Monthly Archives: June 2015

Taking the Challenge

We rode the scooter over to Country Mart in the morning yesterday after Donna got back from her walk. She wanted to pick up more fresh produce and also buy dried split peas and smoked pork hocks to make pea soup. We knew we would be shut in for most of the afternoon as heavy rain was in the forecast. Coincidentally, we ran into a new friend – Leann from the pickleball court at Branson Sports Club was at the store. She told us about another market nearby that’s known for its superb meat counter.

I had a mostly sedentary day as the rain fell off and on from about 11am when we returned from the store. The heavy rain came around 4pm and continued into the night. This is why we spend most of our time in the west – to avoid this type of weather. Texas was hit hard again by tropical storm Bill. The remnants of that storm will hit the Ozarks over the next couple of days. We can expect heavy thunderstorms and wind tomorrow and Friday. The forecast calls for better weather over the weekend and through next week.

On Monday, my friend Peter Swingle put a haiku challenge on Facebook. Haiku was originally a Japanese form of poetry expressing a fleeting thought in three lines. In English, the haiku typically has 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern. The lines are cut into two juxtaposing expressions. I’ve never tried writing a haiku before, but I bit on the challenge. Here are some of my favorite responses to the challenge:

Leigh Ritchie Steele –

No shower today
Means a cool dip in the pool
Because it’s summer

Vickie Brutschy Stokes

A lime popsicle
Golden sunshine rays of fire
Green droplets toe bound

Peter Swingle

Sun which was welcome
Now insulting the senses
Tone it back a bit

Laurie Suiter

Fur flies and claws rend
Rough tongues brush to soothe again
Feline peace restored

I wrote

Warm summer rainfall
Sitting dry in my cool coach
Writing a haiku

It was a fun diversion. Yesterday I started another novel – The Third Option by Vince Flynn. It filled most of the afternoon.

By bedtime, I felt like I had been sitting around all day – probably because that’s what I mostly did. Ten years ago, I was in the habit of exercising regularly. I would run or bike and do 50 pushups and 50 abdominal crunches almost every day. I got out of that habit when we moved to Michigan in 2009. Last night, I tried to do pushups and could only do 19 before my core strength ran out. I’m challenging myself to build back up to 50 pushups.

Today we’ll have a dry period this morning, but thunderstorms are on their way.

Pickleball in Branson

After posting about finding a good grocery store that required a long run through heavy traffic, Donna found another store nearby on Sunday. We scootered over to Country Mart, about two miles south of here. I haven’t gone out in that direction much and was unaware of the store. It turned out to be a nice grocery store with a selection of organic produce and other items.

We stocked up on groceries, but took a little too long doing it. Just as we were loading the scooter, it began to rain. We rode home through the rain drops. It was warm and the rain didn’t fall too heavily, so it wasn’t a big deal.

We had thundershowers off and on all afternoon. I kicked back and watched the Moto GP race from Catalunya, Spain – I’d downloaded the European coverage of the event earlier in the day. Later in the afternoon, Donna and I took a walk during a break in the weather. We chatted with some neighbors and then offered to help them carry their kayaks to the creek. Their kayaks are made of plastic and weigh 50 pounds each – much heavier than we expected. We haven’t gotten around to inflating our kayak yet, but we definitely want to take advantage of our close proximity to the lake.

A guy pulled into the park towing a travel trailer behind his truck. He was alone and appeared to be struggling to back the trailer into the site across from us. As I was going out to see if I could help, he got out of his truck and approached another neighbor. The neighbor got into the guy’s truck and started to back it into the site. He was having a little trouble as the owner of the truck was just standing there and not giving any guidance. I walked over and directed the guy in the truck and we got the trailer lined up in the site. Then I found out that the guy that owns the truck and trailer was feeling under the weather and had been driving long hours to get here from New Mexico over two days. He was out of it. He didn’t even unhook the trailer from the truck before he went in to lie down. I rolled up his truck window and closed the driver’s door which he had left open.

Donna prepared spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce for dinner. She served it with asparagus and mashed sweet potato. So good!

Spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce

Spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce

Yesterday’s forecast called for thunderstorms to pass through starting around midday. We took our chances and scootered across Branson to the north side out to the Branson Sports Club. It’s about a 20-minute ride from here. They have indoor pickleball on Mondays from 9:30am to 11:30am. It costs $3 per person to play there. We met a great group of people and played for two hours. There were six courts set up, but we only had enough players for three games at a time.They pushed the time limit and we didn’t finish our last games until 11:45am.

I was getting anxious as I could see a large storm cell approaching from the west on my Radar Express app. We didn’t linger after our last game. We hit the road and made our way back through Branson. We were riding away from the storm cell so I felt comfortable making a quick stop at Macadoodles liquor store. I picked up some IPA brewed in Colorado by Odell Brewing Company. This is a tasty IPA – much better in my opinion than the offering from Mother’s Brewing in Springfield, Missouri.

