We're Not the Jet Set, Although You Can't Tell by Destinations in Our First 5 Days

Paul says this is our 9th winter snowbirding. Where has the time gone?  All the years go by so quickly anymore.

Greetings to everyone!  I know we haven't used this blog for a few years but I think I'll try posting on here this year to keep folks abreast of goings on.  Maybe we'll have exciting things to write about, maybe it will be the same ol', same ol. I don't know but I have hope.

Wednesday, 11/15-Nevada
We left Des Moines amid breezy and chilly temps. And none too soon, either of us will tell you. Our lease ends on 11/1 and our campground let's us stay 2 weeks after at a rate of $16+ a day.  Not including electricity or the $5 a day in propane we were using in the indoor fireplace.

We got on the road about 4 p.m. and wanted to make a fair distance so that it would be warmer at night. We finally stopped for the night in Nevada. At the Walmart. 

We took a scenic route out of Kansas City aiming for Joplin and we stopped when we felt like it at Nevada. Not sure if it's pronounced Ne-VAD-ah like the state or Ne-VAY-da like the town in Iowa. Regardless, Highway 71 was in great shape and it made for easy driving, even though it was dark.

Our electric blanket runs off the inverter and boy were we thankful for its warmth. It was 52 degrees in the coach when I got up for work on Thursday.

Thursday, 11/16, to Saturday, 11/18/17-Miami
 I work during the day so we try to stay put and leave after work.  Makes for driving in the dark, but we were still on a tear to get toward warmer weather. We found a great state park near Miami, Oklahoma, that had cheap rates and we were in want of electricity for the chilly night ahead. 

As we got closer to the park, our Verizon signal deteriorated significantly.  At the point of bouncing between 3G and 1x we decided it wouldn't work and turned around and came back to Miami.  We found a small Indian casino with 5 RV spots that had an opening so we beelined for it as fast as the red lights would let us.

Quapaw Casino (https://www.quapawcasino.com) offers 3 nights of free camping and $10/night after the 3 days.  We knew we wanted to keep moving south over the weekend, so we signed up for the 3 days and enjoyed electric heat for the overnight.

Of course we did our part to keep the casino in business, so the "free" camping was the expected ruse.  Friday night was super warm and we loved it. It was 76 degrees at 8 pm!!!!  Sadly, there was a cold front coming through on Saturday morning and we knew we were not south enough.

Saturday, 11/18/17-Miami to Paris
As expected Saturday morning was too windy to drive with sustained winds of 20-30 and 40mph gusts along with rain.  So we packed everything up, hooked up the towed, and watched the last Xfinity race of the year (from Miami, no less!) till we could travel. We did go back to the casino for breakfast, but no slot action this time.

Saturday afternoon was beautiful, dry and cooler. We knew we needed to be stable to watch the last Nascar Cup race on Sunday so we planned on another night of driving in unfamiliar territory in the dark.

It was a good thing it was dark. The roads were terrible quality and it was slow going. On the turnpike. With tolls. That required cash.  It was not an enjoyable night's travel and Oklahoma, here's your notice: If you're going to have pay roads, they better be in good shape. You're officially on the &#*! list.

We rolled into a Paris Walmart about 11 pm, dodged carts in the parking lot and found a nice curb to cozy up to and sleep.  Seriously people, but your carts back in the corrals. Yes you do need the extra walk. This Walmart had a huge lot and we were in the boonies and there were still carts in the far corners. 

There's a duet between John Prine and Iris Dement on his album In Spite of Ourselves that's titled "We're Not the Jet Set" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsyHo8iUsjE) to which we give a nod of reverence in the title of the post.  The song mentions Paris, so I really wanted to go through there.  The Paris mentioned in the lyrics is Paris, TN, but what's one letter in the abbreviation, right?

Sunday, 11/18-Shreveport
This morning we moved pretty quickly to get on the road so we could get to Shreveport, Weezianna, during the daylight and in time to watch the last Nascar Cup race of the year. We came very close to things working out as planned, but missed it by a smidge.

The weather today was beautiful and the sun was shining and we drove on good roads through beautiful east Texas countryside.  We stopped in Mt. Pleasant, TX, for Ihop but otherwise kept a steady pace. 

This is my first time to Weezianna, and I tried very hard not to be all judgmental and compare people to those in the Adam Sandler movie, Waterboy, one of my favorites. I tried really hard. I swear.  Mt. Pleasant was a hodge-podge of Texans and mis-placed Cajuns. As a result of the missing teeth, bib overalls, uncombed hair and clearly Cajun accents, I failed. I do apologize.

Why are we in Weezianna?  Because we can!  It's someplace different and there are new adventures to be had.  We may not stay very long or we may stay a few weeks, time will tell, but not tonight.

But I digress. Paul found a great little park in Oil City, LA, 20 miles north of Shreveport that had electric for $12/night.  Perfect!  It would be quiet being out of town on a lake and the Verizon signal was good.  We pulled in, grabbed a reservation slip and went to find a spot. (Insert failure sound effect here)  Buckets!!! It was full and not a site to be had and it was t-minus 30 minutes till the green flag.

So we headed down the road toward Shreveport and a place to lay over and watch the race.  We found a strange little truckstop not 3 miles down the road that had large open drive through spots open for us to layover and we were close enough to Shreveport that we could pick up the race on our over the air antenna.

While we watched the race, we identified a couple of candidates to stay at for the week till we decide next steps.  The RV park closest to us wanted $200 a week cash for 50 amp service. No thanks!!!!  So we found another casino campground that was more reasonable and has full hookups.  And interstate noise. And train noise. And emergency vehicle sirens. Last, but certainly not least, it's near Barksdale, AFB, so trying to work this week may be interesting too. 

So friends and family, I hope you enjoy reading this post and I will try to update it from time to time so you can read along with our adventures.

Ann