We departed from Denver two days early due to a weather forecast of snow and temperatures in the teens. It turned out to be the right decision because Aaron called us on Sunday to confirm that they had over 6″ of snow on the ground and it was still snowing.
We took the southern route down I-25 over Raton Pass into New Mexico and then across the high plains on US-87 toward the Texas panhandle. It was a sunny fall day and the scenery was beautiful.
We spent the night at the Clayton RV Park in Clayton, NM. The park was good for an overnight stop and had good Verizon cell phone and data access.
It poured hard all night last night. The pitter patter of rain on the roof all night was more like the thunder of Irish Step Dancers but it made for good sleeping. When we got up, I was certain that I would be unhooking the utilities while standing in 6″ of water, but the campground had good drainage and the only moisture was from the never ending rain.
We left by just after 7:00 AM CDT and immediately jumped on the interstate and later stopped for fuel in Wakeeney, KS (where we stayed last year in the Wakeeney KOA on the return trip from Colorado). We tried to be “thrifty” and used Gas Buddy to find the lowest diesel fuel price at that exit. It guided us a couple of miles off the interstate to a tiny station next to what appeared to be a Co-Op grain storage facility. We had to do a bit of off-roading to come in from the rear of the facility to get to the diesel fuel pumps where we were presented with more diesel fuel choices than I could handle without a serious research project regarding the different options in diesel fuel. The signs had references to tax free fuel (which I was sure I deserved) and “dyed diesel fuel”, etc. I became overwhelmed with the choices and the minimal savings and elected that we should return to the proximity of the exit where they had a 24/7 Travel Store where we could get well deserved (for our efforts) McDonald’s Sausage McMuffins.
The remainder of the trip was uneventful, with Beth taking over driving for a couple of hours so that I could demonstrate my napping prowess (I really don’t need these naps, but take them in order to keep Beth brushed up on her RV piloting skills). We arrived at Cherry Creek State Park just after 1 PM MDT. This park is roughly 30 miles from Arvada, CO (where the kids live), but worth it due to the quality of the park (huge sites withe full hookups that allow campfires, etc).
If you like cloudy, foggy, rainy Fall weather, today was your day. We departed from St. Louis at 7:30 AM CDT at 69 degrees. It was foggy most of the day, but we didn’t hit rain until we approached Kansas City. Fortunately, the rain was never heavy enough to slow us down, but once it started it was very constant.
Out of pure luck we managed to time our trip through Kansas City shortly after the Kansas City vs Jacksonville NFL game started so we were not impacted by game traffic.
We stopped for fuel in Columbia, MO at a QuickTrip station where the diesel fuel was much less expensive than at the high end travel plazas (Flying-J and Loves) and a very nice store (comparable to a Wawa station). Beth discovered their Iced Tea bar (which was massive and had every type of Iced Tea you can imagine). She loved her unsweetened tea (in Styrofoam cup).
We stopped for lunch at the first rest area on the I-70 Kansas Turnpike and enjoyed our leftover spaghetti from Beth’s retirement luncheon on Thursday (thanks Mike and Rick for the second great meal!).
We arrived at the Triple-J RV Park in Russell, KS at 4:50 PM CDT. The temperature upon arrival was 52 degrees and the rain was pretty steady, so we turned the heater on for the first time in ages and hunkered down watching host Scott Hanson on the NFL RedZone for the rest of the day.
We started the day with a wonderful breakfast at Cracker Barrel and departed by 7:15 AM EDT. Whenever we go on a road trip, we like to purchase large submarine sandwiches from PJ’s Sandwich Shop (our favorite sandwich shop discovered when we lived in Parrish). Today we polished off the second halves of our subs for lunch at the Illinois Welcome Center on I-24 (just across the Ohio River from Paducah, KY). The sandwiches were delicious.
We arrived at the Casino Queen RV Park in East St. Louis, IL (just across the Mississippi River from the Gateway Arch) at 3:40 PM CDT. We were too tired from 9 1/2 hours of travel to donate our retirement savings to the casino, so Beth did some laundry and cooked some delicious chili which we enjoyed while watching college football. Beth thoroughly enjoyed a hot, very high pressure shower at the campground public facilities.
