Through Texas in under 30 Hours!

West New Mexico Rest Area along I-10

At 881 miles. this stretch of I-10 from Louisiana to New Mexico (or from New Mexico to Louisiana) is by far the longest stretch of Interstate in any one state.  I-5 running up and down California is next at 796.5 miles.  I have gone all the way up and down I-5…but NOT in a single trip.  This is the umpteenth time I have done I-10, and this is the fastest that I remember, and the best driving conditions with just a little fog between Fort Stockton and San Antonio, little wind, no rain, no snow, no ice…but traffic in Houston, San Antonio and some in El Paso, especially where they were doing road construction.  However, the traffic only slow us up by maybe 20 minutes in each of these cities…not bad considering. 

Wish I could say the same about ‘weather’ in New Mexico…but alas…as soon as we crossed into New Mexico, within 3-4 miles, it started to rain, and the wind was blowing from the west as we traveled north to Las Cruces.  The rain stopped just long enough to get gas, then hit with a force as we traveled west along I-10.  Our goal was to get to either the yellow or the red balloon on the map…we actually got to the black arrow which is a NICE welcome center / rest area on the south side of the highway but with easy access from either west or east traffic.  SCORE!   It is also on the other side of the Interstate from the busy train tracks.  SCORE!!  And it is too small for big trucks to come in and stay…besides, there are 2 or 3 truck stops that are in the town.  SCORE!!!  Along with super good Verizon signal, so tomorrow we will stay until church is over, then head on to Phoenix where we are meeting our friend Laurie whose mother passed last year.  A week ago we told her we would make it for breakfast on Monday…but this trip has gone so quick, we are meeting Sunday night at a Cracker Barrel, and I already got permission to stay the night there.   

Family in Sacramento….we SHOULD be pulling in on Tuesday afternoon….looking forward to seeing you all, and, of course, seeing Bubba.

Had a decent nights sleep with one quiet generator going ALL night.  (Why do they park right in the middle knowing they are going to have generator going?  I understand they might have a medical need for having a generator run...but for gosh sake, pick an end sight away from the rest of the folks!)  A few trucks did come in last night, but for the most part it was fairly quiet for a rest area. 

A Different Look at Eclipse

From Huntley Park Oregon to McCloud California

  

   

Yes, this is taken on Eclipse Day…no, it is not the MOON blocking out the sun, it is the SMOKE.  We did watch the Eclipse from Huntley Park Oregon, then proceeded over to Myrtle Creek…then to Medford…then to Talent where we stayed the night in a Rest Area.  ALL of these pictures taken above were taken between Myrtle Creek and the California border yesterday and today.  The bottom right picture was taken as we were leaving Harry and David in Medford…about 6:45 pm.  NEVER seen the smoke so thick, and this smoke is being attributed to the fire near Brookings, called the Chetco Bar Fire.

When you stay in an area for a month, and then a MAJOR fire takes place in that area, the connection you made sucks your emotions into what is going on.  You have met nice people in the past month…the hosts at Alfred Loeb State Park, the checkers at Fred Meyer in Brookings, or at McKay’s Market in Gold Beach, the workers at Indian Creek RV Park, the hosts at Huntley Park, and of course, D & D of Double D’s Cafe in Gold Beach and their entire family, most of whom we had the pleasure of meeting.  All of these people are being affected because they know people who have evacuated…and they probably know or know of the five families who have lost their homes so far…with many more threatened.  In the above map I have added, in RED, the various places we stayed at…along with the Fire Perimeter.  They listed the two levels of evacuations areas…level 2 is be prepared to leave, level 3 is get the heck out of there.

It did not take us long on Oregon Highway 42 before we started to see the thick smoke.  We went north because they asked people not to drive down highway 101 toward Brookings…too much stuff going on down there.  By the time we got close to I-5, we could smell it.  We drove by On the River Golf & RV Park, a place we have stopped by many times before…they looked full to the brim, and the smoke was just too thick.  Didn’t even try our back-up plan in Myrtle Creek, Millsite RV Park, a city park, because the smoke was just too thick.  We went on to Medford to visit Harry and David…Sis LOVES Moose Munch, and since her and Arny both have birthdays next week, one day apart, we had to pick up “stuff”.  (I can see her licking her chops already…)  After the shopping spree, we headed to Talent where there was suppose to be a RV Resort through Passport America, which looked promising on paper…but it ended up being a HUGE DUMP…one of the worse we have seen…and it was also full…and we did not want to stay there even if they had sites open…yes, it was that bad.  And how do they even come to think they are a resort????  So we stayed at a Oregon Rest Area….along with many other people, most of whom were Californians headed back home after the full eclipse.

