Friday August 20th 2021

The weather forecast for today was very similar to the last two days. The forecast called for scattered thunderstorms across the region all day. They got it wrong. The majority of the day had a heavy cloud cover that looked like it might rain at any minute, but no rain fell. Late in the day, near sunset, the sun even broke through in some areas. The temperature peaked in the mid eighties, but it was very humid all day. It wasn’t a day to complain about; just different.

I slept with the air conditioner off and both bedroom windows open. There was a nice breeze that provided cross ventilation that kept the bedroom quiet without the noise of the AC unit. I woke to the sound of heavy equipment working at the construction site across the road from the RV park. The noise was expected, but the heavy humidity in the air was a surprise. The temperature was in the low to mid seventies, but just moving around produced a layer of sweat that could easily drip into puddles on the floor. It was even worse after my shower.

The atmosphere at the RV park has changed for the weekend. During the week the people who stay for a night or two remain inside their RVs most of the time. Yesterday six new RVs arrived that are camping together. They gather outside to socialize and interact. This morning they loaded their golf clubs into a couple of cars before heading out. Toward evening they got into the cars and headed out once again, probably to dinner. This behavior is much more common for weekend RVers. It is refreshing for the little bit of normal it represents.

I drove by three of the other casinos in the area. None of them seemed to have many more visitors than this one. If this is caused by the current pandemic surge in the area, then it’s a good thing that people are being cautious. I fear it is more of a change in the casino business and some of the remaining casinos will not be here much longer.

Thursday August 19th 2021

Rain dominated the day once again. Mother nature was quiet overnight, but made up for it during the day. There were many quick heavy rain storms throughout the day. In between the storms it was very still. Sometimes the sun would come out and other times it was just a humid day. The temperature stayed in the lower eighties.

Once again I have very little to write about tonight. I got out for a walk a couple of times between the showers. During the first walk I had to hurry back to the shelter of my RV home, but I got a few pictures during each walk. Here is some of my day in pictures.

Tuesday August 17th 2021

It was another partly cloudy day with a high temperature a little warmer than Monday. The temperature peaked around ninety with plenty of humidity. The forecast calls for more scattered showers over the next couple of days.

Today was mowing day around the resort. This morning around 8AM the sound of a gas powered trimmer filtered in through my bedroom window. The sound kept getting louder until I could see the operator out the window only a few feet away. It’s not the best way to start the day. On the positive side, it did get me out of bed at a decent hour. While I was having breakfast the guy was back on the lawn mower creating even more noise. Three hours or so later he was back with a blower to clean the cut grass off the cement. The sound of lawn mowing in RV parks and campgrounds really gets on my nerves. For some reason, I want to go away and hide until the mowing is over. I have to admit it looks nice when they are done.

Finding a place to stay this weekend got the better of me today. I decided to stay here another week to give me a little more lead time. This is an OK place, but if you aren’t spending a lot of time in the casinos, there isn’t a lot to do. I haven’t been in the casino in the five nights I’ve been here. With another week here, I’ll probably make a visit or two. I’ll also get out and drive through the cotton and corn fields that fill the ground between the casinos looking for interesting things to do.

My neighbor seems to represent the average visitor to this RV park. They stay a couple of nights and visit the casinos from late in the afternoon until late at night. I’m sure it includes a nice meal during the visit. In the case of my neighbor they make a lot of noise when they return.

Monday August 16th 2021

It was partly cloudy with a gentle breeze most of the day. The temperature peaked in the mid eighties. To the north, in the direction of Memphis, there was a lot more cloud cover. The TV news reported that there rain showers in the Memphis area. Just before sunset the sky to the north went from cloudy and gray to dark black. The weather that had lingered to the north all day was approaching this area. As I’m writing this blog entry it has been raining for about half an hour.

Weather is one of the reasons I’m here. Tropical systems Fred and Grace constrained my travel while they figured out where and when they were going to hit land. My intent is to move north and east from this area. As of last Friday, Fred was going to hit somewhere from the Florida Big Bend to Bilox Mississippi and Grace might follow it a few days later. I didn’t want to move right into their paths so I extended my stay here until the middle of the week.