Odell's IPA

Odell’s IPA

Once again we had a series of thundershowers all afternoon with brief breaks of sunshine in between. I spent most of the afternoon reading a preposterous Clive Cussler novel. It was written in 1975 and it was funny how it illustrates the chauvinistic mores of that time.

During a respite from the rain, we went out and walked to stretch our legs. I was a little stiff and sore from the pickleball activity. My S Health app showed over 8,500 steps on the pickleball court.

I grilled boneless chicken thighs that Donna marinated for dinner. She served it with a delicious zucchini side. The zucchini was cut in quarters, topped with parmesan cheese and herbs and baked to a crispy finish. The chicken thighs were marinated in lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and fresh herbs.

Grilled boneless chicken thigh with zucchini

Grilled boneless chicken thigh with baked parmesan zucchini

Today we expect the weather pattern to continue with thunderstorms rolling in around noon.

In Search of Groceries

A great comment adding a little history of this area was written on yesterday’s post by Clayton Elisson – thanks, Clayton.

We were up early yesterday. Donna planned to meet up with a bike club at the high school at 7:30am. I prepped her bike at 6:30am and she hit the road by 7am. I mentioned it’s hilly around here. The first thing she had to do after turning on Evergreen Street, just a few hundred feet from the RV park, was climb a steep hill – so steep that she had to dismount and walk her bike to the top. She made her way to the school, arriving at 7:20am and hung around waiting for cyclists from the club. They never showed up. She found out later that they revised their start time to 7am due to the heat. Not having an alternate plan, she rode home.

After Donna returned from her ride, she walked to the post office to mail some letters and then continued walking for a total of four miles. She walked four miles on Friday as well and snapped a few pictures each day. Here are the photos from Donna’s walks – the first four are from Friday, the rest are from Saturday’s walk.

Cedar steps

Cedar Steps, constructed in 1936, 229 steps and 33 landings

Hollister train stop

Next stop…downtown Hollister

Railroad car at the city office

Railroad car at the Hollister Community Center with a view of historic Downing Street

Hackett Falls

Hackett Falls – a short hike from the memorial park at City Hall

Maurice Lane overpass near Old Mill Road

Maurice Lane overpass near Old Mill Road

Branson Scenic Railway

Branson Scenic Railway train coming through

Turtles in Turkey Creek

Turtles in Turkey Creek (taken from Railroad Avenue)

While she was out, I saw a guy fishing the creek by our site. I walked down and talked to him. He’s from Bolivar, Missouri and has fished around here for years. He said the cold water from Table Rock Lake was good for the trout and trout fishing can be good here at times. Yesterday was not so good. While we were talking, Donna called out to me from the other side of Turkey Creek where she was walking on Railroad Avenue.

Fishing hole on Turkey Creek

Fishing hole on Turkey Creek

I rode the scooter up to Sunfest Market to pick up a few groceries – Donna made a list for me. They didn’t have spaghetti squash or jicama, two of the items on her list. I found the selection of produce to be small and the prices a bit high. I came home and we searched online for another store. We found Rhodes Family Price Chopper and Walmart west of downtown Branson where Main Street becomes Country Boulevard.

I memorized the route and scootered over there. My route avoided the downtown traffic but I found the traffic to be just as bad up the hill on Country Boulevard. After you cross US65, you enter a district with museums, theaters, dance halls, concert venues, hotels and resorts. The traffic crawls along at 15mph with frequent stops.

I found the Rhodes store and it was a very nice grocery store. They had spaghetti squash and jicama. When I was checking out, the girl at the register looked at the jicama and asked what it was. When I told her jicama she said, “That’s spelled with a ‘J’ right?” I told her it was – jicama is pronounced HICK-a-mah. Donna cuts it up into what she calls fresh fries and serves it with guacamole.

The traffic was just as bad on the way back. I got caught in a brief rain shower while piddling along at 15mph. I skirted around the north side of downtown to Branson Landing and found Macadoodles. Macadoodles is a large liquor store with fine wine and a large selection of liquor and beer. Now I know where to shop – that’s always one of the challenges when we relocate to unfamiliar territory. Hopefully on weekday mornings, the traffic won’t be as bad.

After I came home, I was just about to cover the scooter when rain started pouring down. We had showers off and on all afternoon – some of the showers were heavy. This afternoon’s forecast calls for the same 80% chance of thunderstorms. I’m hoping they’re wrong and we can ride the scooter up to Branson Sports Club for pickleball at 2pm.

