Our campground hosts have put us up in a “premium site” for our first couple of weeks here — concrete patio, fire pit, gas grill, patio table with umbrella — because our favorite spot soon will be occupied by a cabin. The pad itself is huge, 98 feet long, with plenty of room for Ernie and Artie, plus Mercy and Deb’s cousin’s truck when he visits.
As we unwind for a while, it’s the perfect place.
It felt amazing this morning to take my coffee in a real mug, to relax in a comfy chair and watch the rising sun light the treetops behind Ernie. I’ve missed that.
I miss The Mountain more, of course, the place where we’ll build our house. Our return will wait for another day. Maybe tomorrow.
Today we decompressed, venturing out only once — to our favorite Harrison eatery, the Ranch House Restaurant, for lunch. Deb had a club sandwich and I had a Southwest omelet with hashbrowns. Along with two tall glasses of (proper) sweet tea, our waitress brought an extra tumbler of ice.
It’s summer in The South. Damn, it’s good to be here.
Meanwhile on The Mountain, our resident black bears have been active. Deb’s cousin snapped these photos outside his cabin yesterday, right about the time we landed back in Arkansas.
The three-day trip from Second Chance Ranch to this campground totaled 732 miles. Our pace overall, including stops, was right at 50mph. We paused twice for fuel — the big Beaver bus took on 83 gallons of diesel, just short of a full 100-gallon tank, averaging 8.36mpg; and we put 29.7 gallons of gas into the SilverSilverado, which got 24.2mpg.
We caught ourselves a break yesterday when we refueled in Ozark, Missouri, south of Springfield. Deb filled Artie with 87 octane at $3.949 a gallon, over 50 cents less than what we’d paid at our previous stop. And the diesel I pumped into Ernie was $4.899, lowest price we’d seen since October.
For the record, the national average for a gallon of regular gas is $4.413; in Missouri it’s $4.103. Diesel is $5.455 and $5.067, respectively, so this was a real find.
But it gets better — this particular station, a small Signal store off US 65, accepts the TSD Logistics debit card. That took the diesel price down 7% to $4.583, saving us almost $15 on our 46-gallon fillup.
It may not sound like much, $211 vs. $226, but every little bit helps.
If you run a diesel RV or a diesel truck and you don’t have the TSD Logistics card and the Open Roads app, you’re doin’ it wrong. For more information about the program, click here.
Incidentally, TSD Logistics also works at all Love’s truck stops, though the diesel discount there is only about 8 cents a gallon, as well as T/A, Petro and others. A different stand-alone app called Mudflap helps cover many of the independents.
One more tip, and don’t give me any shit about Good Sam Club — we’re tryin’ to save money out here. The place where we filled Ernie on Wednesday, a One9 in Terre Haute, accepted our Pilot Flying J Good Sam credit card. That saved us 15 cents a gallon ($5.569 instead of $5.719), or 2.7%.
No, we can’t escape runaway inflation and the energy crisis manufactured by the current regime and its progressive allies. We can, however, soften the blow a bit if we have the tools.
At the risk of being a buzzkill to readers hoping for nothing but soft content on this blog, I haven’t lost touch with current events. I know, for example, that on Wednesday the current occupant of the Oval Office said, “I have cancer” and blamed it on living in the oil-refining state of Delaware. (He doesn’t have cancer. The cancer he had has nothing to do with Demon Oil.)
Yesterday he revealed that he popped positive for the latest innocuous strain of WuFlu, despite being double-jabbed and double-boosted. (He has the sniffles and he’s tired. The only reason he knows it’s WuFlu is because he’s tested every whip-stitch. No one cares anymore. Smart folks know that the “pandemic” is over.)
A leftist Super PAC is running a desperate “Vote for a Democrat” ad all over the place, including on conservative outlets like Fox News. (If you take its message seriously, you’re out of your mind.)
Beyond the shiny objects, progressives continue to unmake America. The Kongressional Kangaroo Kommittee “investigating” the events of January 6th, 2021 is bent on purging opposition from the political landscape. And a federal ban on “assault weapons” is making its way through the House — in a markup session this week, a she-twit representing Illinois said,
“With assault rifles, exit wounds can be a foot wide. The victim’s skull explodes on impact. Organs rupture, bones shatter, the shards serve as shrapnel and tear tissue to pieces. There is a reason we never see the images after a mass murder — many of the bodies no longer exist.”
Yes, some people will believe her. That’s why we have Democrats on the ballot.
Conservatives are pretty confident these days in predicting a “wave election” come November’s mid-terms. I mean, given the current regime’s long list of failures, how could anyone (with a brain) vote for Democrats?
You know the answer to that question.
The results of November’s elections aren’t assured. Every race matters. Every vote matters. True Americans need to get off their complacent asses and save this country from the Left.
If we don’t, we’ll get what we deserve.
One year ago today we flew our drone over the very campground where we’re staying now.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB