, and our earlier stops, just happen by chance for us - we do some research, but more often it’s just the willingness to get off the beaten path and try something new that leads us to these little gems. See you soon!

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