Got It!

 

A couple of months or so ago, Janna, of the Tin TeePee made a post on her blog of receiving a book from another blogger.  It had been passed on to her from Sue at BigDawg and Freeway.

Last week Janna mentioned that she had finished reading it ,and was about to pass it on to someone else.  She said she would make a selection from those who expressed an interest in the book on her blog that day.  As it looked to be a book which I would enjoy reading, I was sure to leave a comment.  It was my lucky day.  She drew my name from the hat, and it arrived today.  Nothing slack about the USPS this week.  Mailed from Montana on Tuesday, and placed in a mailbox on a rural road in Mississippi on Thursday, isn’t too bad.  Kind of remarkable, if you think about it.

Anyway, I have a new book to read.  Hope I don’t shed too many tears while reading it. Just scanned the first few pages and it brings back vivid memories of the best dog that ever owned us.  Will be sure to pass it along to someone else when finished.

Otherwise, not much going on around here.  Lots of strong thunderstorms around the area this afternoon, but not much rain.  Strong winds knocked our power out for about an hour, and some folks are still without.  Thankfully, the temps dropped with the storms, so it isn’t too bad if you have to spend the evening without air conditioning.

Think I’ll get back to reading my book……….jc

Low and High Emotions

 

Not sure what to title this post.  It has been a pretty quiet week here around home.  My brother and I worked on our little rental house.

Spent most of the week building cabinets in the kitchen, baths, and utility room.  Seems most people now go to the big box store and purchase their cabinets ready made.  We still do it the old way.  We build the caseworks and hang them ourselves.  Also build the drawers and mount them.  We have the cabinet doors and drawer fronts made by a local cabinet shop, which we also install.  The countertops will be ceramic tile.  The end is in sight.

But by the end of the week, a very important event for our family had taken place.  Our little girl has moved on.  She journeyed from the dusk of her youth, to the dawn of adulthood.

There is nothing that could have made us any more proud. 

What more can I say?…..

State Championship

A pretty quiet week around home since last Monday.  Spent Tuesday through Thursday working on the house my brother and I are building.  Down to the part I don’t really care for now.  Caulking and painting.  I think we should contract that out, but little brother doesn’t agree.

Friday afternoon found us near Jackson for the State Championships.  A beautiful afternoon with a cool breeze blowing and our team ready.  Lots of school spirit for the two Seniors on the team.





It wasn’t long before we had game one, of the best of three, in the bag.



All we had to do was win one of a possible two on Saturday for all the marbles.
Those that coach girls softball say you never know what team is going to show up on any given day.  The same nine girls can be sky high today, and somewhere else tomorrow.  It seems that’s what happened to us.  Nothing seemed to go right, today.  Opposing hits fell where they shouldn’t, and we couldn’t get a hit when needed.  When it was all over, it was the opposing team that walked away with the Title.



The opponent fought hard to rally back and win two games, back to back.  I can’t say anything negative about them. They were the better team today.



Our girls played their best today, but it wasn’t enough.  Though there were some tears shed, they have a right to be proud of what they accomplished.  If someone had told them back in February that they would be playing for the State Championship in May, not a one of them would have believed it.
 




As a side note.  The team which won was from Smithville, MS.  It was one of the towns hit by the massive tornado’s of April 27, 2011.  Most of the town was totally destroyed and nine people were killed within the community.  If there was ever a team that should win a Championship in 2012, it was these girls.

Thanks for looking…….jc

On to the State Championship!

Short post tonight, but just had to get this out there.  Our granddaughters fast pitch team won the South State Championship this afternoon by winning two games, back to back.  They lost the first game of the playoff ( best two out of three) last Thursday,  and were scheduled to play the other games Saturday, but were rained out.  We traveled to Natchez today to watch them play and they were awesome.  The beat a very good team 4-2 in the first game and followed that up with a 5-2 win for the South State Championship.

Most of these girls have known each other since starting t-ball at age 5 or 6, and have worked very hard to get where they are. They will begin play for the State Championship on Friday near Jackson. Hopefully, sometime next Saturday, I will post a picture of the State Champions.



Varsity standing, Junior Varsity kneeling.  A great bunch of girls. Not the best photo’s from my phone, but you get the picture, I hope…….later..jc

More Rambling Thoughts!

 

131 different campgrounds scattered across much of this marvelous Country, and two Province’s of Canada.  That is the number I have tagged on Google Earth, where we have spent at least one night since acquiring the Casita.  I might have missed one or two, but I don’t think so.  Some of these stops were overnighters on the way to some destination, and others were locations we stayed for days, or even weeks.  Some we have visited more than once.

People say you remember the things that are important to you.  Some would say I have very weird priorities.  Tell me the name, or location, and I can tell you what everyone of those 131 campsites looked like, where it was in the campground, and what the view was. I can tell you when we were there, and for how long.  I can’t tell you what I had for dinner two days ago, or what the headline news was last week.  Is that weird, or not?

After getting home and everything cleaned, restocked, and/or repaired, it’s only a short time till I start thinking about the next journey. This is the first time in four years that we haven’t been in Southern Utah the last two weeks of May. Southern Utah is one of my favorite parts of the Country. We have met with a few fellow Casita travelers the past three years in Capitol Reef, and made a 10-12 day journey from there to Escalante, Red Canyon just outside Bryce, Zion, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That trip is beginning again this coming week. Just imagine viewing the solar eclipse from somewhere in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. To say that I’m feeling sort of melancholy sitting at home is pretty much fact.

Things aren’t bad at home, not even close.  The weather is still nice. Not too hot. Parts of the garden are coming in; sweet corn tasseling, and fresh squash ready for picking.  Green tomatoes on the vines growing larger each day.  The granddaughter is playing ball in the South State Championship; and has graduation in two weeks.  She has already received college scholarships, both athletic and scholastic, which make us very thankful and proud.

Being home to experience these things are very important to us as a family.  We wouldn’t want to miss any part of it for all the travel in the World.  But, once things slow down and return to something which resembles normal, I hope to get on the road again.  Making more memories………jc

Moving on East and South

We departed Maumelle, headed for Memphis, TN.  Our friends we balloon with have a beautiful ten acre spread in Collierville, and that was our destination for the day.  They have hookups for a RV, and we were all set up and relaxing in the shade when they arrived home from their business.  After hugs all around, we spent a couple of hours visiting before going out to dinner.  Out first experience at one of those Japanese steak houses.  Quite an experience for an old country boy.  Was about ready to call the fire department with all those flames and smoke on the grill.  Really had a great time. Quite a show, and good food , to boot.  We had an  enjoyable evening with them, as it had been nearly six months since out last meeting.

Received word that our granddaughter’s team was in the state playoffs, and would be playing a school near Sebastapol, MS.  As this was sort of on the way home, we decided to make the game a stop along the way.  Started looking for a place to stay and came up empty.  A small 1A school in the middle of nowhere.  Finally settled on a small waterways park about 25 miles away.

As I was looking at the map to see what route we would take, I noticed the emblem for a state park near Sebastapol.  Googled it, and found it listed on Reserve America.  How lucky was that?  I looked at the sites and saw that none were reserved, so we just headed in that direction.

We found another hidden jewel.  Golden Memorial State Park.  A woodland park with eight fantastic RV sites with W/E.  Sites 1-4 have their own personal deck overlooking the lake from a high hill.





A view from the deck, down toward the small lake.



The park was old, probably created in the 40’s of 50’s, judging from the swimming area and all the old pavilions scattered around the lake.  Bet there were lots of family reunions and swim parties held there in years past.  The name itself is in honor of an old one room schoolhouse that once stood on the site.  There were four new cabins overlooking another part of the lake.