 

Downtown Branson

We rode the scooter over the Branson Landing Bridge to downtown Branson yesterday. In previous posts, I said Turkey Creek RV Village was across the river from Branson. It looks like a river on the map. It’s actually part of Lake Taneycomo. When I looked at the map again, I thought maybe it’s a canal between the lakes. But it’s runoff from the dam at Table Rock Lake that runs to Lake Taneycomo – that’s a river in my opinion, but they consider it an inlet off Lake Taneycomo here.

We scootered along Branson Landing past the big Bass Pro Shops store and turned up Main Street. It’s very hilly around here – only the roads along the lake are flat. As soon as you hit Main Street and go away from the lake, you begin climbing.

The traffic really backs up on Main Street. There’s a traffic light at Veterans Boulevard (Business 65). The two intersections east of there have four-way stop signs. The traffic light has such a long cycle time that traffic backs up through both stop signs on Main Street. With the traffic on Main Street standing still, the traffic on the cross streets – Sycamore and Commercial – go on through. When Main Street starts moving, everyone is confused about who’s turn it is to go next at the four-way stop.

We turned off Main Street at the first intersection and found a place to park the scooter. We walked west on Main Street and looked at the shops. It’s very touristy with gift shops and small clothing stores. I ended up buying a T-shirt. They have a free trolley bus that runs from the park at the foot of the Branson Landing Bridge through downtown. I’m not sure of the entire route it follows, but it’s subject to the same traffic snarl as everyone else.

Free trolley bus

Free trolley bus

After walking around and window shopping, we stopped at Clockers Cafe for lunch. Donna had the daily special which was catfish lightly dusted with corn meal and deep fried. I had the prime rib dip which was thinly sliced prime rib with green peppers, mushrooms, onions and provolone cheese on a hoagie roll served with au jus. Both plates were excellent. The cashier went missing as we were ready to leave. Several customers were lined up at the register waiting to pay for about five minutes before we could head out.

We made another stop at a specialty food shop. They had lots of locally produced sauces, cheese made by Amish farmers north of here and meats they prepare themselves. We tried a few samples and bought sausage sticks for snacks on the road. The homemade sausage sticks don’t have any preservatives, so we froze them for consumption later.

I was a little concerned about a thunderstorm moving in. The forecast called for heavy rain around 3 or 4pm and I could see a storm on my weather app to the west of us, so we scootered out of there.

We rode through the Branson Lakeside RV park on the Lake Taneycomo inlet west of the Branson Landing Bridge. The sites next to the water have a great view, but they’re packed in tight. Roll out your awning and it’ll reach your neighbor’s coach. From there we could see where Turkey Creek runs into Lake Taneycomo and our SKP Turkey Creek RV Village.

After crossing the bridge to Hollister, we stopped at a liquor store near the RV park. They didn’t have much of a selection, so we rode back past the park up the hill to a small grocery store we saw when we first pulled into town. It’s called Sunfest Market and they had a larger selection of beer. I bought a four-pack of Guinness stout (Donna’s favorite) and a six-pack of IPA brewed by Mother’s Brewing in Springfield, Missouri. The IPA is called Lil’ Helper and it’s billed as a “Midwest Coast IPA.” It’s strong at 7% ABV and not too hoppy at 70 IBUs, but it doesn’t match the West Coast IPAs for flavor.

Midwest Coast IPA

Midwest Coast IPA

After we returned to the RV park, a neighbor moved into site D7 next door to us. I mentioned in my last post how our site, D8, and the one to the left of us, D9, aren’t level. It looked to me like D1 through D7 were fairly level. Looks can be deceiving. Nothing is flat and level around here and site D7 is no exception. Our neighbor ended up stacking blocks under his left front jack and raising the coach high enough to lift the left front tire off the ground to level it.

Blocks under the jack to level the coach

Blocks under the jack to level the coach

Yesterday’s thunderstorm passed to the north of us and we escaped the rain. Today’s forecast calls for an 80% chance of thunderstorm by 2pm. Maybe we’ll get lucky again, but my weather radar app shows a large storm cell to the west of us.

Winding Road Ahead

I tied down the scooter and had the trailer completely loaded and road-ready before dinner on Wednesday. After dinner, I took I took my last  walk through Tom Sawyer’s RV Park. I watched a large barge tow heading upriver, then snapped a photo of a rare motorhome. It was an Airstream 310 from the early ’80s – I’d never seen one before. This one was powered by an Isuzu diesel engine, making it doubly rare – most had 454 Chevy gas engines.

Airstream motorhome

Airstream motorhome

When we were pulling out of Tom Sawyer’s RV Park on Thursday morning, I could hardly believe it when I saw a similar Airstream motorhome stored near a shed by the office. It looked like it hadn’t moved in a long time. After nearly two years on the road without seeing one of these rare coaches, I saw two here at the park!

Our destination was the Escapees (SKP) Turkey Creek RV Village in Hollister, Missouri (Map). Our route out of West Memphis took us up I-55 for about 12 miles to the junction of US63. This was the only stretch of interstate on the entire 270-mile drive.

