Our Year In Review - Part 2

June found us in Fort Lauderdale, FL.   We stayed in a RV resort that was basically vacant.  It didn't look vacant as there were many mobile homes there.  It was eerie because the place seemed to be frozen in time.  There were bicycles on front porches, but most of the windows were boarded up just in case a hurricane came while the owners were away.  We actually got scared when we saw a man walking through the resort one day.  There were so any stray cats there.  Mama got scared a few times when putting trash into the dumpsters because cats would come flying out at her.  I enjoyed the cats, but Mama was not as happy with them.

Our site in Fort Lauderdale,

It was hot there. The evenings were nicer than the mornings. We enjoyed walking in the rain here.

Some of the vacant homes in the campground.

We were told that this place is "wild" from November through April. It fills up with French Canadians. We can only imagine how active it must be right now.

Mama declared this place to have great burgers and the best fried pickles.  Unfortunately, there are only locations in Florida. 

The beaches are beautiful, but very crowded.

In July, we drove back to the St. Louis area for two weeks to visit family, doctors and to have some work done on our motor home. We stayed at Bennett Springs for a few days where Dad enjoyed trout fishing.

At the end of July, we headed to Memphis for two weeks.  The first week, we stayed at the Graceland RV Resort.  Mama and I really enjoyed staying there.  Scout said it was too hot.  Mama and I walked to the Graceland gates a few times and also to the Graceland shopping area.  It was fun!

Visiting the shopping area of Graceland.

Me in front of the Graceland gates.

Standing on Hound Dog Way

The folks have friends, Lee and Donna, that live in Memphis, so they got to meet us. We enjoyed meeting them. 

We moved to West Memphis, AR for our second week of our stay in the Memphis area.  We stayed at a campground that was right on the river.  We watched the barge traffic.

The sky was pretty here.

We came across this while hiking in the woods.  BOL!

We will conclude our review on another day as we can see a few of you are dosing off.  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Trying Decide What Location He Enjoyed The Most

One Last Trip To Graceland Plaza and A Preview Of Our New Campground

This morning I pleaded with Mama to take me to Graceland Plaza again.  How did I do that?  Well, I walked her to the gate and whined. She told me the gates were locked until 7 a.m., but promised she would take me then.  As soon as breakfast was over, I reminded her of her promise and off we went.  We left "Wussy Girl" behind.  A girl at our last campground actually named Scout that.  She saw us walking without Scout and asked me if my sister was being a wuss again.  BOL   Mama and I had a grand time walking in the plaza and meeting people.  One lady asked my name and Mama told her Joey. She said that was her dead husband's name and then showed us her tattoo with his name that is on her chest.  She offered to take a picture and me and Mama at the Graceland gates and Mama told her no because Mama hates having her picture taken, but now she wishes she would have. We had a wonderful time walking around and talking to people.  We loved hearing Elvis' music as we walked.  It is such a festive place. It is definitely not for everyone, but we enjoyed it.

Mama wishes I would cooperate more when she is taking my photo, but has decided she will embrace the bloopers that I provide her.

Hey, this one is not bad.  I am standing by the fence outside of Graceland.

Pictures by the gates didn't go as well.

The main problem is that I don't stand still.  Mama says I was on sensory overload here.  I loved it though!

"Come on Mama! I think we can sneak in and see the house."

Uncle Lee, she is stopping traffic again!  Uncle Lee is not fond of the tourists because they cause traffic problems.

"Why can't we go inside the store?"

That is it folks.  We have left Memphis. Dad says it is unlikely that we will be back since the only Marriott hotel in Memphis will be no more as of next week.  Mama is sad as she had a lot of fun just walking around meeting people.  Mama admits that maybe it was time to leave as last night she had a dream and "In The Ghetto" was playing in her dream.  It is an Elvis song that she has never really liked, but there it was in her dream.  Elvis music played at the pool at our park and also at the pool at Heartbreak Hotel. Music played in the plaza as well as the gift shops. It was fun walking around hearing the music.

We moved to our new campground this morning.  We haven't taken many photos yet, but we have a few taken from inside our motor home.

A barge passed by us.  The first of many.

We have a great view!

Dad is at work, so we are watching Elvis in concert on TV.  BOL!  

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Has Left Memphis -- Thank You, Thank You Very Much!  BOL!

Visitors And A Change Of Plans

This morning Mama woke us up at 5 a.m.  She said it was pay back for us waking her up yesterday at 4:30 a.m.  Actually, last night on the news, they said it would be raining here at 6 a.m. and she was trying to beat the rain.  Did it rain?  Nope!

After breakfast, we went for a long walk.  We were just walking around the campground and I wanted to walk in the Graceland parking lot.  The next thing I knew, we were walking in the Graceland Plaza.  Mama wanted to get some photos of us next to the Elvis photos, but we didn't cooperate. Modeling is definitely not our thing.

