Coddiwomple Capers

We traveled from Waco to near San Antonio, a little on I-35 (VERY BUSY) & then west in Temple to south toward Johnson City. The roads were mostly 4 lane highways once off the interstate & we have determined that EVERY road in Texas has construction going on at some point. With the motorcoach, we like to keep top speed at around 55 to 60. In Texas that is SLOW. Speed limits, even on 2 lane country roads is often marked at 75. Apparently, babies are trained as NASCAR drivers from birth. Lawdy!

The best part about driving across the country is the scenery & each state we have traversed is incredibly unique. Texas – at least in the central & eastern parts – is pretty flat with gentle hills, easy for the RV to roll at an even pace. Cresting a hill or a bridge is usually rewarded with spectacular vistas. We touched on the beautiful Texas Hill Country where the gentle mounds & valleys were scattered with scrub brush, rocks, small cacti & light sandy soil (being from Georgia where red clay earth is the norm, we refer to the Texas dirt as anemic soil). And there are cows – lots of cows. I kept an eye out for cowboys & horses & tumbleweed to complete the western movie visual but they failed me.

The campground we stayed in was sorta-kinda associated with Fort Sam Houston so it was open to military & Armed Service retirees only. The sites (there were only 13) were big & spacious, had lots of shady cover & had good water, electric & sewer connections. The rest of the park was visually beautiful with LOTS of cabins to rent, covered picnic areas, a beach & boat ramp. Unfortunately, the upkeep of the bath facilities was contracted out & is best described as awful. It’s a good thing we have a self contained motorhome. The neglect was bad enough that I wrote a very pointed email to the Public Affairs Officer while we were there. And it was ignored & not answered. Not surprised.

Continue reading “Entry #91 – TEXAS – Part 2 – March 28- April 21, 2022”

The drive to Waco from Shreveport was like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride x 10! We knew we’d get rain but the wild wind took us by surprise. After we crossed the Texas State Line, the rain was coming down sideways & we could barely see 20 ft in front of us. Unbelievably scary! In hind-sight, we should have pulled over into a parking lot & cozied up to a solid building on the opposite side that the wind was coming from. But we radioed back & forth & decided to continue – surely we’d be out of the storm in minutes. MAYBE 20 minutes later the deluge slacked up & only hit us in spurts the rest of the way to Waco. We passed by several accident scenes, one with people looking over the side of a bridge (YIKES!). We were so glad to get to the campground without being involved in an accident!

We had a pretty convenient campsite close to the office but this park was way too tight. Since we were on the end of a row, we at least had our passenger side (door side) without another camper exterior wall to look at. But that also meant we were exposed to curious eyes of all who passed by. No matter – people enjoyed Waldo in the passenger seat & we spent a lot of time touring about so we weren’t there the majority of the time.

Continue reading “Entry #90 – TEXAS – Part 1 – March 21 – 28, 2022”

We arrived in Louisiana on Saint Patrick’s Day – a day after our original plan. A case of food poisoning delayed our departure from Mississippi the day before. Life happens & you just do whatcha gotta do.

Continue reading “Entry #89 – LOUISIANNA – March 17 – 21, 2022”

The drive from Alabama to Mississippi was smooth & finding the park was easy.

We had to go to Hattiesburg on our first day in Mississippi to order a new Garmin GPS – ours bit the dust when I zapped the console of the RV. Our awesome RV Tech fixed the console before we left Georgia but the GPS is toast. We couldn’t find one in stock anywhere so the people at the Hattiesburg Best Buy ordered it to be delivered at the Shreveport store, near our next stop. Two days ago (I should have jumped right on that ordering opportunity then) the system was $100 less! So not happy about that situation!

Continue reading “Entry #88 – MISSISSIPPI – March 10 – 17, 2022”

Although we intended to leave Georgia to begin our 2022 Adventure on February 28th, we had to delay for a couple days. Our RV Tech discovered our hydraulic pump was dead to the world & he had to replace it. We are SOOOO grateful that issue was discovered & fixed before we hit the road! Without the pump, we couldn’t raise the stabilizer feet or operate the slides. YIKES! We are so very thankful for Brandon, our trusted RV Tech in Georgia, as well as Julia, the Fort Yargo Park Manager. She quickly assured us we were fine to stay in place a couple more days & arranged for the replacement host to park at a lakefront site until we could move. The delay also gave us time to do a final wash of the RV, inside & out, & a few projects to be done that will afford us more comfort as we live in the rig full-time. Life is so good!

