Two weeks in Memphis...

Been a lot going on, even though we haven't been notating it regularly here on the blog.

Love the Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park.  Nothing like walking to the benches and watching the barges go by.  Great to see how busy they are.  Rallies, groups, caravans.  They have been 70-80% full every day which is good to see.

Met our friends Fred and Vickie here, which is always a great time.  They had to leave early for home, but the time they spent with us here was magical for a couple of nomads like us.  We truly appreciate their friendship.

We've been over to Memphis a couple of times.  First went over to "see" Beale Street for the first weekend.  Great street atmosphere, Blues blaring from each happening joint.  Fascinating in one place where you can tell they weren't going to tear down an old building, so they supported the front of it with huge beams.  Really odd.

Second time over, we did the loop trolley and saw the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. They've done a great job of recreating and restoring the old girl to looking like that fateful night.


As a college football fan, we couldn't pass up going to an Ole Miss home game and seeing the tailgating at "The Grove" plus a lunch at the Ajax Diner.  What a great atmosphere for college football.  10 acres of tents, scores of tailgaters, it was fantastic.  Oxford is such a great little college town, but The Grove has got to be at the top of your tailgating list.

Ryder Cup Over, Moving on to Memphis!

When we planned our cruise to Hawai'i for Bob's retirement, driving back from San Diego at it's conclusion was hard to believe "it's over."  Boom, just like that.  We had that same feeling driving back from Medinah Country Club after the Ryder Cup was over.  So much planning, time spent, etc.  Boom.  Just like that.  It's over.

Monday was a rest day, and day to enjoy the company of our parents.

Tuesday was our last day at Sycamore RV Resort.  We really enjoyed our 3 month stay.  Off by 10:00 a.m. and to Mahomet, IL for the evening and the Tin Cup RV Resort and a hammering of the Hometown Buffet in Champaign, IL.  We put a hurt to it.

Wednesday, we split with our parents in the morning (always sad) and headed towards Memphis, while they headed towards Wilmington, OH.  Pretty uneventful as we stopped mid afternoon in Benton, IL at the Benton KOA.

Thursday was our arrival mid afternoon at our home for the next month at Tom Sawyer's RV Park in West Memphis, AR.  Our site has a clear view of the river, but it's down so far, all you can see are the tops and flags of the barges moving up and down the river.  The Mississippi River is amazing.  We're sitting in a spot that 18 months ago was 12 feet under water.  Now, it's 6 feet below normal.  Sand bars are clearly visible where water should be.  Amazing.

Connie's First Shift at the Ryder Cup

The day begin very early since we left Sycamore RV Resort at 4:45AM.  Bob needed to be there about a half hour earlier than Connie.  Good thing they have coffee available for the volunteers.

Connie checked in a little early for her shift to see if there was any immediate needs for transportation services.  There was some down time, so she asked to get a look at the Mercedes-Benz SUV that she would be driving.  (The gear shift is really odd since it doesn't lock in to a position and is more like a wiper or turn signal stick!)

The morning shift was a bit slow.  Scheduled routes did not begin until around 8:30 AM.

The transportation headquarters is near the clubhouse and player family dining room.  Convenient location for watching for the players and VIPS.

Look who happened to be driving by - Rory McElroy!

The Europeans were doing individual press conferences just around the corner.  Other players seen outside the window were Luke Donald and Nicolas Colsaerts.

Time for a run out - off to Midway to be the Greeter for a US family member.  By the time Connie returned to Medinah, the shift was over.

This is gonna be a lot of fun.  Go USA!

Bob's first shift at the Ryder Cup

We got there WAY too early. (5:45 for a 6:45 shift).  First thing Bob learned was that he'd been moved from the Putting Green.  Stood over with Clayton, Jugdesh and Mohammed who were on standby waiting to see how many no shows there were.
Amazed at how many people are skipping out on their duties.  Was glad to hear that they were cancelling their badges.
After about 40 minutes, Bob was assigned to between the 18th green and first hole.  Nothing went on other than providing directions until there was a lot of running of marshalls.  Turns out almost simultaneously a patron had a heart attack by the Putting green and someone fainted in the grandstands.
The rest of the shift was pretty harmless. 
Practice rounds are frustrating for fans.  The players don't have to go 1 thru 18, nor do they even have to start on #1.  Finding your favorite golfer is tough and you definitely can't plan ahead.  Its almost all 'follow' your group.

Our week in review....

Saturday, after watching the Buckeyes, we headed downtown for Discover Sycamore's Block Party.  The girls were entered in the Doggit Luau Parade, and Sloopy entered the shell game contest.  Then, back to the rig to watch MORE college football.