I generally enjoy taking the smaller highways and US63 was a nice road. The pavement was good and the traffic was fairly light. When we crossed into Missouri and headed west out of Thayer on MO142, it got interesting. MO142 has a smooth surface, but it’s a narrow two-lane highway with no shoulder. Most of the time, if you dropped a wheel off the pavement, you would be in a ditch. Our lane was barely wide enough for our 102-inch width. Luckily, there was very little traffic. But, when an oncoming heavy-duty truck would pass, I had to squeeze over to right as much as I dared and brace myself for our mirrors to collide. We managed not to knock mirrors and only had half a dozen truck encounters over the next few hours.

The terrain changed on MO142. We were heading into the Ozarks. The Ozarks are the most extensive mountainous region between the Appalachians and Rocky mountains. Although they are often referred to as the Ozark Mountains, it’s actually a high plateau with deep ravines and ridges. MO142 constantly climbed and dipped. The hills were short and steep. I was either on full power or using the Jake brake to slow a descent. There were so many curves in the road, Nally (Our Rand McNally GPS) was constantly chattering “Left curve ahead” and then “Right curve ahead” or “Winding road ahead.”

After about 40 miles of this difficult stretch, we turned north and found US160 at Caulfield. This seemed like a better two-lane highway – the lane was wider anyway. My opinion soon changed. US160 continued up and down in the fashion of MO142 but soon became more extreme. The climbs and descents were steeper and the road was a series of sharp curves. At the crest of many of the climbs, I couldn’t see the bottom of the descent until we started down. Nally kept warning of the winding road ahead as I would see speed advisory signs of 30mph curves.

At one curve, a car was partially pulled off the road. It was halfway into the lane because there wasn’t enough shoulder to pull completely off the road. We were moving slowly and I braked hard, I couldn’t see around the curve at first to see if it was clear to get around the car. We saw why they were stopped. The passenger door was open and the passenger was sitting on the door sill with his head down – obviously very car sick. It was understandable with all the up, down, right and left motion.

The scenery was beautiful, but I didn’t have much of a chance to enjoy it. My concentration was fully absorbed by driving and keeping us on the road and in our lane. We made a stop at the Bullseye station in Gainesville to top off with fuel. I stretched my legs and took on 38 gallons at $2.55/gallon. I think this was the cheapest diesel price we’ve ever had. Our fuel mileage worked out to 8.5mpg – better than I expected. I figured the up and down terrain coupled with running the diesel generator to run the AC all day would result in poor fuel mileage.

We pulled into Turkey Creek at 3pm – nearly six hours after our 9:15am departure. It was a tough drive. During the drive, Donna and I discussed our options for the next few weeks. We will be in Minneapolis on July 5th, we have a site booked there for Donna’s Senior Olympic bike race. I originally booked two weeks here at Turkey Creek thinking we would move on to Des Moines. Des Moines is problematic due to the Junior Rodeo National event that has the RV parks full.

While we were checking in, Donna mentioned the SKP Stay & Play promotion where you pay for 15 days and get five additional days free. A quick look at the calendar showed that we could stay for 18 or even 20 days and still make it to Donna’s scheduled event with Meredith Publishing (Better Homes and Gardens) in Des Moines. Doing the math, if we stay for 20 days, the promotional rate works out to $14/day. Even if we leave after 18 days, it’s only $15.55/day for a pull-through 50 amp full hook-up site. So we paid for 15 days and have the option of staying up to 20 days.

We have site D8, the only pull-through available for our length of stay. The good news is the site is shaded by a large tree. I don’t know what kind of tree it is – maybe a reader can enlighten me.

Shade tree by our site

Shade tree by our site

The bad news is, the site slopes toward the creek and is also low in back. Getting the coach level was a chore.

Looking up at our site from the creek

Looking up at our site from the creek

All of the 9 sites in row D are pull-throughs. Sites 1 through 7 are fairly level.

Sites 1 through 7 in row D looking toward the office

Sites 1 through 7 in row D looking toward the office

While we were driving with the generator on to power our roof air conditioner, Donna took advantage of the electrical power and put a whole chicken in the slow cooker. Once we were set up, we dined outdoors at our picnic table. The slow-cooked chicken was tender and tasty.

Slow cooked chicken with garlic red potatoes and green beans

Slow cooked chicken with garlicky roasted red potatoes and green beans

Today we’ll head out and explore Branson on the scooter. The forecast calls for a 60% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.

Another RV Conversion

The weather guessers had the forecast for this week all wrong. They called for thunderstorms Monday through Thursday. It was enough of a warning to make me decide to take the Gibson tour on Sunday – when no work is being performed. Well, we’ve only had one small shower and that was on Monday evening. It’s been mostly sunny and warm. There isn’t a cloud in the sky today here at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park on the west bank of the Mississippi River. (Map)

Donna started Tuesday out with a bike ride. She rode a 34-mile loop, clocking herself for the first 25 miles to gauge how ready she is for her upcoming race. Her goal now is to shave off 20 seconds per mile over the next few weeks.

