The King's House

After leaving Mississippi (still like writing that), we went to Memphis, TN.  We actually stayed in Arkansas, though, at an RV resort called Tom Sawyer RV Resort...right next to the Mississippi River, and it had a tree house complete with a bathroom and kitchen!  

So I kind of have my trip planned out, but I don't know where I'm staying most of the time.  When it's time to head to a new destination, I pray about it, and then take out all of my materials with my "options" that are available.  Almost all of the time there's a reason I stay where I do.  I felt like we were suppose to stay at the Tom Sawyer RV Park in Arkansas.  

You know how excited I was to arrive at Tom Sawyer RV Park and see this sign!

I just knew it was a gift from God to me :)

 

 

We then got to go to Graceland, which was amazing. 

 

Catherine and I really loved it.  

I already liked Elvis, but when you visit there, it makes you like him even more. 

 His step brother came and spoke at a church we used to go to called Horizon Christian Fellowship.  He said before Elvis died, he had said, "I just wish I knew Jesus like I did as a kid."  

Well, I think Elvis got to go be with Jesus, so his wish came true!

Here's some pictures of his house

The Living Room
 

 

The Kitchen

His Parents' Bedroom
 

 

The Dining Room

The TV Room

 

The Game Room
 

The Famous Jungle Room
 

His airplane, The Lisa Marie

 

One of his many motorcyles (and Catherine)

The pink Cadillac he bought for his mom

He's buried at Graceland with his mom, dad and grandmother and
a little plaque for his twin brother who died at birth

We then got to go to Beale Street.  I've been using The Food Network app on my phone, and it said that a place called the Rum Boogie Cafe had good BBQ, and they sure did!

 

Beale street was awesome with all the great music.

 

Next stop Nashville!

New Orleans Voodoo or Roaming Lion?

 

When I last posted, I had just finished spending an awesome five days with
Auston, Angie & Tom in New Orleans!

My friend, Catherine, then met me in New Orleans to continue my JOURNEY with me.

When Catherine arrived she brought with her some very special surprises!
One was this beautiful necklace she gave me.
Thanks, Catherine!

 

 

While we're talking about necklaces, I wanted to share a couple pictures of two necklaces my friend, Susanne, gave me for my birthday.  They just happen to say,

"Trust Your JOURNEY" (TYJ) on them :) 

Thanks, Susanne!

I

 

Catherine also brought with her a CD containing a song that her husband, Rodger, wrote for me about

this JOURNEY that I'm on.  I had prayed for God to give me a song just for this trip.  Rodger didn't know that.  Catherine didn't know that, BUT God knew that! 

Thanks, Rodger 

Thanks, God!

 

This is a piece of the song.  I don't know how to put an MP3 on a blog, so this is a video with my finger covering the camera lens. 

Pretty tricky, huh?

We're going to talk about the song again in a future blog when my friend, Treva, makes a guest appearance talking about the "72 Day Challenge"

(I should be gone 72 days)

 

 

So Catherine joined me, and we headed towards Byram, Mississippi! 

 

Here's the part I'm not sure about....did I have some kind of New Orleans Voodoo stuck to me, or was it the Devil trying to cause havoc on my trip? 

 

The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8,

"Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

He certainly was trying to devour us (or at least be extremely annoying).

 

There are no pictures of the following events.  When stressful things are happening, I can't seem to remember to take out my phone or ipad and take pictures or videos.  Now, looking back, it would have been quite comical. 

We'll just leave it up to your imagination.

 

We leave New Orleans and take the wrong highway and get lost.  It's quite difficult to "turn around" two very long vehicles hooked together in the middle, so getting lost is NOT fun!

 

We arrive in Byram, Mississippi (I just love writing that state) and get lost!!! 

Again, the turning around just doesn't seem to be that easy.

 

We finally arrived at our campground in Byram, Mississippi, and it's so dark you can't see in front of you.  Also, I'm not sure at that moment what kind of wild animals live in those woods, and I know I didn't want to find out! 