We did discover we had forgotten a LOT of stuff when it comes to moving down the road. One was pre-programing the GPS & looking at the route for familiarity as we got into the congested areas. Our destination was Montgomery – Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base specifically – & the roads off the interstate are crazy confusing! I remember the maze from last year but it was still challenging! We made it though & our assigned campsite was perfect! Before the NEXT move, I did take a good bit of time to update & add to our WRITTEN list of “to dos” when packing up to move & setting up on arrival. Many things we have simplified but new tricks have been implemented. We are happy with the reminder list now.

Continue reading “Entry #87 – ALABAMA – 2022 – March 3 – 10, 2022”

We drove down to Hendersonville, North Carolina on a gloriously sunny day. Wonderfully swopping roads with curves & dips that were fun & the RV handled them with ease. The changing of the seasons showed out in the beautiful Fall colors! It was definitely a WOW moment!

Traffic was most manageable with no problems & the new campground was only a few miles from the interstate. Easy to find!

Red Gates RV Park was a small campground with only 20 sites & was well kept. The owners were sticklers to the 5mph in the park – a little overly so – but it was a good place overall.

Continue reading “Entry #82 – NORTH CAROLINA – October 27 – November 1, 2021”

The drive from northern Kentucky to our next stop in southeast Tennessee was easy-peasy. Got on I-40 in less than two miles from the Kentucky campsite, straight down the interstate & then a right on a US highway for less than two miles to the next spot. Couldn’t have been better than that!

The campground host/owner was awesome. When I checked in she asked if we were veterans & gave us a good discount. I nearly always forget to ask about one so it was definitely appreciated. It wasn’t a fancy place (an RV Resort) but it was clean with easy roads throughout & a great staff. This is what we refer to as an upscale trailer hood.

On our first full day I conquered the task of grooming the girls. They were hairy monsters! Here’s pictures of Spice all shaved down while Sugar is still a puffy mess. Then a picture of both shaved (Sugar is once again smaller than her sister). Finally a picture of the two after baths & in their flannel PJs. When you are rendered naked after a haircut & it’s cold out, you have to wear cloths!

We also caught up on laundry in the RV (thanking our lucky stars for an in-house washer/dryer) since we couldn’t wash at the last location – no sewer hook-up on site. Life is hard sometimes & then … it isn’t.

Continue reading “Entry #81 – TENNESSEE – PART #2 – October 20 – 27, 2021”

We headed north into Kentucky & a one night stay at a Harvest Host location. Our first choice would have been the Railroad Museum in Bowling Green but the two available parking spots were taken before we called about them. So we settled for a new experience at an Antique Store in the country. It was very easy to find & the proprietor gave me perfect directions on how to find it & where to park the rig. She was off shopping when we arrived but said to pick wherever we wanted in their vast green field. It was lovely!. A very hilly field & I do believe we found the only perfectly level site there. We were the only Harvest Host visitor for the night.

Continue reading “Entry #80 – KENTUCKY – October 15 – 20, 2021”

Our stay at Midway RV Park – the FamCamp on the Naval Support base just north of Memphis was a confirmed reservation situation. It wasn’t site specific but all the sites are about the same so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

We found the park with no issues & spoke to the very attentive host as we pulled in. She did let us know the bathhouse was closed indefinitely as the base maintenance people prepared to move the structure out & replace it with a new one. We are self contained but do like to use a camp bathhouse for morning “constitutionals”. Just .. dang it!

The base was all about HR – & very nice.

Continue reading “Entry #79 – TENNESSEE – PART #1 – October 5 – 15, 2021”

Our trip into Arkansas was pretty uneventful in that traffic was easy to negotiate. Our destination was Little Rock Air Force Base FamCamp just north of the big city. No reservations were accepted at the base – it was a first come, first serve thing which we were assured would not be a problem when I talked to the people weeks before about the facilities. GPS directed us into the back gate which would not accommodate a big RV. So we had to turn the rig around (no small feat) & figure out how to get to the main gate. Then we stopped at the Visitor’s Center for a pass – as directed by the guard at the back gate – only to find it wasn’t necessary since we both possessed military IDs. That was over an hour spent just trying to get in the base. We found the campground easy enough but another RV had snagged the last available spot minutes before we got there.

We parked the RV a the entrance to the campground & spent a good hour trying to find alternative accommodations. We ended up going back to the Little Rock perimeter highway to Burns RV Park, a city owned park. It was not full hook-up & the sites were very unlevel so we’d have to see about different accommodations for the next day.