This is the best one. BOL!

We both didn't fit in this photo.

Decent butt shot, if that is your thing.

It is not even a good shot of The King.

Scout's nose is just too long, I guess.  BOL!

As we were walking home, this guy was working with a group of other men setting up a pavilion.  He called out to Scout "Here Wolf, Here Wolf!"  We walked over to him and he started screaming like a girl.  Mama told him we were nice. Mama asked if he wanted to pet Scout and when we got near him, he ran off screaming.  His friends thought it was hilarious.

We had visitors today!  Dad's high school friend, Lee and his wife, Donna, came over. They live here in Memphis.  Lee actually introduced Mama and Dad back in high school.  We didn't know it, but they are fans of our blog.  They went to lunch at a restaurant that Uncle Lee picked out based on the folks likes from reading the restaurant blog.  Mama said he made an excellent choice.  Mama will review the restaurant next week, but here are a few pictures to make you drool.

The appetizer.  Yep, fried pickles are there.

Mama's burger.  I can attest that this burger was delicious.  A doggy bag was brought home.

Okay, so what are the change in plans?  We are leaving here tomorrow and we were supposed to stay in a state park. The  folks visited it last week and while the park itself is nice, the route getting there goes through a rough area.  Mama considers an area rough when there are bars on the windows of homes.  She has been worried because Dad will be working late next week coming home at midnight a few nights.  She was also concerned about staying in the park with just us even though she thinks the park is safe.  Uncle Lee did not relieve her fears but made them worse as he said it was not a good area to drive through.  Mama found a campground in West Memphis, AR that looked nice and the rates were good. The folks drove there tonight and liked it, but the only site available was their premium site, so it's price is higher than Mama wanted to pay.  They decided to reserve it anyway.  Mama said safety is important and she feels better about staying there.  It is really close to Dad's work and Dad said we would have probably stayed here the entire time if he had known about it.  We didn't look for parks in Arkansas.  You know what is cool about this park?  We have a front row view of the river and all the river traffic. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Has Not Mastered His Modeling Skills

We Are Hound Dogs In Memphis

Here we are on Hound Dog Way.

Last night, we were walking at 9 p.m. in our campground and a tour bus stopped and everyone looked out the window at us!  Mama thought it was safe to go bra-less since it was dark, but she didn't expect a tour bus of people to stop and stare at us.  I bet she doesn't do that again.  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Was Part Of A Sightseeing Tour.  BOL!

What Is Located At The End Of Lonely Street?

Heartbreak Hotel, of course!  Our campground is located behind the Heartbreak Hotel.  We are located on the corner of Don't Be Cruel and Blue Suede.  Yep, we are in "Elvis Land".  BOL!   We are surprised that they didn't put us on Hound Dog Lane.   We think we have the nicest site here.  We are a corner site and we have a yard.

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The parking lot behind the sign is for Graceland. (This is our front view when a camper is not parked in front of us.)  Graceland is down the street.

Our site.  Definitely a nice yard to take a nap.

There is a huge dog walk area.  It would be perfect if it was fenced.

Dog walk area.

See, there is a lot of room.

 There is supposed to be a walking/bike trail that goes through the woods and a field. The trail ended, so we just walked around.  Unfortunately, one portion of the trail has a lot of broken glass, so we will not be walking in that area again.

The office.  Mama hasn't checked it out yet.

There are several restaurants right outside our campground and lots of Elvis shops.  Mama said she will go exploring tomorrow.

We passed by my old racetrack yesterday.  I refused to look.  I am retired, so no need to think about the past.  I do think I should receive disability since I broke my leg while working. 

Southland -This is where I spent most of my racing days.  I did a short stint in Florida.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Currently Living At The End Of Lonely Street.  BOL

Road Trip Resumes Tomorrow

Our vacation here in Missouri ends tomorrow.  Our next stop is Memphis!  We will be in the land of Elvis for just two weeks. We will also be very close to the track where I did most of my racing.  We will stay in a private campground to start and then we will move to a state park.  We would have liked to have stayed at the private park the entire stay, but the weekly rate is pretty high.  We are not staying at the state park the entire time because they do not have full hook-ups which means we have limited water. Mama really does not like not having full hook-ups.  We are currently in a state park without full hook-ups and our water supply is running low.  The folks are taking showers in the bath house and no laundry can be done.  They do not have a laundromat here.

While we were here, Dad celebrated his upcoming birthday with the family.  His brother's birthday is in July and his birthday is in August. They had a joint celebration.  A friend of Dad's sister made their cake.  It took her four days.

Uncle Rick is the hunter on the left and Dad is the fisherman on the right.

The cake was huge!  It was very moist and tasted great according to the folks.

Hopefully, we will get back on track with regular blogging now that our vacation is ending.  Mama is really behind on her restaurant blog.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Wonders How Many Elvis' Look-A-Likes He Will See Next Week