The day started early with Beth driving into the office for her final day. She was kind enough to load the varmints into the RV last night (she also slept in the RV with them) so I wouldn’t have to fight that battle on my own. I finished packing the RV and then headed up to the office to pick her up. I stopped at the Ace Hardware on Big Bend and topped off the LP tank and then the Shell station on Bruce B. Downs to top off the fuel tank.
Once I arrived at the office I hooked up the Tahoe and by the time I was finished my former co-worker/boss Alex and her co-worker Kay stopped by the RV to wish Beth goodbye. Beth hadn’t completed her exit interview yet, but they all ran into each other on the elevator and said their goodbyes.
Beth and a group of her co-workers escorted her out to see the RV and say their goodbyes. We departed at 11:40 AM EDT. I got a bit sleepy and Beth took over driving while I napped from Gainesville to north of Valdosta. I took over and she went back to the bedroom and took her first successful retirement nap.
We thought we had strategically avoided Atlanta traffic by arriving there around 7:30PM, but we got stuck in some traffic south of I-675 for about 30 minutes. Then we were hit by construction traffic twice north of Atlanta that took about an hour to get through. We finally arrived at the Adairsville, GA Cracker Barrel at 9:30 PM EDT. We called ahead and verified that we are welcome to park here for the night. Can’t wait for Hash Brown Casserole in the morning.
Today we decided to head home a day early and try to get south of what was left of Hurricane Irma. We were very lucky to have no damage at home an no loss of power. We called the campground in Alabama we had planned on staying at and they couldn’t assure us that they’d have any spots available because they weren’t sure all of their hurricane evacuees would depart today. We decided to leave at 10:40 AM EDT and see how far traffic allowed us to go.
We took US-49 from Vicksburg, MS to Hattiesburg, MS and then US-98 to Mobile, AL. US-49 was fairly good road most of the way and US-98 was real nice until just a few miles prior to the Alabama state line. It switched from 4 lane to 2 lane in Alabama and it seemed to take forever to get to I-65 and I-10 in Mobile, AL. There was quite a bit of congestion where I-10 narrows to 2 lanes for the tunnel under the Mobile river.
We started to receive Hurricane Irma’s winds and rain when we got on I-10. I truly white knuckled it across Pensacola Bay. The wind gusts were heavy and blew the Winnebago all over the lane (fortunately there was not a lot of traffic around me on the bridge). Beth called quite a few campgrounds throughout the afternoon and they were all full of evacuees. We finally got a call back from Sunset King Lake RV Resort with an opening and we jumped on it. By then we were tired of fighting Hurricane Irma and the traffic. We probably passed a couple hundred power trucks from Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama in route to help with the recovery.
We haven’t seen much of this campground because it was raining and windy when we arrived at 6 PM EDT, but it seems very nice. There is a large percentage of permanent RV’s, but all are kept up very nicely.
We are in Site J-1 and have 50 Amps and full hookups. We are able to access their Wi-Fi, but the speeds are very slow. Verizon service is 3 bars but the LTE is very slow (0.57/2.47)
We left Lake Catherine State Park today and moved on to the Ameristar Casino & RV Park in Vicksburg, MS. We took US-270 to US-65 to I-20. US-65 was 4 lane divided highway for a large portion of the trip and even the parts that were 2 lane were very straight and flat with plenty of opportunities for people to pass us. US-65 follows the Mississippi River on the Arkansas and Louisiana side through the flat river bottom land. We had the opportunity to see some VERY large farming operations harvesting soy beans along the way (very impressive) along with several sections of road that ran right along the river.
The RV Park here at the Ameristar Casino is very nice with 50 Amp service, full hookups, and paved pads (although our pad is not very level). Although we are able to access the Wi-Fi, it is not connecting to the internet. We are getting 5 bars on Verizon Wireless and LTE = 28.24/27.00.
