R/V Trip

Our RV stopped in a back road in Mississippi delta land, land deep in cotton this summer day when the sun shimmered hot and dry. We glanced out the windshield for signs of life. Not a soul around.

“I think we’re lost.”

“You had one mission, Henry. One. To get us to that campground tonight.”

My husband sat back, sighed, wiped his forehead. “Dang, it’s hot.”

“It’s the deep South in summer. This RV is ancient. The sun is high in the sky. Three strikes against us.” I fanned myself with the map. “What’s the plan?”

“Well, I guess we turn around and backtrack, Marie. Find that campground. Can’t be that hard.”

“Do you know where we are?” I turned the map round and round, tried to figure out where in the world we were.

Henry frowned. “Perhaps we passed a place called Tallahatchie a while back?”

“Ah, so why did Billy Joe McAllister really jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge?” I started to sing.

Silence as Henry stared at me.

“The song? You don’t remember that old song?”

“You’re wondering where we are. That’s not helping. Let’s just get out of these five feet high blasted cotton fields.”

I finally found Tallahatchie on the map. “Here we go. Where is the campground?”

We turned around the RV, headed down the two-lane, away from the blazing sun.

“I think we need to head toward Yazoo City,” Henry stated.

“Yahoo?”

“No, Yazoo. Pay attention, navigator.”

Trundling along we finally got to a better highway. Soon signs for Yazoo City started appearing.

We got to the KOA about 7 PM, in enough time to set up camp. The routine of hauling out the camp chairs and the grill took a few moments. Then we relaxed for a few moments as supper started. Then the real fun began. Mosquitoes and bugs started their nighttime feeding. We hauled chairs back inside, tended the grill in quick bursts.

As I lay in bed that night, the fan blasting hot, humid Mississippi air on us, I got to wondering, was the real reason the guy jumped off that bridge just to cool off?

“Henry, do you think Billy Joe McAllister jumped just to get cooled off?”

“Hmmm. What? I was just about asleep. You’re cooled off? What country are you living in? It’s about 90 degrees in here.”

I jumped up, ran to the fridge, grabbed a water bottle. Soon we were spraying each other with cold water.

Finally Henry pinned me down, kissed me. “You’re a nut. I think the real reason Billie Joe jumped was to get away from some crazy woman.”

“Let’s go to Gulf Shores tomorrow. Stick our feet in the water. Heck with the Mississippi. We’ll collect sea shells down by the sea shore.”

“Technically it’s not the ocean, but a gulf. An ocean is a large water body with no specific boundaries…”

“Ah Henry, I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

W/C 501