Sunday was filled with anticipation of the arrival of the in laws (Connie's Mom and Dad along with Bob's Mother) as they were coming to the Sycamore RV Resort for a couple of weeks.  We went to the MVP Sports Lounge to watch the first half of the Bengals/Browns while waiting for "the call" that the in laws had left I-39 and were heading into town.

On Monday, we headed out for a "show the town" day and a fill up with groceries.  Our evening was topped off with dinner at the Sycamore Parkway Restaurant for good eats.

Tuesday was a "show the area" day, as we drove over to Medinah Country Club (home of the 39th Ryder Cup) and did some shopping before we returned home to watch some baseball.

Always terrific to spend time again with our parents.  We really treasure the moments we can spend together.

A Whirlwind Two Weeks.......

Wow.  We're in it.  The new rig.

Things have moved so quickly, and absolutely no time to sit and write about it.

Here's the short story:  We got the call on the 28th of August that the new rig was going to happen.  We left on the 29th for the drive to Cincinnati (Batavia, actually) Ohio and Holman Motors.  We get there and were supposed to be met by the security guard.  Nope.  Circled the place three times until we finally realized one gate wasn't locked.  Pulled in, walked the grounds -- no security guard.  Finally, we hit the emergency horn on the truck and got results.

We spent the morning of the 30th (delivery day) starting to pack while also peaking around the lot for our new rig.  At 1p, we started the walk through and around 3p we went inside to sign all the paperwork.  By 4p, we were the new owners of a Bighorn 3670.

Along with Connie's parents, and the owner's wife Mrs. Terry Holman (who we've known since High School), we began the arduous task of transferring everything we owned to the new vehicle.  That operation ended around 10:30p and we stayed a 2nd night in Holman's lot.

Friday, the 31st, we took it on our first ride to Caesar's Creek State Park, which is not too far from our hometown of Wilmington, OH.  No internet and very little cell phone signal.  It was great.  Our friends Rich and Kim came over and were having a yard sale.  Perfect!  Take this, and this, and this and see what happens.

Saturday, our friend Lenny from Ashtabula, OH drove down to spend the night.  We gave him a tour of our home town (including a Little League field named after Bob's Dad), stopped at the Wilmington OH Elks lodge and thoroughly, as always, enjoyed his company.

We decided to stay Sunday night at the State Park after a dinner with Connie's parents in Wilmington at the local Damon's.

Monday, Labor Day, we began the drive back to Sycamore RV Resort, stopping half way at the Crawfordsville (IN) KOA.  Finally, late Wednesday afternoon, we arrived back "home" in our new home.

Work had really stacked up, so we pretty much spent half the day working and half the day running out to get "little things" that didn't come with the rig, or didn't work well from our Sprinter.

Saturday was a college football day, and Sunday we spent organizing.  Yesterday (Monday) was really the first day that's felt somewhat normal.  It's been a whirlwind two weeks.

"Upon Approval....."

The last week has been a real roller coaster of emotions for us.

Wednesday we headed to the General RV store north of us to look at RV's and see the outlet stores that are located next door.   Connie had made a list over the last few weeks of models and brands that were appealing at least via the pictures, layouts, etc.  General RV had a few of them, so we thought we'd touch and feel.

Salesperson Tom was incredibly helpful, took plenty of time with us, showed us everything we wanted and then some.  After we came back to the rig, we had narrowed down to a couple of Heartland models, and the one we liked the most (a Big Horn 3670RL) they didn't have in stock in Chicago, but did have a 2012 at one of their other locations.

What did become apparent was this was going to be the future, whether it was a near future or a far future, it was the direction we were heading.  And the scooter didn't fit into those plans -- no way to haul it.

We thought that to make that commitment to the future, we were in the perfect time/place to make that happen.  Where else but a college town as the students are coming back to school to sell a Chinese scooter?  We placed our first Craigslist ad Thursday, got a response that night, and by Friday at dinner time, it was loaded in the back of a guys truck and leaving the park.  Just like that, the end of an era.

Lo and behold the model we wanted was located at our friends (long story for another time) RV dealership in Batavia, about a 40 minute drive from Connie's parents and our hometown of Wilmington, Ohio.  They were kind enough to run down on Thursday and take a look at the model and THEY fell in love with it, too.

Long story short, here we are on Sunday, figuring to hear back from the dealership on Monday about loan approval and taking delivery plans.  So for the last 48 hours, as we're thinking about where this or that would go, we try to preface every sentence with "upon approval" so as not to jinx ourselves.

Hoping for the best!