While Donna was out, I washed the coach. I used a waterless method using a product called The Solution from a company called Super Seal. I don’t have any affiliation with this company – I’m providing a link because I really like the product. I was put on to this stuff by our friends and fellow Alpine owners, Lynda and Dave Campbell. The first time I used it, I went through more than a quart to wash the coach. Lynda told me I was using too much, a little spray goes a long way. She was right, I think I can get two washes from a quart now.

Clean and shiny

Clean and shiny

I spent about two and half hours on a ladder cleaning our rig. It looks great and was worth the effort. The humidity had me perspiring heavily though. I had to take a few breaks and come inside to cool off.

While I was up on the ladder, I saw our neighbor load up his motorcycle with baggage and head out. He had a Kawasaki KLR 650 dual sport bike. These are often called adventure/sport bikes as they can be ridden on pavement as well as off-road. He has an interesting rig. It’s an old work van that he’s converted to an RV toy hauler. The back half of the box is set up as a garage with two motorcycles, a bicycle and tools. The front area, separated from the garage by a wall, is a bunk, kitchen and bathroom with toilet and shower.

Rv Conversion

RV conversion

That's a hang glider strapped to the side

That’s a hang glider strapped to the side

Kawasaki KLR dual sport bike

Kawasaki KLR dual sport bike

I met him later. His name is John and he hit the road three days ago. He’s a software developer and can work from the road. He plans to travel to interesting hang gliding destinations. He also has a road racing motorcycle and wants to ride track days along the way as well. His RV is a work in progress. He told me he’s thinking about putting signage on the van that say something like “Simple Septic Solutions.” That will make it look like a nasty work van and deter thieves from breaking in. Interesting concept.

After he pulled out of the park this morning, we noticed he left his laptop table out on the picnic table. Within minutes, a woman came walking over from a few sites down, picked up his laptop table and started to walk away with it. I went outside and said, “Ma’am, John’s coming back – he wants his table.” She said, “Oh, I wondered why someone would leave a nice table like this behind. Thanks for telling me.” Then I walked up to the office and told the attendant that John left his table behind. They had his cell phone number and called him.

Last night, I grilled chicken sausages stuffed with poblano and cheese for dinner. While I was out manning the grill, I enjoyed the view of the Mississippi River.

Our backyard view last evening

Our backyard view last evening

We’ve had a good time here in West Memphis. Today I’ll organize and pack the trailer. I’ll clean our wheels and set the tire pressures and take down the front window covers. Tomorrow we’ll pull out and head over to the Turkey Creek Escapees Park across the river from Branson, Missouri.

New Travel Plans

Flexibility is key to this lifestyle. We may have certain dates on the calendar where we want or need to be in certain places, but things aren’t always going to go as planned. Our original intention was to visit St. Louis when we leave Tom Sawyer’s RV Park here in West Memphis. From there we would go on to Des Moines, Iowa where Donna has some work scheduled with Meredith Publishing for Better Homes and Gardens.

We dropped that plan after finding the RV park rates in St. Louis are very high – too high to justify a week in a place that we are only marginally interested in visiting at this time. We thought we would move on to Des Moines where Donna could train on her bicycle for the Senior Olympics race in July. (A friend told us about an RV park there with a 20-mile paved cycling trail nearby.) We had to dash that plan as well when we found the National Junior Rodeo Championship was taking place in Des Moines the last week in June. All the RV sites at that park plus more than 2,000 sites at the fairgrounds are sold out for the week.

So we spent a lot of time looking at alternatives yesterday. We decided to head to Branson, Missouri. Actually we booked two weeks across the river from Branson at the Escapees (SKP) Turkey Creek RV Park in Hollister, Missouri. Donna can train for her race in the Ozarks. She found a cycling club that has regular rides in the area four times a week, including a speed workout. From there we’ll go to Des Moines for five days and then on to Minnesota.

That’s the beauty of being mobile. We can change our neighborhood at will and can adjust our travel plans as needed.

Yesterday I posted about the Gibson factory tour. Some readers may be wondering why I didn’t have photos of the tour. Photography is forbidden in the factory. I should have mentioned that in the post.

In my previous post about river barges, I omitted an interesting factoid. The owners of the barge transport companies keep the barges moving 24/7. To do this, they rotate crews. The tow boat is manned by a captain and first mate that take turns running the boat. There are two sets of deckhands. Each crew member works six hours on, six hours off. The cook and the engineer responsible for maintenance and repair are typically the only exceptions to this work schedule. The crew works for 28 days straight, then they are replaced by another crew while they have 28 days off.

