Our last few days at the Gulf Coast were spent at Gulf Island National Seashore - Davis Bayou Campground. The days were cool and windy so we did the last of the hiking trails in the park and exploring the downtown streets of Ocean Springs. We met a fellow Manitoban in the park who had come for a week of vacation. In our discussion of unique places to eat we decided to enjoy The Shed's flavorful BBQ lunch. A correction to last week's blog about The Shed is that they did not
purchase the campground next door but the Mississippi Dept. of Transportation did for future highway expansion.
The old entrance has charred boards that remain from the fire two years ago.
The new eatery with gravel floors and air conditioning.
Their awards display and antiques. The regular patrons here are called Shedheds.
Jim plotted his route home while Annette checked the weather forecasts for various locations en-route. So Wednesday morning we headed north, making a brief stop at a familiar fruit stand to pick up supplies. No time now to linger and check on the progress of our MDS friends in Hattiesburg, MS. By mid afternoon we had reached our nights destination just south of Memphis, Tennessee.
A black dot in the center of the weather map shows our location.
Thursday we had favorable winds so we stretched our day a bit and arriving at Finger Lakes State Park just north of Columbia, MO. We registered for the nights camping and realized we were the only ones in this place. While Jim did the setup work, Annette checked the computer weather reports and realized we were in the path of severe weather with warnings of high winds, rain, hail and possible tornados. As the storm hit we decided to take shelter in the washroom/shower building and quickly grabbed the computer, weather radio and dashed for the truck. Running to the truck our pants were soaked in seconds, hail bouncing on and into the truck and then finding the planned place of shelter locked - now what - then just as quickly as the rain and hail arrived, it stopped again and the clear sky appeared. What a relief!
Getting on the road again as the new day dawned, we were able to take advantage of a few hours of travel before the winds picked up. A stop for groceries and of course another fill of gas (one of four on Friday). It is really annoying to get limited to a $75.00 purchase at the pump. Our earlier schedule called for a stop in Iowa, but since it was only mid-afternoon and the wind was favorable we decided to make our night stop at the Dakoka Sioux Casino near Watertown SD. When we wanted to register we were informed that there was no power at the posts. So our next option was the Dakota Magic Casino at the North Dakota/South Dakota border. We arrived here just as the day was darkening, got our spot with power and turned on the heat. Jim decided to winterize the plumbing in the RV here because of the expected frost from here on home. Both South and North Dakota have some snow, but starting north of Grand Forks we could see the larger snow banks.We could feel we were back in Manitoba by the rough jerky ride on Highway 75. As we turned east we realized that the south wind had pushed us along was also carrying snow with it.
The roads now had ice and slush making the final miles rather tense. With a strong side wind on the trailer and the truck's posi-traction made for potential jack-knifing stresses. We arrived home safely to a clean driveway to park the rig. It's a good feeling to be home again!
This will be our last post till our next adventure. Thanks for caring about us.
