Rollin Rollin Rollin.............

Found out how to do the video of the Humongous Fish at Arrowhead campground!!!!

Made it to Hattiesburg,Mississippi (Okatoma RV Resort) and it was quite beautiful....... Several ponds about the park, and the office staff was super kind!

Narrow road coming into the park!

I didn't even unhook......just plugged in the electric, putzted about for awhile, and slept. Ever have a dream that felt so real, that your wee little tummy was wigglin about with butterflies?
I had a dream that someone had stolen my extend-mirrors, my generators, my hitch, and an old propane tank.
In my dream, I even calculated my financial losses. Weird, hey?.Oh and by the way, I recalculated my losses when I woke up and I was WAY ahead in my dream!!!
Needless to say, all possessions were intact in the morning.

Got up..and after a shower, hit the road.

Spent the following night in Shreveport at a kind of funky park. Absolutely nothing to report on this park other than that it was close to the Interstate and muddy and there were some kind of shady characters next to me.
Several of the 'RV's' had blue tarps on the roof held securely in place with duct tape.
Quite resourceful!
Of note, my car alarm went off at about 230am, affording me quite the restful 'remainder' to my evening!  (My dream was a day early!!!!)

Hey, there has to be at lease one 'unsavory' park, right?

I did want to comment on road conditions.
I-20 West leaves much to be desired to this beginning traveler.
Coming into big cities the roads are so rough.. you and your rig are bouncing around so much you get the feeling that you are 'comin round the mountain' in a stagecoach.........OR you are getting an itsy bitsy taste of what the TAYLOR HIGHWAY in Alaska will be like.

Good Glory! I bounced so high and hard, my bones rattled........(and that is kinda hard to do, considering all the 'fluffy stuff' I have coating my bones!!!!)  (FAT JOKE!!)

Other than coming into the cities, I-20 was OK.
 I did enjoy 'crossing' into Mississippi! The view from the bridge over the Mississippi River was spectacular! (these are not my pics....I kinda couldn't stop to take any pics, so I stole some from the internet.........)

I leave for DALLAS in the morning. The weather forecast is for 100% chance of rain and thundershowers tonight and tomorrow, then decreasing to 80% on Monday.
I will be there 4 days visiting friends. YUCK.........(on the weather, not my friends!)

 Sunday....May 24........I am at the Traders Village RV Park, just outside of Dallas. It is a decent campground with ALL PULL THROUGH sites. This was VERY appealing when, bearing in mind, the horrible weather.
Constant rain!
AND another plus........the site was level. Made me tickled pink with HAPPY, Got set up  in no time at all.
In the setting up process, lookie what I discovered!!!

In case you cannot see it, it is the breakaway cable for the RV brakes! Remember I told you about those bumpy I-20 west highways? Well, NOW I can remember it happening, however at the time I couldn't figure out what the heck had happened. My camper wouldn't move after pulling into an equally bumpy gas station..........so being the brilliant technician that I am, I forced it to move.......and move it did.
Due to the smell of what I thought was burning rubber, I checked to see if something had lodged itself between the tires.......nothing.......I checked the engine belts........from what I could tell......nadda.
So, I continued on my merry little way!

For a few hundred miles with seemingly NO RV EMERGENCY BRAKES.....unbeknowst to me!

Doofus me.

So, I have calls into some mobile RV techs, and my fingers and toes are crossed that this can be repaired in the next day of so, allowing me to stay on schedule with travel plans.

CHARLES LAWHON TRAILER SERVICE came to the rescue. As we speak, my RV is with them. Everywhere else I called there was at least a one week wait to get it worked on, and several places that I called never even got back to me.
Evada Cooper was kind enough to give me a referral to a place that they trust,but apparently they were one of those back logged places, as they did not get back to me.
(Me thinks RV MAINTENANCE would be a great career choice to those that can do it.....Kat from Bay Bayou comes to mind!)
Initially LAWHON'S told me that it would take them 3 days to complete the job with their back log, however, he must have felt sympathy for me because he said he would try to get me back on the road by tomorrow!!!
YIPPEE!!!
Damp eyes and pathetic story of woe were indeed in my favor.

This will be a fairly costly 'lesson'. But, it could have been a much worse scenario! (No brakes, rainy weather, bumpy, irregular roads......you get the picture! Can't believe I drove so long without brakes, but SUPER glad, I had had work done on my truck including brake maintenance!)

NOW I know what to do when the RV won't move!!! The RV was definitely trying to tell me something but I missed the message.

I have had an AWESOME visit with my long time friends, Michael and Russell. I met Michael 27 years ago when we worked together in Tampa at University Community Hospital. He was a true mentor to me.
His adorable partner, (recently betrothed) Russell, of many years,.... and their poochie, Dallas are great fun to hang with. They have been awesome hosts....they keep my happy......They all have been

quite welcoming with my RV saga! (I spent the eve of Memorial Day with them watching the traditional war movie, and now I am back again until the RV once again has workable brakes!

Russell and Dallas

Russell, Dallas and Lilly bonding!

Dallas hiding under a chair during and thunderstorm!

Dallas getting her feet trimmed up

Michael

Fajitas for dinner!

Mimosas with our lunch!

Micheal and Russell are raising chickens as you can see in the next picture below.
Their names are Rose, Dorothy and Blanche..........'Golden Girls'?
They have not started 'laying' yet, but,after all, they still are kinda little.
There was a tiny 'incident' when the boys wanted to let the chickens out.
Lilly was, as usual, minding her own business,  ;-) when the chickens taunted her into a chase....(they do sound like squeaky toys, don't ya think?).......the chase was on, and Lilly was able to grab Dorothy....or was it Blanche?....who the heck knows...chickens all look alike if you ask me..........inside the chicken coop!!!. 
There ensued much yelling and many human hands grabbing at my poor little innocent canine.
See pic below.
There was no denying the evidence.
It was touch and go there for awhile......will I still have friends in Dallas?
Will we have chicken for dinner?
will I and my pooch be booted out on our hind ends????
The chicken lived.....we did have chicken for dinner, but it was of the frozen variety, and my friends still love us.
WHEW! is all I have to say.

