Siege on Vicksburg

First of all I need to make you envious by telling you I am outside writing this at 6:00 P.M. and it is still 66 degrees outside. Nice!

Well we did not go to the Ag Museum today. Dennis was visiting with the neighbors last night. They had been to Vicksburg and the Vicksburg National Military Park yesterday and took a private guided tour. Dennis thought that was pretty neat so we went to Vicksburg today.

It was about a 45 minute drive to Vicksburg and the park. We arrived just before noon. The tours are given by licensed battlefield guides. The park contacted an available guide. While we waited for him we watched a 20 minute movie about the siege on Vicksburg. David Warren was our tour guide and he arrived shortly after the movie ended.

David was a great story teller and provided lots of information that you just don't get when you drive around these sites yourself. I have done tours similar to this at both Gettysburg and the Bighorn Battlefield and they are always interesting and informative. He is also a Navy veteran and could provide insight from a military point of view.

The tour guides charge $25 an hour for their services. Our tour was supposed to be 2 hours long but was closer to 3. Because our “contract” was for 2 hours we only paid for 2. It was very interesting and we saw and learned a lot.

This Civil War event was not really a battle but a siege. The Union Army made multiple attempts to remove the Confederates from their fortresses high on the bluffs and ridges surrounding Vicksburg. After failed attempts and severe loss of men Maj. General Grant decided the only way to win Vicksburg was to starve the Confederate Army out. After 45 days and his men threatening mutiny because of lack of food and disease, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton had no choice but to surrender.

We spent about 4 hours there and could have spent another 3 to 4 hours to really experience all parts of the park.

We headed back to the camper as we where both getting hungry. We had beef vegetable soup for supper that I had made earlier in the day. Maybe the Ag Museum tomorrow!?

PS-I was so engrossed in the tour I forgot to take pictures! Bummer!

Jackson MS

Beautiful day today with blue skies and temperatures in the mid 60's. We went to downtown Jackson to the visitor center. We got there before they opened so we stopped at a nearby restaurant for breakfast. We picked up information on Jackson and the area at the visitor center. As long as we were downtown we decided to do the Walking Tour of Historic Jackson. The route takes you past many of the older buildings downtown including several churches, the old capital and the new capitol. Twenty seven sites in all and was about 18 blocks long.We went inside the new capital and got a private tour.

Elite Restaurant

New Capitol

Inside the New Capitol

We needed to move the camper to another site today so we wanted to be back to the campground by early afternoon. Before we did that we went to the nearby Camping World to return a bike cover we purchased at the Saukville Camping World. 

Back at the campground we moved the camper over to our new site. We spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing, reading and watching the fisherman on the lake. We talked to one of the park employees and he suggested a walking path around the lake which we enjoyed.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum which is just across the street from the campground.

Hwy 49 to Jackson

Saturday

The day we left Wisconsin our GPS started going on the fritz. We purchased a Garmin Dezl 770 LMT Truck Navigator. It could be used right out of the box but we knew it needed to be updated. So Dennis spent the good part of 4 hours in the Casino using their WIFI updating the database.

It was Spa day for Buddy. I gave him a haircut, cleaned his ears, cut his nail and gave him a bath. Now he is all ready for the warmer weather. Then Buddy and I took a walk while Dennis was still in the Casino.

Late in the afternoon we took a drive to the towns of Tunica and Hernando. Both quaint little southern towns. Hernando has more shops and restaurants but being it was late in the day and off season not much was open. One restaurant looked rather busy but we did not stop. We returned to the camper and had a supper of leftovers and salad.

Tomorrow we leave and head further south. Our destination is the Mississippi Petrified Forest Campground in Flora. About a 3.5 hour drive.

Sunday

After breakfast we went to the pool then returned to the camper and packed up. We left around 10:00 and headed south on Hwy 61 then picked up Hwy 49W toward Jackson. The trip was uneventful. Always good! We arrived at the campground around 1:45. We had called ahead and found out they only had one site left. Once we arrived we checked into the office and drove to the site which we found was too small for our rig. We located a state park just outside of Jackson about 26 miles away. They said they had sites available so we headed there.

Where we're parked: Lefleur's Bluff State Park – Jackson MS

Site 9 for one night, site 6 for 3 nights - $19.50/night – Both sites back up to the water. They have a concrete pad, water and 30 and 50 amp electric service. A pass code is required to enter the park after hours. They warned us not to let our dog go swimming in the river or it could be eaten by alligators! I don't think we are going to go swimming either!

