Our Wander Years

Vicksburg National Military Park

Posted on September 18, 2021 by Sparky

The view from the fortifications commanding the (almost) Mississippi

I expected Vicksburg to be a highlight of the TS7 and I was right. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was a really fine Civil War battlefield.

So what was unexpected about the battlefield? Two things: it was more rural (I expected it to be right in Vicksburg but the visitor’s center and driving tour were about 3 miles from town) and it was much larger than I expected (I thought it would be compact, like a wall around a medieval town). As I learned very quickly when I got to the Visitor’s Center, the fortifications defended by the Confederates were over 8 miles long, in a semicircle around the town.

The view that came closest to what I was expecting is the one at the top of this post: the view from the Confederate battery that controlled the Mississippi. This is what made Vicksburg so strategically important. But the view today is considerably different than the view in 1863 as the water seen here is no longer the Mississippi River – it is the Yazoo River. The Mississippi changed course in a flood in 1879 and created a shortcut at the south end of Vicksburg. The Mississippi at Vicksburg is very broad – much broader than the Yazoo.

I started at the Visitor’s Center, looking at the small number of displays and viewing the 20-minute introductory film. Then I got a 20-minute talk by a park ranger where I was an audience of one. So it was more like a chat with someone who actually is knowledgeable about the battle. Then I drove the park, stopping at 12 of the 15 stops along the tour road – the other 3 were in a section of the park that was closed. The driving tour was about 15 miles long and took me about 2 hours to complete.

I took quite a few photos, some of the terrain and some of the monuments (there are over 1,500 monuments and markers in the park, including one large monument built by each state that participated in the battle). Because the battle at Vicksburg was a series of unsuccessful attacks on fortified positions, followed by a siege, the Confederate and Union lines were pretty static – unlike those at Gettysburg or Chickamauga. So the driving tour has many markers identifying the two lines of trenches. Yes, the siege of Vicksburg was trench warfare – a precursor of World War I.

A question in my mind, which I think I have now answered, was “why was Vicksburg so impregnable?” The answer: terrain. The Confederates had a series of well-fortified forts (redoubts, redans, lunettes), all on high ground overlooking very deep chasms. An attacking army could be – and was – cut to shreds. What the Union army needed was close air support, but that would not be available for over 50 years. Bad timing.

Looking up Fort Hill from the Union line

I have more photos of specific battle events, but I think this is a good sample of my day. I can check Vicksburg off my Civil War battlefield list.

Categories: Adventures, Historical Markers, MS, Places, TS7 | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 15 – Omaha AR to Vicksburg MS

Posted on September 18, 2021 by Sparky

369 miles, almost entirely on US 65 (about 20 miles on I-20 into Vicksburg). Cumulative tow miles: 3200. Truck miles: 281. Cumulative truck miles: 4539. The extra truck miles were the refueling trip in Omaha.

This hop included a refueling stop in Pine Bluff AR. It was a very long day – about 6.5 hours of driving, the first half of it on a very twisty, hilly US 65. The second half was flat, but the skies opened up and I had to drive through some heavy showers.

If ever there was a hop when the refrigerator needed to stay on, this was it. But, naturally, it didn’t. This refrigerator/inverter problem is obviously more complex than I thought. My current theory: the 12V power from the truck is not sufficient to power the inverter by itself, so it must draw from the battery too. If the battery is not fully charged then the inverter will cut out. So… I need to make sure the battery is fully charged before the next hop.

My overnight stop in Omaha was at the Ozark View RV Park, billed as “The Quiet Retreat”. I guess it was as I slept soundly. It also had, as advertised, a nice view of the Ozarks. The park is built on a hill so some of the sites would be a bit of a challenge for some rigs, but the staff was very friendly and gave me a tour – and choice – of available sites. I chose a very large pull-through. 50A service and a decent selection of OTA channels. Not a bad park.