I might start washing our coach today. Tomorrow I’ll have to pack up the trailer and make things ready for travel. I’d like to get an early start when we leave here on Thursday.

Gibson Tour

Donna went out for a Sunday morning bike ride at 8:30am trying to beat the heat. She wasn’t entirely successful. By the time she returned from her 26-mile ride at 10:30am, the temperature had risen well into the 80s with high humidity.

I grilled a couple of salmon burgers that we bought at HEB in Rockport, Texas and froze for later consumption. We have two more in the freezer. We had them for lunch on onion ciabatta rolls. I wrote about the fresh salmon burgers from HEB in this post.

After lunch, I rode the scooter to Memphis via the I-55 bridge. I followed Riverside Drive to Beale Street and found my way to Lt George W Lee Avenue where the Gibson guitar factory and retail store is located. Parking is problematic in this area. I had no choice but to pay $5 to park in the Gibson lot.

Ginson retail entrance

Gibson retail entrance

Gibson guitars are made at four factories in three locations – Memphis is where they make the semi-hollow body and hollow body guitars. My ES339 was made here. In Nashville, Gibson USA makes the solid body guitars. Also in Nashville, the Gibson custom shop makes special guitars – my Les Paul 1960 reissue G0 was made there. In Bozeman, Montana, Gibson makes acoustic guitars – my L130 acoustic guitar was made there.

Orville Gibson founded the company at the end of the 19th century to make mandolins. The company was headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan and built guitars there until guitar production moved to Gibson USA in Nashville in 1974. The Kalamazoo plant continued operation as a custom shop until it closed in 1984 and the Nashville custom shop opened.

The tour cost $10. About 20 people were in the tour group. All tours for the weekend were sold out. They give six tours daily, Monday through Saturday from 11am to 4pm. On Sunday, they have five tours starting at noon. Our tour lasted about an hour and we walked through the entire production area. We saw how the process works from beginning to end. There’s very little automation – almost everything is carried out by hand. Each guitar takes about four weeks to  to finish and they complete about 65 guitars per day here. There are several inspections during the process. About 4% of the production is scrapped due to flaws. The final finishing process is all done by hand. The guitars are painted with a nitro-cellulose finish by painters using spray guns. The last step is polishing the finish on buffing wheels. Polishing is a three-step process with increasingly finer compounds used to achieve the final lustre.

My tour ticket

My tour ticket

It was a very interesting tour for me. I was surprised by the diverse people in our group. We had older folks and young people. We had families. Most of the people in the tour weren’t very knowledgeable about guitars – I wondered what enticed them to take the tour. I think most of them didn’t really understand what the tour guide was talking about some of the time – like when he explained the installation of truss rods or how the binding is applied.

After the tour, I walked to Beale Street a block away. It was fairly quiet as it was Sunday afternoon. I saw two bands playing – one was jamming loudly in the court where we saw the Australian guitarist on Friday night. I cooled off with a cold Wiseacre Ananda IPA at BB King’s Club. While I was at it, I checked the Statelines app (from Technomadia) on my smartphone and saw that alcohol is not sold in Arkansas on Sunday. I needed to get some beer, so I decided to stop at a store in Memphis where alcohol sales are legal on Sunday after noon. I saw a funny sign as I was walking down Beale Street.

So true

So true

My map showed a market a couple of blocks away on Vance Street, so I scootered over there. Wow, what a difference two blocks makes in the neighborhood. The gentrified Beale Street is world away from Vance Street. The neighborhood was reminiscent of Beale Street back in the ’70s. I found of photo of Beale Street taken in 1974 on this site.

Beale Street at Third Ave cica 1974

Beale Street at Third Ave circa 1974

I went into the market and made my purchase quickly. I wasn’t comfortable in this neighborhood. The people loitering on the curb outside the store looked rough. I rode back home to Tom Sawyer’s RV Park.

I was inspired to practice guitar while Donna was outside reading a book. Later, we took a walk together through the park. This RV park has very few long-term visitors. It seems like most people use it as an overnight stopping point or maybe a weekend getaway. Unlike most parks, we haven’t seen the usual weekend influx of campers or the Sunday afternoon exodus back to the workaday world. Instead, people seem to come and in and out in a fairly equal exchange. Over the four nights that we’ve been here, we’ve had four different RVs in the site across from us.

One of the rigs that’s been here since we arrived is an old GMC bus converted to an RV. A lot of the bus conversions I see are a little rough looking, but I’m always intrigued by them. Converting an old bus into an RV is a lot of work. It’s invariably a labor of love to make it into your own vision of what an RV should be.

GMC bus conversion

GMC bus conversion

This is a far cry from the Millenium Coach built on a Prevost chassis I showed in my last post. Speaking of Prevost chassis, we saw two more coaches built on Prevost chassis as we walked through the park. The first one was a 2011 Liberty Coach. We met the woman who owns the coach along with her husband and chatted for a while. They’ve had several coaches, including a Marathon Coach built on a Prevost chassis. She said the Liberty was the best they’ve ever owned.

