Outrunning the polar vortex

Saturday 13 January 2024

   We woke up to 25-degree temperature but at least the wind has subsided. Another 300 plus mile today again trying to keep ahead of the artic weather coming south. I wanted to leave around 8:30 to get a good start on a long travel day. As you can image, we were running a little slow. But none the less as we were bringing in the slide and bring the jacks up when I realized something was wrong, the jacks would not store properly😐. I walk outside and sure enough the left rear jack is still on the ground. Back inside deployed the jacks again and then retracted again.  Still nothing😒. Back outside and after digging around I found my hammer and prybar.  The jack was frozen to the ground. After a light beating and some prying it finally started to come up.  It was 9:45 until we left the campground and hit the road. It was a fairly uneventful drive. We did stop for lunch at a Walmart, the sun was out and warmer than it has been. We arrived at Millington Navy Base at 4:15. The fam camp on base had been damaged by the recent storms but was still open, so we settled in. We were parked right beside the commissary and Diane made a quick run.  Diane called Monique to see what she was doing, and I started to watch the weather and wondering how we could miss the artic vortex which seems to be traveling south faster than we are.

Sunset Saturday night was beautiful!!

Sunday 14 January 2024   Happy Birthday LYNNE

    The forecast was for freezing rain before 3 to 4 inches of snow, the only plan we could make work was I leave first thing in the morning in the Moho and Diane would go over to visit with Monique and catch up with me later. Rudy and I hit the highway at 9am, heading straight south temperature at the campground was 18 degrees.  Rudy is NOT a fan of traveling day after day after day so this morning he left us know he wants to stay parked for a while.
    Diane took breakfast stuff for Monique and kids and enjoyed their company while they made 

Great visit, need to
see them again!!

 breakfast, she had a nice time, good to see them all and wished she could have stayed longer.  She was on the road at 12:30. Wasn't 20 miles down the road when it started to rain and sleet. She pulled into a rest area (yes Mississippi has rest areas) when she came out of the restroom the ground was white from the sleet. Good news sleet and rain only lasted for another 10 miles or so. I pulled into the Movietown Campground in Canton Mississippi at 2:30 pm office wasn't open just a handwritten note on the door, pick out a spot and settle up in the morning. Rudy and I were pretty much settled in by the time Diane arrived.  It was a quick dinner then planning for tomorrow's trip south. 

Monday 15 January 2024

   I was up since 2am with chest pain. A heart attack I figured but didn't want to wake up Diane😁. By the time she got up the pain had subsided a bit and we decided to press on south. We were on the interstate by 8:45. Under 2 hundred miles to go but again the snow is right behind us.  Diane called Monique to see how they made out. Memphis had 3 plus inches of snow and ice and were basically closed. We got out just in time.  A good travel day.  The only snafu was when I pulled into get fuel. What appeared to me as a big concrete parking area was actually two separate areas with an 18-inch gap between.  Well, when the back tires went down into the gap, we thought we were stuck. Came right out the other side with just a few cupboard contents rearranged😕.  Fueled up and pulled into the Lakeside RV Park in Livingston LA about 10 min later. We called our friends Buddy and Teresa to say we were here but were just going to get settled in and relax for the evening.

Tuesday 16 January 2024

   Well today the cold front got us! 😒 There is not much south of Louisiana.  Woke up this morning to

The is was beautiful,
but I was glad it
wasn't on the roads.  

22 degrees and a heavy coating of ice on the trees and vehicles but not on the road. After another restless night I decided we better take me to the ER.  Not to hurry. We had breakfast and waited until 10 to head to the hospital.  It was just like always, check in, wait, vitals, wait, wait, back to an ER room wait.  Anyway, after an EKG, blood work and chest x-ray I was declared alive and released on my on recognizances😂. The good news, my heart is OK. I'm to check in with my DR when we get home. Poof it is 3pm. We get back to the Moho I walked Rudy while Diane hit the grocery store.