16 Aug 2024 - Arrived at Hinton RV Park in Sikeston MO

 

First, thank you to everyone who called, texted, messaged and posted on Facebook.  I apologize with my terse blog post last night.  I did not intend to start a bunch of drama with it.  It is not unusual that I am up late editing pictures and doing the blog.  Doreen and Liberty usually turn in while I am still plugging away.  I had not talked to her about what she wanted me to say, so I chose to just mention that we were changing plans.  With Doreen's permission, here is a bit more info:

Wednesday night into Thursday morning Doreen noticed some unusual tightness/pain in her chest. She has absolutely no history and there was nothing she could think to contribute it to, and after discussion we felt the best thing to do was to get it checked. She was not having any of the other classic "cardiac" symptoms such as shortness of breath, diaphoresis, etc and the pain was not radiating, but it was still an unknown chest pain.  A stop at an urgent care would be immediately referred to a hospital likely via ambulance, so we bypassed that and went straight to the Northern Mississippi Medical Center Emergency Department in Tupelo.  Over about six hours they ran all the normal tests to include an EKG, chest Xray, CT scan, bloodwork, etc and everything came back negative.  The ER doc recommended we get with her primary care physician back home,  and a cardiac workup with stress test would likely be in order.  I mentioned that we were about a month out from being home if nothing changed, and he did not think it should wait that long.  So we talked about it and both agreed to "pull the plug" on the remainder of the trip.  

So within a few hours I was able to cancel the remaining reservations and even receive refunds for the deposits, and I found available campgrounds spaced such to get us home.  Most importantly I was able to find us a "landing spot" at home, since we cannot take our coach to our sticks and bricks.  

While I was working this, our Alliance friends Ralph and Lindy from Georgia arrived in our campground with their Alliance fifth wheel on their way home from an Alaska journey.  I was hoping to "sit around the campfire" and hear all about their trip.  We will have to make that another time... 

 

So today at 0818 hrs we said goodbye to Ralph and Lindy leaving our Natchez Trace RV Park one day earlier than planned, and traveled from Tupelo to Sikeston MO.  That town may sound familiar as it is one of the homes of Lambert's Cafe, home of the "throwed rolls"!  More about that later.  Well that was convenient!  We visited Lambert's in Foley AL and had this on our Google Maps radar.

The trip up from Tupelo was uneventful, about 267 miles which is a comfortable day for us.  We had to drive through Memphis and the construction there, so that was painful, but once past Memphis it was a straight shot up to Missouri.  

We arrived here at 1304 hrs, set up quickly and cranked up the A/C.  Temps at Tupelo were 96 yesterday, and today we reached 92 here with high humidity.

Since we missed lunch we had an early dinner at Lambert's.  This place is fun and the home cooking-style food is great.  It was started by Earl and Agnes Lambert in 1942.  As mentioned before, their claim to fame is their "throwed rolls".  We were seated quickly but they were very busy.  

We were quickly greeted by several servers.  The first one took our drink order, and as we were waiting for our unsweeted ice tea another stopped with (free) fried okra appetizer.  At the same time the "throwed rolls" guy came around and offered up hot, delicious yeast rolls.  They will throw these from across the room to you, but he happened to be right near our table, so we took them there.  

Look at the okra and they huge yeast roll!!  That is ONE roll!

They also come around with molasses and apple butter for your throwed rolls.  

A "throwed roll" in flight, from clear across the room!!

Doreen ordered roasted chicken with cucumbers and onions in vinegar, and cole slaw.  I ordered something I don't normally get at home - beef liver and onions!!  My sides were turnip greens and potato salad.  

So the meal was delicious and fun.  If you are ever in the Sikeston MO area or the Foley AL area, you will not be disappointed at Lambert's!

Tonight we watched the Indiana Fever (WNBA) win their first game since the Olympic break.  Caitlin Clark had a great game, with another double-double!  So fun to watch her and Kate Martin, a couple University of Iowa greats!

Tomorrow we pull chocks and travel north past St Louis to the Meadow Campground and Coffee House near New London MO.