Dodging Wilma

Well, my wish for no more hurricanes was not granted. After our stay in Memphis we headed for Florida. Stopping first in Tampa to have service on the coach at Lazy Days RV. John said that's the first time we've been there that they didn't buy a new RV! I really had a good time at Lazy Days. While the mechanics were working on the coach we sat in the Crown Club and all the girls that work there were just ga-ga over me. My very favorite was Jennifer - she even held me and let me get white fur all over her black outfit!

Hanging out in the Crown Club with John.

Me and my friend Jennifer with John.

After getting the dash air fixed, we moved over to Orlando for the Monaco Eastern Come Home Rally. Since John and Peggy were on the parking committee, they had to be there early. The first five days there were quite warm and humid, and they were spent wondering if and when "Wilma" would be coming their way.

The parking for the rally started on Sunday, and the day was very cloudy and breezy. It started raining around 7:30 pm and the wind was getting stronger. It rained on and off all evening, and around 7 am it really started to come down and the winds were even stronger. It was mostly raining sideways! The winds were pretty strong - gusting up to around 65-69 mph. There were only a few times when the winds were strong enough to rock the coach, but it stayed very dark all morning, and the rain and wind just kept up. Around noon, the rain let up and it started to lighten up. By 1:00, the clouds were starting to break up and the sun was beginning to peek out. Most of this I know from Peggy, as I spent the entire time hiding under my blanket on the couch! We feel very fortunate that Wilma stayed as far south as she did and we only got the fringes of the storm. We didn't get any pictures of the storm, as there was not much to see from inside the coach and Peggy wouldn't go out in the rain.

After that, the rest of the rally was anti-climatic! Peggy was kept busy teaching a beading class every day, and she and John worked as bar tenders every evening.

On the last night in Orlando, they drove out and had dinner with Peggy's son Jimmy who is living in central Florida. Leaving Orlando, John discovered that the dash air was not working, so instead of heading north to St. Louis, he drove back to Tampa, to Lazy Days. We've spent the week-end in their RV park, and they promise to get us in by Tuesday. At least, there are no hurricanes looming, and the weather is very pleasant -- sunny days, no humidity, and very cool evenings. And I can go visit Jennifer in the Crown Club again!

Memphis and Graceland

Wow! Is my head spinning! We stopped in Memphis, TN on Tuesday (I know, you are wondering how we got from N. Dakota to Memphis.........well, it's been very difficult getting Peggy to sit down and type for me, but not to worry, I'll go back and fill you in on the details.) Now, back to Memphis - we arrived at the Graceland RV Park on Tuesday. Being tired from driving all day, John & Peggy wanted to go out to eat, and they wanted Bar-B-Q. Well, would you believe, they found a place that picked them up at the coach in a pink caddy, and brought them back. They say the Bar-B-Q was very good also.

Off to dinner in a pink caddy!

On Wednesday, it was up and off for a tour of Graceland. Peggy said she got goose bumps as the shuttle took them through those famous gates - the PA system was playing Elvis' "Welcome to my world, won't you come on in..........". It was a very good tour - they had headphones that gave an audio tour as they walked through the home. There were lots of Elvis tunes interspersed with the audio, and there were lots of audio clips of Elvis speaking. Peggy said she kept expecting to see him walking into a room. (For those of you who may not know, when Peggy was in high school in Jackson, TN, her steady boyfriend's sister (Anita) was dating Elvis. One weekend when Anita was home from Memphis she let Jerry & Peggy borrow Elvis' car to go to the drive-in. On the way home, Jerry was trying to tune the radio and wrecked the car. Oops! Next time you see her, asked her to show you the scar on her chin.) After touring the mansion, they went through the car museum and toured Elvis' airplane, the Lisa Marie.

Peggy in front of Graceland, Elvis' home which
is on National Register of Historical Places.

