Leaving Arkansas and Crossing the Mississippi River into Mississippi

Saturday, April 19, 2019

 (We are presently at a Michigan State Park near Marine City, MI. Since it is Easter Weekend we have been watching RV's of various sizes and shapes coming in pretty steady since we arrived yesterday. There are a lot of families and dogs all around us. It has pretty much been raining on and off, since yesterday, sometimes just a sprinkle other times a downpour. Yet we can see them setting up, laying out their rugs, and putting table clothes on picnic tables under their awnings strung with lights. I do feel bad for them because I would guess they have been planning this weekend for awhile. I know we made our reservations back in February and at that time the good sites were pretty much gone. I hope we see the sun at some point but right now it is not looking good for this weekend. Though in a bit we will be at our Son and Daughter-in-law's getting grandbaby hugs so that will be "sunny" enough for us.
One last thing, for our Ontarian Friends, we can see Ontario, Canada across the river...high guys! )


Thursday, April 11, 2019

Now back to catching up this and the next four postings will be just that.We left the Walmart in El Dorada, AK and  "Hazel" took us back out to US-82 on a route with wider roads and a more direct path to the highway. Evidently she had re-thought the route and adjusted and we appreciated her efforts. Checking the weather ahead there was the mention of wind and are hope, at this point, is that it would not be to bad. Regardless, we wanted/needed to put some miles behind us and get farther east and north. Our plan was, if it gets to bad we will just find a place to park and stop. In the end we put 259 miles behind us and ended the day at the Walmart Supercenter in Batesville, MS. There was some cross wind as the morning progressed and we made our way east but Tom did not feel it was bad enough to stop. The last 60 miles we were traveling north on I-55 and the wind was more help then a hinder.

The pictures are still mostly being taken through a dirty bug covered windshield.

Back on US-82 and for now the wind is a non-issue.

Going through bayous we can see water on both sides of the road.

Then the road ahead looks like it may just drop off and end

but instead we are crossing high over a river.
One I did not get the name of.

Then there was construction, the road itself was actually good and
our first thought was we were glad we were going east.
It is hard to tell but that drop on the edge going west was about a foot.

Then we turned a corner and the drop was on our side.
I wonder if leaning left helps keep us on the road?

Then there was a weave around a logging truck.
They have cut quite a few large trees down to improve this road.

Though there is still really no shoulder on our side the drop is gone.

Then in Hamburg, Arkansas a sign we like to see . "End Road Work".
We could see more orange signs ahead but it was just a crew cleaning up the street.

Hamburg

This sign

and the road ahead.
Tom decided to obey the sign.

On the right of this picture those trees from a distance looked like giant ferns.

Bayou Bartholomew just needed to be included in today's blog.

Not a great picture but we are still passing fields filled with yellow.

Passed some bogs on both sides of the road.

They do grow rice in Arkansas and we wondered if this might be what
was going on in this area. No signs. 

Then the road curved and we were driving beside the Mississippi River.

A bridge in the distance

and a sign Mississippi River

and we are crossing over the Mississippi. It is at this moment we feel

that the west is behind us and we are truly in the east.

A barge on the Mississippi taken through my side window ans screen.

Always enjoy looking over the tree tops as we cross a high bridge.

We noticed a lot of trees 

in the river's water.

Then we are in Mississippi.

Remember Fred's Super Dollar well

there is also a Fred's Pharmacy.
Passed a couple more of these today.

The wind has picked up.

Some vine covered silos. They must be pretty when covered in green.

More bogs. Can not tell in picture but I could see some tiny white caps and
the water splashing over the edge.

Just liked this bridge and I was glad we fit under.
From a distance they always look so low.

More yellow fields to brighten the day.

We have now turned north onto I-55. 

How can you not like a city called Coffeeville?

This is was a first for us.
Nice to know Uncle Sam want us to be safe in Enid Lake.

Batesville, MS our stop for the night.

We have passed a lot of these large crosses over the years.
This is the first one I have ever seen with a wreath of thorns.

After stopping and enjoying a few quiet moments,
we walked across the way to a Chili's for dinner.
The small field we walked across was filled with wishing dandelions.

It was a long travel day but even though there was some predicted wind gusts of 25 to 30 mph we lucked out and did not seem to encounter anything strong. It was breezy in the Walmart parking lot when we arrived but calmed down in the early evening. It actually felt good to have a breeze flowing through the windows as it was in the 80's when we stopped.

We are glad you stopped by to visit. 

Hope you enjoyed today's pictures even though they were through a bug filled windshield.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.