I can't see where I'm going or how to park the camper, but I know it's a pull through (yay!), and I guess I hit a wooden pole with an "Exit Only" sign on it because the next day, I go outside and I'm missing my little door holder, my electrical outlet box cover, and there's big pieces of wood stuck in the screws holding (well, kind of holding) the trim on the side of the camper.  I find all those pieces by that sign post. 

I didn't even know I hit anything let alone took the side of the camper off. 

 

I hope that's all I hit.  We may never know.

 

Unfortunately on this trip, I have to still work for our company, so the next day poor Catherine had to sit around and wait for me to work. 

In the meantime, It's POURING outside, and I'm getting flash flood warnings on my phone telling us NOT to drive anywhere. 

There's thunder and lightening (us Cali girls are NOT used to this kind of weather!) 

I'm not sure if I'm suppose to be using my electronic devices in this weather either, but I'm trying to finish, so we can leave and drive through the flash floods that are happening!

 

THEN!!! 

 

THEN (in all caps with exclamation points)

I guess my slide out on the camper had just about enough of those monsoon rains outside, and it decided to POUR, and I mean really POUR, water inside the camper. It was as if someone had poured buckets on us, and my makeshift home (camper) office with all of my electrical equipment spread out all over. 

 

OH MY GOSH!!!

(that's not exactly what I said, but Catherine promised not to share that with anyone)

 

After the flood cleanup and sliding the slide in, Catherine and I were pretty wet and smooshed as I continued to TRY and finish my work. 

 

We did stop during all the commotion to pray and rebuke the devil and tell all that crazy weather outside to knock it off! 

 

And it actually did!

 

Then we FINALLY leave.  I need to get gas.  We go to the gas station, and for some reason, their gas pumps DO NOT STOP when the tank is full, so there is gas pouring out all over the place and all over my truck.

 

FUN!  FUN! FUN!

(that's not exactly what I said either)

 

Then the kicker of it all is.....I have to go find a post office because our bank decided to sell to another bank in the midst of my trip (rude), and my online banking is not working right, so I have to mail (yes, with an envelope and postage stamp...remember that from way back when?) my bills. 

We find the post office, and as I pull into the parking lot, I realize THERE IS NO WAY OUT!  I am going to have to BACK UP out of the entrance onto a busy street to get out!!!

 

So after numerous tries, and a few curse words, I pray,

"God, please get me out of this parking lot, and help me NOT to hit anything."

 

I then was able to back out of the entrance (oh my), and I had a median in front of me that I was going to have to drive over to get the truck in the right position to get out of that parking lot. 

 

It's funny all the voices I hear in my head during this trip.

 

I hear Barry say, "Don't be in a city during rush hour." 

I have been in every major city during this trip DURING rush hour.

 

I hear my RV teacher, Rob Millum, say,

"Whatever you do, Lory, don't make U-turns." 

I think I'm up to four U-turns now.

 

During this little post office escapade, I heard Robert from Vinton, TX,  say,

"Lory, you're in a truck!  Drive like you're in a truck!"

(he was saying that to me when he was helping me back up at his house)

 

So as I was backed half way out of the entrance to the post office and had the median facing me, I heeded Robert's words, and I drove like I was in a truck right over that median, and we made it out!

 

So I don't know if  I had some New Orleans voodoo left on me that day, or the devil was wreaking havoc, but as we drove away, I decided to shake off ANYTHING left on me from New Orleans, and told the devil to LEAVE ME ALONE. 

 

Whichever it was, it worked!

 

Also, Catherine has a pretty cool story about how she was able to come join me on my JOURNEY.

 

Here's Catherine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Orleans

Auston, Angie, Tom and I all LOVE New Orleans! 

The food, the music, the architecture,
the ghosts...oh wait....Auston hates the ghosts,
the Hurricanes

(but only one for me....any more is quite dangerous),

 and Auston and I LOVE the Saints. 

Angie is getting there..MAYBE (she has more Saints stuff now and knows the Who Dat chant without a cheat sheet),

and Tom just came to the game with us because he wanted to see some
Ex-Chargers...Brees, Sproles and Meachem. 

