Jo's welcome home views

Backed in a little past 2 pm and already the washing machine is going full speed.  It appears that our mowing crew has just been here so the yard looks nice.  Here are some of the pretty parts of Jo's yard that say welcome home.

azalea

 white bleeding heart and columbine

 bleeding heart that was in full bloom before we left

 white iris

 thorn-less yellow rose

(in the background you can see the bottom of the next picture)

 red flowering buckeye

 burning bush - quince

Our next trailer trip is scheduled for June 8 for a visit with Phyllis.

breathing Missouri air

Slipped back into Missouri a little after lunch time today.  We are back in the same campground in Sikeston that we stayed in on our way south.  The campground is convenient on and off of I-55 and is kept up very nice and clean.  Tomorrow we will head back to the old Martin Manor and will sit tight until our next trailer trip which is planned for June and a visit with Phyllis.

heading back north

We left the Gulf this morning heading back northerly toward the Manor.  Our first night is the same beautiful COE campground that we used on our way south and it is still quiet and beautiful.  Our front yard pets have multiplied in the past couple of weeks.  These are two different families enjoying their grazing in our front yard.

nice visit

Yesterday evening was our dinner with our friend Linda.  She is the daughter of some very good friends back in Missouri that we square danced with for many years.  She has the same birth date as JoAnn, however, she is the same age as Phyllis.  We spent about two hours enjoying a very nice belated birthday celebration meal and visiting with her.

We had driven down from Missouri several years ago with Art and Mary, her parents, to celebrate the two ladies birthday and since she was a resident of the French Quarter at that time she provided a very good host and tour guide of the New Orleans area.  Earlier this month Jo and I went to Monroe City, Mo to help Art celebrate his 90th birthday and Linda was there also.

The restaurant was very good and I enjoyed my half dozen on the half shell one more time before heading back northerly.  The name of the restaurant was The Speckled T's (as in speckled trout) and the Creole Trout that I had for my plate was very good.

Another nice lunch

Another nice lunch at Shaggy's today.  I only ordered the appetizer of half dozen on the half shell but this time they were baked with some garlic butter and parmigiano cheese.  I knew I would have plenty to eat as Jo ordered a shrimp basket.  I enjoyed all of her jalapeno hush puppies, half of her shrimp, and two thirds of her french fries to go along with my oysters.  She saved room for a slice of key lime pie.  It was such a nice day that we took a table outside under an umbrella.

We have plans for our belated birthday celebration on Monday evening in Slidell, LA with Linda.  She called to say that she wanted to try the Speckled T's.  We will meet her there as it is about half way between our campground and her home in Kenner, LA

nice dinner out

Last evening Jo and I had a very nice local seafood dinner.  The restaurant was the "Half Shell Oyster House" and the plates were delicious.  Jo had the Grouper and I had Redfish after a beginning of this...

I wonder what happened to that one empty shell across from me on Jo's side of the table.  No she didn't, I just started on the far side of this platter, her fork didn't get used.  These were some of the largest oysters I have ever had.  The last time I did have some oysters they were so small that the shucker even gave me eight when I ordered six.  I don't remember where that was but probably along this gulf coast somewhere.
 

day for a walk to the beach

This afternoon the wind wasn't blowing hard enough to disturb my hairdo so I took the short walk to the beach.  While not very wide at this location basically the whole length of Mississippi's contact with the gulf is a fine, white powder, sand beach.

looking to the West

 looking to the East

 and back North toward our trailer

rocking and rolling

Today the sun is shining and it looks like it will warm up more than the past few days but the wind keeps blowing.  So far we have just kept some windows open for a comfortable temperature inside the trailer but with the sun out we may need the AC.  I imagine that there is wind off the gulf most all the time.  It does bounce the trailer around a bit but not doing any damage.

The last couple of days we have stayed in mostly except for a couple of trips to the grocery and Wally Mart.  We did drive along the beach road both directions and found a very nice restaurant (Shaggy's) for lunch yesterday.  We both had a shrimp Po-boy which was delicious and I'm sure we will go back again before we leave the area.

We have called a friend's daughter that lives near New Orleans who has the same birth date as JoAnn.  Several years ago we drove down to New Orleans with our friends (her parents) from Missouri and celebrated the two ladies birthdays with a dinner out.  At that time she lived in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  We ask her yesterday to pick a restaurant and a date and we will meet her there to again celebrate the two ladies common birth date belatedly.

rainy day

Today has been another rainy day with a front that has stalled just off the coastline.  They are saying that after tomorrow morning we should have some days of sunshine.  Oh well we needed a day of rest anyway after the three days of driving.

Thank you GWF !!!

When I checked the forecast for Gulf Port this morning there was a large mass of moisture over the area and the prediction for 2:00 pm (original planned arrival) was calling for a 100% chance of thunderstorms.  Then it tapered down to a 10%-20% chance by 3:00 to 4:00 so I told Jo we would just sit tight where we were and leave a couple of hours later than planned.  A little later I checked again and the forecast had changed to be a 30% to 40% all afternoon so I told Jo, "let's buckle up and go."  We drove through only a couple of very light showers and when we arrived the sun was out and all is well.

While we have been in this area before, this is a first time for this campground.  It's not a real big campground but is just across the beach road from the sand.  Here is a picture literally taken out our front door.  I'm sure that from the widow's walk it would be a better view of the waves.

much better weather today

Thank goodness the storm front moved on through and this morning, while very cool (upper 30s), the skies were clear and have remained that way all day.  We also have moved another 250 miles southward and the temperature outside right now is 75°.

 We have made a trip each spring for several years this direction to get a little head start on some warmer spring temperatures.  Past trips that we have made this direction have all been routed through central MO and northeast AR to a campground near Memphis.  Then south of Jackson, MS for a second night which left a short drive for the third day.  This trip we have divided the miles in almost even thirds which is why we stayed in southeast MO last night and mid MS, a nice COE lake near Grenada, MS, tonight which leaves another nice day for tomorrow to finish the trip.

Another advantage with this routing is that along I-55 south of St. Louis after we get past Campbell's Ridge (John knows all about this) the land is totally flat all the way to Memphis and I could keep the transmission in 6th gear instead of my usual, through rolling hills, 5th gear with 6th being locked out.  The only hills along this stretch of highway is whenever the roadway goes up and over a RR track.

Our front yard

Back on the road again with the trailer

We pulled out of the driveway this morning a little before 9:00 am on our way toward the Gulf Coast.  Our first nights stop for this trip didn't get us out of Missouri as we are now stopped for the night in Sikeston, MO.  Tomorrow we will continue southward along I-55 through Memphis and down into Mississippi.

It has rained on us the whole way.  Our GWF did the best she could this morning as it was only sprinkling lightly as we finished loading the last minute items for departure.  As we pulled into the campground here in Sikeston it was raining fairly heavy so out came the yellow rain suit for getting the trailer hooked up and ready for the night.