Today we are here at Indian Creek Recreation area near
Alexandria, Louisiana. We have a nice concrete level site with opening to the
southern sky so the satellite dish works. It couldn’t get much better except we
are a long way from a place to buy a newspaper. It’s not that there are no
nearby stores. It’s just that newspapers aren’t very popular in this part of
the country. Enough on that subject. We are in the middle of a beautiful pine
forest and the weather is fine today. Our travels north are kind of stalled
because it keeps snowing up there. We left Palmdale on March 29 and enjoyed
several days traveling, finding good places to stay easily. Three days at San
Luis Pass County Park where we did a little crabbing and fishing were a
highlight. It’s not that we haven’t had challenges along the way.
Our first stop in Corpus Christi was to get our oil changed
and a new pan gasket at the Freightliner Service Center. We had the rig there
at 7:00 AM so they could have plenty of time. Well, they were busy and it was Friday
and they appeared to be having some kind of staff celebration that day and we
did all we could think of to do in town and came back about 2:00 PM. The rig
was still in the parking lot. Don went in to check on it and they made excuses
but soon it was in the shop. At about 5:00 we went back and they said that
there was another part that was needed because there was an additional gasket
that needed to be ordered. So, they spent an hour coming up with an estimate and
said they “might” be able to do it the next day. We took our estimate and headed
down the road. We should be able to find a place in Minneapolis to get the work
done if it ever stops snowing up there. The leak is not bad enough to require
immediate attention. We haven’t needed to add any oil in the year since the
last oil change.
After we left San Luis Pass, we headed to the southern suburbs
of Houston where we could get some shopping done, do laundry and make granola.
Besides, there was bad weather in the forecast and we thought it better to be
away from the coast. We stayed at Safari Mobile Home and RV Park by League
City, Texas. It was challenging to get by the road construction but once we got
in, it was a good place to stay. We stayed an extra day there to fix one of our
slideouts that got hung up on the passenger seat when we attempted to extend
it. Once more, Don came through and was able to make the repair quite easily with
the purchase of a bolt at Home Depot. This was only after figuring out that we
weren’t going to get any kind of service for 3 or 4 weeks.
This trip is turning out to be kind of tutorial on RVing.
Following is Don’s description of our departure from Texas that he posted on
Facebook. It deserves to also be published here on this blog.
*********************
RVing on Steroids by Don Ruff 4/10/18
Yesterday morning was our last in Texas for the winter. The weather up north is still cold. We went in search of good Cajun food in
Louisiana. Judy and I love Cajun. The thirty miles from Beaumont to the
Louisiana border were some of the worst roads we have been on during our years
of travel. When we finally stopped for
the first time of the day, Judy went back to the back of the camper and found that
things had found new homes. Thankfully,
nothing broke.
We stopped at a campground for the night. There was no camp host there, with recent
rains, the ground was soft and we feared the rig would sink in, so we moved
on. Next was a Walmart….terra firma
there. We were then told that no
overnight camping was allowed. We
remembered an RV park back a few miles. We took the first left we could to a
turnaround. The road quickly became very
narrow. A sign on the road said no
vehicles over three tons. At 23 tons, I
could see us breaking a local bridge and be liable. There was no place to turnaround, so we went
on….I was very mindful of possible hazards.
We finally were able to flag down a local traveler. They said there were no bridges, and if we
stayed on the road, we would come out at the highway. Tragedy avoided.
We made it to the RV park. We were met by the owner. He said he had one site that may fit us….but
a rig that size, he would have to charge us $25….no less than that. I took a ride with him to view the site and he
realized it was not good. He thought we
would sink to our axle in the soft ground.
We decided to move on. He had no
turnaround in the park, so we had to unhook the car and back out of the
campground. On to the next town.
Leesburg also has a Walmart Supercenter. We stopped there and were again told they
offer no overnights. We again went back
about five miles in the car to a campground we had passed. The car scraped bottom going into the
grounds, and we could not see a level site, so we moved on.
We located another RV park just north of town. We called and they had a site available that
would fit us. As we started out of town,
we were met with large signs of a low clearance viaduct. Clearance was the same height of the camper. Once again, we stopped to find an alternative
route. We went to the Sonic across the
street. We were met by a guy on roller
skates, about 21 years old, about six foot five, 250 lbs., full beard, and very
large boobs. I assumed he was midway
through his sex change. (not that there
is anything wrong with that). We got our
new routing that included a 30 minute wait for a freight train.
We ended up at the Shady Lake RV resort. It was built on a hill, so the ground was not
soft, but leveling was difficult. We
asked the lady where the good restaurants were.
She recommended D &D Steakhouse.
I asked if there were any good Cajun food around. She said yes, but that restaurant was closed
on Sunday. We stayed in the camper and
had canned chicken sandwiches and Tomato soup along with a bottle of
2-buck-chuck for ambiance.
**********************************
I want to take this time to pause for a minute and appreciate my amazing husband who can fix things, drive this rig through all kinds of challenging places, and can write. I don't think I always appreciate how lucky I am.
So here is where we’ve been since we left Palmdale…
3/29/18 – Wall Mart, US Hwy 77, Corpus Christi, TX
3/30/18 – Wall Mart, Rockport, TX
3/31-4/2/18 – San Luis Pass County Park, Freeport, TX
4/3/18-4/5/18 – Safari RV Park, League City, TX
4/6-4/7/18 - Gulf Shores RV Park, Beaumont, TX
4/8/18 - Shady Acres RV Park, Leesville, LA
4/9-4/10/18 - Indian Creek Recreation Area, Woodworth, LA
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