Continue reading “Entry #78 – ARKANSAS – September 25 – October 5, 2021”

We obligated our time to participate on our second A Year 2 Volunteer project in Oklahoma while we were at the Wisconsin project. So off the Route 66 adventure we went on our way southwest. We drove to Fayetteville, Arkansas to a Harvest Host location – Arkansas Air & Military Museum – for one night on our way. We parked, did a quick leveling & bumped out the sides of the RV in short order. Then we took a tour of the very nicely done museum.

Another museum not too far away had closed permanently in early 2020 & it’s displays & artifacts were absorbed into this one. The curator was working on a couple displays while we were there & was excited about her job. The museum was originally all about planes – thus the location at a small airport. The absorbed artifacts consist of loads of military things from WWI & on. An enthusiastic leader (the curator) will make this place awesome in no time! Here’s some pictures …

Continue reading “Entry #77 – OKLAHOMA – Y2V – September 10 – 25, 2021”

We hit the road going south on Monday morning, headed to the Chicago area to begin our journey on Historic Route 66. We like to drive no more than 300 miles in a day so a stop at a Harvest Host location on the way was necessary. And the one we picked was PERFECT!

Harvest Host is a subscription program we joined when we first started our travels back in March. Several thousand businesses are host sites (wineries, breweries, museums, golf courses, homesteads, etc). We are able to look on the website & see the available places, contact the host by phone or through HH, & arrange to stay for a night. We are most interested in history & have been able to stay at museums. Most sites have no hook-ups (water, electricity or sewer) but we are self contained with a generator & an 80 gallon fresh water tank so it works for us for a day or two – & it’s FREE! We do tour the museums & give a donation &, when we eventually stay at a homestead or the like, we will buy their products or produce, for sure. It’s a wonderful program for both the traveler & host.

Continue reading “Entry #76 – ROUTE 66 – ILLINOIS & MISSOURI – August 23 – September 10, 2021”

We left Michigan & returned to Wisconsin in anticipation of two weeks volunteer time with the “A Year 2 Volunteer” project at Raptor Education Group, Inc (REGI) just outside Antigo, Wisconsin. REGI is a 501c3 organization that rescues & rehabilitates birds of prey as well as many other avian species. Marge & her late husband Don founded REGI in 1990 & set about building their lovely log home on several acres of land just outside Antigo, Wisconsin. They added a bird hospital, a huge bird flight rehabilitation building & much more. Marge Gibson is a highly regarded field biologist who participated as team captain in the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup in Alaska back in 1989. One of the injured bald eagles had a broken, unrepairable wing & Marge has provided a home & ongoing care for this bird ever sense. The bird’s name is Qush Quluk & she is thought to be the oldest bald eagle in existence – estimated to be over 20 years old at the time of her rescue makes her over 50 years old now! Qush lives at REGI in a very large fenced enclosure & has become the mascot for the rescue organization since it’s conception.

We arrived in Antigo a week before the volunteer project was to begin & set up camp at the city’s very nice RV park. There were only 13 full hook-up sites & the price of $20 per night was awesome. We explored the town during the first few days & even went out to REGI to see where the RVs would be parked – the group usually stays on the site of the project for convenience. However, the field the RVs were to park in was not adequate in our opinion so we arranged to stay at the city park for the duration of our volunteer time.

Continue reading “Entry #75 – WISCONSIN – Y2V – August 2 – 23, 2021”

Our drive down to the lower peninsula of Michigan went very smoothly – with the exception of crossing the 5 mile bridge. Well, that was also smooth but I had some serious butt-pucker driving over that VERY tall bridge with ridiculously short guardrails! Because of the frequent windy conditions, cars can only go 45mph across the bridge & loaded trucks are limited to 20mph. I didn’t see the 20mph signs until we were headed down the far side or I would have lead the way at a much reduced speed. The RV is TALL but Perry says it isn’t considered the same as a loaded truck so that sign wouldn’t apply anyway. And there was a good bit of construction going on atop that bridge! The right lane was closed for most of the length so all vehicles had to use the center lane where they were just a foot or two from vehicles going in the opposite direction – only a 4 inch bump dividing the lanes! Let us not forget the majority of the driving surface at the top of the bridge is metal grates! Oh my goodness! No “grip” on the road! For this adrenaline rush, one must pay $4 per car & $10 per RV. What a bargain, huh?

