Time to Leave Graceland, For Now, Turning the Wheels Further West, Jell-o, Pics from Yesterday

We were up shortly after 6 on Saturday, Nov. 3^rd. It is weird saying that, it doesn’t feel like it is November already. The weather is helping and I know it will get weirder as we move further to the southwest. By then, I’ll be used to warmth in the winter again. I had very strange dreams last night, only having one in my memory bank when I woke up with a start this morning. Oh well, it was just a dream.

My souvenir earrings
I love them!

We had our tea and coffee together and I read some blogs on my laptop, while Bill tried to read some stuff on his phone. I wish I could locate my Blackberry charge cord for my Playbook, it would be a way for him to at least read things on something with a bigger screen. It is here somewhere! As Rob says, it is right where I put it. He should write for Hallmark, I know! 😊 We had cold cereal this morning and I added banana to mine to make it more appealing to me.

So, I was playing with collages in Picasa today............
If you look closely, you recognize someone besides Elvis here

There wasn’t much to do to pack up, the outside stuff was mostly done last night. I made up a couple of sandwiches for on the road and put yogourt and clementines in the cooler too. I always have water and we decided that we didn’t need another hot drink since we hope to be moving early enough, not to need a second one yet. Bill got cleaned up first and went out onto the roof and cleaned off the roof and slideouts. We are parked under some trees.

Looks like his daydreams came true
I just wish they had lasted longer

Good thing he did that even though he found some bad luck up there. He noticed that the upper cable on our bedroom slide is broken. This is one of those things you can never prepare for and there is nothing to do but pray things work, in and out, until we can get to a location where we are sitting long enough to get it in for repair.

We walked through exhibits for his cars (above), clothes

guitars

and gold records
These were all obtained within 3 years

When we were ready, I pulled the slides in, cringing, but it went in fine. Our home is the style that needs the bedroom slide open to get to the bathroom and the bedroom. We were pulling out of the park, following Rob for a change, by 8:30 and it was a cool, sunny 46F/7C. We’ll take it! We all slept well and I feel so blessed that we got to Graceland, one of my all-time dreams.

To see this well known cape close up was awesome

How many shows did we watch where he wore this
or a similar jumpsuit? Only he could pull it off

Want to buy a Gold Lame Suit?
$2,999.00

or a belt? Only $350 to $425

Elvis Presley Enterprises was like a little town in itself with all of these shops
Elvis Sirius radio was here too but we didn't get in 

Pat and I were just borrowing Elvis' car for a spin around the block

We turned onto I-55N and soon after crossed the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge over the Mississippi River. Erected in 1949 this is the only bridge that spans the Mississippi River that was built before 1950. Yes, I googled it because it was kind of cool! Right in the middle was the sign ‘Welcome to Arkansas’. 

Inside the Lisa Marie, nice comfy chairs for dining or conferencing

Yup, if you chose to sleep, you could

By 9:30 we were all ready to stop at a Rest Area but it wasn’t very big so we didn’t stick around. We drove for another couple of hours or so and pulled off at Exit 107 at a Love’s for diesel. It was 60F by now and it was close enough to lunch that we backed into a spot and ate our sandwiches and had a coffee from their store.

Entering the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge behind Rob and Pat

And then we were in Arkansas!

As we looked back, we saw the Bass Pro shop Pyramid that we'd heard
about since Thursday night on Beale St.

We discussed our destination today and kind of decided against the Walmart in Fort Smith after all. Upon searching freecampsites.net, I found a casino just across the state line in Oklahoma that offered 5 full-hook up spots on a first come first serve basis. We crossed the state line at 2:05. Under a mixture of cloudy and sunny skies it had warmed up to 67F. 20 minutes down the road, there on the right was the Cherokee Casino sign so we took exit 325.

It was a really nice drive today

Good roads

Locating the rv sites was easy and we noticed only one motor home already in place. Yay! We took site #1 & #2, plugged into hydro and continued the set up. Our slide went out without difficulty so I must have had my eyes crossed the right way or my fingers or both. Thank you! We took a drink each and our chairs over to Rob and Pats for an early Happy Hour and by 4, we were parting ways for an hour to maybe read, snooze or just plain relax until dinner hour.

and good views

The only requirement here for staying (max. of 2 nights) is to register for a Player’s Card and fill out your information so they can reach you if necessary. We know from experience, exactly when this info would come in handy for them. Of course, it means we’ll adhere to their basic rules as well. By the time we came inside, the other 3 spots were taken so our ‘campground is full’.

I discovered Chili's our first winter down south
but since, they've changed their menu and it has to win me back again

At 5 we walked up to the front entrance of the casino and got our player’s cards. Duh! This is a Cherokee casino which is the same as the one in Grove, Ok and Bill and I are already registered. No worries, he gave us another card to work from instead of us walking back to the Suite. Lot of good it did us. Oh well, we had fun playing on our $20 each and Bill came home with $10 of his. Pat was the lucky winner tonight. Yay!

We had a nice buffet supper with lots of choices and I managed to refrain from pigging out too much. It wasn’t the $8.99/person but instead $14.99. We couldn’t go wrong for the amount of food we had, you never walk away hungry. We had a good time together and walked back at 7 to spend the evening quietly indoors. It is a mild night at 65F/18C and it will be great for sleeping tonight.

And this is our view tonight from between our units
good night all
from Roland, Oklahoma
Cherokee Casino

This has been another one of those good days. Has it truly only been 6 days? We're having a blast!  Thanks for stopping by!