It was a rainy day, so we drove to see Superman’s hometown.

15 feet tall and recently repainted, in front of city hall:

We walked down to see the Ohio River, Indiana is on the other side:

Our campsite at Tom Sawyer was full sun all day and it was hot. We left Saturday morning and drove to Sikeston MO for one night. And our site was (sad face) in the full sun again and it was still hot.

On Sunday we continued north to Marion Illinois. Crossing the Ohio River into Illinois:

Taffy in the front office at Marion RV Park & Campground was so kind and gave us a full-shade site. Even the parked car is in the shade. And it has cooled off. Thank goodness.

Monday June 14. Dani, Kathy, Cheryl, Leo, Jane. What’s your caption for this photo?

Tuesday June 15. Dani, Leo, Cheryl, Kathy:

Wednesday June 16. Dani, Jonathan, Cheryl, Kathy, Jane.

Thursday June 17. Kathy, Leo, Dani, Cheryl. 32 miles starting at 7 am. My weather app said Sacramento had a high of 107 degrees with 10% humidity today. This is when someone might say, “Yes, but it’s a dry heat.” My comparison: today I rode 21 miles beginning at 6:15 am, 93 degrees with 41% humidity today, W Memphis AR-Memphis TN and back. Hot is hot. Ride early.

Saturday June 19. Dani Art, Kathy, Leo, Cheryl:

Knowing where we were going made all the difference this morning. And we left at 6:15.

The Memphis River Walk has the potential to be a good trail. It’s a series of individual parks, starting with this one:

We went through some nice neighborhoods with great views of the river:

But the third park and trail was closed. Yesterday we had to find a detour, today we knew what to do. We rode past Beale Street and found some construction happening. In the background, the local riverboats that offer tours, Mud Island, and the closed I-40 bridge:

A right turn on Monroe Ave took us to Main St with an empty trolley going by:

Main St in Memphis at 7:15 am, looking north:

South:

On the corner:

This is the detour we had to take around one of the closed parks. The left lane on S Riverside Dr was blocked to vehicle traffic. In the right lane, the correct place to ride, there was no bike lane or shoulder (or sidewalk). But there was plenty of partially protected space in the blocked left lane so that’s where we rode.

Approaching the bridge from the east side of the river:

A better view of the park underneath the three bridges:

At the W Memphis end of the Big River Crossing, we turned left on S Loop Rd for about 3 miles to get back to the turn off for the campground. Industrial sections on the right, the levee and river on the left. It had a great shoulder most of the way and very little traffic.

21 miles. Hurray! We got to ride two days in a row which also meant Starbucks both days. And we were back in the air conditioned RV by 8:45 am!

It was still hot so we completed any outside tasks in the early morning. By 9 am it was time to sit and do something else. If a breeze was blowing, it was possible to find a good patch shade by the river to sit and watch the traffic go by.

There is no recreational boating, it’s all commercial. Push-boats moving barges up or down the river.

Sitting high in the water, going upriver, means the barge is empty:

When something unique came up/down the river, other camera-ready RVers came out:

Like this one. Nine barges rafted together, each holding 36 shipping containers. That’s 324 trucks not driving down the road each pulling one container on a trailer.

be outside after 9 am and too hot to ride the trails on the other side of the Mississippi River. It was actually just a 10-mile bike ride from our campsite across the river using the Big River Crossing Trail to the Memphis River Walk, then a right turn onto Beale Street, and a few blocks later – ta dah – the closest Starbucks. Surely an incentive but the weather was unbearable.

Saturday night Billie slept sideways in her bed and I slept on a short bed. I took 2 of the 3 back cushions off, it was wide enough and long enough at an angle.

Sunday’s focus was figuring out what was wrong with the slide outs. Billie read, researched, contacted the previous owner, talked with a technician at Lippert (manufacturer of the slide out mechanisms), unscrewed and reattached plates to check the wiring (from a most awkward position too, I had to hold a mirror so she could see the holes), found another fuse box to check if anything had tripped, and finally put a post on an owner’s website. The responses came in quickly … one post said “Is the emergency brake on?” Billie puts on the emergency brake on EVERY time she stops, but not this time. That was it. Problem solved. Slides out. Big lesson learned.

The trailer beside us also had problems. As Don and Mary were driving over the levee to get to this RV park, they blew the transmission in their truck, which was now in the shop being fixed.

We had a long day on the road followed by a problem. Some of the roads are in horrible condition and you bounce around or hit unexpected hard bumps or dip into potholes. Bad drivers are always annoying. And then there’s crossing the Mississippi River. I-40 will be closed for months to fix cracks in the steel beams which means all the traffic must cross on Hwy 55. It takes hours to make the crossing, but we were moderately lucky on Saturday morning.

Right after the bridge we turned left to go to Tom Sawyer RV Park. No trees and it’s (expletive) hot.

We have a great view of the Mississippi River.

The problem: the slides would not go out! The road to a solution began …

Monday June 7. Shiloh and daughter at Bodega Bay:

Thursday June 9. Cheryl and Jane:

Friday June 11. Cheryl and Jonathan:

Saturday June 12. Winters to Davis and back + breakfast. Cheryl, Sharon, Jane, Kathy, Leo, and Jonathan.

I’ve developed a habit of buying a small bag of Cheetos at every third truck stop or so when we refuel. I snack as we go down the road then roll up the bag and stick it in the door storage area. When we’re camped, Cheetos don’t enter my mind, but as soon as we’re rolling down the road, I start thinking about how good that day’s snack is going to be.