We are off on our “big” 2015 adventure, this time to Utah and Colorado to explore the National Parks. We call it our Western Parks Trip. We were planning to leave on Monday, August 10, but decided to get some of the long-day miles to Memphis in on Sunday after attending The Table for worship. We were on the road by 1:40 PM and arriving at Defeated Creek State Campground by 4 PM, having gained an hour along the way. Defeated Creek is 30 minutes off 1-40, which had I paid attention to distance, I might have tried to find another campground. Our site was beautiful, right next to Cordell Hull Lake, part of the Cumberland River. David’s comment, “ You really know how to pick ‘em!”
Monday, August 10, 2015
We awoke to a family of white-tailed deer grazing beside our trailer and an eerie fog hanging over the lake. We were on the road by 7:45 AM with the intent of stopping for fuel before motoring through Nashville. After hearing of an accident on I-40 in Nashville, though, we decided to bypass on 840 south of Nashville. It was a great choice, albeit a bit longer mileage-wise. We usually like to use the Pilot/Flying J fuel stations because they accommodate big rigs and have places to park for a meal if desired, plus we get 5 cents/gallon off the price as members of Good Sam Club. The Pilot we stopped at about noon was so crowded, though that we couldn’t park. So we found a rest stop and had sandwiches in the trailer. We were heading to the Naval Air Station at Millington outside of Memphis and arrived about 2:30. We had some shopping to do, so disconnected Jay and off we went. Most nights we are not planning to disconnect. We found a Kroger store and with earlier purchases in the month had 10c/gal off on fuel, making it $2.01/gal. The fuel station was a mad house with people jockeying to get into the line and an attendant trying to keep tempers from flaring. Very interesting study in humanity!!!!! Some of these blogs will be written after the event as we have not had reliable wifi in some camps. Makes me wish sometimes that I’d invested in a wifi hotspot. But I’d rather spend the money on adventures. You can read my blog anytime!!!
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
We hit the road by 8:18 and had a very smooth transition through Memphis. I took photos of the mighty Mississippi, but I was very glad David was driving. DO NOT like bridges!!!! As we travelled across Arkansas and got 30 miles into Oklahoma, notable observations today included huge sorghum and soybean fields, dead armadillos along I-40 in Arkansas, great concrete hi ways in Arkansas (definitely use different contractors than in Chicago or in Oklahoma as we learned later), Toad Suck Park off I-40’s exit 124 in Arkansas (park so named because local river men would suck pints of ale ’til they were swelled like toads—according to Wikipedia) and don’t always believe Google will give you the right directions. We were supposed to camp at Chicken Creek Campground on Tenkiller Ferry Lake near Gore, OK, but ended up at Tenkiller State Park 15-20 miles away, about 4 PM. They had room for us, so we elected to forego the $8 we’d paid for the Chicken Creek reservation with our Senior Pass discount, and stayed at Tenkiller SP in the Fox Squirrel Campground. David fixed a charcoal fire and we baked Chicken Cordon Blues over the fire rather than heating up the trailer’s oven, added mixed veggies and rice with a bit of cabernet sauvignon wine served outside on the picnic table with a lovely northern breeze cooling us off.
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