Spring 2013 - Day 12 - We're Back

Home Sweet Home.  Back in Canada.  Ready for summer fun.

We will be spending about two weeks at Green Acre Park in Waterloo.  After that heading to Doe Lake.

Now for a few stats.

We travelled 3400 kms (2112 miles) through 6 states and 1 province.

Diesel was considerably less expensive than last year.  Highest price was $3.96/gal.  Last year price ran as high as $4.25/gal.  Of course either price is way lower than the Canadian equivalent.

Good trip and good to be home.

The next couple of weeks will be busy with family, friends and appointments.  Tomorrow carpets and furniture are being cleaned.  

Spring 2013 - Day 11 - Port Huron, Michigan

Foggy start to the day.

Since we were now past the trailer manufacturing area of Indiana, Wayne couldn't count trailers being delivered.  Instead he counted dead deer for a total of 15.  There were 7 in one section alone.

We stopped at every rest stop along the route still managing to arrive shortly after lunch at the Port Huron KOA.  What a large beautiful park.  It even has a train.  You know how much I like trains.  Unfortunately we are here too early in the season for it to be running.

Our site is directly across the street from a mocked up small town Main Street.

These buildings house washrooms, laundry, store, pizza parlour and probably games room.

Even have a gold panning mine.

The park has lots of large trees but you can drive through without difficulty.

Our site - so long we can park in front or back

This KOA also has a pool, batting cage, tether ball court and even a water slide park next door.  Man wish I had grand kids to enjoy all this.


Guess what?  No flat tires today.  We did however manage to break the screen door handle.  No big deal as there was a handy rv store a mile down the road.  I'm liking Port Huron.


Tomorrow morning we are going to enjoy one last visit to Cracker Barrel for breakfast before heading home to Canada.

Spring 2013 - Day 10 - Angola, Indiana

What A Day! 

We were supposed to have a short easy drive today.  You know - go around the big city on Sunday, short mileage day etc, etc.

What's the saying about best laid plans?

To start the morning off - the rain came down and down and down.

Our view all day

Along the way we had to drive over some dead, bloody animal.  It went thump. Yuck, so gross.

After we arrived at Circle B Campground, we realized that someone was still in our assigned site.  OK no problem.  With the blessing of the office staff we set up in the adjacent site.

As Wayne was washing animal guts off the trailer and truck, he discovered that one of the truck tires had a screw embedded in it.  Great.  Another flat tire and on a Sunday afternoon.

After my third trip to the office since arrival, the nice young office girl got me the numbers for tire repairs including the local Walmart.  I gave them a call and the man said to come on over.

An hour later we left Walmart with a plug in the hole.  Yeah!  Only cost $10.  Bargain!

We had a tasty supper at Ruby Tuesday's which was right next door and headed home.

Nothing was set up inside as we left right after discovering our tire troubles.  I tried to plug in a heater and it wouldn't turn on.  Oh, oh.  No microwave either.  Now what.  Very weird as the fridge was on AC.

This time I called the office and they sent someone to check our power pedestal.  With Wayne's help, they discovered that there was only half of the required power at the post.  But luckily the 30 amp supply was good.  So we are now set up with 30 amp instead of 50 amp.  No big deal.  I had visions of wiring dangling from our undercarriage as a result of driving over the dead animal.

So glad that very few of our days are this eventful.  We are now relaxing in our easy chairs.

Side note:  We had a very productive shopping day in Indianapolis yesterday.  New blanket, sheets and a table top convection oven.  All on sale.

Spring 2013 - Day 8 - Indianapolis, Indiana

Inquiring minds may wonder - what do we talk about while driving along the highways and byways?

Well, today we were wondering:
     - what kind of fish is a crappie?
     - why are so many barns red?
     - what does the term "Hoosier" mean?

A crappie is a member of the sunfish family.   This is the type fish caught at Rend Lake, Whittington, Illinois.  The name is derived from the French Canadian term crapet referring to many species of sunfish.  How does a French Canadian term come into common usage in Illinois?  One of life's little mysteries.

Red Barns originated in Europe.  Barns used to be sealed with linseed oil.  Well off farmers who had animals to butcher, added the blood to the oil.  It dried  to a dull red finish.  Later farmers added rust to the oil thereby turning it red.  Rust inhibits mold and mildew.  Who knew?  And even later, when paints were first made from chemicals, red was the most inexpensive colour to manufacture.

Hoosier refers to people native to the state of Indiana.  The origin of the term is not clear.  It could refer to people who pack bales of cotton into ships, hicks or rough country people.  I think, today, the term is mostly a humorous one kind of like "newfie".

Everyday a new learning experience.

