Camping Trip, part two

Saturday, March 28


We awoke to what seemed like gale-force winds this morning that rocked the camper. The winds (very cold) continued throughout the day, making it difficult to open and close the camper door without having it ripped out of our hands and slammed against the camper. Once, when I tried to open the door, I thought it was going to scrape the skin off my fingers. Another time as I exited the camper, the wind caught the door and I sailed out suspended from it. It was all Hubbie could do to hold on to the door when he went in and out. We were very careful in helping Mother up and down the steps when she left the camper.


For breakfast, we had quick breads…banana and lemon, and coffee cake, with light cream cheese, along with fresh fruits…bananas, oranges, grapes and strawberries.

After we took care of the animals, we went to the casino. The casino has an interesting feature…a waterfall that flows into a shallow pond, the floor of which is littered with coins and bills.


At the gift shop, I bought a key chain with the casino’s logo to use as a Christmas tree ornament.
Then we played the slot machines suggested to us by Son. I lost most of $6, and then finally gained $4 of it back. Mother lost $2, then gained $1 back. Hubbie lost the most…$6.
By then we were ready to quit for a while and come back to camp for a lunch of veggie soup. Mother had a deli chicken sandwich with hers, and Hubbie and I had slices of bread with peanut butter. Cookies for dessert, as usual.


Then we toured the town’s historic district again, this time visiting the library’s museum, which features memorabilia from wars dating back to the Spanish-American, and including Desert Storm, Gulf War and Iraq. Interesting items include a deck of the playing cards featuring pictures of Iraq’s most wanted, a door latch from Daniel Boone's home, books donated by Mark Twain, a photo of Helen Keller, and information about her grandfather who was a brigadier general in the 1800s, and who lived in the area. Also housed at the museum is the largest Thomas Edison exhibit, and uniforms and dresses from eras dating back to the Civil War.

The museum's newest acquisition is a large Civil War diorama that features a battle in the area. Confederate soldiers are depicted as being vastly outnumbered and slaughtered by Union soldiers in the Confederate encampment.

Two elderly ladies act as docents at the museum (which is said to be the oldest in the state). As we left, they were busily playing Quiddler...a word game using playing cards.

From this museum, we went on a driving tour of the area. A fairly recent boardwalk extends out into the Mississippi River, where photos can be taken of the bridge that connects the two states across the Mississippi, but it was so windy-cold today, that we couldn’t walk on it. The wind was strong enough to create white caps on the river.


A ridge, denuded of trees and covered in kudzu, runs alongside the road. Small houses, many abandoned, are nestled along the base of it. This is part of a ridge that snakes up the eastern side of our state.


Earlier, Son had requested that I do publicity photos of his band, but it was too windy to do outdoor shots, using ruins of downtown buildings as backdrops, as we originally planned. So I called the music museum to see if we could use their facility, where there are black boxes featuring the signatures of hundreds of music artists written in white, and they said we could. But when I contacted Son, I learned that one of the band members was under the weather and was trying to rest and recuperate before their performance tonight. So our photo session was postponed to a later date.


We went back to camp around 4 p.m. Supper was leftover spaghetti and sauce, combined with leftover barbecued chicken, served with leftover mixed veggies, and cottage cheese. Very tasty on a chilly evening.

Around 7 p.m., we went back to the casinos and played the penny slots for a while. I played for two hours on $2. Then we commandeered a table and listened to Son's band for about an hour, until we were annoyed by an old gentleman who'd had too much to drink and wanted to preach to us.

So we left that casino and went to the one at the other end of the facility. Along the carpeted walkways are large black footprints, each featuring words of enticement: Ding...Pling...Walk...This...Way...To...Ca-ching (or, To...Win).

We played the penny slots recommended by Son. This time, I won back my original betting money ($20) plus $10. At this point, we were ready to head back to the camper. We noticed a sign on a light pole of the brightly lit casino parking lot that warned folks not to leave children or vulnerable adults in a car. Why would anyone do this, anyway, we wondered?

After light snacks, we went to bed, hoping the wind would abate by morning, since campers don't travel well in strong winds.