Since weather is out of our control, mother nature can cause plans to change. What appeared to be a tropical storm heading straight to our next destination, Heritage Motorcoach Resort on the panhandle in Orange Beach Alabama, we decided to stay out of the storms path. So we decided to go back to Memphis, Tennessee and revisit places we’ve been and explore new adventures. We found a campground called Tom Sawyers and parked on a site with an amazing view of the Mississippi River. When we entered the park we saw the sign that called it a “diluvial jungle” which means “relating to a flood, especially the biblical flood”. That made us a little leery as to what we were getting ourselves into and then we saw the building where the 2011 flood level got and we understood. Luckily we were in Tennessee during a dry season and had nothing to worry about, but seeing how high the river can get and cause such devastation was a little humbling. We saw many barges going up and down the river everyday. In the spring when all the snow melts up north, this is one of the many places that flood.
We ate the BEST and famous hot chicken at Gus’s, walked around the largest Bass Pro Shop in the US that has a hotel, restaurant, observation deck at the top of the pyramid and boasts the largest indoor aquariums for fresh water fish (and alligators). We enjoyed a Friday night on the Mississippi on a dinner/paddleboat cruise. The lights of the bridges were awesome! Downtown Memphis on Beale street was very quiet and we ate at the oldest restaurant in town called the Arcade.
When the weather settled back on the gulf coast we went to Carrabelle, Fl. The only thing to do there was the beach, which was no problem for us! We continued our journey to Palmetto, FL (the Tampa/St. Pete area). We really loved it there. The Tides RV Resort is a new Luxury RV park, though quite a ways from city shopping. The grounds were beautiful and the pools, clubhouse and staff were exceptional. They even had a baked potato bar for dinner one night with an RV specialist as a guest speaker that we were invited to attend.
We loved exploring Anna Maria Island beaches with Coquina beach as our favorite. Sallie tried to fly a kite, but the wind wasn’t cooperating, so she just got a tan instead. They had a beach market that had some wonderful craft items that we’d never seen before. We got some cool cabinet pulls that are turtles, pineapples and palm trees.
One of the best things about this RV lifestyle is the people we get to meet that become important parts of our lives. We ended this segment of our trip with Bob and Ralph (and Riley, their pooch) who we met at Aztec and now live in the St. Pete area. It was great to catch up and have dinner together. We can’t wait to see their new house and possibly get with them to celebrate their 40th anniversary in October.
One more post to go and we will be home
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