Thank you, Chargers!

We had a GREAT time as always.  It's becoming quite the tradition.  This is our third year in a row going to a Saints game, so it just made perfect sense for my New Orleans' friends to meet me on my JOURNEY in New Orleans!

Jackson Square
 

 

Tom & Me enjoying Pat O'Brians

 

Angie & Me

 

 

Amazing girls on a corner

 

 

Evangeline in the rain

 

Cafe Du Monde



 

Cafe Du Monde

 

More Cafe Du Monde

 

 

When the Saints Come Marching in!

 

Saints!

 

On the street car with a creeper

Ready for the game!

 

At the Dome

 

Tom & Me at the Dome

 

They're all wearing Sproles' jerseys except one of them doesn't have him on his team anymore

 

 

Until next year....Who Dat?!?

 

 

 

God Allows U-Turns

Originally, there were six of us going to New Orleans. 

Auston and I are huge Saints fans, and the other people joining us were SUPPOSE to go to a game to see the Saints play the Cardinals. 

Well, two of those people had to cancel :( 

Sooooo we had two extra tickets to the game....

 

I was very anxious about the New Orleans part of the my JOURNEY for a few reasons. 

One, I was scheduled to park my camper and my truck at a storage facility because we were all staying in a hotel in New Orleans.  I wasn't exactly sure how that parking situation was going to work, or if I'd be able to get the camper in its parking spot. 

You all have heard my issue with backing! 

So the morning I was suppose to go to New Orleans, I called Kristine, the girl who worked at the storage place, and asked her about my parking spaces.  When I told her that I don't know how to back up that well, she sounded a little worried.  I told her I was going to PRAY for the perfect spot, and she said she'd see what she could do.

 

Another issue I was worried about was my GPS told me I was going to have to make a

U-Turn to get to the storage place. 

Well, my RV teacher, Rob Millum, told me, "Lory, whatever you do, avoid making

U-Turns."

 

On a side note, I've had to make THREE U-Turns on this JOURNEY already. 

One when I missed my turn into the Discount Tire a long, long time ago when I had a flat tire way back in AZ.  Remember that? 

Well, I missed my turn and HAD to make a U-Turn. 

It was fine.  I made it! 

 

Another time, my wonderful GPS had me turn left off of a busy road onto Richardson Avenue somewhere in the middle of Texas.  I turned onto the road and all of a sudden was on a one-lane farm road.  I was like, "Oh my gosh!!! What is she having me do?  If anyone needs to come down this road, they or I will have to drive on the farm field, so they can get past me."

  THEN I get to a DIRT road and she says to "turn left". 

I was like, "No way, missy!"

and I had to make an illegal U-Turn on Farmer John's driveway and across his front lawn. 

I did apologize as I did that. 

U-Turn #2

 

Then when I was leaving Rayne, Louisiana, I was driving down a road, and all of a sudden there was some kind of construction going on. 

No warning...nothing!  I guess in Louisiana, they don't have to warn you that you may have to WAIT 30 plus minutes for them to get done whatever they're doing. 

S L O W...that's what the South is! 

So I waited and waited and waited and then....I looked across the street and saw that if I just backed up (yes, I said back up) down the street a little, I could make a U-TURN in someone's front yard across the street. 

Hence, U-Turn #3.

 

So that was three successful U-Turns so far.  I didn't really want to make any more.

 

Catherine and I saw this last night on a billboard.  Perfect!

 

I also didn't know how I was going to get from my parking spaces to the French Quarter, which was about 20 minutes away.

 

Okay...back to the beginning.  We had those two extra tickets to the game that we were going to try to sell. 

As I was driving there, I felt like God said, "Give those tickets to Kristine at the storage place."

I was like, "Okay!!!  That's so nice of you, God!"

 

I got to the storage unit.  I don't know what happened with my GPS, (thank you, God) but I didn't have to make a U-Turn.

Yay!

