Friday September 17th 2021

The long forecast rain finally arrived at the end of Thursday into the beginning of Friday. I had been anticipating it with a little dread since Tuesday afternoon. The first shower was about a half hour of heavy rain. Throughout the night I think there was occasional light rain, but I slept through most of it.

During the day today most of the rain was light short storms. It wasn’t heavy enough to darken the ground under the trees, but that changed quickly. When the sky started to brighten I took my first walk of the day. Mother nature choose the time when I was on the other side of the campground from my RV home to open the rain nozzle. I had to take cover for close to half an hour to avoid getting soaked walking back home. There was one more heavy shower in the afternoon, but most of day had followed the brief light rain pattern. Overall the weather threatened to rain hard at any moment.

Despite the fact that many people arrived last night for the weekend, the campground was quiet again today. Most of yesterday’s arrivals were gone for the day. I suspect they went home for work and school during the day. More RVs arrived for the weekend this afternoon. It looks like the park will have more vacancies this weekend than last. Perhaps, the weather forecast for rain is keeping people home.

I really missed having satellite TV today. Listening to the radio and reading was getting old. Internet access from the campground hotspot and from my phone is also problematic. I put the satellite back up with the hope that things would be different this time. At first test it wasn’t, but I decided to try all the channels on the chance that one of the three satellites my dish locks onto was getting through the tree cover. All of the channels I watch on a regular basis were unavailable, but I found a few channels less desirable channels with a clear signal. Many of the shopping channels were available as were the religious channels and a few of the recently added channels. Among the available channels were a few broadcasting old westerns and cop shows. I had a few palatable options to watch this afternoon.

Thursday September 16th 2021

The lack of time cues from the TV continues to play havoc with my sleep pattern. Listening to the radio and reading kept me up much longer than my normal bedtime. The result was a later and slower start to the day. Once I got up I found a cloudy day. The forecast rain never materialized, but the sun only made a few weak attempts at visibility late in the day. A stronger breeze than the past few days was also blowing most of the day. The temperature peaked around eighty.

On my morning walk, which didn’t happen until just after noon, I saw a squirrel. It reminded me of how few, if any, squirrels I’ve seen while I’ve been here. There is plenty of traditional squirrel food like pine cones, acorns and berries. At other campgrounds with similar food sources the squirrels are overrunning the place.

I have seen very few creatures other than people at this park. Some of it is because of the location on a spit of land sticking out into the lake. Bigger animals like deer wouldn’t want to get trapped among people without good cover or a clear escape path. I’m not sure what the smaller animals excuse might be. In the marshier areas along the lake shore I expected to find ducks and wading birds. In the last couple of days I’ve startled a Great Blue Heron on a number of occasions. It gets spooked before I know it is around as I approach the shore. All I want to do is take its picture. It must be camera shy. I still haven’t seen any ducks.

As I sat outside my RV home this afternoon, a steady flow of new arrivals passed by. The quiet of the last few days is over. Tonight I can hear the sound of trucks and other vehicles moving around. Kids are out on bicycles and scooters. The first thing people do after setting up camp is launch their boats and power them at full throttle out into the lake. The weekend is here on Thursday night. It will only get busier tomorrow.

Wednesday September 15th 2021

I expected today to be cloudy and wet. It was cloudy to start, but by midday the sun was breaking through the clouds. The forecast rain and the remnants of tropical system Nicholas seem to be moving slower and staying to the south. Tomorrow’s forecast still calls for rain showers even thought the weather radar shows the storm already over Alabama and Georgia.

I am seeing more signs that fall is arriving everyday. The sun is setting earlier every day. Today’s official sunset time is almost ten minutes earlier than it was last week when I arrived here and twenty minutes earlier than the beginning of the month. The heavy forestation also makes it seem dark earlier at night and for longer in the morning.

The arrival of Fall is causing me to reflect on this summers travels. It was heavily influenced by not having a plan. Last winter I kept delaying making plans and reservations until I understood the COVID vaccination situation. As it turned out, I got vaccinated earlier than I anticipated and could have (should have) made real plans. Instead I’ve been planning as I go. The result hasn’t been perfect. Finding reservations on the weekends has often been a problem. Out of frustration I’ve spent longer in less desirable locations rather than continuing to explore options. Even so, I’ve spent time in several nice areas I wouldn’t have visited had I planned all of my Summer travels. Fontaineblue State Park in Louisiana, a stop in Vicksburg, and return visits to Tom Sawyer RV park on the Mississippi River and Maumelle Corp of Engineers Park on the Arkansas River were all good fun stops. I just haven’t visited any major new areas this summer.

I have about five weeks of my “summer” travel season to go. I’m am moving east slowly following the same pattern of planning as I go that I’ve been using all summer. October 22nd marks the end of my summer travels. I have reservations at various places in Florida from then through the middle of March 2022. Most of my stays will be two weeks long in state or federal parks, but I start with a month long stay at a private park in the Jacksonville area and have a few shorter “filler” reservations along the way. Overall it is a slower pace visiting mostly know areas with lots of interesting things to do and see.

Planning for next summer is in the early stages. The working outline of a plan is to head for the Dakotas. How I get there, what I see along the way, the things I see in addition to the national parks and the Black Hills, and where I end my summer travels are all things to figure out. Right now I anticipate being back in Florida again for the winter. The research and the theoretical part of planning are the fun part. Finding places to stay and making reservations is the tedious part.

Tuesday September 14th 2021

The day began cloudy and got worse from there. In the morning the clouds were thin enough that the sun could cast a decent shadow. During the early afternoon many billowing dark clouds appeared. To the south of my RV home those clouds contained focused intense rain. Driving through one, I had to crank the wipers to full speed for a couple of minutes before it was over. Back at camp the storms didn’t arrive until shortly after dark, but most of the afternoon ominous rumblings of thunder were all around the area. With all of the clouds and rain threat the temperature peaked around eighty.

This weather was forecast before tropical system Nicholas was project to impact his area, so I’m guessing it isn’t directly related to the storm. Nicholas is currently headed in this general direction. The Mississippi coast may get six inches or more of rain. Here in the Tennessee, Alabama corner of Mississippi they are currently calling for a forty to sixty percent chance of rain Wednesday into Thursday morning. The total accumulation of rain from the scattered storms is anticipated to be less an inch or two. Other than keeping me inside during the rain, it shouldn’t have a big impact on me. My campsite is on high ground with good drainage. The trees overhead do not appear to be very threatening either.

The campground seems even emptier today. Whole sections of the campground are empty. One group of sites on a point of land jutting into the Lake makes up for the empty areas. There are eight trailers camped on those sites. I think they are all part of the same extended family or group. They came in together last night. Judging by what the campground looked like last Thursday when I arrived, things will probably start to fill up some Thursday with many more people arriving for the weekend on Friday. I’ll be here until Sunday, so I can prove or disprove my hypothesis.

Monday September 13th 2021

Today was a little cloudier version of Sunday. It may have been more humid, but once the level reaches uncomfortable a few ticks on the scale doesn’t make much of a difference. The high eighties temperature with the humidity made it feel like the mid nineties. The forecast for later in the week is the real concern. The remnants of the latest tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico should be passing through the area. I’m on high ground so lots of rain should be an issue and the wind should be manageable this far inland on the current track.

The lack of regular TV had a new impact on today’s activities. As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, the absence of having the TV on constantly, even when I’m not watching, is the sense of time it provides. The music radio station I have on in its place is very constant. It provides no hourly break to keep me aware of the passage of time. That little feature came into play last night. I was still sitting on the couch reading after 2AM. Thus began the downward spiral. I got up late this morning and was tired all day.

The campground continued to empty out from the weekend this morning. I thought the park was empty late yesterday afternoon. This afternoon on one of my walks I counted twelve occupied sites out of 140. This evening a few more campers arrived so it is a little more occupied. It continues to be a nice quiet park mid week. Now if the people remaining could just turn off a few lights I’d be even happier.

Last night (early morning) just before I finally went to bed, I took the opportunity to step outside to check out the stars in the sky. It wasn’t nearly as dark as I expected. Many of the few campers that remained had all of their outside lights on. I understand the need to have lights for outdoor living areas, but why do they have to be left on all night. Is it some form of security, forgetfulness or something else. To me one of the advantages of coming to a campground in the middle of the woods is the escape from the lights and activity of civilization.

