IN THE LAND OF ELVIS ...

It seems to me …a person should never say never and here is one reason why:

When we checked in at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park, the much-anticipated park bordering the Mississippi River in West Memphis, AR we were told that even though we had specifically reserved a “riverfront” site, there were none available. It seemed we would have to take a site in the second row, also called a “riverfront” site but one row back with gravel pull-thrus. The front row sites all have a cement pull-thru. The gravel sites are a bit extravagant for us but the cement sites are even more, about another $30 a week. When we called for reservations, the woman on the phone assured us we would have a “riverfront” site without the cement pull-thru and since we didn’t know they call all three rows of sites, “riverfront” sites, and it was not explained to us (we have never been here before) in our ignorance, we believed we had reserved a site right on the river.

Needless to say, I was livid when the woman behind the desk seemed indifferent to our displeasure, shrugged her shoulders and made no attempt to find a way rectify the situation. I had to leave the office because had I stayed I might have said something I would regret. Also, I might have told her where to put our reservation and left if we hadn’t been on the road all day and needed to stop and rest. There were lots of things we could have done but we swallowed our anger, considered the free laundry facilities as a consolation and settled in to the second row site. It wasn’t too bad after we got a look down inside the park and decided we could live with the mix up but would make sure we aired our complaints on the web. Phil wrote his account of what happened on the RVThereyet.com website and I planned to share my less than gracious thoughts in the blog.

Two days ago, a car pulled up and the driver knocked on our door. He introduced himself as the owner of the park. He informed Phil he had heard we were very unhappy and he also understood how it had happened and took total responsibility. He told Phil he had torn up our check. He agreed the park website needed to be more clear and he also offered a front row site beginning today. We declined as we are leaving on Wednesday so he told Phil if we ever came back to this park, he would personally guarantee we had a front row site. Now, that variety of admirable business practice is so rare and uncommon, we had to tell our readers about what happened. Phil promptly put a reversal of our opinion on the RVThereyet.com website and since we had vowed to never return to this park, it seems to me … a person should never say never!

A few thoughts about Arkansas: It is in fact a very beautiful state. We were surprised to see the proliferation of planted Pine forests (thousands of acres) and enjoyed seeing the multitude of turtles sunning themselves in the bayous as we drove the back roads. All the beef we have eaten in Arkansas has been lean, flavorful and notably tender. I have no idea why that is but the cattle we have seen are being raised on green, grassy pastures with not a stockyard in evidence anywhere we have traveled. Could there be a correlation? Obviously, because it is springtime, wild flowers abound but the wild Wysteria is spectacular. Climbing trees up to 50 feet in the air and in full bloom, it makes for many ooohs and aaaahs as we drive along off the beaten path (sorry we didn’t get any pictures). West Memphis, where our RV Park is located is accessed through some dangerously decaying neighborhoods. It is sad to see how some people in the richest country in the world, so full of opportunity choose to live. My mother always told me that being clean doesn’t cost a nickel but that concept seems foreign to many living near where we are located this week.

Lots of photos this week. Sorry I am so late but our Internet was unavailable due to heavy rain and thick, low clouds for several hours this morning.

Until next time,