Friday, Sept. 28

Up at 7 a.m. to get ready to head home. While Hubbie prepared the camper to hook up to the truck, a crop duster flew low over the adjacent field and sprayed the soybeans. several campers, including me, gathered at the edge of the field to enjoy the event and snap pictures. I've seen crop dusters before, but not close enough to shoot snapshots.

We were on the road by about 9 a.m. It was cloudy and cooler this morning, and it rained a little while. We traveled past delta fields of cotton, soybeans, and rice for about an hour, before the terrain suddenly changed to tree covered hills, fields dotted with round hay bales, and pastures of cattle and horses.

Purple vetch bloomd along the roadsides, and in one place a large patch of it grew profusely and prettily on undulating mounds between kudzu-covered trees.

There were an awful lot of raccoons smashed on the road. It's not mating season, so these may have been young ones, inexperienced at crossing busy highways.

We arrived home around noon, and joined Mother and Sis for lunch. Afterward, Mother and Sis watched Monday night's episode of "Dancing With the Stars," while Hubbie and I unloaded the camper, and put stuff away. Then I joined them in watching the elimination episode.

After that, we continued watching TV until suppertime. For supper, Mother chose to have a chicken salad sandwich, and Sis, Hubbie, and I opted for chili. Sis was ready to head home after that.

I accompanied Mother to her house, and then Hubbie and I relaxed in front of TV. It wasn't long before we were ready for bed. We'd had such an active few days that we were ready to konk out.

Note: we learned that while we were gone, Sis had washed a load of laundry at Mother's house, which caused the water to back up in the bathroom toilet and bathtub. Guess we'll have to call a plumber Monday. It hasn't been that long since a plumber reamed the pipes, so I don't know what's wrong this time.

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Trip Notes:

A week or so ago, I read online that Memphis is one of the ten dirtiest cities in America, and I can believe it. While the tourist attractions are well-maintained, much of the rest of the city has delapidated buildings, and ill-kept residential areas.

The roads and highways are rough, too, which is why, I suppose, that road work is constantly ongoing, which makes it difficult to travel in the area.

Saw a lot of fashion statements, worn by lots of folks with highway orange hair. No wonder I couldn't find anything appealing to wear at the mall. I don't want to make a fashion statement. I just want ordinary clothes.

At the mall: we entered at the Macy's store, at the makeup/perfume department. I thought I would gag before we got beyond the area, and for a while afterward, my nose was stopped up as if I had a cold. I don't see how the clerks stand to work there.

At the other end of the scent spectrum, we were assailed by smoke at the casino. There's a filtering system there, but it doesn't completely eliminate the odor, which clung to our hair and clothes. On our last night there, a man smoking a cigar sat down beside Hubbie. That was really stinky.

Funny: at the casino, in order to receive our $20 free play cards, we needed to devise a four-digit pin number. I used the month and day of my birth, so I'd remember it when I needed to enter it on a slot machine. Later, Hubbie said he did the same, except he was six months off on his birth month. I know he frequently forgets the names and birthdates of his family members, but his own birthdate? We laughed about this.

Interesting: all around Memphis are tiger statues, painted in various designs. In researching these online, I learned the University of Memphis alumni association has sponsored 100 of the tigers, which are placed at various points around town, in honor of the football team.

At camp: it was pretty noisy, since trains, blaring horns at crossings, rolled through day and night. Same for the constant stream of 18-wheeler trucks on the nearby highway. Added to that, we were camped directly beneath a big security light. Still, we were tired enough at night to go to sleep pretty quickly.

At the botanical garden farmer's market: boxes of fruits and veggies were priced at $4, no matter what vendor sold them. I commented on this at a vendor stand operated by a couple of oriental folks, which prompted the wife to offer me a box of tomatoes for $3. They certainly weren't worth more, since a couple of them are already going south.

In the botanical garden: at one point, a warining siren blared. We wondered why, since the sky was only partly cloudy. Soon we were startled by what sounded like sonic booms. We decided that blasting was going on somewhare, and the siren was to warn folks living nearby the site.

These days, we are never very far from family, thanks to modern technology. because of cell phones, Sis was able to call when she had trouble with her truck after she visited a beauty shop where she got a haircut. Her truck wouldn't start, and she needed to know the name of our auto shop. The guys at the shop don't know Sis, but once she told them who we are, they didn't hesitate to rescue her, bring her to our house, go back and get the truck, put a new battery in it at the shop, and deliver it to our house. When Sis left for her appointment, Mother was napping on the couch. She was still asleep when Sis returned, and was unaware of what had transpired.

Hubbie also received phones calls from his family...one in which his son reported that a family friend had experienced a horrible accident, when a large tire he was working on blew up in his face. He had to be transported by helicopter to a capital city trauma hospital. He also got a call from his sister, who underwent a nuclear stress test to determine if there is blockage in her legs.

On my cell phone, I was able to access a capital city TV station weather report about the thunderstorm at home yesterday. The storm dropped two inches of rain, and blew a few limbs out of a dead tree at the other end of the yard, but Mother and Sis were okay.

Because the campground had WiFi services, I was able to access my clinic records and get the results of my tests from a week or so ago. Everything is normal, thank goodness.

Before we left on the trip, I downloaded a library book to my e-reader. The library has recently acquired e-book capability, and I registered for the privilege a couple of weeks ago. There is a limited selection to choose from, and the more popular ones are out, but I found an available easy-read mystery, which was just right for the trip. Even though patrons check books out at the library site, they are actually downloaded to the e-reader from a popular online book/music store. I have two weeks to read the book, and then it will be automatically removed from my reader.