Sunday September 12th 2021

The humidity has returned to dominate the weather. The sky is filled with a high thin cloud cover, but the sun still managed to warm things up into the upper eighties. Most of the day the wind was very mild. Overall it wasn’t the most comfortable day weather wise.

The checkout time at this campground is 3PM. People took advantage of the late hour and didn’t all rush out of here in the morning. There was a steady rate of departure with a few even waiting until 3PM before departing. Late this afternoon the vast majority of the 140 sites were empty. The campground went from an active noisy place to a quiet tranquil one. Outside the only sounds are the insects in the trees. I can get used to this.

My day was focused on catching up on chores around the RV between a couple of walks around the park. Doing the laundry is one task that will not get accomplished while I’m here. One of the casualties of the pandemic at this park is the laundry. They have closed the building. The inconsistency of COVID responses is amazing. I understand the rules come from the local county health departments since other Army Corp of Engineers campgrounds in the same management district (Mobile) have the laundries open. I’ll survive without doing the laundry for another week or two. It just strikes me as odd how the rules are different.

Saturday September 11th 2021

I woke this morning to find high thin clouds filtering the sun. It was an indicator of the higher humidity level. The day was still a nice September day. The temperature started in the sixties and peaked in the mid eighties. Tomorrow is forecast to be a little warmer.

The campground is full of families and extended families doing there best to enjoy the weekend. I am surrounded by hyper activity. People launched boats most of the morning and retrieved them most of the afternoon. While on the lake they were skiing, tubing, fishing and generally speeding around. Land based recreation included bicycle riding, scooter riding, pickup basketball games and general running around. Those that weren’t active were gathering at campsites to share meals.

I am not used to so much activity around. The last few weekend family campgrounds I’ve stayed at haven’t been this active. This campground has the level of activity associated with a pent up need to get outside like you might experience after a long winter. I get the impression this is normal behavior at this park during the good weather. My problem is there is no place to walk that I don’t feel like I’m invading some families party. All of the communal water access areas like the fishing piers or boat launch had family groups gathering. I will say when you get near these groups you can overhear some wild conversations. To paraphrase one: Grandmother to ten year old boy. “Your aunt is at Walmart. What do you want for your birthday?” The boy replied; “I don’t know. Have her take some pictures and I’ll decide.” Is that more of a commentary on the boy being spoiled or our society in general?

As I wrote in Thursday night’s blog entry, I don’t have any real TV here. My satellite is blocked by the trees and the only over the air TV signal is one PBS station that only comes in intermittently. As a substitute I have the radio playing most of the day. I’m not missing watching TV programs. It is the time checks that program changes create on the half hour that I’m missing. I have no real sense of time during the day. Every time I looked at the clock today I was surprised at either how late it was or how recently I last looked at the clock. With another week to go without TV, I may be time challenged a few more times.

Friday September 10th 2021

Once again the temperature was in the sixties overnight. It is nice to have good sleeping temperatures. The bright sunny sky brought the temperature up to the low eighties by mid afternoon. It was a nice weather day overall.

I explored my surroundings in the campground today trying to get my bearings. The campground is on the west side of Bay Springs Lake, but the sun sets over the water. The reason for this confusion comes from the origin of the lake and the location of the campground. Bay Springs Lake is mostly man made. As the water filled the area it filled in all the low ground. The shoreline became very irregular with many fingers of land sticking out into the lake and along the shore. The campground is located on one of those fingers. Inside the campground there are three camping loops. The loops are on high ground separated by more lake. It is sort of like little fingers of land off the bigger finger. The loop I’m in has water on three sides. When you add to the irregular land formation the twisting turning road off of the main highway, it is very difficult to stay oriented. I really want south to be north and east to be west, but it isn’t going to happen.

The lake seems to be used for all forms of water recreation. I saw water skiing, kayaking, and jet ski racing in the course of a few minutes this afternoon. Judging by some of the boats there must be good fishing too. What I didn’t see were ducks or wading birds along the shore. The amount of wildlife I’ve seen so far is surprisingly limited. A couple of squirrels and a bird or two is about it.