There was a wreck about 5 miles before Medford.  Marcia and I were counting the California plates as they went by us…4 out of 5 vehicles were California plates, with occasional Arizona and other states in the mix, and about 1 out of 5 were Oregon plates.  So it is safe to say…some Californian did something stupid and caused a wreck.  By the time we got up to it, an hour later, it was gone, so it is just a “educated guess”… 

So this morning we had our coffee, a quick breakfast and off to McCloud California to one of our favorite RV parks in NorCal…McCloud RV Resort which we have been to 3 or 4 times now.  We DON’T like the prices necessarily, and they have some strict rules about their grass…which keeps the grass in such good condition I guess.  But it is not as hot as other Northern California areas, has lots of shade (although we lose our shade around 1 and it isn’t back until 5), and it is very peaceful.

Of course, there are jerks who like to park their trucks on another person’s site…but I won’t go into that…nor the nine attempts to back into his site…yes NINE.   Now on the other side of his trailer he has three chairs, lots of other camping stuff, along with his park provided table…and there is room to back his truck up more, but heck…he would probably hit the fence or his awning, so it is much easier just using a chunk of our site.  And then there is the bigger jerk who let both his dogs off leash, and when I spotted them, I did not take Bubba or Skruffy their way...but they both made it over our way.  His Shepherd got a bit noisy, which then gets Skruffy going, and frankly, I was ready to give it a hit in the noise had it become aggressive.  The guy says, "Sorry, did not know it got out...", and just then the Shepherd comes running over.  I had seen them, and I knew he knew they were out, so I just said, "You know, that is why they make leashes."  He did not look at me, he just got his dogs and walked away.  GRRRR!!!

   

But the park is just a lovely place, and we are here for two nights.  Yesterday’s drive was twice as long as it needed to be…it is only 120 miles from Huntley to the Rest Area…but that route is on a paved, National Forest road which is not recommended for RVs.  Had we gone through Crescent City, it would have been a 160 mile trip…but as it was, due to the fire, we drove over 240 miles.  And once we hit I-5, the traffic was a a crawl numerous times due to traffic and wrecks.  So two days to regain our sanity is in order…then we will head the 4+ hours back to my sister’s house…with a stop at a Truck/RV wash on the way back to Sacramento, one which we have used in the past…and after all the dust and dirt we accumulated these past seven weeks, it needs it.  As for us…the long showers we had this afternoon felt real nice…the 94 degree weather, well, that did not last very long.

And YES, we did watch the eclipse, or at least I tried to get some pictures of it.  This is the best one I got, about 9:55 am, 20 minutes before our 95% coverage.  No matter what, the sun was too bright for the eyes, and our camera did not do so well capturing it.

750 Miles, One Wreck, 200 More to Go

Left Little Rock, stayed outside Hattiesburg Mississippi last night (Wednesday), and staying in a Florida Rest Area outside Tallahassee tonight.  Roughly, that’s 750 miles.  Last night we stayed at Okatoma Resort & RV Park.  It is a Passport America park, only $13 per night, full hookups.  It is a couple miles off of the highway, which makes it quiet and peaceful, and we both got real good sleep.  Tonight, in the rest area, it will be much louder, probably our loudest night since we got to the Sacramento area back in May….but we will make it through the night.

This is a picture of the RV park from their website….by the time I rest up from the drive, it was getting dark.  When we left this morning we got a picture of this lake/pond, but it did not turn out as good as theirs….so here is their picture.  Their website has many more, and they don’t hide the fact that many of the spots at their resort are close together….but remember, it is $13.  The staff I met were WONDERFUL….very nice and helpful.  Yes, we would stay there again if we are in the area.

Driving along highway 98 from Hattiesburg near the Alabama boarder we witnessed a rear end crash that took place just in front of us.  A white mid-sized car had just passed us and pulled in front of us and continued down the highway.  In front of them was a pickup truck, with blinkers flashing, following a tractor, similar to the one below, probably going 40-45 mph.

