Out 'n About

We took the Toad out this afternoon to look for an auto parts store to find a battery water filler (makes it easier to fill the ones in the back...).

As we came out of the road leading to Movietown RV Park, we saw the men on this water tower. We thought at first they were washing it --

Then we realized they were actually painting it. It's going to go from that light bluish color to white. Can you imagine being that guy who's swinging below the curve with a paint roller?

 After we got the gadget for filling the batteries, we went to a Kroger's. It was a bit further north towards Jackson in Madison. I couldn't find any information -- other than the usual demographic and early history stuff -- about this town, but it looked like it had all been built within the last few years. And all of the buildings were pretty fancy and ornate.

Does this look like the usual grocery store to you?

I did read in Wikipedia that Madison has the highest per-capita income in the State of Mississippi. It sure showed in this grocery store. I think the only one I've ever seen that was bigger and had more stuff was a Whole Foods store we had gone to with Leslie and Bill.

We had another of those gorgeous Mississippi sunsets tonight. This is looking west from the Kroger parking lot. Note the fancy pediments on the roofs of these other pretty ornate buildings.

Two States -- To Get Groceries?!

This morning we watched Juni and Tom go down the road --

and leave the RV Park here in Tunica are their way to Red Bay, Alabama and the Allegro Bay factory where they are going to have some warranty work done.

We were out of orange juice, so went into the Piggly-Wiggly in Tunica. I wanted to re-stock some staples for the kitchen as well as pick up a few things for next week. The prices were extremely high; the vegetables all looked wilted; and the meat department area smelled bad. I decided that I'd much drive the extra twenty miles to the Krogers that the GPS had shown.

I always forget that the GPS shows mileage as the crow flies... It was more like 30-35 miles! It was a nice drive through what they call the North Delta country. We saw this line-up of what looked like round bales.  But, when we got closer, we realized

that they were actually tightly packed bales of cotton. Quite a bit different looking then the boxcar-sized rectangles of cotton we saw in fields in Arizona last winter.

Not much later we found ourselves crossing this narrow two-lane bridge over the mighty Mississippi River into the State of Arkansas. The store in Helena, Arkansas that the GPS said was a Kroger, no longer was. It still wasn't great, but it was a lot better than the one in Tunica.

We got back to Mid-South RV Park just as the sun was setting --

These first two pictures were taken facing east --

While this one was towards the west --

Sunsets in Mississippi are gorgeous!

An Aborted Tour

We took off after lunch to visit the Adena Mansion and Gardens high upon the hill overlooking the Scioto River Valley.  I had checked the website and thought it was open today (closed on Mondays), but when we got there, the sign said "Closed on Mondays AND Tuesdays." So much for that!

Our drive did take us through some of the older residential sections of Chillicothe.  We saw some gorgeous old houses on our way to Krogers.  We stocked up on groceries at Krogers, then headed back to Auntie Violet for a spaghetti supper.

We've been in touch with our friends Leslie and Bill, who are in Red Bay, Alabama at the Tiffin factory getting some needed repairs done to their coach, Serenity.  They had a pretty long punch list of things to be fixed (they had purchased her used, as is).  I think all of their list has been taken care of, but the factory also had a couple of things to be fixed under warranty.  One of them had to do with the roof -- they are actually cutting the roof loose and replacing a portion of it with aluminum!  Kind of scary to think about.  Evidently they do it one day, then paint it the next.  I almost feel like we should send Serenity a get-well card.

Our friends Tom and Juni are also in the south.  They are in Tennessee visiting Juni's family and will also be heading for Red Bay after Thanksgiving.  I'm not sure when we will cross paths with either set of friends, but since we are slowly but surely heading in a southerly direction it will happen one of these days.