Diary for Harry and Judy's RV Trip


Day 5-July 10, 2017-Rising Star CG-Grady, AR

2017-07-10

Day 5-July 10, 2017-To Rising Star Campground, Grady, AR

Drove 218 miles in 5-1/4 hours.

Temp got up to 93, still humid.

Route 82W is now back to 2 lanes each way and there are still farms on both sides.  Looks like corn, sunflowers, peas and more soybeans than I can count.  This is the Mississippi Delta, the area between the Yazoo River and the Mississippi River and it is supposed to be the leading area for cotton but we haven’t seen any cotton fields.  Lots of red-winged blackbirds flitting about the fields.  Most of the towns have huge grain silos and processing plants.  Drove through Leland, MS, the birth place of Kermit the Frog.  They even have a museum dedicated to him but we skipped that.  They also call this road the “Mississippi Blues Trail” and there is a Birth of the Blues Museum, too.  We skipped that as well.  We also skipped the Harlowe Casino on the Mississippi River right before crossing it to go into Arkansas.  We did, however, stop in the parking lot for lunch.  Casinos always have big and safe parking lots.  Right after entering Arkansas we turned north on US route 65, also called “Delta Rhythm and Bayou Trail”, same 2-lane road as 82 to Grady, AR and the campground.  We’re staying at an Army Corps of Engineers campground, Rising Star, right on the Arkansas River.  All the COE campgrounds are on some sort of water and they are all beautiful.  I needn’t have worried that this one was full….we’re the only ones here.  Big, long shaded sites with cement pads and covered picnic tables and fire rings.  And what a view!!!! Right on the river, with a couple of small islands filled with herons and egrets and ducks. They say some of the best fishing is in this river but we’re just here to relax and enjoy life.  We’re going to stay here for a while and catch our breath.  No internet or  phone but I’m sure we’ll manage somehow.  Oh, and did I mention it’s $9.50 a night to stay here? Sat and watched the river, huge squirrels and shore birds for a while then had dinner.  In the evening we were treated to a magnificent sunset with birds and bugs chirping and fish jumping.  The river gets really calm after sunset, not a ripple in it.  When it got really dark the stars over the river were uncountable.  I could get used to this life.