Bass, Bar-B-Q & Blues

Today was visit Memphis day. And also for Dennis to get his barbecue fix but more on that later. Yesterday I picked up tourist brochures and reviewed them for places to go. We decided to visit the Bass Pro Shop in the pyramid on the river front in Memphis. On the way we drove into T.O. Fuller State Park to check out the campground. It looked pretty nice and we will keep it on the list for an option if we come this way again. Adjacent to this park is the Chucalissa Indian Village. There is a building that houses a visitor center and museum. Outside is a ancient mount complex constructed between 1000 and 1550 A.D. We paid the entrance fee (4$ per person) and toured the museum and the grounds. We also walked the half mile Chickasaw Bluff Nature Trail.

From there we went to the Bass Pro Shop store in Memphis. This store is housed in a pyramid shaped building that was originally constructed as an arena in 1991. In 2015, the Pyramid re-opened as a

Bass Pro Shop megastore. Inside it looked like any Bass Pro Shop store except in the center it has an elevator that will take you to the top observation deck. We did not take it because it cost $10 a person. Ten dollars to ride an elevator...I don't think so.

Then on to the main reason we came to Memphis, Jim Neely'sInterstate Bar-B-Q. We had stopped here several years ago with the kids. This is one of Dennis' favorite Bar-B-Q restaurants. We shared the sampler platter that included pork ribs, beef ribs, links, beef brisket, pork shoulder, BBQ spaghetti, beans, slaw and bread. YYUUMMM!

On the way back to our camper I saw we would be near the Hollywood Cafe. I suggested we stop for dessert. This cafe was immortalized in the Marc Cohn song “Walkin inMemphis.” It is also famous for and is thought to be the “inventor” of the fried dill pickle. Dennis had a deep fried strawberry cheesecake with ice cream and I had pecan pie with ice cream.

Still rather cool today. High temperature was around 50 degrees. Should be around the same tomorrow.  Did a load of wash after we got back to the camper then took a walk in the casino.

South to warmer temps?

Woke up to colder temperatures today as a cold front moved through. This morning's 35 degrees was substantially colder than yesterdays 60 degrees. Time to keep moving south. Ate breakfast then got the camper ready to go. Left the campground around 10:00. It is about 250 miles to Tunica Mississippi. Including a few stops we should arrive before 2:00. It should be about 10 degrees warmer in Tunica.

Where we're parked: Hollywood Casino RV Park – Tunica MS

Site 15 - $24.00/night – Nice clean paved park with concrete pads and full hookups including cable however we used the antenna because the cable picture was bad. Includes access to the casino indoor pool and hot tub. Average RV spacing with plenty of room for our slides. The park and the casino has free unsecured Wi-Fi access.

Ferne Clyffe and Giant City State Parks

We arrived in the dark last night so just did the minimum to get the camper un-winterized. This morning Dennis spend the morning sanitizing the water tank and pipes. While the tank was draining we took a walk on some of the trails at the park.

We started on the Waterfall Trail which leads to a intermittent waterfall. The trail lead down a hill and through a canyon to the falls. The falls was not very impressive as there was very little water however it was very beautiful.

From there we followed the stream in the canyon to Hawk's Cave Trail. This trail leads to a large shelter bluff which is noted as being the largest of its kind in Illinois. We then headed back to the campground.

Earlier in the day I had changed our location on RVillage. This a Facebook type application for RVers that allows others to see your location and can contact you when your in the area. Because I changed my location I received a message from a member that lives in the area. He suggested a couple of places to visit. One of his suggestions was Giant City State Park. After eating a bite for lunch we headed to this park.

Upon arriving at Giant City S.P. we checked out the campground then headed to the visitor center. We talked to the rangers at the park and got directions to the trail leading to the park feature attraction, Giant City rock formations.

On the way back to the campground we swung through Carbondale IL to stop at a Kroger to pick up a few grocery items. Back at the camper Dennis put fresh water in the tank then we had a supper of salad with some leftover chicken from last night and watermelon. Tomorrow we are headed to Tunica Mississippi to stay at one of the Casinos. We plan on staying there a few days and visiting Memphis as it is only half hour drive away.

On Our Way

We left the house this morning around 8:30 after spending about an hour shutting the house down. The plan was to make it south of St. Louis by the end of the day. However we saw an alternate route that avoided St. Louis. From Rockford we took I39 south to Normal Bloomington then picked up I74 to I57. We are now at Ferne Clyffe State Park. We traveled 474 miles today which is way too many. But we are now in warmer temperatures as it is 9:00 and still 45 degrees. Tomorrow the high temperature is supposed to be around 60 degrees so we stay another night and check out this area. We will continue south on Thursday as the temps here are supposed to drop with highs only in the 30's.