When I got there, I thought to myself, it would be really nice if I didn't have to unhook my truck from my camper. 

Kristine took me around and showed me where my camper was SUPPOSE to be parked. 

It looked a little "challenging" to me. 

Then she showed me where the truck was supposed to be parked. 

That looked fine. 

THEN she showed me the answer to my prayers!!!! 

A spot where I had to back up, BUT my truck and camper could stay hooked together,

AND the other RV owners just happened to be on vacation,

AND it was space #40, which I think is a God number...you know, the Israelites were in the desert 40 years, Jesus in the desert for 40 days etc....

AND she promised she wouldn't watch me try to back up on the security cameras. 

 

She said when she saw that spot, she knew it was there especially for me :)

 

 

We're not going to talk about how long it took me to park in this spot even though there was no one on each side of me, and that the Fed Ex guy finally had to come help me.

 

When I finally went in to talk to Kristine after I made it into my spot, I asked her if she was a Saints fan.  She said she had been a Saints fan since birth. 

I told her I was on this God road trip, and that God had told me to give her the tickets to the game (the good news), but she had to sit with me (could be bad news), but she was very excited! 

 

She then offered to give me a ride to the French Quarter!!!

 

So ALL of my anxieties (and prayers) were taken care of....

No U-Turns

A parking spot where I could leave my truck and trailer hooked together

AND not hit anyone backing up into the spot

AND a ride all the way to the French Quarter

AND a new friend to come to the game with us. 

We are now officially Facebook friends too, so that means friends for life! 

It was all a win, win, win, win situation AND, of course, the Saints did win!  Who Dat?!

 

 

My new friends, Kristine & Gary

 

Angie, Auston, my friend (and accountant) Tom, me, Kristine & Gary

Back Up Angel in Rayne, Louisiana

So even before this JOURNEY began, I had an IDEA of some of the people I was suppose to meet, and where I was suppose to go, and Rayne, Louisiana, to visit my friend, Jim Hoffman (Victor's dad), was one of those places. 

So after Texas, I headed towards Rayne to visit Jim.  I already wrote in the previous blog, These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, how Jim blessed me as soon as I got to his house with a ginger ale float!!! which is one of my favorite things! 

AND when I arrived, he said those wonderful, amazing words that I LOVE to hear...

"Do you want me to back that up for you?" 

 

"Yes!"

 

"Yes, I do!"

And I had to drive through THIS to make it into his driveway!

Yay!!! Ginger ale floats!!!  Who offers that?  I was so happy!

 

This is how beautiful his property is.  I've been able to stay on the most beautiful properties during this trip.  That has been one of my favorite things too!

 

 

When I arrived, Jim told me we were going to go to his church that night for a bible study that HE was teaching.  Pay attention...he said HE was teaching it. 

So after our ginger ale floats and talking for a couple of hours...yes, Jim and I LOVE to talk.  I think we talk as much as each other, so you can imagine how that was :)

 

We then went to his church so HE could teach the bible study.  As we were driving there, he said, "Oh, do you think you could share some of your stories with the people?"  I agreed. 

I think there were about 15 or so people there. 

Well, if you ask ME to share a couple of stories, that may take up the whole bible study, which it did, so Jim didn't even teach a thing. 

It was really fun to meet everyone and see their reactions to my stories....laughing, crying (in a good way) etc. 

I was very blessed to meet them, and I hope they were blessed too.

And thank you, Shirley, for blessing me :)

 

 Me and my new friends

 

 

Jim and his bible study group

 

I then got to go to Jim's brother-in-law, Donny's house and hang out with him and all his sister-in-laws too. 

We prayed for Donny, who has cancer. 

Please pray for him, if you get a chance.

 

This is Donny's wife, Sandy.  It was a pleasure to meet you, Sandy!

Thank you for blessing me :)

 

This is Jim.  We don't know where to look when taking a picture with our ipad! 

Help, Victor!

 

And this is Jim's video spot on the blog.

 

 

Next stop....New Orleans!  Who Dat?!?!