December 7, 2014 -- Brent's in Brandon, Mississippi

I'm doing blog duty for Mom again this evening.  She remains in the hospital tonight.  After another day of tests, Dad reports that she is feeling a bit better.  She is scheduled for a few more tests tomorrow, hopefully we will get some answers then.

On another note,  today is the eighth year anniversary of Brent's brain surgery.  We are all thankful every day that he continues to be the strong Uncle Sir that we all know and love. 

December 6, 2014 -- Brent's in Brandon. Mississippi

Lori here pulling blog duty for Mom.  She woke up this morning feeling puny and declined as the day wore on.  The decision was made that she needed to go ER for tests.  Brent called at 9:00 their time to report that she was still in ER  where tests were being run.  He and Dad had gone home to eat and were heading back to the hospital.  Please send positive thoughts to Mississippi!

December 5, 2014---At Brent’s in Brandon, Mississippi

We had a small amount of rain today.  Barely measurable, but it was nice.

Bill drove me to the chiropractor’s office this afternoon.  Dr. Brown adjusted my spine.  I’ll go back on Monday to see if any of it stayed in place.  It usually takes several treatments before there are any lasting results.

Brent fixed spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  Courtney came to eat with us.  We had a lot of fun talking.  

Dinner was a preview of the night’s entertainment...which was the Oregon Ducks game against Arizona.  The final score was 51-13.  We were glad the Ducks won, but it really wasn’t a very exciting game.  Oregon had way too many penalties and the quarterback was off his game a bit, although the final score didn’t reflect it.  The game tonight was for the PAC12 championship.  There was much hoopla on the field at the end of the game.  The win tonight sealed Oregon’s spot in the national championship playoffs.

Robyn and Wesley, neighbors of Brent’s, came just as the game ended.  They had been to a Christmas party, but came as soon as they could to visit with Bill and me.  “A good time was had by all” was an understatement.  I’m sure we will all get together again before our visit here with Brent ends after Christmas.

December 4, 2014---At Brent’s in Brandon, Mississippi

After a slow start to the morning, Brent was going to take me to see my chiropractor.  By the time we actually got in the car and were on our way out, it was after 12:00.

I wasn’t sure if their office closed for lunch, so we decided to eat and then go to see about it.  We went to Newk’s.  Their food has always been good and today was no exception.  I had red bean and rice soup.  Brent had salad and a sandwich.  We were both happy with our choices.  I thought it was cold in the restaurant so Brent went to his car and found a sweater of Sara’s.  Of course it was way, way too small for me, but it kept my arms and shoulders warm.

We got to the doctor’s office only to discover it was closed on Thursdays.  Gad, zooks!  Hopefully, we can go back over there tomorrow!  It wasn’t a total wasted trip.  We drove around the Flowood area looking at new business.  That town is really growing.  Several large businesses and new housing developments have sprung up.

On the way home we stopped to see Polly and Pito.  He works on an off shore oil rig and was back home for two weeks before going out for two more weeks.  They live about two blocks from Brent.

Sara and Coleson were with Keltie tonight and Brent had a date with Courtney, so Bill and I were on our own.  He went to Taco Bell for our dinner.  We certainly know how to take care of ourselves, don’t we?

December 3, 2014---On the road to Mississippi

Bill was up early, driving the “big box” down the highway, while I stayed in bed for some extra sleep.

I heard him honk and immediately the road got very rough, so I knew we had crossed into Louisiana.  Just in case, I yelled “yahoo.”

For various reasons, we didn’t find a Rest Area, so when we got to Monroe we parked at Sam’s Club for a late breakfast.  We had been driving in fog.  As we got toward the Mississippi River the fog got thicker.

We crossed into Mississippi (Honk, honk!  Yahoo!) and soon after, the fog dissipated.  We stopped at Walmart in Vicksburg.  We were making good time, so I called Brent to tell him of our ETA.

Bill backed the motorhome into its spot and got everything hooked up and in place.  Willie was so excited to see us.  He turned into a wiggly, frisky puppy...he was so excited.

It was good to see Coleson and Sara, and Brent, too.  We traveled 295 miles today.

December 2, 2014---On the road to Mississippi

We left Decatur, Texas, at 9:30.  Before long, we were on an adventure.  Translated that means we had missed our turn.  We decided to follow through with it, and we are glad we did.

We had never been in that area, and just before getting on I-35, we saw Texas Motor Speedway.  We’ve seen it on TV several times when NASCAR has raced there.  Today we got a better view of its size.  It is huge!

I-35 took us to I-20 which took us to In-N-Out...for an early lunch.  It was great, as usual.  That was visit number 24 in 2014 (If I have counted correctly.) Yum, yum!

As traffic goes, we have seen it much more congested in the Fort Worth/Dallas area than it was today.  It is always a relief to get on the east side of that mass of humanity.

In Longview, we parked at Walmart.  We have parked here on several other occasions.  We park right next to a railroad track.  It is a different kind of train, as trains go.  It may have 40 or 50 cars attached to it.  It goes very slowly, blocking the main road through town.  Soon after going past and traffic resumes, it backs up, repeating the whole traffic snag again.  This may happen several times an afternoon and night while we are parked here.  Each time we have been here, it is the same pattern.

We traveled 212 miles today.  Not very many miles, but tiring, just the same.

December 1, 2014---Traveling to Mississippi

After driving for a couple of hours Bill pulled into a Rest Area for breakfast.  A sign said “tornado shelter.”  I’m glad we didn’t need to use it.

We traveled 221 miles today, stopping at a Picnic Area for lunch.  We seemed to be eating our way into Texas, don’t we?

We continued on Hwy. 287 to Decatur.  After parking at Walmart, we rested for the remainder of the afternoon.  Bill is taking longer than before to adjust to driving down the highway.  Maybe we should blame it on the lack of altitude, since he seems to blame most things of the altitude.

As fate would have it, Panda Express was just across the parking lot from us.  So naturally, since that is one of Bill’s favorite places to eat, he was very willing to go get our dinner. I told you so, didn’t I?

The drive today was through farmland.  Many of them had been planted with cotton and had been harvested.  It was interesting...some of the fields were stripped clean, while others had a lot of cotton left behind.  Back in the “good old days,” cotton was hand picked, which produced a better quality of cotton.  All picking is done by machine, even though the quality of the cotton has diminished.

If you are wondering how I know these things...(1) my grandparents were cotton farmers, (2) I taught in the middle of a cotton patch in Ropesville, Texas, and (3) I rode on a plane to Denver next to a cotton farmer from this area.  I probably asked him about a gazillion questions.  Imagine that!