I considered making a quick trip to Branson, but that would have required two trips to refuel (one to get there and one, on the return, to top off) and Branson is not a place for a casual observer. If you don’t have plans for a show there is little reason to go. It would be like going to a casino to watch the people having fun.

Ozark View RV Park (I am just past the rig with the trailer)

Categories: AR, LA, MS, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 14 – Lee’s Summit MO to Omaha AR

Posted on September 17, 2021 by Sparky

Yes, there is an Omaha in Arkansas. I was surprised, too.

224 miles via I-470 (south of Kansas City), I-49, MO-7, MO-13, I-44 and US 65. Cumulative tow miles: 2833. Truck miles: 308. Cumulative truck miles: 4158. The extra truck miles were primarily due to a not-very-interesting auto tour of the KC area.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that there is a lot of up-and-down on the roads through the Ozarks. As a result my mileage was pretty poor on this hop with my low fuel light appearing after just 210 miles. But I made it to the destination and then drove 10 miles back north to refuel (over 30 gallons – that doesn’t happen often).

The weather was nice, the roads were generally good (except for those dang hills) and the refrigerator stayed on. So a good hop.

My home is suburban Kansas City was at the Longview Campground, a county park in Lee’s Summit. This is a small campground – fewer than 50 sites. The RV sites are huge, surrounded by lots of open space. I originally booked for only 2 nights then decided to extend it to 4 nights. But my first site was not available for the extra nights so I had to move halfway through my stay. Maybe my shortest “hop” ever – right next door.

The campground has fewer than 10 full-hookup sites, so I felt fortunate that I was able to snag two for my stay. But the campground was only about half full, which I found surprising.

Though located on a lake, I never really saw it. If there is a beach or boat access, they are well-hidden. But I wasn’t there to swim or boat, so no big deal. It might have made for some nice photos, though, if the water had been visible.

One of my neighbors was a Bible-thumping widow who was in training to become a missionary. I am not normally drawn to conservative Christians but she was quite attractive and very interesting (e.g., she used to be a golf pro). Chatting with her brightened my dog walks.

Categories: AR, MO, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

“Play Dead” by Harlen Coben

Posted on September 17, 2021 by Sparky

Harlen Coben is one of my favorite suspense/mystery writers. Play Dead is not one of his better books. In fact I would have to rate it as the worst of his books that I have read. But apparently it was also the first book he ever wrote and as a first effort it is pretty darn good.

So a quick synopsis. David Baskin is an NBA basketball star (nicknamed “White Lightning”) for the Boston Celtics, leading them to a championship. Laura Ayers is a top-tier model and CEO of her own fashion company. Think Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen. They meet, fall in love and elope (because her mother, for reasons not immediately obvious, is violently opposed to their union). But while on their honeymoon in Australia David drowns.

Or did he? Note to Coben – if you want to make the reader think he died, don’t signal the truth with a title like “play dead.”

Ok, so David didn’t really die. But why did he fake his death? And why, for God’s sake, did he decide to resurface, with a new face a new hair color and a new name (Mark Seidman) as a mysterious rookie for… yeah, you guessed it… the Boston Celtics? He is immediately nicknamed “White Lightning II”. Not a great strategy for keeping your fake death hidden.

The plot is deep and twisted and is, for the most part, nicely laid out, with appropriate flashbacks. But it isn’t a real headscratcher. The fake death is obvious and Coben’s insistence on avoiding gender identity of the perp (“the killer”, etc.) strongly suggests that he is trying to fool the reader about the gender of the bad… person.

Not bad for a first effort, but pick another Coben book if you want a really good one.

5 out of 10.

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TS7 Hop 13 – Oxford IA to Lee’s Summit MO

Posted on September 13, 2021 by Sparky

310 miles via I-80, I-35, I-470 (east of Kansas City), a short stretch of I-49 and some final miles on I-470 to Lee’s Summit. Cumulative tow miles: 2609. Truck miles: 375. Cumulative truck miles: 3850. I refueled in Lamoni IA, just north of the Missouri border.