Campground: Ferne Clyffe State Park- Goreville IL
Deer Ridge Campground - Site 41 - $18 - Sites are level and have nice gravel pads but are close together. Lots of trees so there would be plenty of shade in the summer. All sites have electric, mostly 30 amp with a few 50 amp. There are a few water spigots scattered around but not for permanent hookup. We hooked our hose to one as we were the only ones in the campground. The water pressure is very high so have a pressure reducer if you are going to connect directly to your unit. Lots of hiking paths from as short as .25 mile up to 8 miles long. We hope to check a few of them out tomorrow.

Retired or Unemployed by Choice

My last day of work was Friday. I am officially retired. Or as Dennis puts it “unemployed by choice.” It was a little hard leaving and saying good bye but I am excited to see what the future holds. Here is the email I sent to my friends and co-workers.

Holy cow it’s here! It’s my last day of work at Kohler! It seems like you plan for and dream of this day and it seems so far off. Then somehow it’s here and you wonder where the time went! It is somewhat bittersweet as I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life but at the same time sad to leave this company where I have learned, grown and made so many friends.

During my 34 years I have seen lots of change and growth of this company. I have been part of the development and construction of two major golf courses, planning and implementation of 4 major golf tournaments as well as the renovation of a 5 star 5 diamond hotel. Not to mention my all-time favorite project at Bookworm Gardens. Little did I know when I joined the company in 1982 that I would have the opportunity to be a part of these wonderful projects.

Dennis and I will not be sitting around in our retirement and plan on doing some traveling as well volunteering. Our immediate plans are to head south with our 5th wheel camper and get out of this cold weather. We will be spending a week around New Orleans then on to Florida. We will be back in Wisconsin by end of April. Future plans include a winter in the southwest, a summer trip to Alaska and perhaps an extended trip to Europe.

Thanks everyone for your well wishes and I hope we see each other somewhere down the road.

Oh yes….and one more thing…..Go! Pack! Go!

Dennis' last day was Thursday. He has been driving school bus for the last 3 years. They were sad to see him go as he has been one of there best and most dependable drivers. But he is happy to be done.

At the moment we are heading to Wausau to take our son and his girl friend out to dinner. It was Alex birthday last Monday but we will celebrate today. We are running a little late as we had to stop by
Best Buy to get my phone number switched on my new phone. We were there over 2 hours!! Then we stopped by Sheila's house to pick up Henry. He is going with us and will stay with us until tomorrow. It will be the last chance to spend time with him before we leave to head south.

Travel Plans and Boondocking Power Prep

Weather permitting we will be leaving next week to head south for the rest of the winter. Loose plans are to drive to St. Louis the first day, then on to Memphis the second day. If the weather is ok we will probably spend a few days in Memphis. We will then have about 2 weeks to make it to New Orleans where we have reservations at Bayou Segnette State Park.

After we purchased the 5th wheel Dennis installed a solar power system. He installed 450 watts of solar panels on the roof and 4 golf cart batteries. They were working ok until this winter. We were not paying attention to the amount of snow on the roof of the camper and that along with some bitter cold temperatures the batteries froze and would no longer maintain a charge.

Monday Dennis went to a place in Menominee Falls and purchased 4 new Trojan T105RE batteries. These batteries are made for solar applications and should work better than the golf cart batteries. He installed them and since we do not have shore power at our storage area he ran the generator to top them off. We plan on leaving next week and do not expect any more snow so they should be fine until then. He also purchased a battery watering system to make topping off the water in the batteries much easier. We don't plan on doing a lot of boondocking on this first trip but will know we have plenty of power if we need it.

Our Rv

We have a 2015 Heartland Bighorn 3160EL. It is 36' long with three slides. It is pulled with a Ford F250 Crew Cab truck.

About Us

We are Dennis and Cheryl. We both retired in January 2017 and began the next chapter of our lives.

We have two children. Our son lives in Wausau and our daughter lives in Sheboygan. They are on there own which allows us the freedom to travel and explore this wonderful country. Our grandson lives in Sheboygan with his Mom and is a joy. We will miss them when we are on our extended travels but it will make seeing them all the more sweet.

In Dennis' working life he was a tool designer, manufacturing engineer and quality engineer . He left full time work in 2008 and worked part-time at various pursuits. He worked on the 2010 census, helped our daughter fix up a house, flipped a house and was school bus driver. He enjoys camping, fishing, building stuff and golfing.

Cheryl worked 34 years at Kohler Co. First as a civil draftsman then transitioned to an analyst in the Hospitality Project Management group. She enjoys camping, kayaking, fishing, golfing, cooking and spending time with her grandson.