As I started to sense that something was wrong, the white car, at the last moment, attempted to pull to the left to avoid the truck, and BAM!  I was going around 55, they were going around 60, speed limit was 65 on this divided highway.  They had slowed, but not enough, before the accident.  No one was hurt, damage to car was enough that I am sure they needed a tow, while the truck was hurt, but not too much.  Turns out the truck and tractor were county vehicles.  The driver of the truck told me that two years ago an 18-Wheeler hit a county tractor from behind and killed the county worker…so now they have an escort.  As for the car, turns out the two guys in it were driving a brand new car from Lander’s , an auto dealer in Little Rock, to Georgia where they were to deliver it.  Doubt they will be delivering very many more autos in the future.  I figured the driver was on his cell…but he denied it to me.  When the state trooper arrived, he dismissed me from the scene, I got my collapsible cones off the highway and off we went.  Funny, no one took my name, not even the trooper.

    

Have been carrying these cones since June of 2013 when our Class A American Eagle had broke down along he highway in May and we had no way to mark the danger along the highway.  I carry them in the HHR, and this was the first time I used them.  $24 for two from Amazon, and they include a light or night-time use.  And we don’t get any $$$$ by using our link if you buy them, just wanted to share the safety feature.

Don’t know if you have ever had a wreck on the Freeway going 60+ or not, but a number of years ago I had one going from Little Rock to Pine Bluff.  Had a meeting at the State Library that day, but when I got there the weather was real, real bad, and I turned back to Pine Bluff.  There was a tornado which through the area about 40 minutes after I left Little Rock….about the time a guy in a pick-up truck hit me going 65 mph while I was traveling 60+ mph.  I saw in the mirror that this guy was getting closer and closer, so I hit the accelerator and started to get in the left lane….but I was about 2 seconds too late.  I nearly got away from him.  He hit me and it was like “Bumper Cars” at a carnival….except for the speed.  It has had a lasting affect on me since I constantly watch my rearview mirror when I am in the same type of situation.  Today I just started to utter “he is going to hit him” when the accident happened, and then I changed it to “he hit him”, as I quickly slowed and put on my blinkers, and carefully went around the debris field left on the highway, and pulled off in front of the wreck.  Things happen so fast, thank goodness we were way back, and thank goodness no one got hurt….not a scratch.  And the airbags did not go off in either vehicle….nor did they in my case some six years ago or so.  Why did the truck hit me back then?

The driver was an older man from a poor little town south of Pine Bluff in a very old Chevy truck.  He was coming back from the VA hospital, where they had given him a new prescription…and as he drove along, he was curious to the type of medicine he had been given and was reading the label.   When he got out of his truck he had to hold on to the side of his truck as he walked, and I thought, “Oh no, he is hurt.”  Then he got his walker out of the bed of the truck.  He had left his driver door open, so I went over and closed it, just as he says, “Don’t close it please…”, but too late.  I had now locked his keys in his running truck with all the doors locked.  The state trooper was not too happy about that, he thought the guy did it on purpose to hide something …. until I told the trooper that I had done it not knowing that the truck door is always in the locked position.  “You locked his door?” the officer asked.  “Yes sir, but I did not know it was locked….I just didn’t want a car driving along the Interstate to come along and hit it.”  That defused the situation real quick. 
The older gentleman was a Korean War Vet.  I begged the State Trooper to just give him a warning, but he said that he would get in trouble doing that.  He wrote him up for failure to observe, or something like that.  Way better than it could have been.  I have always wondered if this guy is still driving or not....I hope so, and if so, I hope he learned his lesson about reading and driving.

Is Everything Big in Texas?

As we were driving to Houston last Sunday, we stopped at the Welcome Center on I-10 just over the boarder from Louisiana.  I decided I needed a bit of a walk and decided to use the Welcome Center’s facilities….well, that was one, long walk.  Never had to walk so far to use facilities at a rest area.  On my way back to the motorhome I came upon an older couple and I said, “When they say everything is big in Texas, they are including the walks to the bathroom facilities too.”  They chuckled, as did I as I headed back to the parking area.

Now you can included the dog park in this list too.  Bubba is way off in the distance left, and Skruffy is in the not so distant right.

Here Skruffy is near me…Bubba is way the heck out there.

