The 3 Week Camping Trip


 
Phil Perrin

Phil Perrin

TVWBB Hall of Fame
Pammi and I decided to take a long honking camping trip last month to see if we’d get on each other’s nerves when we sell the house and start traveling full time in our camper
First day, we went to Macon, GA and spent the night there. The next morning, we left for a couple days in Tallahassee, FL
There is a really cool settlement there where the Spaniards and Indians lived and worked together
San Luis was really cool to check out
I cooked breakfast both mornings we were there and did a piece of salmon on my Blackstone Tuesday night
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Some zucchini chunks and microwave rice rounded out the meal
Thursday morning, we left for a week In Biloxi, MS. I didn’t realize when I made the reservations, but we stayed at a horse ranch!
No bath house, laundry facilities, cable or wifi, but full hook ups
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This was our first morning there
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We ate lunches out, being right on the gulf coast
We found out that the touristy places were merely mediocre, but that there was much better food to be had!
We did head down to New Orleans one day
I had my first begniet and we rode the Hop On, Hop Off bus
It takes you around the city and has 19 stops, with a guide telling you history and stories in between IMG_5533.jpegIMG_4097.jpegIMG_4098.jpegIMG_5541.jpeg
We also had some amazing seafood there!
 
The horse in the pen by our site was friendly and liked dogs! There was also a friendly donkey there here’s Levi and Daisy making friends, even though Levi tried to bite the horse! Silly puppy, the horse’s head is bigger than your whole body!
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We rode a shrimp boat around the bay the next day. We were disappointed to learn that it was NOT shrimp season, but we did learn a lot about the industry and found out about a place that not only shrimps, but commercially packages the shrimp and fish
We picked up 5 pounds of shrimp and a couple redfish fillets. More on those later
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We also went to the beach once. There is a statue of Fred Haise, one of the Apollo 13 astronauts. They had to add spikes to his head and helmet to keep the birds from landing on it!
Biloxi was also the site of some of the Equal Rights movements and there’s a plaque about it
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After Biloxi, we spent the night in Monroe, LA on our way to my BILs house in Texarkana
Once in Texarkana, we had burgers that he grilled that night. No pics of thar
Saturday, he set up a target in his side yard. He lives pretty far out in the boonies. Pammi shot a firearm for the first time! Not sure if she, or I, hit the target, but she knows how to use it properly and understands its kick!
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And remember the shrimp I told you about? We had a low country boil for dinner! 8 of us devoured 5 pounds of shrimp, 3 pounds of red taters, 2 pounds of smoked sausage and 12 corn nibblers! Here’s during the cook, and before and after pics
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We were all groaning after that feast!
Monday, we headed up to Memphis for 3 days on our way back to NC
We had both mediocre and really good barbecue while there. We also went to BB King’s place on Beale St
We stayed just down the street from Graceland, but decided that $200 a piece was WAY too steep to visit!
We did go to Sun Studio, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and others got their start. That was the highlight for me! We also learned that because Elvis sand a pop song to make his demo, he came very close to not getting his chance! But he started goofing around and started singing Hound Dog and changed Sam Phillip’s mind
This is also where the Million Dollar Quartet was recorded secretly and not released until the 80’sIMG_5591.jpegIMG_4130.jpegIMG_4134.jpegIMG_4136.jpegIMG_4137.jpeg
The last pic is where the MDQ was recorded and there are Xs taped on the floor where they stood
 
Where we stayed in Memphis was kind of sketchy, so I didn’t break out a lot of cooking gear, but I did break out the JJ!
It was wicked windy the first night, so I had to keep an eye on the chimney, but the pork chops came out really nicely! The foil pack is some home fries that we had leftover from breakfast IMG_4138.jpegIMG_4139.jpegIMG_4140.jpeg
We went to Beale St the next dat and Pammi got this pic of BB King and his restaurant
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I did some hot and fast ribs for dinner our last night there. They turned out tasty!IMG_4141.jpegIMG_4142.jpeg
 
Nice cruise! I’m looking at a two-three week road trip with the grandchildren (17 and 21) from maybe as far south as Charleston S.C. Up the coast working our way home by way of D.C. maybe Mystic Seaport, Gettysburg etc. route is still under consideration.
Won’t have room for cooking equipment so, we will be “experimenting” for a while.
 
We left Memphis and spent the night in Crossville, TN. It’s about halfway between Nashville and Knoxville. I was tired from the drive, so we just got a pizza
The next day we left to head back into NC. We spent a couple days in Marion, about 2 hours away from home. The weather and mountains kicked my behind, so we just had sandwiches for dinner that night
Our last night, we decided on a nice steak. Found a nice strip steak at the Food Lion. I also sautéed some mushrooms and onions and made some griddle taters, parboiled slabs of taters that get carmelized on the Blackstone IMG_4146.jpegIMG_4147.jpegIMG_4148.jpegIMG_4149.jpegIMG_4151.jpeg
Love the crust on that steak!
That’s finally it! Thanks for looking!
 
I really like Tennessee.
I was down that way when I was looking to buy our retirement home.

Memphis was kinda a bit sketchy though.
Even GraceLand was next to a low rent trailer park.
One of the best things I did in Memphis was hit Oscar’s Fried Chicken.
That place had people lined up down the road before it was open.
Best chicken I’ve ever had.
 
That was one awesome trip. Your cooks were just right for a camping trip, great choice. The history was interesting, but I love seeing your two little ones by the horse that was awesome. Sounds like a great trip, now the question is are you up for the big one if you sell your home and start traveling full time?:) Have fun.
 
Andy Kaminski said:
I really like Tennessee.
I was down that way when I was looking to buy our retirement home.

Memphis was kinda a bit sketchy though.
Even GraceLand was next to a low rent trailer park.
One of the best things I did in Memphis was hit Oscar’s Fried Chicken.
That place had people lined up down the road before it was open.
Best chicken I’ve ever had.
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The actual Graceland RV park looked really nice!
The one we stayed in just down Elvis Presley Blvd, not so much! 😝
And there’s a bunch more that we want to see/do and we’ll do it next visit
 
Barb D said:
That was one awesome trip. Your cooks were just right for a camping trip, great choice. The history was interesting, but I love seeing your two little ones by the horse that was awesome. Sounds like a great trip, now the question is are you up for the big one if you sell your home and start traveling full time?:) Have fun.
Click to expand...
Barb, we are!
 
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