I forgot to take a photo of their beautiful RV, but I snapped a shot of a Country Coach built on a Prevost XL chassis.

Country Coach Prevost XL chassis

Country Coach Prevost XL chassis

Today the thermometer is forecast to hit 90 degrees with less humidity than we’ve had lately. There’s a 40% chance of a thundershower. I might try fishing the ponds here today.

Mississippi River Barges

The earliest super-highway for transporting goods in America was its rivers. The Mississippi River was a major artery in this system. French settlers south of St. Louis would float their harvest down the river as did fur trappers and traders. The barge era began when steam boats came about in the mid-19th century.

Here at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park in West Memphis, we see and hear barges on the Mississippi River daily. I’m fascinated by them and did a little research. In an earlier post, I described a raft of barges pushed by a tug boat. My terminology was incorrect. When barges are lashed together, they are called a tow. I think this name comes from early barges that were towed along canals by draft animals. The boat, which has a flat bow plate and is tied to the back of the barge tow, is called a tow boat – even though it pushes the barges.

The standard barge is 195 feet long and 35 feet wide. It can draft 9 feet of water and has a capacity of 1500 tons. Some modern barges used in the lower Mississippi are 290 feet long and 50 feet wide. The lower Mississippi is the portion downriver from St. Louis. Upriver from St. Louis, the Mississippi isn’t as deep and wide. It also has locks that restrict the size of tows in the upper Mississippi.

Multiple barges are lashed together to create a tow. The payload usually consists of grain, coal or petro-chemicals in special tanker barges. This is a very economical way to transport goods downriver.

The tow boats range from 35 to 200 feet in length and 21 to 56 feet wide. They can be powered by diesel engines ranging from 600 to 11,000 horsepower. When I see a tow going downriver, I can hear the diesel engines in the tow boat as it cruises along. The Mississippi River is such a large body of water here in Memphis that it appears to flow lazily. This is deceptive. When you see a piece of driftwood floating in the current, you can see how fast the water is actually moving. Transporting a load downriver, the tow boat isn’t working very hard – it’s turning the propellers just fast enough to maintain control over the rudder.

Coming back upriver is a different story. Once offloaded, the empty barges need to be pushed back upriver to pick up another load. At least I think they’re empty, I haven’t found any reference to shipping goods upriver. Going upriver, the tow boats are running hard. They sound like a freight train running at full speed, but they are only covering a few knots per hour. I can hear one going upriver right now. It will be within sight and ear shot for the next 20 minutes.

28 barge tow - six barges long and four deep lashed together

28-barge tow – six barges long and four deep lashed together

Tow making the turn up river

Tow making the turn upriver

Once the barges in the tow are lashed together and the tow boat is connected to the rear, it becomes one large vessel controlled by the tow boat. It’s amazing to watch these things make the turn in the channel upriver from the RV park.

While Donna was out walking yesterday, she sent me a text message telling me I ought to check out the coach and trailer getting ready to pull out from a riverfront site. I walked over to the riverfront area and saw a beautiful, 45-foot Millenium Coach built on a Prevost chassis. This million-plus-dollar coach was pulling a large stacker trailer that had to be 13 feet high. I don’t know what he had in there, but this type of trailer typically has a hydraulic lift that can raise a car, making room for another underneath. Or it can be configured with a platform with work benches and storage that can be lifted and a car stowed underneath for travel.

Millenium Coach with large stacker trailer

Millenium Coach with large stacker trailer

What a set-up! Triple-axle stacker trailers typically weigh in the neighborhood of 9,000 pounds empty, so you need a large, powerful coach with heavy towing capacity to utilize one. Very few coaches have that much capacity. A Prevost chassis is usually outfitted with 20,000 pounds of towing capacity. Our coach is limited to 10,000 pounds. Many coaches only have four or five thousand pounds of towing capacity.

Millenium Coach with stacker heading out

Millenium Coach with stacker heading out

When I grow up, I want one of these!

Last evening, I grilled turkey burgers loaded with diced green chiles, onions, cilantro and spices. Donna topped it with shredded Mexican cheeses and guacamole and served it over spring mix greens with grilled zucchini on the side. The zucchini was seasoned the same way we had it two nights ago with salt and lemon zest. We dined al fresco at the picnic table. A healthy, delicious and nutritious meal.

Turkey/green chili burger topped with cheese and guacamole

Green chile turkey burger topped with cheese and guacamole

It’s going to be hot today. We expect the temperature to reach 90 degrees. Donna headed out for a bike ride at 8:30 to try to beat the heat. The humidity yesterday was 89% and we expect the same today.

