Rolling with the Flow…

Sometimes things just do not go according to plan. Or you become so anxious to leave a place, you jump on the road without a plan. Both scenarios occurred recently. The first was our departure from Red Bay Alabama. So relieved were we to receive our interior service and to hear from Bay Diesel all was well with the engine, we decided not to stay another night in Red Bay Alabama (even though we usually do not take off for anywhere past 1 pm). We hooked up the car, gassed up and were on the road by 1:30 pm thinking we’d just find a place to stay somewhere in Mississippi.

Nearing 4pm while traveling on Mississippi 25 we began to see signs for two Mississippi State Parks. While Sharon was scrambling to pull them up on her laptop, and since there was no traffic at all, I pulled into a long turn lane to one of the State Parks and stopped with flashers on. Low and behold a car comes up behind us wanting to turn, and thankfully I left enough space for the car to pull ahead of us and make the turn. I was trying to hurry Sharon up (which doesn’t go over well) when another car wants to turn, too. The only cars we’ve seen at all in the past half hour!

Well this lady pulls in front of us and stops and gets out of her car to come over to see if we needed any help! We explained we were scrambling to see what State Park to stay at for the night. She said actually right up the road she would highly recommend Tiak O’khata park which is Choctaw for Twin Lakes. She said she felt we would enjoy this stop over the two state parks. Boy was she right! Tiak O’khata was such a gem we decided on a two night stay rather than an overnighter. Sure wish we could thank her!

The next “rolling with the flow” scenario occurred a couple of days ago. We left Tiak O’khata after touring Natchez Mississippi (most of these photos are from there) with the intention of staying at Sandy Hill Campground, a Corps of Engineer park near Jasper, Texas. We decided to stop in Vidalia Louisiana for gas because the app on our phone (Gas Buddy) showed it much cheaper there than anywhere nearby. As we pulled in the station a beat up pickup truck was parked blocking the outside ,and only, diesel lane.

He waved to us so we waited…..and waited….and waited... We noticed him shuffling through papers then bubbling in his lotto number picks. Gee whiz. Finally Sharon jumped out to ask sweetly for him to move and he said, “ OK, Gimme a minute, Sugar!”. About 10 minutes after pulling in, we finally got diesel! Gee Whiz! Then, during the last 45 minutes of our four-hour drive we saw a sign warning of a 12’ 4”overpass! Oh crap, not sure how I missed it during trip planning!

We pulled into a large church parking lot and I found a way around the bridge that would add a half hour to our drive and no telling what surprises this “side route” had in store…so we went to Plan B and took the turn to South Toledo Bend State Park….Well, lo and behold, it’s a gem too. We liked it so much we are stayed here three nights. So as much nervousness as it causes Sharon to stray from the “plan”, sometimes it’s best to Roll with the Flow!

We will leave tomorrow for College Station, Texas where we plan to stay 3-4 weeks to visit family and friends…