The fact that our house is on wheels has allowed us to spend the last 18 months traveling around the country and enabled us to see all kinds of wonderful sights.  Except for the 5 months we stayed in one park in Florida we generally have stayed in one place for at most 2 weeks.  Our house is 40 feet long, needs to be parked in a nearly level area for the slides to operate correctly. Of course there is also the need for electricity, water and sewer connections. On top of all that there is also the cost factor.

When it comes time to find a place to park – we look on the internet and get recommendations from other RV’ers for places near where we want to be. We then look at reviews and try to pick a good place at a good price.

For the most part we have been very successful. We have stayed at a number of wonderful places – most of them commercial RV parks, but a few have been state parks.   Sometimes our choices are limited or we pick a place that is a little more expensive because it is very convenient to where we are visiting. One example was the park we stayed at outside of Washington, D.C. – it was more expensive than we wanted to pay – but it was very close to the train into the city.

When we decided to go Memphis – we had two park recommendations. They were the Graceland RV Park – right across the street from Graceland, and Tom Sawyer’s Mississippi River RV Park. Since a key component of our trip to Memphis was BBQ – we checked and discovered that the two parks were about equidistant from the restaurants we had in mind.

We picked Tom Sawyers Mississippi River RV park, which says they are so close to the river that sometimes they are in it. As we pulled into the park – I started to wonder if this was really a good idea – the office for the park is on wheels so they can move it to high ground on a moment’s notice.

Tom Sawyer Miss River RV Park - Main Office

It is true we purchased Serenity from a boat dealer – but I am pretty sure she will not float, and I know I don’t want to find out. End of April – that is a time that the river has flooded in the past, but this year has been very dry – I guess we will be OK.  We paid for 4 nights and then started our drive into the park and noticed that the main electrical panels are up on high stilts. And the bathrooms are built up on the second story or also on wheels ready to move to move to high ground.

Tom Sawyer Miss RIver RV Park - Trying to keep dry

Well we got settled and I walked at most 100 feet (we were in the second row of RV’s) and sat on a bench at the bank of the mighty Mississippi and watched the river flow. Over the four days we stated in the park we saw a good number of tugboats pushing barges up and down the river.

Tom Sawyer Miss RIver Rv Park - The Mighty Mississippi

One day we were out and about running some errands and we decided that even though we were not going to go to Graceland this visit – we should at least drive by it.  Well seeing it sitting on the busy street and realizing that the other RV park was behind the Heartbreak Hotel it was clear we made the right choice. I could not wait to get home and walk along the bank of the Mississippi. When I did I thought to myself – I really should re-read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Or I could go fishing -

Tom Sawyer Miss River RV Park - Gone Fishing