"I want to live here tonight"

From Wednesday, June 8, 2011

We had a good night’s sleep and got up just before 7:00am. Charlie went to take a shower. He came back and said it was a cold one…no hot water. I made some coffee and we sliced some of Jennifer’s bread for toast. Very good bread! I had sliced some for dinner last night too. It will go fast.

As we were eating breakfast, Charlie noticed that the reason we couldn’t find any cable channels was because this campground doesn’t have cable! There is an antenna on top of their office/store. We’re kind of puzzled that such a nice campground doesn’t have cable (or hot water!)

We left the campground around 10:00am. The TomTom took us down back roads, through hills, and farm land. Very pretty places. We were at the mercy of the TomTom now because I had not printed out any other directions. I did have a road atlas that I could refer to if we really felt lost. We had a feeling that the GPS knew where to take us this time though.

We missed a turn and found a place to turn around. By that time TomTom had re-planned the route. “She” kept trying to turn us back around and continue on a different way. We decided to go back and make the turn “she” told us to do that we had missed.

I kept seeing signs on the side of the two lane highway which said “Trail of Tears Original path”. I looked it up online and The Trail of Tears was the relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the present-day United States.

The removal included many members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, and Choctaw nations among others in the United States, from their homelands to Indian Territory (eastern sections of the present-day state of Oklahoma). The phrase originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831. Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while on route to their destinations, and many died, including 4,000 of the 15,000 relocated Cherokee.

We went this way and that way, turning up and down these little county roads that had numbers, but we really didn’t know where we would come out. I had visions of running out of gas in some farmer’s driveway. I’m sure they would be friendly, but in my mind, they would take one look at our out of state (CA) license plate and tell us to “git”. My imagination can run wild sometimes.

We finally came out onto a U.S. highway and we didn’t really need gas, but we stopped anyway. After an hour on back roads, we didn’t want to take any chances. We were now in Alabama and we had gained an hour back in the Central Time Zone. We would never have seen these little towns or out of the way places on our own. Since the TomTom got confused trying to get us to the campground in Mississippi last month, we get nervous when “she” puts us on little country highways.

We arrived at Wall Doxey State Park in Mississippi around 3:30pm. Milton, Charlie’s cousin was going to come and pick Charlie up and take him to see his Uncle James. I decided I would stay at the RV and let Charlie and Uncle James get a nice visit in. I will see him tomorrow when Aunt Marie and Debbie come up to see him too.

We have no cable or Wi Fi at this park, so I will be posting several days when I can post again.

Milton came by at 4:30pm and said they’d be gone for about three hours. After they left, I took Sheila out for a walk down to the lake. We have stayed at this park before, but I don’t think we have ever been to the lake. It’s pretty and has a swift-looking current out in the middle, but it looks stagnant around the edges. I saw some fish in there though.

There is a dock and an old life guard station, but it is fenced around and closed now. Further down there is a new dock. I was going to walk to that one and walk out on it, but there were some teenagers in the park heading that way with fishing poles. Sheila was already nervous because these kids were playing around near the play ground when we walked by and the boys were calling to each other. They were not paying attention to us at all, but Sheila is still very afraid of strangers, especially young people.

We came on back to the RV. It was in the 90’s and although quite shady here, I was warm and ready to come in and cool off. Sheila was also ready for a drink of water.

I fed the cats and gave Sheila her dinner. Right now, 6:00pm, they are all asleep. Charlie should be back in a couple of hours.

Charlie mentioned earlier that I had stopped keeping track of gas prices. The gas prices in Virginia and South Carolina were similar. Usually around $3.67 to $3.79 was normal. We stopped earlier today in Alabama and it was $3.44, which I think is the cheapest we have come across. As we move west, the prices will start going up. We have gotten so spoiled with the lower prices. It will be hard to start paying almost $4.00 a gallon in California again!

I called my brother, Richard, to see how he’s doing. He was also sick with a cold at the same time as me. He said he was much better, although he still had some congestion. My cold is almost gone. I still do not have my sense of taste or smell completely back. I forgot to ask Richard if he had also lost his senses.

Richard and Alice’s younger daughter, Jamie, is in the Air Force. Her husband is also in the Air Force. They are currently in Germany, but will be transferring to an Air Force base in Utah, near Ogden, in October. When we were visiting with Richard and Alice, they revealed to us that they were seriously considering moving to Utah so they could be closer to their granddaughter, Anna. He again mentioned that when I talked to him this afternoon.

Their older daughter, Ginger, would remain in North Carolina. She has a good job and has some seniority now. She would really have to make a tough decision to leave it and move to Utah as well. Hopefully everything will work out for them.

Charlie and I would welcome having family closer to us, that’s for sure. We miss our families. If not for this RV trip, I’m not sure when we’d be seeing everyone again. As it is, the last time we saw them was two years ago July, when we took our first RV trip. That time we also went to Florida to visit my family there. I’m so glad we did. It was the last time we got to spend time with my Aunt Roberta. She passed away the following November.

Last night Charlie and I started talking about how much we miss Taz. He and the twins, Jason and Kaci, and Sheila were on our trip with us two years ago. We are still brought to tears when we talk about Taz. He was just so special to both of us. I wouldn’t take anything for the times we had with that little guy.

My sister, Jennifer, has a cat whose name is “Lacey”, but she calls her “Sweetie Cat”. “Sweetie Cat” is kind of long hair and looks like a Siamese cat with two white paws. She has the prettiest blue eyes. Oh, and did I mention?…..very spoiled.

I was a little surprised when Jennifer told me that they took “Sweetie Cat” with them when they went up to visit Greg’s family in North Dakota last year. Years ago, Greg would not allow a cat in the house, much less in their fifth wheel camper RV! Their life will be richer for it, I promise.