Overall, it was a another fantastic find.  Only about four miles from the ball field.  We stayed there two nights and were the only folks in the park other than the Ranger which lived onsite.  Headed home, tomorrow.  OBTW;  We won the ballgame……jc

And a late question for all you bloggers out there.  What magic button do I need to click to allow comments to show up automatically on my posts.  Tried to google an answer, but got nowhere. I can see where comments have been made, but I have to click on comments to read them.  I notice most everyone else’s appear below their posts.  Thanks in advance…..jc

Maumelle Campground

 

We departed Northern Arkansas in a heavy rain, and wound up driving through heavy showers most of the way to Little Rock.  I had met a guy while we were in Hot Springs that mentioned Maumelle COE campground.  He said it was one of the finest COE facilities he had ever visited.  I think he is correct.

Located just West of Little Rock, on the Arkansas River, it is a jewel of a campground. There’s plenty of space between sites, with lots of grass and wood between.  The rate was $13.00 for a premiere site with the use of the NPS pass.

As the clouds and rain arrived about the same time we did, the best thing was to grab a book and a beverage, and just enjoy our surroundings.

There was an island out in the river in front of our site.  We looked up one time and saw these three deer stepping off the island into the river.  They frolicked around for about 10 minutes before climbing back up on the bank and disappearing back into the foliage.

The rain wasn’t much more than a drizzle, so we grilled a couple of pork chops for dinner, then walked around the campground.  They have close to 100 sites scattered up and down the river.  I didn’t see a bad one, anywhere.  This will probably be stopping point from now on, when we are traveling through the area.

We were treated to a nice sunset as the clouds begin to break up.  Nothing like a great sunset to lift one’s spirits.  As we set there watching the subtle changes of light and shadow; it was hard to think about being anywhere else.

Just another day; doing what we enjoy.  Some days, it’s a lot; others are like this, not much of nothing……….Thanks for looking……jc

A little farther North

 

We departed Mountain View and pointed the truck and trailer in a Northerly direction.  Not yet quite ready to head toward home.  We wanted to visit some friends near Garfield, AR; up on Beaver Lake.  Lunch time caught us near Eureka Springs, so we started looking for a place to stop for a break and a sandwich.  Noticed a sign just West of the town which mentioned City Park.  We turned and slowly made our way down a deteriorating paved road for a couple of miles.  What we found was something from a 1940’s-50’s travelogue.

 

The park consisted of a small lake, a huge bath house constructed by the WPA, a few small cabins and about 5 rustic RV sites.  We parked in one of the sites to fix lunch.  Notice the huge Catalpa Tree in full bloom.  There were several all around the bath house.

Down the hill was the small lake which was in use by a few paddlers and fishermen.

Sally surveys the diving platform from a distance.  Though it appears that it hasn’t been used in years, the craftsmanship used to construct it stands the test of time.  The ladders were still in good condition, and the brackets which once held the old diving board were still in place.  No worries about liability and lawsuits back in those days. 

Seems the biggest problem was skinny dipping.

Another place we happened upon was Roaring River State Park.  A Missouri state park just above the AR/MO border.  A really nice park set down in a gorge with a trout hatchery, fishing stream, beautiful campgrounds, and lots of scenery.  As luck would have it, my camera batteries were dying and the others were back in the trailer when we toured it.  Most of the park and hatchery were constructed by the CCC.  Lots of beautiful rockwork on the trout pools and buildings.

All the water used by the hatchery comes from this spring.  It is over 200 feet deep and provides millions of gallons of water daily.

The water is captured in this pool and then directed through all the trout ponds and runs.

The stream below the hatchery was lined with dozens, if not hundreds, of fishermen.  Boys, girls, old men and women, all trying their luck with the illusive trout.  As my camera had already died, I’ve included a link to a short slideshow of more of the park.  It takes a few seconds to load, but the pictures are worth the wait.  We are definitely going back and try our luck.  More later.  Thanks for looking….jc