Fred made landfall this afternoon near Panama City Florida. Its northbound path will take it through eastern Alabama, western Georgia and eastern Tennessee. Most likely I wouldn’t have been far enough east to be in the worst of the storm, but why take the chance. Grace currently has a more westerly path that takes it toward Mexico. The newest storm is in the Atlantic east of the Carolinas and isn’t expected to have any impact on the mainland USA.

My next issue is finding a place to go from here. Once again I’m having a difficult time finding a place for the weekend. One of my options is extending here through this coming weekend and work on a reservation for the weekend eleven days out through the holiday weekend to follow. I need to step out of the box and broaden my search criteria. This whole summer I haven’t had a good handle on travel planning and reservations.

Saturday August 14th 2021

Today was an overcast day with a lower high temperature than the days during the last week. The high temperature was in the mid eighties. The forecast threat of thunderstorms never materialized.

The casinos in the area seem to be a little busier this weekend than two weeks ago. The parking lot for Sam’s Town has more cars in it. When I walked over to the casino area there were people entering and leaving the casino. Last time I was here there was nobody going in and out. Judging by the traffic on the road the Hollywood Casino across the street was even more active. As I recall, it is a slightly bigger facility.

The RV park has a few more occupants for the weekend than it did Thursday night, but it is not very busy. There are about 15 rigs in the park. It is about a quarter full. The middle of the summer is not the best time of year to visit this area of the Mississippi Delta. You can only look at so many green cotton plants or fields of corn.

Friday August 13th 2021

Nothing bad happened today despite it being Friday the Thirteenth. Instead, the weather pattern changed. The day began warm and sticky, but it changed as the day continued. Around 2PM the sound of thunder could be heard all around except maybe the south. The sky to the west, north and east was black with clouds along with an occasional lightening flash. It continued that way for a couple of hours before the storms seemed to take an interest in my immediate area. Around 4PM in became windy and some rain started to fall. Overall it was anticlimactic. It never rained hard and it was all over by 4:30PM. The sky to the north and west remained very dark for the rest of the daylight hours.

I finally got to watch the local news this morning. I’ve been busy with other things the last few days. One of the stories I heard might be the reason for the difficulty I had finding a campsite for the weekend. This weekend is the annual celebration of Elvis Presley. His death occurred on August 16, in 1977. There are a lot of events in Memphis, particularly at his Graceland home. The event was seriously cut back last year, so it is attracting additional attention this year. It’s not something that I’m interested in attending.

Today was a slow day. It was an inside air conditioning supported day. I spent most of my time reading, watching TV and wandering through topics on the Internet. Most of my days here are likely to be similar. There are not a lot of things I’m interested in doing in this area. One good reason to stay here is that I’m west of the projected path of the latest tropical system heading north along the Florida west coast.

Thursday August 12th 2021

My focus this morning was on getting packed and ready to move on to my next stop. All the activity replacing my coach battery yesterday didn’t allow me to get a head start on the packing. I had plenty of time before the noon checkout, but it would have been nice to complete some of the tasks in the cooler evening hours.

With only fifty miles to travel I was aiming to leave as close to the noon checkout as I could. On the other hand I was anxious about the success of my battery replacement. The RV engine cranked and started fine at 11AM. Everything seemed to work fine as I brought in the slide rooms and raised the leveling jacks. Once I had the car hooked up to the back I was underway by 11:40AM. I didn’t have any issues on my trip south to Tunica Mississippi. For now, I’m calling the battery replacement a success.

I’m back at the RV Park at Sam’s Town Casino. It has nice sites and is relatively inexpensive, but more important, it has sites available. I was having difficulty finding a site for the weekend at a couple of the other places I tried. I’ll be here until the beginning of next week. I’m not sure what’s going on in Tennessee to fill up the campgrounds. School started this week so I would expect more availability rather than less.