Good-bye Tyler, Hello Vicksburg!

We left Tyler, Texas at 9am headed for Vicksburg, Mississippi. At one point we were going to go to Memphis, Tennessee, but we decided it was too far for our timetable, as we want to be in Montgomery, Alabama in about four days.
 

The Number 1 RV Park of Tyler Texas
click image to enlarge

But this morning I have to thank our BedSaver.

When I hooked up the trailer, it was too high for the hitch in the bed of the pickup truck. I thought, no problem, I'll just pull ahead a bit, raise the trailer a bit and try again. Except that I didn't have the trailer high enough so when I pulled forward the pin on the trailer dropped into the BedSaver and saved my truck (and my butt).

I simply raised the trailer a little bit and successfully backed into the hitch on my second attempt. And I learned my lesson.

Driving from Tyler to our new digs in Vicksburg, we noticed the scenery getting greener and greener, and the humidity going higher and higher. To get to Vicksburg we had to drive across the entire state of Louisiana, but we're now just on the east shore of the Mississippi River and Louisiana is still across the river on the west shore.

After parking at the first site we were assigned in the Ameristar RV Park, I hooked up our 50amp electrical connection, went inside the trailer to start up the air-conditioning system, but nothing happened. WTF?

A quick glance at my Progressive surge protector and power monitor showed a ground fault error. Wow! Another gadget I added to my RV saved my butt, that's two butt saves today if you're keeping track.

I went back to the office, let them know about their problem and the site, and was immediately given a new site, which was even better than the first one. And at this site the power connection was up to snuff.

While I set up the RV, Marianne remains in the truck with Molly and Coco and the air conditioner running. When I'm all done, she comes into the RV with its air conditioners running full blast cooling the living spaces.

I was drenched with perspiration, no, make that sweat, as I understand ladies perspire and men sweat. And I needed to take a break (read nap).

The Ameristar RV park is right next to the Ameristar Casino (makes sense, right?), a make-believe paddleboat dry-docked permanently unto the shore of the river. Under no circumstances would this thing ever float, but it's a way for the gaming industry to abide by the legislation allowing casinos in the state.

With a casino that close, there has to be a buffet, right? Right! The RV park offers a shuttle ride to and from the casino. It's like leading lambs to slaughter….

The shuttle driver must have been a NASCAR fan, because he got us there quickly. During the I had to hang on to the seat in front of me, and stop signs were only optional. At the casino I was so shook up, I literally fell down the steps of the van unto the tarmac of the casino - an impessive grand entrance.

Entering the casino I felt I was in another country. The distinct odor of cigarettes and cigars overwhelmed us. Even though the din of dings and dongs of one-armed bandits (no, I know, there are no longer any levers to pull on these slot machines, it takes too long to lose one's money, just buttons to press) were calling us to feed them with our money, but we made a beeline to the buffet.

If you haven't notices, the buffets are getting sneakier now: when I paid upon entering, I was asked what I wanted to drink. Diet Coke would be fine, that was above and beyond the $15.99 per person dinner price, and then would I like to add a tip? What? I haven't even tasted the food or experienced the service and you want me to pre-tip? And to make it easy for you, when you run your credit card through the reader it asks you what percentage you want to give: 10%, 15%, 20% or? I played it safe and chose the minimum 10%.

We were led to our table by the slowest hostess in the history of hostessing. Did this casino really need to use the lame to seat people? I was beginning to wonder if 10% was already too much.

The food was good. Although Marianne ate more desserts than anything else, when I went to get my desserts (yes, plural), she had to try some of mine too.

With our bellies full, we were ready to return to our trailer, but the forced march through the casino (you know they always hide the buffets in a corner of the casino where you must walk past almost all of their slot machines to get to the food). The siren song of the slots was too much for us. We succumbed.

We found a couple of side-by-side slots, but we must have picked the two unluckiest/stingiest machines in the entire casino because within minutes we were down $40 between us. Sheesh, you think they could have at least strung us along for a time before totally crushing us. But no.

We got back on the shuttle for the hair raising ride right back directly to our trailer.

Ruminating, we spent the rest of the evening watching TV and fighting with the weak Wi-Fi signals in order to catch up on email and Facebook.

I passed out long before Marianne, I don't even remember her getting into bed, nor Coco sneaking in between us. But I do remember Molly barking to protest her being locked out of the bedroom.

High temperature today: 96°
Miles driven: 270