We do use the two way radios as we travel in separate vehicles. I can only imagine what other drivers that may have been privy to our conversations heard as I babbled on about my fear in a high pitched squeak. That was not my favorite adventure, I can assure you!

Continue reading “Entry #74 – MICHIGAN – PART 2 – July 19 – August 2, 2021”

Our drive out of Wisconsin was scary as hell (for me, anyway) as we used the interstate roads leaving Milwaukee. That is to say, we drove on the interstate directly into the EXTREMELY congested metropolis & then transferred to a second interstate at the city’s center. I do NOT like cities of this size! But we made it without incident with me driving the car & Perry following in the motorcoach. The ride north was pretty uneventful through Green Bay & beyond. We did have to carefully navigate the downtown area, including turns, of one mid-size city just before hitting Michigan. No issues there, either.

Our destination was Pioneer Trails Campground, a county run park, between Escanaba & Graystone. GPS was telling us it was on the left side of the highway which forced us to make a u-turn, & then we promptly got frustrated because it wasn’t there. I finally went into a store & asked directions. It was on the other side of the highway so we got back on it & did another u-turn. Found it & drove in. But the park manager chased us down in his truck. Apparently, the ages old water pump broke the Friday before & no sites had water to them. AND the bathhouse was inoperable! The manager wanted to let us know before we parked & set up in case we needed to fill the fresh water tank at the main water pump. We were assured a company would be out the following day to fix the broken pump so we would have running water. In total, it took an entire week to get the water on & sanitized which put it into our 4th day at the park. No worries though – we have an 85 gallon fresh water tank that we had filled before leaving our last location, so we were good for a few days. We even had showers & no limitations on cooking or using the toilet for those days.

That evening we drove into the nearby city of Gladstone & had dinner at a nice waterside restaurant. It was a busy night but the hostess put us at a wonderful table overlooking the marsh & the water beyond. Dinner was delicious & the view was spectacular – rain & all!

Continue reading “Entry #73 – MICHIGAN – PART 1 – July 6 – 19, 2021”

We arrived a day later than planned because of the repair/service we needed to get on the motorcoach. We had called the office at Ft McCoy & let them know of our expected delay & called again when we were finally on the way to keep them from releasing our reserved campsite. Always good to be respectful & keep everyone in the loop.

Our drive was easy & was mostly on 4-lane, divided highways. Just after noon, we exited the highway to find a spot to have lunch. I usually make a couple sandwiches in the morning of our travel days & tuck them into the cooler with some frozen ice packs. This eliminates the need to open the fridge & let the cool air out. The fridge stays at 36 degrees for trips that last 8 hours or more. The freezer goes from 0 to 20+ in that amount of time but I think it’s because there is a faulty/twisted seal on the bottom we hadn’t addressed with any fix it techs.

Continue reading “Entry #72 – WISCONSIN – June 21 – July 6, 2021”

We made it to the lovely, small & clean campground in Glencoe, Minnasota! The bathhouse was spotless! Not that most are bad, but this one was perfect – it’s obvious the Camp Host took pride in his work!

We chose this spot because we wanted to visit with old friends that were our neighbors during our nearly two years in Alaska. We had not seen John & Phyllis in nearly 36 years! This traveling proves to be a cool way to reconnect! Oh yes, the drive to Minnasota was smooth until the last half hour. There were detour signs all across the straight away we were on with no indication as to where to detour to – no connecting road in site. Perry stopped the RV & I snaked around said signs in the car to go “investigate” the situation. I drove 2 miles, not seeing any road work going on. There were road closure signs at the intersection where we were to turn but still no road work going on. I drove back to Perry & had him snake around the signs & follow me. We did the same at the other end & turned into the city park where we were going to stay. No LEOs came to take us to jail so we must have gone undetected.

Continue reading “Entry #71 – MINNESOTA – June 14 – 21, 2021”

As we drive through the states, the landscape changes immensely. Going north out of San Antonio we took note of the hills with rock covers, anticipating tumbleweeds would appear & roll across our “trail”. Then into Oklahoma the views became a vast open range with hues of light green & pretty prairie flowers. Crossing the border of Kansas the views included more trees & small hills. Side note: Kansas highways are by far the most trash free I have EVER SEEN – maybe because of the toll roads revenue? Then in Iowa the land resembled easy waves & the trees were a beautiful deep green, almost black. At least in the southern part of the state where we landed first. This trip had a few rough spells but it made my heart sing as well. America the Beautiful is an understatement!