This afternoon, I have a reservation for a tour of the Gibson guitar factory in Memphis, birthplace of my ES339 guitar.

 

 

Beale Street

After writing my post yesterday, I set up my Cycle Pro Mechanic bike stand and worked on Donna’s bike. Donna has been complaining about erratic shifter operation and the chain jumping gears on the few rides she’s been on since her crash. With her bike suspended on the stand, I could turn the crank and shift gears to see what was going on. I went through the rear derailleur set-up, adjusting it until it shifted properly. Without the bike stand, that job would have been impossible.

By the time I had it done, she was ready to go for a ride. She rode south and made a 26-mile loop. Part of her ride was on the Mississippi River Trail which stretches 85 miles from West Memphis to Helena. It was hot and humid out and that was the longest ride she’d done in months. Although she had plenty of water while she rode, she needed nutrition and hydration when she returned.

While Donna was out, I took care of a few chores. We made plans to head over to Beale Street in downtown Memphis. Nowadays, Beale Street is a major tourist attraction in Memphis. Beale Street has a long tradition of being a place where you can hear blues music. In 1909, W.C. Handy wrote Memphis Blues and later wrote Beale Street Blues. The list of blues musicians that performed on Beale Street is long and includes such famous names as Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Albert King and of course BB King.

The Marines sent me to school in Millington, north of Memphis in 1975. I came down to Beale Street with a couple of buddies to check out the blues bars. It was a different scene back then, not the tourist attraction it is today. Very few white people came to the blues clubs. The street was filled with thieves and con men. We stuck together and treaded carefully. Back then, we would usually go to Overton Square on Cooper Street where the rock and roll clubs were. The city adopted a plan for gentrification of Beale Street back in 1973, but it didn’t gain traction until the 1980s.

Today Beale Street is closed to vehicular traffic from 2nd Street to 4th Street. There are street entertainers and musicians everywhere. Handy Park has outdoor concerts and the clubs lining both sides of the street have live music. Donna and I took an Uber cab from the RV park and were dropped off at the corner of 2nd and Beale.

2nd and Beale - BB King's Club on the right, Blues City Cafe on the left

2nd and Beale – BB King’s club on the right, Blues City Cafe on the left

Our first stop was the Blues City Cafe. We both ordered the half rack of hickory-smoked pork ribs. It was seasoned just right and the meat literally fell off the bones. I would rate it as the best barbeque ribs I’ve ever tasted. It came with small sides of baked beans and cole slaw and a large side of steak fries plus Texas toast. I paired it with locally brewed IPA from Ghost River Brewing.

On Beale Street, some laws don’t apply. Every bar and restaurant serves adult beverages in plastic cups to go. You can walk out the door, drink in hand, and make your way down the street to your next stop.

Beale Street

Beale Street

As we walked down the street, we could hear a band jamming incredibly loud. The music was coming from Handy Park. I haven’t heard a band play that loud since the ’80s.

Jamming loud music

Jamming loud music

We watched them perform a couple of songs, but it was too loud for Donna, so we moved on. After we crossed the street, we heard another band. The gal singing could’ve been an American Idol winner, she was that good.

She could belt it

She could belt it

A corner open air bar had a pair of guitarists playing. Their arrangements were well thought out and they covered songs expertly. The guy on the right could sing – he sang Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ perfectly.

The guy on the right can sing

The guy on the right can sing

The talent and musicianship were amazing. There were great musicians everywhere. It was early – we arrived at 5:30pm and none of the clubs had cover charges until later in the evening. We continued to hop from bar to bar and check out the music. At our next stop, the band did a brilliant cover of Bob Dylan’s Positively 4th Street.

You've got a lotta nerve...

You’ve got a lotta nerve…

We found a club with a table on a patio next to the Blues City Cafe and sat for a while. There was a group of youngsters performing acrobatic gymnastic feats on the street for tips. We people-watched for a while there. Along the way, I found another local IPA from Wiseacre Brewing. This was top shelf IPA, the best I’ve had in a while.

Donna at a street side table

Donna at a street side table

After people-watching for a while, we moved again when we heard a band playing in the courtyard next to the club. The guitarist was from Australia and he knew how to play blues.

Australian bluesman

Australian bluesman

I ordered one last beer while we watched the band.

Beale beer

Beale beer

Around 8pm, it was starting to get dark. We’d had our fill and it was time to go home. Beale Street is definitely a great time if you like live music. We requested a ride from Lyft and the driver arrived in about 10 minutes.

Beale Street at sunset

Beale Street at sunset

On the way home, a thunderstorm rolled in. It was pouring rain by the time we got to our coach. Wind had knocked limbs off trees in the park and the power was out. I switched the inverter on and we were able to watch an episode of Homeland before we went to bed.

This morning it’s overcast but calm. Power was restored in the night. Today will be hot – near 90 degrees with a 20% chance of a thundershower this afternoon.