Mississippi

From Lake Chicot State Park, we headed out to get back on US 82. The only downside to Lake Chicot State Park was that it was a ways around the lake to the park and then back out.

We had checked GasBuddy and determined that we should wait to fill up after we crossed into Mississippi as the average gas prices were cheaper in Mississippi than Arkansas. When you’re putting 40-60 gallons in, it can make sense to watch prices, but… at 6-8 mpg, it doesn’t make sense to drive many miles out of your way to save a few cents!

We enjoyed seeing the Mississippi river from the US 82 bridge – Dwayne took some pictures but they didn't come out too good...

We got gas and breakfast in Greenville, MS.

The eastern part of Arkansas and western part of Mississippi had a lot of agricultural land. Cotton was being harvested and we saw huge bundles at the edges of fields.

Cotton bales

Cotton bales

They were also doing some sort of farming in low ponds; we think this may have been rice.

Rice paddy?

One of the things we are considering when we head back to Texas is to take the Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez. We had read that it is nice for RV travel since no commercial vehicles (read that: no semi trucks!) are on it and the speed limit is 50 mph. We had also read in another place that it wasn’t good for motor home travel because the trees were too low. There are free campgrounds along the Trace but they don’t have services. One of the campers at Lake Chicot had indicated that they didn’t feel comfortable camping at the campgrounds on the Trace because the other campers were “sketchy”. So, we decided to take a side trip and drive on the Trace a little ways, visit a campground – so we could consider whether we’d want to use this route on our trip back.

We enjoyed the part of the Trace we drove on, and the campground, while basic, did not appear to have sketchy residents to our thoughts. So, we’ll probably check it out on our way back to Texas.

We considered staying at the campground on the Trace, but it was still relatively early in the day, so we decided to press on to eastern Mississippi. There was a Passport America campground that we thought looked promising, but when we got there, there was no place to check in, and no one answered the phone, so we decided to go on. We found another campground via the AllStays app on my phone; after Magnolia (the GPS) took us on a scenic tour of Columbus, MS, we found the address but there was no sign of an RV park, so we decided once again to keep going. We called a park near Tuscaloosa, and he said that he would have space for us; this was one of the parks where I had made reservations for Dwayne as he was driving the Trek back from Virginia. When we drove in the park, Dwayne remembered it – the park where he had stayed was right off the interstate; they have another park a couple of miles away – that’s where they put us. It is basic, but fine for the night.

Movin’ on East

We got a good start from Winfield. We had asked the proprietor the night before if there was any place nearby that we could air-up our tires. He recommended a WalMart about 10 miles away.

Now… airing up tires when you need to put 85+ psi in them is a bit challenging. Our air compressor at home didn’t have the umpf to do the job. You are supposed to air them up when they are “cold” – before driving. We had tried to put air into one of the Jeep tires that was low when we stopped for gas in McKinney when leaving Dallas; Dwayne ended up with a bloody hand when the air nozzle “bit” him.

At the WalMart, we were able to get the air in the 4 back tires of Miss Daisy to get them up to the pressure we had decided was correct. Ultimately, we want to see about getting an air compressor that we can carry onboard and use in the mornings before we start going.

We also found a Sonic to stop for breakfast.

We headed east on I-30 and then picked up US 82 outside of Texarkana. We were looking for a Passport America campground somewhere near the eastern edge of Arkansas or western edge of Mississippi, but they weren’t located close-by. We thought about trying to make it further across Mississippi, but that seemed contrary to the retirement lifestyle of taking things more slowly! So, we decided to stop at an Arkansas State Park on an Oxbow lake on the eastern side of Arkansas – Lake Chicot State Park. Since Dwayne is a “senior”, we were able to get a senior rate on our site.

We were so glad that we stopped here – the visitor’s center was very informative and the scenery was beautiful. We chatted with some fellow campers and have some ideas of additional places we want to visit (Bull Shoals State Park in Arkansas).

I loved how calm the water was around the cypress trees

Our side of this oxbow lake had relatively high banks - it was the side that the river curved out against as it was carving its way downstream; the other side was evidently pretty flat.

Miss Daisy set up high above the lake

To set up in a back-in site, we have to remove the Jeep first, back in Miss Daisy, and then park TJ wherever it fits - this campsite had plenty of room for TJ to fit in front of Miss Daisy. No, we aren't going to be towing Miss Daisy with TJ!

The evening colors were beautiful

Sun setting through the trees

Sun setting over the lake behind Miss Daisy

Gorgeous

The next morning, Miss Kitty (our kitty adopted from Kauai) appears to be checking out the plans for the day's travel.

Winfield, TX

We were planning to leave on Monday, October 20. This was the first day for early voting for the November elections, so we wanted to vote first. We also had final packing for the motorhome to complete and errands to run. All-in-all, we were rather late leaving Coppell – about 3pm. We contemplated staying in Miss Daisy in our driveway rather than starting our trip, but decided we could travel at least a little ways.

Our plan was to head toward cousin Marty’s home on Amelia Island, FL, and avoid travelling the interstate in Louisiana. So, we were heading toward Texarkana, planning to take US highway 82 most of the way east.

We had recently joined up with Passport America that provides half-price RV park fees at member parks (subject to some restrictions – some parks don’t allow reservations, are only valid Sunday-Thursday nights, or limited number of consecutive nights). We had found a park along I-30 east of Dallas in Winfield, TX that looked promising; a normal $30/night stay would just be $15. I called to see if we could stay there; the proprietor was a little concerned about how late we might arrive (concerned for us) but was welcoming.

We found the park just fine. The park was, uhm, very basic. But, it had everything we needed. I’m just glad that we only paid ½ price for it!

Yep, we were the only ones there...

And as far as I could tell, other than the electric and water and sewer hook ups, there was nothing else there.

But we got a good night's sleep and were on our way.