The two RV Gypsies at Tom Sawyer's RV Park
in West Memphis, Arkansas
July 26-27, 2014

This place is awesome. The sites sit on the Mississippi River and it was relaxing and beautiful to sit and watch the barges going up and down the river. The management was super helpful. The grounds were super clean. The view was just the best. Plus FREE LAUNDRY IN WELL-MAINTAINED, CLEAN MACHINES!

Approaching Tom Sawyers RV Park in West Memphis, Arkansas

This was a very nice campground even though the roads were dirt roads. They watered the roads to keep the dust down, but that just puts mud on the RVs and toads as they drive on the roads.

The site that the two RV Gypsies parked on had a paved parking pad for the RV and an amazing view of the Mississippi River and the barges. There was secured Wi-Fi at the site, but it was extremely slow. The water pressure was very good. The campground did not have a clubhouse, rec room or pool, but there were laundromats and bathhouses. There was no swimming in the Mississippi River here.

The campground did not have cable TV, but they say dish and satellite reception would be OK. But the two RV Gypsies just used their antenna and got 5 TV stations. Check-out time was noon.

And the biggest surprise of all, was that the laundromat at the campground was free at this time. Trains could be heard at night, but they were far off in the distance and did not interfere with Karen's sleep.

Their brochure also states that their insurance company wishes to inform everyone of the existence of poison ivy, snakes, mosquitos, fire ants and chiggers within the boundaries of the RV Park. Karen, Lee, and Ilse did not have any problems with any of those items. Now scroll down for some beautiful photos.

Tom Sawyer was carved into a real tree. It was a nice carving, but it is shameful to deface a tree like this.

The site of the two RV Gypsies' RV and the view of the Mississippi River as seen from the front window of their RV home.

The view of the Mississippi River as seen from the dining room bay window of the RV, and the RV and toad as seen from the standing by the river, but off to the side a bit.

Upon arrival, Karen's sister was eager to take photos of the Mississippi River. There was a big drop off at the edge of the property and the Mississippi River. Ilse was fascinated by barges and wanted to see a lot of them.

Within minutes of arrival, Ilse got to see the first barge come down the Mississippi River.

And all throughout the day and evening, lots of barges came down the Mississippi River, to Ilse's delight.

There was a tree house on the property, and Ilse, Lee and Karen went to see what it looked like.

There was a sign on the door showing the water level mark from a flood on May 10, 2011.

Note that the treehouse
was raised up off the ground
so that was a really high water level.

Below: A view of the treehouse from the ground and a photo showing how far away the Mississippi River is from the treehouse. Also, there was a big drop-off at the edge of the bank where the park property meets the Mississippi River, so the river had to really rise up at that point.

And more barges went by, day and night.

Karen, Lee and Ilse went to eat at Pancho's Mexican Restaurant, 3600 E. Broadway Street, in West Memphis, Arkansas. Casey was their server, and she was really nice, polite, and gave great service. The food was very good. Ilse and Karen both had the chimichangas, and they both ordered it without the standard mushroom gravy, and specified that they wanted cheese on it. They were each charged an extra $2 for the cheese. That didn't seem fair since they didn't get the mushroom gravy. They had never heard of a mushroom gravy on chimichangas anyway, and Karen has always had cheese automatically come on chimichangas at other Mexican Restaurants. Oh well, the food was good and Casey was a great server, and that's all that really matters.

Please continue on to Tuscumbia and Sheffield, Alabama
and Cane Creek Canyon Preserve, Helen Keller's birthplace, Spring Park and more.