Tonight we are at Lake Haven Resort in Indianapolis, Indiana.  We are staying for 2 nights.  Our site is very level again tonight.  I have come to think that a good well packed gravel site is better that a cement pad.  We have a nice view of a small fishing pond from our site.

Kathy, we tried to go to a Carrabba's for supper.  We were starving as we hadn't stopped for lunch.  Guess what?  It didn't open until 4pm.  So no Carrabba's - only Wendy's.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

Something I have meant to mention since Texas.  We keep seeing lots and lots of all styles of RVs on the road heading to dealers across the country.  Just today, Wayne counted 16, yesterday was 24.

Indiana has had the worst roads of our trip yet.  Wayne thinks they spent the whole budget on orange cones.  We passed hundreds of cones but very little actual construction.  Lots of pot holes and heaving pavement.

Blessings to all

Spring 2013 - Day 7 - Whittington, Illinois

Yesterday was supposed to be a tourist day.  Didn't happen.

It was very cold, breezy and rainy in the morning.  We decided to do laundry in the morning and head to Memphis for lunch.  Well, the dryers didn't cooperate.  It took 2 full cycles and $4 to dry our clothes.  By that time it was too late to be a sightseer.

Instead we headed to the nearby small town of Marion, Arkansas to Big John's Shake Shack.  Local hangout.

Lots of Elvis memorabilia

The people were friendly, lunch was tasty and we brought home pie.

Today with the sun shining but chilly, we were on the road by 8:30 am.  We travelled in 3 different states and crossed the Mississippi River.

From Arkansas to Missouri

Across the swollen Mississippi River

To Illinois

We are spending the night at a very nice campground called Whittington Woods.  It has large trees that are in bud right now.  Tulips and lilacs are blooming.  The park is nicely laid out with long level pull through sites and nice wide interior roads.

We had supper at another local hangout cafe.  Tonight's special was fried chicken and pie for dessert.  Once again a delicious meal.

Now we are back home, in our jammies just relaxing.

Well across road from campground

Illinois spring in full swing

Spring 2013 - Day 5 - West Memphis, Arkansas

A new day and a new state.

Arkansas is very green and clean.  Crews go along the highway edges picking up trash.  Lots of forests and green fields.  Nice looking state.  The welcome center was in a gorgeous stone and timber building.

While we were at the welcome center, Wayne checked the tires and tightened the lug nuts.  All good.

This was the longest mileage of any of our travel days.  We went 462 km making good time and were set up at the West Memphis KOA by 3:30 pm.  Unlike yesterday, there was no drama.  That's a good thing.

Biggest excitement of the day was a 12 mile long stretch of single lane construction.

One of these is not like the rest.

We are staying here for two nights.  I want to be a tourist  tomorrow.  Lots to see in Memphis.

Spring 2013 - Day 4 - Texarkana, Texas

Today's distance was the second shortest of our trip.  Only 169 miles.  Good thing because we had some problems.

What's missing from this picture?

Right answer:  A serviceable tire

After arriving at Shady Pines RV just after noon, we found our assigned site and pulled in.  I noticed that the tire nearest the door was losing air rapidly.  Luckily this park is partnered with a sales and repair shop right next door. As I walked over, I found a hard, sharp piece of broken plastic in the campground driveway.  Think this is what wrecked the tire.

Wayne jacked up the axle and removed the flat tire.  We headed out to Daniel's Tire which was about 4 miles down the road.  They quickly determined that the tire was toast, but had a replacement in stock.  Within 20 minutes we were on our way back home.  It took significantly longer to put the new tire back on as the jack had to be repositioned and pumped higher.  Just to top things off, Wayne had to take it off one more time, as we forgot to replace the bearing cover cap.  Oops.

Where's the shiny cover? 

After that excitement, we had built up a good appetite.  Firehouse Subs here we come.  This is a chain we discovered in Alabama last fall.  Started by firemen and the stores still do fundraising benefiting firemen.

http://www.firehousesubs.com/

Wish Firehouse Subs were in Canada or even Mission. So delicious.

Spring 2013 - Day 3 - Lufkin, Texas

Today was a rest day.

We did do some chores this morning, before taking a break.  Wayne cleaned the rails for the slideouts, getting himself covered in grease and grime.  Meanwhile, I searched high and low before I found our duvet.  Now the bed will be toasty warm.  It's been a bit chilly the last few nights.

Our site with stocked fish pond at the rear

Lufkin RV Resort is a very nice park.  It has been open for just over a year.  The park is convenient to Highway 59 which will be on our route tomorrow.

We did some shopping at  TSC and enjoyed two delicious suppers during our stay here in Lufkin.

Not an exciting day, but a good day nevertheless.

Spring 2013 - Day 2 - Lufkin, Texas

Safe and sound at Lufkin RV Resort.

