Overnight: West Memphis, Arkansas (again)Dave's sister, Beverly, asked if we were bringing Homey-Roamy to Albuquerque for a shake-down cruise. Dave matter-of-factly stated, "No, we did that already when we went to Tampa." Boy, was he wrong!
This "cruise" has turned out to be more than a shake-down cruise; it's been a sheer challenge to mind and body. Maybe I'd go so far as to call it a dementia ward-off experience.
Unfortunately, our day started with the sad news that Dave's mom passed away Thursday night. The loss of one's parents is so difficult. But, we know she lived a long and happy life. To quote Dave's sister, "I can picture Dad, Mom, and Penny [the dog the kids had growing up] fishing in heaven, young and happy. They probably have plenty of fried chicken left in the pot, also." Need I say more!
We had made the decision on Thursday evening to stay put through Friday's winter storm and let it pass over us. We at least knew this campground. We have good TV reception and excellent WiFi. The "new" necessities of life. We had other good things we could use as well, like electricity, water, and propane. We also enjoy the unobstructed view of the tugs going up and down Ol' Miss.
Rain was predicted to begin at 5 AM, which was to be followed by snow around 7 AM. AT 4 AM, I awoke in anticipation of the coming storm, and "I" decided that because we were staying put that I should crank down the stabilizers on the trailer before the rain came in at 5 AM. Now, 4 AM is not the time to make such a decision. Nevertheless, I was determined. My hero got up and insisted on doing this dasterdly deed in the freezing cold so I wouldn't have to. What a guy! Love that pedestal he puts me on!
Friday morning at 8 AM we awoke to a clear day. No rain. No snow. So, we just sat and waited. We decided that trying to walk around the shoe-propped-up rug on the floor was a pain, so out goes the slide-out. Phew! Much more room to navigate. I got out my crocheting and started to untangle that mess that I last worked on in July. It's an aphgahn that I need to complete before Dave's Navy reunion in June. It's our raffle donation for the reunion group's fund raising. Dave busied himself on the PC and spent the day preparing as best he could for the upcoming storm. He went out and rolled up the hose that delivers water to our trailer and tucked it under the trailer to keep it a bit warmer. He also filled a bucket with water to bring in for "flushing" in case we lost the hose. The hose froze, even though we dripped water in the kitchen sink, in about an hour. We were glad we had the bucket, but forgot about needing drinking water for coffee in the morning.
At around 1 PM, the snow started, very slowly and lightly. We even wondered if we'd have much at all. Oh, so wrong!
At about 2 PM when we had moderately heavy snow, I realized that we had a 12-pack of Cokes in Dave's car and the temperature was dropping fast. So, I (yes, "I") went out in the snow and retrieved them. No sense in having frozen pop to mop up.
By 3 PM, we had about 3-in. of snow and the temperature was about 31 degrees, so we decided to crank in the slide-out as the canvas awning above it was beginning to creak from the weight of the snow. But, that turned out to be a bad idea once we got it inside. The sides and roof of the slide-out are now covered in snow and ice--all of which is now inside the trailer. But, hey, we did get the snow to roll off the awning. So, back out the slide-out went. We now busied ourselves moping up the melting snow INSIDE the trailer.
We did crank in the slide-out once more at 7 PM to get off more snow from the awning, but we are now learned and put it back out quickly. Just a wee bit of mopping up this time.
As the storm passed over us, we really began to rock 'n roll from the high winds. I honestly wondered if we'd have to call 911 during the night because we might tip. So, I put my cell phone in my pocket and slept with it all night. We retired early at 7:30 PM--not sure if from boredom or freight.
I am now adding this note on Saturday morning (3/8) to say it is calm (we stayed upright all night and glad we had the stabilizers out to keep us as fairly steady). The snow is beautiful. There is about 5-inches on the ground with several snow drifts.
As for the shake-down lesson learned--we are stuck here until the snow melts outside the room, else when we pull it in, the snow melts inside the room.
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