This was a pretty easy hop, in good weather, almost entirely on interstate highways that were in good repair. Very little construction and not much traffic, even around Des Moines and Kansas City. The truck ran well and the refrigerator stayed on (I reset the battery circuit breaker – don’t know why it trips but it does, apparently randomly).

Kansas City marks the westernmost point of the TS7. From here my route will take me east, to Ft Myers via the Florida panhandle.

My home for 2 nights in Oxford was the Beyonder Getaway at Sleepy Hollow, a strange name for a pretty decent, family-oriented campground. There are obviously a lot of seasonal campers here – including some pretty permanent mobile homes – but there are also quite a few transient sites, all pull-through. The electric service with just 30A but that is fine as I rarely use both air conditioners. Water was a bit yellow but tasted fine. OTA TV was adequate – about 15 channels.

The “adventure” during this stay was my attempt to get Rusty groomed. I had an appointment for Rusty at the PetSmart in Iowa City and I was on my way there when I realized that I didn’t have his rabies certificate with me. I called to ask if I needed it and they said no, but I did need proof of distemper vaccination. Proof of distemper? I had no idea whether I had such a thing, but I had no choice but to turn around and travel 9 miles back to the campground. I frantically searched through his records – nothing current – then searched for my receipt from his July checkup. Bingo – the receipt included a list of vaccinations and showed that his distemper was good until 2023. Back in the truck and off to PetSmart, arriving just 15 minutes late.

And then they refused to groom him because they regarded the area of his tail that he had been gnawing as an “open wound”. So I bought a grooming razor, took him back to the campground and spent much of the rest of the day giving him a haircut. Or at least a partial haircut – I didn’t have the courage to shave his face. So I now have a fuzzy-faced, smooth-bodied dog. But he seems to like having his thick coat gone.

I did take the opportunity to take a quick tour of Iowa City. I wasn’t impressed. Madison is much more appealing. I didn’t want to stay too long as Iowa had a home game that afternoon (just as Wisconsin had a home game when I was there).

Categories: Adventures, IA, MO, Pets, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

A week in my hometown

Posted on September 12, 2021 by Sparky

Well, close to my hometown anyway. DeForest, when I was growing up in Madison WI, was a little village. Now it is a town with 2 water towers and more than 10,000 residents.

My week included a number of social and recreational activities:

Dinner at Paisan’s with Benjie and Junko

Dinner with 5 friends from high school at Paisan’s which, in my opinion, serves the best thin crust pizza in the world. Or, I should say, served the best thin crust pizza in the world – it has been temporarily shut down due to the condition of the building (structural issues?). I am glad I got to dine on its incredible shrimp-and-green-olive pizza. Hopefully it will be back in operation soon. It is a treasure.
Dinner (pizza from Salvatore’s) with 2 high school friends and their spouses. The mushroom pizza was spectacular, as was the conversation.
Dinner of homemade tempura by Junko, the wife of my bff Benjie from high school. Junko gets my vote for Most Accomplished in Every Way as she is not only an amazing Japanese chef but is also a very talented artist and photographer. And she has a high tech job, too.
A meeting of the Steering Committee, organized by Benjie. Don’t worry about what is being steered – it is just an excuse to drink beer.
Another beer-consumption event, this one at the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Union Terrace, which is maybe the only thing that makes me regret not attending the University of Wisconsin.
A dinner at Patty and Oren’s house, with Benjie and another couple from high school. More beer, lots of appetizers and a very nice lasagna.
Golf with high school buddies George and Blum. This was just 9 holes, but was at the Monona Golf Course, which is adjacent to my high school. The course has been completely redone in the nearly 50 years since I last played it so I recognized almost nothing about it. But I played reasonably well, which means that the other two only beat me by about 10 strokes.

I drove by my childhood home and gradeschool, too. Lots of memories here.

You might get the impression that I ate a lot that week. You would be right. But I didn’t put on more than a pound or two because I starved myself between feasts.

