1 Dec 2018 - Arrived at Marion AR/Memphis TN Area

1 Dec 2018

Traveled from the St Louis area to our next stop at the KOA Campground at Marion AR/Memphis TN today.  So this was another travel day, and my posts on travels days might be a little boring.  Sorry!  We typically don't do much on travel days except get from point A to point B because of the inherent overhead involved with tearing down the RV, driving the distance, and setting up again.  Sounds simple enough, but that is also the reason we typically don't drive long distances on travel days.  We try to go by the rule of 2's:  Average 200 miles on travel days; arrive the campground no later than 2pm; stay at most locations a minimum of 2 nights; have 2 cold beers in the fridge to enjoy after setup!

It rained fiercely overnight in St Louis, so I slept like a baby with the sound of the rain on the RV roof.  I snapped a couple pictures this morning before leaving.  Nothing special about this campground, but was nice having paved spots with all the rain.  There are a lot of rigs here that are obviously here for the long term, with large propane tanks and heated water hoses.  The others, like us, are transient, only here for an over-nighter as they head south.

We got up at a descent hour and bugged out about 0800 hrs, and heading south from St Louis primarily on I-55.  It was a warm 50F with clear, sunny skies when we left and continued to warm as we traveled south. 

Water, water everywhere!!  The fields are soaked down here.  The cell that moved through St Louis obviously came from the south and it unloaded a bunch of water.  The farm fields resemble ponds. 

We continued south and passed New Madrid, MO.  With the recent events near Anchorage AK, Doreen decided the New Madrid Seizmic Zone, better known as the New Madrid Fault line could behave itself until we get out of the area!  We wanted to get to the Memphis campground so we did not stop and see the museum.

The further south we traveled the warmer it became.  Yep, that is not a misprint!  A balmy 72F.  And just think, it was a chilly 22F as we passed Oskaloosa IA yesterday on the way to St Louis.

We noticed these round bales all over the fields as we headed south.  They kind of resembled hay bales, but they we white on the edges.  Ah!  Cotton bales!  The loose cotton on the edges of the interstate was a clue.  It looked like what we see up north with the cottonwood trees.

Other than a coffee stop and a gas stop, 287 miles and 5:22 hrs travel time later, at approx 1322 hrs we arrived at the Marion/Memphis KOA Campground. 

Again, water, water everywhere.  Quite a bit of the campground is underwater and unusable.

The site we were assigned had some issues so after partially setting up, tearing down, and setting up again, we established camp for the next four nights.   On the south side of our campground is a cotton field.  I would like to stroll out there and have a closer look but it is a swamp. 

 The game plan for Memphis is to see the sites and enjoy the culture.  There is a ton to see and do down here.  From the civil rights history to blues to Elvis, there is plenty to keep us occupied.  We also got a message on Facebook from a retired Comm Flight member Jason Hunt that moved down here several years ago so we will look forward to seeing him.  Tomorrow (Sunday) we plan to walk around Beale Street, BB King's Blues Club and other sites in the area.