Robert and Angie also have a little girl cat. Her name is “Penny”. She is short haired, striped, and has tawny specks. “Penny” reminds me a lot of our “Kaci” (Little Girl). They both have short tails and their own little attitudes. “Penny” goes up to Spartanburg with Robert and Angie and lives in their apartment with them. She calls the apartment her “mountain get away”.

“T” is Robert and Angie’s independent cat who showed up at their house years ago. He is an orange tabby. They fed him and he stayed. He would disappear for days and then turn up again. But, he preferred to be an outside cat and he considers their front porch his home. There were times I know, when Robert wondered if “T” would come back. He always has returned so far.

I remember the little black kitten that Robert had when he lived in Key West, Florida. His name was “Rastus”. I met “Rastus” when I was there.

“Rastus” was a teenager, a half grown little fellow. I got the biggest kick out of the two of them playing together and the way Robert talked to “Rastus”. That was the cutest little cat. “Rastus” chased his tail round and round. Robert would say “Catch that black snake, Rastus”.

Then Robert took “Rastus” with him when he went up to Canada. Along the way they camped. “Rastus” had been playing around the camp site and some kids in the next camp site were playing with him.

The next morning when Robert was getting ready to leave, “Rastus” was gone. He always believed that the people in the next camp site took “Rastus”. I know how attached he was with that little cat.

Since Robert has been working in Spartanburg, Jennifer takes care of “T”. To Robert’s surprise, Jennifer took “T” to the vet to get his shots and a check up. She had to catch him in a pillowcase and put him in the kennel. But, once she got him to the vet, “T” sat on the table for the vet and purred. Amazing! He’s not feral, but he’s never been taken to a vet either! I have to hand it to my sister. Maybe a little of me has actually rubbed off on her.

Robert and I were talking on his front porch on Monday. “T” was under the swing that Robert sat in. Just from the way Robert talked about “T’s” adventures and past injuries, I could tell how he felt about him. He referred to “T” as “my cat”. Case closed. He protects that cat, but “T” also has his freedom.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Charlie decided to stay with his uncle last night. As usual, the cats woke me just before 7:00am this morning. They have all been fed and are taking their morning naps.

Charlie got back to the RV around 9:00am. He said that James is doing well after his surgery, but he does need some post-op care. Aunt Marie and Debbie are coming up to pick us up and we will visit James.

They arrived around 1:00pm and we went over to see James. Aunt Marie and James are the same age. They knew each other in school. They had a lot to talk about. It was interesting to listen to them reminiscing about their school days and people they used to know.

Soon it was time to go. Aunt Marie and Debbie wanted to get home before dark. It was around 4:30pm when they took us back to our RV.

At 5:30pm Milton came by and picked us up to meet his sister, Betty, and the others for dinner. We went to a restaurant in downtown Holly Springs, called “JB’s”. James and his friend, Emerald, were there, as well as Betty, Milton’s sister, and her daughter and husband, Amanda and Michael. They have two little kids who are so cute. McKenzie (5?) and Tyler (2?).

We had a nice dinner and Milton took us back to our RV at 8:30pm. We were pretty tired and knew we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Friday, June 10, 2011

It was after 7:00am when we woke. We have a drive to Choctaw, Oklahoma today. It was around 9:30am when we left Wall Doxey.

When we were driving through Arkansas, some of the fields were still flooded out. The water was not like it was in May when we came through, but it was still pretty wet.

The gas prices were around $3.54 along the way. In Oklahoma we stopped for gas at a Shell station. The gas pump wouldn’t take a credit card so Charlie had to go inside. They turned the pump on. He came back out and pumped about 20 gallons which took forever. It was very slow. Then he had to go back inside to pay.

I didn’t know he was having the problem with the gas pump. I took Sheila out for a few minutes and then decided I’d go in the store and buy some Krispy Kreme donuts. I got back to the RV and Charlie wasn’t here. I called him. I looked outside. I was just about ready to call his cell phone when I saw that he was standing by the RV pumping gas. I know I didn’t see him there earlier. Finally he came inside. By that time, Jason and Jonesie thought we had stopped for the night. They had come down from their little hiding places and were stretched out, relaxing. Kaci had gone back to the bed and was lying there grooming herself. This is what they do when we stop for the night. We always let them decompress from the day.

Since we talk for our cats, Jonesie has come up with the idea that when we stop each night at a different campground, he thinks we live there. So, he says, "I like living here" or "Where are we going to live tonight?" After all, he's only 9 months old! Yes, we've been on the road long enough........

We hated to disappoint them, but we still had a couple of hours to drive before stopping for the night. When we started the engine, all three went back to their little hide-aways.

We got to our campground at 6:15pm. It is in Choctaw, Oklahoma, just about 20 miles east of Oklahoma City. It’s a nice park.

We were getting settled when Charlie noticed that one of the cabinets in the kitchen area was open. He checked, but didn’t see any cats in there. Then he started looking for Jonesie. He couldn’t find him. We both looked and looked. I called Jonesie, but he didn’t come. Charlie was afraid that Jonesie was small enough to get in some of the small places under the sink.

He heard a “meow”. We turned off the A/C, TV and fan. He looked in a cabinet under the refrigerator. There was Jones. He had gotten in there when I put my “George Foreman Grill” away earlier. I didn’t even see him get in there. Needless to say, we were relieved to find the little monster.

We decided that we would stay here tonight and tomorrow night. That will give us a couple of nights to rest. We’ve been visiting all week and tomorrow we won’t have to worry about waking up early and driving all day. We need a break.

More later……….