Please note feather to left of tongue. YIKES!!

The lawn's around Dallas are saturated and the rivers are flooding. It is crazy!

It rains so much that there is no time for the earth to absorb it. Makes for very unhappy people and puppy feet. We, fortunately are not located near any of the flooding or tornadoes. We are safe from that prospective.

At the moment, the sun is kinda shining.......I say 'kinda' cause, if I look at the sky every 5 minutes, it alternates between sun and clouds. (OOPS! I looked away,and now it is cloudy!)

WEDNESDAY, May 27th  ...wait a minute, it stopped raining ...guys are swimming, boats are sailing!!

IT IS SUNNY with blue skies!!!

They just called about my RV and he said the brakes were totally 'scattered about' !

Need EVERYTHING replaced! 

Drums, pads, everything. 

Isn't going to be as pricey as I thought and it IS a very valuable lesson.

YIPPEE.....I will remain on schedule for the rest of my trip.

It is FRIDAY, the 29th! They are still waiting for UPS to deliver my parts! Supposed to come today, and if so, I will be on the road today. Am kinda cutting things close for my arrival date in Great Falls Montana, but things are out of my hands. 

Friday....3pm........RV done, but no desire to face rush hour Dallas traffic.

will be the road to Phoenix tomorrow!

Catch up with you all in a week or so!

North Fort Myers to Marianna Florida or Bust!!!!

Howdy doodie!
It was a long, long day for Lilly and I. We got up at 5am.....did our morning business, hooked up and were on the road by 6am.
Let me brag a bit by saying that last night I had to back up my rv IN THE DARK, and not only did I not land in the ditch, but I was PERFECTLY aligned! I wanted to jump up and down, however that would have really looked silly to fellow campers, so I did restrain myself.
Now, a year from now that will not seem like any kind of acomplishment...., but for now, it was astronomical!...........
Yippee for me.
Baby steps.
As usual, I digress.
We, as I said, were on the road, by 6am, and didn't arrive at Arrowhead Campground in Marianna, Florida until 3pm. LONGEST DAY EVER! (with the exception of the day before I retired!....that was a long day as well!)
We did get stuck in a MAJOR traffic jam south of Tampa which delayed us at the very least, 30 minutes, and I did stop about every 2 hours to gas up, stretch 6 legs, and let the owner of 4 of those legs empty their  bladder.
Lilly is such an awesome traveler! If her little head is not hanging out the window, she is curled up sleeping.
The campground. I am here so that I can go see the FLORIDA CAVERNS.  https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Florida-Caverns
So, I chose a campgroud nearby. The people here are very nice. Chatty.....informative, witty,....and there is a little convenient store as well as gas pumps.
However, It is not the easiest campground to negotiate. I drove around to the stares....yes, they were staring.....of the other guests for nearly 30 minutes until I could figure out how to pull into their pull throughs......very vague parking situation. Finally, i did figure out that if I straddled the road until I got unhooked it was workable.
Leveling was an experience. My normal 30 minute set up turned into an hour and a half. This in itself was a delight after my 9 hour drive.
I'm just sayin'.
I am safely and securely situated.

Despite my 9 hour drive NORTH, the temperature is the same as it was in North Fort Myers!!!
YIKES!
I was dripping sweat from places that I didn't realize sweat glands existed!
Tomorrow is another day. I might go canoeing....Thursday are the caverns.
DAY 2:  Today Lilly and I walked around the campground and snapped few pics, and then, since Lilly collapsed under a tree and I had to carry her back after our brutal 15 minute walk, I tucked her into the camper and I drove over to the Caverns State Park for some hiking. (Caverns are closed today, so that is on my agenda for tomorrow!)
The hiking is beautiful there..........with one HUGE exception. The mosquitoes are the size of a medium humming bird, and within seconds of entering the trail your are covered with a THICK BLANKET of the little blood suckers!.........so, in true tourist style, I snapped a few pics, and in an anemic state, high tailed in back to the safety of my vehicle!
Lilly and I spent the remainder of the day putzing around the park that we are 'stationed' in.
Lovely water all around.

DAY 3:  I got up bright and early, and went to the FLORIDA CAVERNS

https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Florida-Caverns

Let me just say, that if you have not gone, put it on your little 'to do' list.
It is incredible. Truly a magnificent display!
The guide was equally incredible and a veritable wealth of knowledge!
Pics below will tell the whole story much better than my jibber jabber could:

There are areas on the tour that you have to lean over to fit through the formations, however it is a fairly easy trip.

Following the caverns, I went for a three mile hike. Had the forest to myself....After yesterday's 'hummingbird' experience, I practically took a shower in bug spray, so even the mosquitoes left me alone.
Very beautiful forest!

I ended my afternoon by kayaking on the lake! It was incredible! There were these ginormous grass carps that were at least 3 feet long! I have posted a super cool video on facebook, but cannot figure out how to get it to this post. Humor me by visiting my facebook page and ohhhhh and awwww over the video!!! It would do my heart good. In the morning..........when I wake up...and not a moment sooner.....I am heading for Hattiesburg, Mississippi! See ya in a few days, folks and thanks for checking in on me. Makes me feel connected! (Karen is getting a map from AAA and tracking my progress!....what a true friend! Thanks, Kawin!)