2008 – Week 24

Tuesday, October 7, 2008:
We had a good night sleep, but were awakened when the campground host stopped by and left a note on our windshield concerning the need to stop by the office and register for camping. We tried to go back to sleep but it was hopeless as the sun was starting to come up. We finally surrendered and climbed down at 7:30am. I took Daisy out for her walk and to pay for the night. Unfortunately, the office was a mile away, and after we had walked about halfway I decided to wait for a bit. When I returned I found the Campground Host talking to one of the Park Rangers and was told that there was no rush. We had coffee, breakfast, then Susie washed Daisy and I washed the front surfaces of the RV to remove the grasshoppers we had collected over the last few days. It was then time for showers and to continue our trek east to San Antonio. The first stop was at the Wal-Mart Superstore in Del Rio TX for an oil change and some food. We then made some phone calls to Jeff, Susie’s brother, to ask if it was acceptable for us to arrive one day early. We then called the U-Haul shop to confirm the order for a 6x12 trailer to haul stuff back to Sykesville. They were unable to tell us where to pickup the trailer, but would call us by 9:00pm tomorrow night and then we’d drive to pick it up. We hope it’s not on the south side of San Antonio as we are on the north. We left Del Rio and continued east on US90, passing ranches that have been converted to big game hunting facilities. These places charge a big fee to people for the chance to bag game in an enclosed area. Some sport! We saw gas for $3.099/gallon and turned around to get it. That price was available only in 2 small towns, and as we approached San Antonio, it jumped to $3.299/gallon. We stopped at the first Dairy Queen in a long time just to get back into civilization. Susie drove while I navigated around the I-410 Beltway during rush hour. I think we saw more cars in the 20 minutes on the Beltway than we have in the last week. We arrived at Jeff and Candy’s at 5:40pm after having driven 201 miles and talked while we introduced their 6 dogs to Daisy. One of them, Quinn, was just a puppy when Daisy was here in 2003, and they seemed to remember each other. What a relief! The others were so excited to see another dog and people that they couldn’t contain themselves. Two cats have recently moved on to the property, and Daisy was more interested in them.


Wednesday, October 8, 2008:
Nothing much happened today. We have just decompressed in preparation for picking up and packing the trailer. I was planning to have us go east along I-10, but there are no campgrounds available for 150 miles around Houston where I-10 passes through. We have pretty much decided to go north to Dallas and take I-30 to I-40 to I-81 home. Just heard about Constellation Energy’s problems and its purchase by one of Warren Buffett’s companies. Well, that’s about it for the day.

Thursday, October 9, 2008:
We picked up the trailer at 9:00am and started loading around 11:00am. It took a full 5 hours, and I know I was exhausted, probably affected by the heat. Susie stood up better than I, but she isn’t much of a complainer. Candy made us a terrific dinner, and I ate more than I should have, but it was worth it. Jeff’s son E.C. come over and had dinner with us. He is a neat guy and told several funny stories about his interaction with several animals including a possum, rattlesnake and different spiders. He is an old car buff and always has a few in restoration. We commented on the quantity of good looking older cars, and he made the comment that down there, they finally just wear out. No salt to rust the bodies, frames, etc. down here. We finally went upstairs at 9:30pm, and Susie finished her blog while I slept.

Friday, October 10, 2008:
I was up at 8:15am and took Daisy for her walk. I tried to feed her, but she wasn’t interested so I took her upstairs to see Susie. She was so excited; it was as if Susie had been gone for a week. I checked the trailer and had to make a few adjustments, and then we found that we had not packed one of the antique clocks. Luckily we found an open space in the trailer, and it fit perfectly. We had some coffee, bananas and muffin before leaving at 11:30am, a bit later than I wanted, but still OK. Gabby Garmin said we had 1,599 miles to our house. As soon as we were on I-35, we noticed a highway information sign that said “Serious accident ahead, I-35 shutdown in Austin at Exit 236-B.” We continued north and came to realize that I-35 between San Antonio and Austin was lined with big box stores and industry. We drove for another hour plus without seeing another sign and assumed that the accident had been cleared. Well, it hadn’t, and with the help of Gabby, we were able to divert to the east and get around. It was interesting that as soon as we left I-35 and drove just a few miles east, it was just open land, no big stores or industry. In addition to Gabby, we followed an orange colored 18-wheeler (Schneider Trucking?) that looked like he had done this before. He led us perfectly! We then headed northeast on US79, stopping for gas and Dairy Queen. The land had turned greener and the pastures were good-looking with enough trees in them to be attractive. There were not many hills, but when we reached to top, we could like for miles without any signs of mountains. We saw oil well pumps and collection systems after we drove through Buffalo. We reached Paradise at 6:10pm having driven 268 miles. Not bad considering the diversion for the accident. The campground owner warned us to stay on the paths and not throw the ball for Daisy in the large grass area nearby since he had recently killed 7 copperheads there. Gabby says we now have 1,345 miles to go.

Saturday, October 11, 2008:
We took showers, left the RV Park at 9:30am and continued northeast on US79. It was a nice road, and we made good time, probably not as good as on the Interstate, but it was much more quiet and enjoyable. Nothing really exciting, but quiet and enjoyable is good. As we approached Pine Bluff, we found Shell gas at $2.829/gallon. There have not been many campgrounds along US79, but we found the Pine Bluff Regional Park and Saracen Trace RV Park. We had hoped for a ‘pull-through’ site so we wouldn’t need to back up the trailer but there were none. Susie was able to back the RV and trailer into a site, and all was well. We turned off the engine at 5:00pm after driving 336 miles. We walked back to pay for the site, and then Susie trimmed my beard. We had an early dinner and had a good night sleep in preparation for tomorrow. There is a big timber industry here, and I think we’ll have the smell all night unless the wind direction changes. We have been using back roads as much as possible, paralleling the Interstates and will continue to do so as long as we can. Gabby Garmin says we have 1,072 miles to go, using her routing system. It will be more.

Sunday, October 12, 2008:
We left Pine Bluff RP at 9:00am after taking Daisy for a walk and having breakfast. This is an interesting pubic park in that there are several full-time residents, some with fairly beat-up rigs, cars without license plates and numerous cats wandering around. All night there were sounds like muffled explosions in the distance. We never did figure out what the cause was. The Regional Park is a full sports complex with a golf course, model airplane flying field, baseball fields and batting cages in addition to the RV Park. There may be more, but that is all we saw during the drive in and out. We continued northeast n US79, driving through farmland with rice, soybeans, corn and maybe some other crops. I remember driving through northern Arkansas in 2003 and was surprised at the amount of cropland. The land is FLAT. We saw the same large cotton bales we saw in Texas in 2004 and numerous grain elevators and grain mills. We crossed over the very fast flowing Mississippi River at Memphis TN and promptly headed a bit south to US72 through Mississippi and into Alabama. We were in 4 states today: AR, TN, MS and AL. Some of the trees have started changing color, and we were wondering how much raking I’ll have to do when we get home. I suspect a lot. Maybe I can rent a big leaf blower to help in the cleanup. We pulled in to the Joe Wheeler SP and were very surprised at the number of families here. Last night there was only one unoccupied RV/trailer campsite out of 116. When we asked the Host why, he told us that the schools were out for fall break. Now, I ask you, why does a kid need a break from school after 6 weeks? Maybe it’s for the teachers. They have great showers, and we took advantage of them before dinner. We stopped at 4:30pm after having driven 331 miles today. Gabby says we have 756 miles to home. I think most of the rest of the trip will be on the Interstates up through TN and then I-81 through VA.

Monday, October 13, 2008:
Up a bit early, had coffee and then started driving at 8:30am CDT. Susie brought bananas and nuts to the front of the RV so we had something to eat as we started. We drove east on US72, through Huntsville where we bought some gas. I couldn’t believe the high price so we didn’t fill the tank, hoping that as we approached the Interstates the price would drop. In Huntsville, the prices ranged from $3.599 to $2.959 per gallon, all within a 3-mile distance, very strange. After having driven for 3.5 hours, we stopped for breakfast at Jacks, a local hamburger chain. We had the southern staple of eggs, bacon, biscuit and sausage gravy. We wanted orange juice, but the delivery of the day had not arrived. We headed north to I-24 and drove on that for a bit, passing into TN then GA and finally back in to TN. We crossed into the Eastern Time Zone and set as many clocks as we could reach without climbing out of our seats. We bought gas just as we entered TN for the 2nd time as we couldn’t wait any longer. We went for I-24 to I-75 to Knoxville where we joined I-40. There was a brief detour as I-40 in the middle of Knoxville was closed for construction, but it didn’t cause any great delay. We continued east on I-40 for many miles, stopping for lunch in a Rest Area before we joined I-81. We stopped in the Warriors Path SP, just north of Johnson City TN. There was a lake here, and Daisy just jumped in and swam and swam. She has not had the opportunity to swim much on this trip so this was great. Maybe we’ll take her again tomorrow before we leave. We drove 359 miles and stopped at 5:30pm EDT, a driving time of 8 hours. Gabby says we have 410 miles to go so we’ll probably stop one more night to avoid arriving home just before dark.