We were on the road by 8:15 am.  Thought that the sooner we made it to Houston, the better.  Love it when a plan comes together.

We made a brief stop just before Houston to fill up with diesel, stretch our legs and go potty.  We didn't know when or where we would be able to stop again.

Just a few shots while passing through Houston.  We took the Sam Houston Tollway to the west and north of the city.  It cost us $15.75 but was worth every penny.  The road was good, traffic was light and flowed well.

Roads are very well marked.  The lanes are labelled on the pavement as well as billboards.  So easy to know if you are in the right lane at major intersections.

All in all, a great travel day, only taking about an hour to get around Houston.

Saw a few other interesting things today.

Three trucks with giant beams and escort vehicles

 When I saw the oversize loads, I kind of figured  this was a good day to pass through the big city.

Someone from Ontario

The lady in this vehicle was staring at us as they passed.  I wondered why until I saw the licence plate.  Always nice to see someone from home.

I have noticed the countryside changing as we travel north.  The fields are greener, there are cows and even some pine trees.  Everything just looks fresher and not drought stricken.  Nice change.

We are staying in Lufkin for two nights.  Wayne wants to do some maintenance to the slides - lubricating etc.  We will also do a bit of shopping tomorrow.  I for one am getting sick of peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  Think we need supplies to put together a couple of cold plates.

Spring 2013 - Day 1 - Victoria, Texas

We are on our way home.  Today we travelled 372 kms arriving at Victoria KOA at about 3 pm.

Would have been here earlier except for a weird accident about 50 miles before our destination.  At Beeville a large home was being moved on a flatbed truck.  Somehow, it got caught up in the traffic lights at the town's major intersection.  We were held up for about 20 minutes - eventually being rerouted through a gas station parking lot.  Total chaos.

Firemen had to climb on top of the building to untangle it from the lights.  Between the cost of repairs to the lights and manpower costs for the many police and firemen at the scene, I figure thousands of dollars were wasted.

No pictures.  Sorry.  I charged my battery last night and forgot to put it back in the camera.  Senior moment.

We first stayed at this KOA last fall.  This park is brand new only opening mid October 2012.  At that time, a herd of deer visited each afternoon at about 5 pm.  No sign of them today.  There are a lot more campers here now.  Perhaps the deer have decided to move away from us humans.

Tomorrow, we travel through Houston on our way to Lufkin.  I think that Houston is the largest city we pass through on this trip.  As most of you know, I'm not a big fan of big city roads.  Traffic should be better on the weekend than a weekday.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.

ttfn

What a Yummy Day!

We just got home from the best restaurant meal we have had in Texas.  PF Changs.  I have wanted to eat at this restaurant chain since last summer.  Saw a spot on Canada AM.  Finally, today was the day.

We had wonton soup, honey chicken, pork low mein, beef and broccoli and I had spring rolls to start.  I don't normally eat wonton soup but decided to try it.  It was delicious.  Wayne said it was the best he has ever had.  The soup came in a tureen - all six cups.

Because we wanted to stretch the taste sensations out bringing home leftovers, we had to have dessert.  Banana spring rolls with coconut and pineapple ice cream.  Fabulous.

Now we are back home - pleasantly sated with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

We will return next season probably for a birthday celebration.

P.S.  Maybe sooner, I picked up a takeout menu.  Yum! Yum!

Making Preparations and Counting Down

Early in the week we started organizing for our trip.

After getting permission from the office, we headed to Goodings RV to pick up the 5th wheel.  We have been storing our Everest here since purchasing the Retreat travel trailer.

Wayne checked the outside of the rig. Using our handy dandy Honda generator, he was able to fire up the air compressor to add air to the tires. Sitting around for 5 or 6 months can make the tires a bit soft. While he was busy with that, I made sure nothing would fly around inside.

Adding air to the tires

Pulling out of the storage compound

The storage compound was very reasonably priced and conveniently located.  It's only about a 10 minute drive from Chimney Park.

Almost as soon as we got set up back at Chimney Park, Wayne started cleaning off the grime - Both inside and out.  It's pretty dusty down here.

Washing the roof

We have been moving our possessions from one home to the other.  Long process, as we need to keep track of what is going where.  Next season, we will just drive down without the 5th wheel.  So there won't be enough room to pack all our worldly possessions.

Our two homes side by side and the truck.  Aren't they cute?

This final week, we will concentrate on getting the Retreat ready for the extreme summer conditions.  Friday, we will be completely moved back into the Everest and will start cleaning and prepping the trailer.  Then we're on the road again!

Banana Tree at storage place

Close up of bananas

Further to Previous Post

April Fools Day!

Texas

Upon much reflection, Wayne and I have decided not to return to Canada.  We are going to be full time Texans.