I spent some time during the week booking upcoming campgrounds and also arranged to have one of the RV tires replaced. It probably would have been fine to Florida, but my recent experience with an exploding tire convinced me that it is better to replace a tire before it is necessary than to deal with the damage resulting from waiting too long.

Drinks on the Terrace with Patty, Junko, Benjie and George

Categories: Food, Friends, Places, Sports, TS7, WI | 2 Comments

TS7 Hop 12 – DeForest WI to Oxford IA

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Sparky

220 miles via WI 19, I-39/I-90, US 151, I-380 (south of Cedar Rapids) and a bizarre sequence of lousy county roads the last 12 miles to the destination. Cumulative tow miles: 2299. Truck miles: 652. Cumulative truck miles: 3475. The extra truck miles were accumulated as a result of a series of social and recreational engagements in and around Madison WI.

This was not the GPS’s finest day as it gave me a really weird route on both ends of this hop. On departure, it froze, then took me down some local roads with a warning about exceeding the weight limit (I didn’t see anyplace where I exceeded a limit), then wound me back to I-39/I-90. I have no idea why it didn’t take me on the direct route there. Then, in Iowa, it routed me over 12 miles of really crappy county roads when I could have gone down to I-80 (the destination was right at an exit off of I-80). I will have to check the settings. Just inexplicable.

And the refrigerator did not stay on. Another thing I will have to look into.

The truck, thankfully, ran fine. The roads, however, were very rough. Everything was jumbled pretty thoroughly by the time I arrived. Due to the extra miles at either end (I expected the hop to be 210 miles but it ended up at 220), the “low fuel” warning appeared 3 miles before the destination.

My week in DeForest was at the Madison Campground. This is obviously an ex-KOA. It is quite nice. It is very family-friendly and there were a lot of kids there on the weekend of my arrival. After Labor Day the campground emptied out and there were very few kids the rest of the week.

This campground was very nicely laid out in semi-circles around the office, playground and pool. The sites weren’t large, but were sufficient. No cable, but the OTA TV was arguably the best I have ever experienced: 33 channels, all crystal-clear. And they had a recycle bin, so I was able to dump a large quantity of accumulated recyclable trash. A gas station with $2.99 diesel was right across the street. I would stay here again.

My week near my old hometown of Madison was filled with very fine mini-reunions with old friends. I did not see any relatives, for which I feel a little guilty. But only a little – friends are usually more fun than relatives.

I will document my Wisconsin activities separately.

Categories: IA, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7, WI | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 11 – Carlock IL to DeForest WI

Posted on September 5, 2021 by Sparky

212 miles via I-74 and I-39. Cumulative tow miles: 2079. Truck miles: 260. Cumulative truck miles: 2823. The extra truck miles were due to refueling and dinner out.

This was another easy hop, with no problems with the rig. In fact, the mileage was suprisingly high: almost 9 mpg. There was a little rain, but just sprinkles. The odd thing is that the RV GPS, despite being set to “avoid tollways,” routed me on the toll road through Rockford IL. I can’t get too upset about that as it was a small segment. I have no idea what the toll was, but I will probably find out eventually. In any case, that GPS failure made for a fast trip: almost exactly 3 hours.

I was surprised that I did not recognize I-39/I-90 as it approached Madison from the south. I have traveled this road dozens of times, but it seems to have been completely rebuilt since my last visit. It is a beautiful road, both in terms of the countryside and the roadway itself. Wisconsin has put a lot of effort into beautifying this road (and, as I was to discover later, all major roads around Madison). The signage is on pillars of faux stone rather than metal trusses and the bridges all have the same stone motif. As do the sound barriers. I think this is the most beautifully engineered road that I have seen in America. Kudos, Wisconsin!

My one night in Carlock was at Kamp Komfort, a very nice park with lots of pull-through sites. A good overnight stop. It is next to a railroad track, but no trains went through at night, so that wasn’t a real problem. I mentioned the horrible cowpath that I took to get there, so if you use this RV park, approach from the south!