Elvis grave in Memory Garden at Graceland

After Graceland, they were off to Sun Studios in downtown Memphis where Elvis recorded his first record. That was another eerie experience, as they still have all of the original tapes that Elvis made there, along with ones from Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins, just to mention a few. They also got to hear part of an impromptu jam session that was recorded in 1956 with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. At the time Jerry Lee was an unknown backup pianist for different artist that came in to Sun to record.

Picture hanging in studio at Sun Records captures the day that
four greats got together for a jam session. Standing left to right,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis at Piano.

After Sun Records, it was off to the Peabody Hotel for cocktails and to watch the parade of the ducks. These ducks live in the penthouse of the Peabody and come down every morning around 11:30 to play in the fountain in the lobby. At precisely 5:00, the Duck Master rolls out a red carpet, and the ducks proceed out of the fountain, down the red carpet and into the elevator to go back to the penthouse. John says he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. What amazes me, is the ducks stay in the fountain all afternoon and make no attempt to leave!

Ducks playing in lobby fountain at Peabody Hotel.

Ducks taking a walk on the red carpet to the elevator.

Next stop was Beale Street - home of the blues - and some real good barbecue. Since they couldn't decide on which place, they had southern fried catfish at one, bought some tamales to go at another, had desert at yet another place, and then got barbecue to go at another! Now back to the tamales - John got a shock when they returned to the coach and he went to put the tamales in the freezer - they didn't look like the ones he's used to. These tamales were like the ones Peggy used to buy when she was growing up. There were street vendors that pushed their carts around town selling the tamales you're all used to - filling inside masa, wrapped in corn husks AND these wonderful hot tamales that is just filling wrapped in paper. Peggy said they used to sell for a nickel and the kids would buy them and just push the filling up out of the paper wrapper.

Beale Street

We're off to Florida now, so hope no more hurricanes develop.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

After leaving Oregon, we stopped in Visalia, CA, to meet up with friends Pat & Gary Quilla. After seeing their beautiful home and museum, we had a wonderful dinner on the river. Next morning we all headed for Albuquerque to meet up with Monaco friends for the International Balloon Fiesta. On the way, we stopped for a tour of an Indian Pueblo - Acoma or Sky City. Sky City is on a mesa about 40 miles west of Albuquerque and is a must see if you are in the area. Some of the buildings in the pueblo date back to the 1100's. Our tour guide lives on the mesa 365 days a year and is raising his children there. They really live between two worlds. They have no running water, no electricity, and no sewers but the children attend school off of the mesa. Our guide also explained that many of the residents of Sky City live off the mesa, but return and live there for their holy days.

Dinner by the river

Sky City Pueblos

San Estaban de Rey Mission at Sky City

We had a wonderful time at the Balloon Fiesta. We were parked (along with about 85 other Monaco coaches) in a primo spot, on a bluff just south of the balloon launch field. We could sit in the coach and watch the balloon launches. That was really great at 6am, when it was chilly 45 degrees outside. Peggy's friend Janet drove over from Surprise and spent a few days with us. John met one of the balloon pilots through friends at the rally, and became a member of the crew for the Air Apparent. This entailed John getting up at 5 am or earlier and going out to help launch the balloon for dawn patrol, or just a little later for the mass ascensions. John had a wonderful time, and was rewarded on Saturday morning by getting to ride in the balloon when it went up for dawn patrol. After his ride, they opened a bottle of champagne - and they drank it instead of pouring it over his head! I don't know what was more exciting, watching the lighted balloons or the mass ascensions.......picture if you can over 800 beautiful multi-colored balloons lifting floating up into the sky. On Saturday night, Peggy went down to the field to get some close up shots of John crewing for the balloon glow. Just after they got the balloon inflated, the winds started whipping up and Peggy was quickly drafted as the crew fought to get the balloon deflated and down on the ground. Every evening after the balloon glows, we were treated to a spectacular fireworks show. Peggy and Janet watched most of those from the coach, sipping hot chocolate!

Peggy & Janet at Balloon Glow

View of Balloon Glow from coach

Balloons in competition

Peggy says she has too many great balloon fiesta pictures to include here, so check out this site if you'd like to see them. http://photos.yahoo.com/rahkola