The campground started to fill up for the weekend late this afternoon. RVs of all types and a few tent campers have been steadily arriving. Most of the sites in this campground are better suited to smaller RVs. Probably a third of the sites are also occupied by a boat or an empty boat trailer. The occupants of the sites along the water have their boats beached along the shore. I can see the boat launch from my site. There has been a steady line of people launching their boats as soon as their RV or tent is setup on their site. The weather forecast for the weekend should make for good boating.

Thursday September 9th 2021

It was a cool start to the day. The morning temperature was in the low sixties. It was the perfect temperature to finish packing for today’s move. The peak temperature was in the low eighties with low humidity.

Most of the RVs departing the RV park today were gone by the time I pulled out. People started departing around 7AM. I held out until about eleven before hitting the road. My first stop was the gas station to fill the tank. I put in about 55 gallons of gas. That was plenty to get me 150 miles into the middle of nowhere with plenty to spare for getting back to civilization for more fuel.

My destination for today’s travel was Piney Grove Campground on Bay Springs Lake along the Tennessee-Tombigee Waterway. I departed West Memphis in Arkansas, crossed the Mississippi River into Tennessee, circled around Memphis to the south and dropped into Mississippi for a drive across the northern part of the state. Mississippi had the best roads of the journey. Once again I was not impressed with Tennessee roads. Something about the way they build highways makes for very poor transitions on and off bridges. Of all the states I traveled through, I find Tennessee roads can get my RV home bouncing worse than any other.

I arrived at the Army Corp of Engineers campground a little after 2PM. Checkout time at this campground is 3PM. There was no one at the gate to check me in or to determine if my site was available. I called the indicated number only to hear the phone inside the guard building ring until I hung up. Eventually, one of the camp hosts came by and told me to go setup and come back later to register.

It was a bit of a challenge finding my site without a map. Luckily, I had reviewed a map online when I selected my site. I had some idea how to find the site. Then my challenges really began. First I found a place to unhook my car from the motorhome. The challenge was backing into the site off of an inclined road down into a narrow site with my rear view camera giving me a blue screen of a lost video connection. I had to stop and walk around my RV home several times before I got back into the site. The rear view camera decided to come on for the last ten feet just to prove it could.

The campground is nice, but my site selection isn’t the best. I don’t really have a good satellite TV signal. The system was able to find and lock onto the satellite, but the signal strength through the trees provides very intermittent reception. I doubt there are any of the 140 sites that have good satellite reception. The tree cover is very thick. Over the air TV only provides one PBS channel. It isn’t a very reliable signal either. Cell phone service on Verizon is very weak and spotty. If this blog entry goes live on Thursday night, I had some luck getting a data connection. If it is day or more late, I had to drive to civilization to complete the post.

Wednesday September 8th 2021

Today was a cloudier version of Tuesday. It was a nice day humidity and temperature wise and the clouds broke by the end of the day. After a cool start in the sixties the high temperature for the day was in the low to mid eighties.

This is my last full day at Tom Sawyer RV Park on the Mississippi River. It was filled with a lot of miscellaneous tasks. I got the laundry done in the free machines here at the park. Unlike yesterday when the machines were always busy, I had no competition for the machines today. The only negative was the time it took to complete the drying cycle. It was over an hour. I also managed to make a grocery run to stock up for my next stop.

The Mississippi River continues to rise as the runoff from America’s Bread Basket fluctuates. The River level report indicates that the level has come up over ten feet during my stay. Along with the water level the rate of flow seems to increase. In the last couple of days lots of floating debris has been rushing past. When I arrived, there was a sandbar visible almost halfway across the river from the far shore. It is completely covered by water now. I tried to take a picture of the riverbank from roughly the sames spot every day. Here are the six pictures.

Tomorrow I’m moving about 150 miles to the east. I’ll be at an Army Corp of Engineers park on part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in northeastern Mississippi. The reviews indicate the cell reception is spotty and over the air television is limited to one PBS station. If I don’t have satellite reception I’ll be a little cutoff from the world. There is also the possibility that posting a blog entry may be delayed until I have Internet access.