The casino provides free shuttle service that picks you up and drops you off at your campsite. We had very nice sirloins tonight at Bourbon’s for just $19/steak.
We moved from the Crater of Diamonds to Lake Catherine State park today. This was a 70 mile drive which took nearly two hours (serious two lane hilly roads).
This is a beautiful state park and we have a great site (#44) right on the lake with full hookups. We are able to pickup all the local channels on our antenna and all of the western arc satellites on our satellite dish (we are using the portable dish so that we can get all available channels for the debut of NFL football). We are getting 4 bars on Verizon Wireless and LTE = 4.69/11.49.
Site 44
Site 44
We went into Hot Springs this evening. The downtown area is nice and Bathhouse Row is quite impressive. It must have been “bike night” because there were hundreds of motorcycles all over the downtown area.
We ended up driving out near the interstate and eating at the Bleu Monkey Grill. The food was great. I had a Cuban sandwich and Beth had pasta.
Bleu Monkey Grill
After dinner we returned to the camp site and enjoyed our great view of the lake.
We left Guthrie, OK at 9:20 AM EDT and arrived at Crater of Diamonds State Park Site #29 at 3:50 PM EDT. Our drive was fairly uneventful. We spent several hours on I-35 and I-40 before taking the Indian Nations Turnpike for a couple of hours south. That road started out nice, but once we paid our first toll, the road quality degraded to the point that when no one was behind me I would switch to the left lane for a better ride. There were no major potholes or anything of that sort, but the cracks in the road seemed to be at the resonant frequency for our rig. I’m shocked our TV works tonight. It was shaking like it was in a paint shaker.
The Crater of Diamonds State Park Campground is top notch. Each site is paved, level, 55′ long (back-in) and has 50 Amps and full hook ups. The free Wi-Fi hotspots are reachable and on my first test I was getting 10M download speeds, but the upload test failed and there has been no internet connectivity since. Verizon Wireless is 2 bars and the LTE speeds are 2.87/0.97.
It was 93 degrees upon arrival and we didn’t feel like cooking so we zipped up to the state park’s restaurant for their last weekday meal (only open on weekends after Labor Day). This was a brilliant decision on our part as they were having to do inventory (we were the last customers) and rather than throw out a quarter bag of fries or iced tea, they just gave it all to us. We’re sit’n tall in french fries and iced tea (2 refills plus 4 more cups to take home).
Beth will be working tomorrow and I will attend Diamond Mining Training 101. I also plan to pickup some firewood. It’s supposed to rain in the afternoon and then cool down nicely, so hopefully we’ll have a campfire in the evening.
We left Wakeeney, KS this morning at 9:10 AM EDT and arrived at the Guthrie, OK Walmart at 3:18 PM EDT to stock up on supplies before moving on to Cedar Valley RV Park. The campground here is about 5 miles straight west of I-35, but we had an interesting time getting here from the local Walmart. I always verify my GPS routes on the map to make sure I’m not going to run into any issues, but I hadn’t accounted for the side trip to Walmart. The GPS routed us down the main street of Guthrie which was very beautiful. It was the original Oklahoma state capital and one of the home of one of the land offices involved in the Land Run of 1889 (we would be interested in touring the town for a day on a future trip). Unfortunately, the street dead ends into a cross street and due to construction, the bridge we needed to take was closed (missing). We were forced to turn left and it was starting to look like we were going to have to stop and unhook the Tahoe so we could turn the RV around. The final cross street went back to town, but it was brick and had a lot of very large dips. We drug our tail end a bit at a couple of rough intersections. The RV has a pair of metal drag bars back there to protect it, so there was no damage that we could find, but it certainly put our knickers in a bind.
The campground sites are all pull-thru with 50 Amps and septic at each site and plenty of space between. The Verizon reception is 3 bars with great LTE download and upload speeds. The free Wi-Fi is basically useless. There aren’t a lot of trees, so we had no issues setting up the satellite.
A large percentage of the campers here are work campers (construction), but the owners don’t let any of them have the code to the bathrooms and showers because they come home work too filthy.
We will be heading for Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas first thing tomorrow.
