January 1st, 2011

Happy New Year!
We made it to Little Rock yesterday by dinnertime and settled in at a small RV park at the side of the Arkansas River. Opa Henk took the kids for a walk with a playground at its end, while mom Deirdre worked on pizza and apple pie for dinner and Oma took care of laundry. All the slides of the camper were slid out, which was when I realized how cramped I'd been feeling...
We had planned to spend some fun time in Memphis, picked a playground that was recommended on some website, ended up in what looked like the worst part of town, turned around and left as fast as we could. Which meant outdoor playtime was at a highway rest stop. We (the grownups) were irritable and frustrated while the kids were irritable and restless. It was quite a while before Opa put his finger on the problem - a large thunderstorm system we were crossing under... btw, from which we only got a few splatters, but it looked plenty threatening on both sides of us. Our set of six guardian angels sure keep busy!
The little RV park, city-owned, lovely view of the city skyline over the river, and had its own interesting  quirks. A few town employees had a New Year's party in the little container-type building with the washer and dryer - I crashed that party three times before our laundry was dry. The third time, they cleared four bottles of booze off the dryer for me, one lady left, and after the door closed, one of the men said, "Who WAS that?!?!?!" - made me smother my grin in something I was folding - and they offered me pigs in blankets, celery with pb, and chili. I sadly declined, having just had yummy pizza and apple pie.
Our first activity of the new year was a walk to the playground Opa and the kids had found yesterday, and a lovely long time of running, climbing, tunneling, and sliding. A super way to start. Today our goal is Dallas, we have decided to go the southerly route because of severe weather in Flagstaff. We had wanted to detour via the Grand Canyon, but apparently the roads are completely closed there anyway. So we're trying for somewhat more moderate temps along route 30, 20, and 10.