I had to travel 10 miles to fill up at a reasonable price but it was worth it – $3.09 per gallon in Bloomington rather than $3.35 in Carlock. I also dined out at the Busy Corner in Goodfield IL. This was on the recommendation of my dear Florida neighbors (thanks, Mark and Pat!) and it turned out to be every bit as good as they said. I had the fried chicken plate (two pieces of very fresh and perfectly cooked chicken), hash browns (maybe the best I have ever tasted) and a salad, plus a piece of rhubarb strawberry pie (the strawberry was more a mousse than pieces of strawberries but very tasty). Even with a nice tip this very satisfying comfort food meal was under $20.

Categories: Food, IL, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7, WI | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 10 – Cloverdale IN to Carlock IL

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Sparky

177 miles via US 231, I-74, US 150 and a very scary mile on a narrow, rutted farm lane. Cumulative tow miles: 1867, Truck miles: 180. Cumulative truck miles: 2563.

I don’t know why the RV GPS took me down that God-awful cowpath. After I got to my destination I looked back at the Google path and it was much more reasonable, approaching the RV park from the south rather than the north. A quarter of a mile down that path I encountered a sign warning that no vehicle over 500 pounds (!) should travel the road if wet (presumably because it would get stuck in the mud). It was dry, but I wasn’t going to chance it. I was in the process of backing up a quarter of a mile when a farmer stopped me and assured me that the road was passable. I thanked him, took a deep breath and took the RV on what appeared to be a perilous journey. The road was, indeed, passable, but only because it was dry and no vehicle came the other way. Without question, the scariest mile of my 45,000 tow miles.

My overnight stay in Cloverdale was at the Cloverdale RV Park. Usually an overnight stay doesn’t merit much comment as it is just a place to rest. This one, however, was notable for several reasons:

It included a chapel. And not just any chapel but a Bride of Christ Chapel. I expected it to have a staff of Catholic nuns. The entrance sign had a huge “J.C.”. The owner clearly loves Jesus. Was it right to think of a devout man as being a bit creepy?
The flagpole at the office had two flags: an American flag and an Israeli flag. I was tempted to ask why a Christian campground would be flying the flag of the only Jewish state in the world, but I didn’t.
The mother of the owner was a very chatty 80-year-old who pretty much gave me a full rundown of the husband and all 12 of her children. She also told me about the cancer ravaging her body (while having a smoke) and how she was refusing to get the COVID vaccine because she didn’t trust the government. Middle America personified.

The campground itself was decent. No pool, but it did have a laundromat and a rec hall. And the chapel. It also had a fairly scenic pond

A strange place, but ok for an overnight.

Categories: IL, IN, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 9 – Brookville OH to Cloverdale IN

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Sparky

143 miles via I-70 and I-465 (southeast of Indianapolis). Cumulative tow miles: 1690. Truck miles: 153. Cumulative truck miles: 2383. The extra truck miles were from shopping and refueling.

This was an easy hop. Sunny skies, flat roads. But a lot of traffic, including a 15-minute delay at the start due to an accident on I-70. The refrigerator stayed on and the truck ran fine. A good day.

My stay in Brookville (near Dayton) was at the Dayton KOA Holiday. I like KOAs. They aren’t cheap and the sites are sometimes cramped, but they are always better than adequate and the staff is relentlessly cheerful. This KOA had some wonderful facilities and a lot of money was invested in making the place beautiful. But I didn’t use the wonderful bathhouse or pool. Or even enjoy the stream, pond or any of the many covered swings scattered around the property. No, what I used extensively was… the cable TV.

98 channels!

After a summer of no TV and a bunch of TS7 stops where the TV was OTA or non-existent, I got a smorgasbord of crystal-clear cable TV in Brookville. A good thing I had it, too, because it rained most of the time I was there. I hunkered down with Rusty (who is slowly recovering from his diarrhea) and vegged out on Boob Toob. I got to watch the final Patriots pre-season game live!

Pretty darn exciting.

Categories: IN, OH, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment