We spent another night along side the Mississippi River at the same park in West Memphis AR where we stayed on the way out last fall. But this time the river was running fast and much higher than before. News reports said that there was flooding along the rivers running into the Mississippi further north. I was enjoying watching the river until Miss Kim from Sun Valley sent me a text saying she hoped we got across the river before it flooded. After that, I had a little trouble sleeping knowing that we were sitting just twenty feet from the river's edge...on the wrong side of the levy!
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| Mississippi River at Memphis in Fall 2012 |
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| Mississippi River at Memphis in Spring 2013 |
You can see that the water is up to the tree line where there was so much bank showing last fall.
The next two nights, we made stops near Nashville and Knoxville. We planned to stop two nights in Virginia and get back to Sun Valley on Friday, April 26, but when we started out from Salem VA on Thursday morning Keith said that he was feeling good and anxious to get home so we cancelled our reservation for Winchester that night and got home in time to go out for supper. I had to agree, as we were driving through Virginia and seeing all the green leaves and red buds, I was anxious too.
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| Red buds along Interstate 40 in Virginia |
We've been home for almost a month and I'm happy to see my family again -- planting flowers for Mother, watching Noah's basketball game, seeing Shawn, Kristi and the boys before they left for Disney World. We're enjoying catching up with our friends too.
I called Special Care to let them know that we were back and I would be available if they had any clients within a reasonable distance. They said they were happy to have me back but I haven't been called to work yet and I'm beginning to really enjoy not checking my calendar each day to see if I need to be somewhere. I may just have to tell them to take me off their roster!!!
We have some exciting news for this winter. Keith has been saying that he'd like to go South instead of West for a change; it would be half the driving distance. After talking with Joe and Sue about their experience volunteering at a Georgia State Park, we decided to apply at two -- Skidaway (south of Savannah, on the coast) and Veterans State Park (site of the SAM Shortline train). We also applied as Lighthouse Hosts at Hunting Island State Park in SC. Last week, we got a call offering us the Train Host position. Veterans Park is in the southwest quadrant of GA and the train runs from Cordele to Plains (Jimmy Carter's home) to Archery (President Carter's birthplace). The train only runs on weekends so we'll have most of the week to explore the area. The park also has a large lake and an 18-hole golf course.
We have neighbors who spend their winters in FL and said that they volunteered at Disney World which really sounds like fun too. So, who knows, we may be working with Mickey one of these years :)