  

But you have not seen “big” until you see the big dog area!  It is at least four times bigger than the small dog park.

And yes, it includes this big pond for the dogs to swim in!  There is even a dog cleaning station, where you can wash your dog down before you take them home.  WOW!  It is called Pawm Springs Dog Park, and it is located in Sugar Land, Texas, just southwest of Houston. 

And you just got to love this sign!

We are at a rest area along Highway 59 about 100 miles north of Houston.  On the other side of the highway about four trucks have pulled in carrying these huge windmill blades.  I have seen these things passing through Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma before.  They are huge.

Yep, we found us another nice rest area to stay at.  The “RV’s” get to park along side the building, while the trucks are out further in the parking lot.

It is a nice little building, very clean, and about seven years old according to the Texas Highway website.

What do you mean you want to go back to the dog park?

Speaking of big, let me tell you a bit about the huge heart that Joy Wiese, service manager of PPL has.  Yesterday around 4 pm, just as we were returning to PPL from a shopping trip to Wally World I get a call letting us know that our motorhome is back on the pad at camp PPL, and oh, by the way, the awning did not come in as expected…..  Well, that is all I remember as I kind of blow my temper over the phone and let them know we are less than ten minutes away and I will be talking to Joy personally about this.  Well, Joy just looks me in the eye and tells me the honest story about how the supplier had not told her that it was going to be 3-4 weeks, instead of the standard 1 week, for this awning due to the special order.  I immediately see that she is telling me the truth, and now it is just “what can we do about it?”  We can come back in 2-3 weeks, or cancel it, or have it shipped to California…which is what we are doing, at their shipping expense.  We then go over what needs to be done still, and she hopes to have it ready by noon, no later than 2 pm on Tuesday.  Well, it was ready at 1 pm, they also fixed a slight leak in the toilet, have ordered a part which will be sent along with the awning, and the price was $300 less than her quote twelve days ago.  She said they were charging $150 labor to put the awning on, and that was deducted, and there were a few things she did not even charge us for.  What a nice lady, with a nice, good, big heart.

Quick Escape -- Rain Delayed Visit

Wednesday we had a “last minute” desire to get away….this was at 3:30.  So I packed up some dry food, some clothes, went and got Bubba while the Service Dog performed her service with Marcia, and got the motorhome.  By the time we got back to the condo with the motorhome and packed, we had time to get over to the church for Wednesday night bible study, and then off we went. 

Our target was these rest areas just south of Tampa along I-75 for the night, so that we were close and within easy early hunting for a spot at the E.G. Simmons County Park, part of the Hillsborough County Parks System.   We pulled into the southbound rest area around 10 pm, and found that they had truck parking, car parking, and “truck & RV” parking.  W-T-Heck? Truck and RV parking!!!!  I drove right through and went 8 miles to the next exit, did a U-turn to head us North (on the northern bound lane, of course) and pulled into the northbound rest area.  Truck parking, car parking and RV parking!!!!  YES, RV’s get their own area to park in…although a few quiet trucks joined in with the three RVs that stayed the night.  And, we were now headed in the right direction because once on the Interstate in the morning, we take the first exit for EG Simmons, which was 10 miles away. 

Oops, someone forgot the check the weather, because it started to rain and rain early in the morning.  Now they do not take reservations at EG Simmons, so you have to be there “early”.  We got there at 9:15, and we were told we were the 5th ones in line for the known three spots that had to open up due to the 14 day limit….but others had paid up through today, but with the rain, and yes there was lots of rain, many of those were extending for a day because they were still under their 14 day allotment.  We drove down the large parking lot at the beach area, and got online.  I found the Hide-A-Way RV Resort, a Passport America park where we can stay for two nights for $52.  EG Simmons would have cost $36 for two nights with the senior citizen discount, so what’s another $16?  And this park has sewer and Internet…but no views and privacy.

  

As we left EG Simmons, I asked when the best time to come in is….they said Sunday, Monday and even on Tuesday…but you need to be early.  So we will try again…this time we will check the weather first.  However, there are advantages to raining days…..

Boy, that Bubba sure can snore….it is nice having Skruffy and Bubba together with us again.

And a special happy birthday to my oldest, Michael.  Hope UC Berkley is treating you ok….nearly have the first year behind you son….sure proud of ya.  (don’t forget to call you mom)