The park we choose to spend the week was HUGE (Timberline Campground)! Even though we touched on the southwest corner of DesMoines to get to it, the traffic was no problem & the turns were super easy. The office staff of the campground was right on top of things with check in & we were led to our campsite by a great guy on a 4-wheeler. The campsite was a pull-through, long & level. The full hook-ups worked perfectly. And the bathhouse was extremely well kept. The area around our site was not huge & there was no shade but there was a picnic table & firepit. Unfortunately, the temp was in the low 90s & the ground was more than parched – not conducive to sitting outside. It also created a LOT of dust so the cars & campers were all the same pale cream color & no one could see out the windows that didn’t have wipers.

Continue reading “Entry #70 – IOWA – June 7 – 14, 2021”

The trip out of Kansas was so much better than the trip into the state! We got onto I-35 North in less than 2 miles out of the front gate of the base. Well, there was ONE little incident that caused “butt pucker” for a sec. The GPS took us north on I-35 into Topeka. There we were to transfer onto I-70 over to Kansas City. Most of Kansas was toll roads so we had to go through the pay booth on the left & then swing hard right & across traffic to an exit ramp. Then we were to go to the first light & make a U-Turn to get onto I-70 East. No problem with a car. But a 38 ft motor coach is a whole different matter. Perry attempted the U-Turn – it didn’t work. So he had to back up toward the cars that were following him into the U-Turn & then turn tighter. Thankfully, he didn’t squish anyone & no one honked either. We followed the GPS directions around Kansas City & headed north, past St Joseph & then into the town of Maysville.

I had made reservations at a park through my planning app – RV Trip Wizard. I called & spoke with the owner several weeks prior & she said payment was due when we got there. That’s the case about 50% of the time & I always call the day we are on the move to be sure they are expecting us. I did & she said all was good. Now, RV Trip Wizard is a wonderful app & has many bells & whistles I love. One is written reviews by folks that have stayed at a given park, along with a listing of the anmenities available, estimated pricing & more. The reviews for this park, unfortunately, had not been added to since 2017. They were okay reviews but I know now more current reviews are more telling. We drove on the dirt road into the campground & stopped at the “office” to be directed to our assigned spot. The owner was busy with another project at the moment & told us to drive up the road & pick out whatever site we wanted & she would take care of the registration later. Well, the road through the campsites was BADLY potholed, the “fishing pond” was stagnant water with a solid green algae on top & the further we drove through the road the worse the sites became. Every three RVs were set up to use a single electric pole & single water outlet (most parks have only ONE RV hook-up per site. And all sites were terribly unlevel, badly overgrown with grass & weeds & had so much trash on them we’d have to clean them up before we dared to back in. I lead the way in with the car so I stopped & went to “discuss” the situation with Perry. We decided we would just drive on out of that hot mess & go back toward Kansas City to a Cracker Barrel to regroup. It was one of the worse campgrounds we have come across – a surprise given the amount we were quoted for a night’s stay!

Continue reading “Entry #69 – MISSOURI – June 1 – 7, 2021”

We had extended our stay at the campground in Oklahoma for an extra day because the wind was too much for safe travels in the plains. It ended up not being a rainy day at the Oklahoma spot but, with a 13 ft tall motor coach, that wind could cause a disaster if we had hit the road. Better safe than sorry.

The drive to Kansas was one that will haunt me for a lifetime, even though the wind was not the culprit. Our GPS was directing us to go through Oklahoma City which on the beginning day of a National Holiday weekend would have made traffic even crazier than what we had witnessed on our car excursion a couple days prior. So we choose to go west & then north & then cut across to the interstate north of the big city. Well, maybe making up our own travel route was NOT a smart idea!

We ended up on a road that, as it crossed into Kansas, was a freshly paved (no lines painted yet) road that became a soft dirt road almost 4 miles in. Perry stopped the coach while I went ahead in the car to check the road conditions further up. About a mile ahead was a bridge that would not sustain the weight of the RV. We were essentially in the middle of NOWHERE with no phone reception to get directions on the GPS! I returned to the RV & had a serious meltdown, snotty tears & all. And I could NOT figure out in which direction to go from there – no roads were showing on my GPS! And turning a 38 ft long motorhome around on a dirt road … Lawdy!

We finally made it back to a small town & a road that took us to I-35. I certainly did not mind paying a toll as long as it got us to our next stop safely.

Continue reading “Entry #68 – KANSAS – May 28 – June 1, 2021”