Left the snowbird nest a week ago and have taken our time with our travels. We’ve given ourselves 2+ months to get to the Kenai Pennisula in Alaska for the Habitat for Humanity home build we’re volunteered for. Here’s our journey thus far
First night out we headed from Leesburg FL over to Fountain FL, to a campground we found a few years ago on the Florida Panhandle. One of the best parts of the trip was the trip. The first 40 miles were through developed areas. The other 200+ miles were on great quiet roadways with limited traffic and traffic lights. Pine Lake RV Park
Day two we headed across the state line and spent the night in AL, a first time overnight camping experience for us. We chose the campground based on location (west of Mobile) and price (Passport America discount). The site and park were adequate for an overnight stay but with more rain predicted for the next few days (11 inches in 8 previous days) we chose to move along instead of exploring the area. Payne’s RV Park
Our third night was spent in Bay Saint Louis MS, a mere 100 mile trip from Mobile. We had stayed at this park before and knew that they had cement pads for parking our rig which would be better than dirt with the additional rain coming. As this was a casino rv park, we decided to eat at their buffet and try our hand at the tables. Glad to say we came out ahead by a few dollars. Hollywood Bay Saint Louis Casino RV Park
Sixty five miles west found us at our next stop: New Orleans LA. Like the AL stop, this was a first time overnighting in the state stop and we added that sticker to our door map. The campground was along a boat channel that lead to Lake Pontchatrain and we were fortunate enough to get one of the back-ins sites right on the water. While their basic prices are high, they accepted Passport America which gave us 2 nights for the price of one. We stayed 2 nights. Pontchatrain Landing, site 24
It was during this time the the irony of my blog title and our brand of truck camper occured. Several years ago I titled the blog as our RV Adventures and we are using our Adventurer RV.
While at this campground, we took their shuttle in to the French Quarter and spent several hours walking around taking in the sites and sounds. A disappointment we had in the French Quarter was when we headed to a cemetery and were advised at the gate that we needed a tour guide to view the cemetery. We saw 2 people sitting just inside the gate and thought they were guides waiting to lead tours. They were not, just 2 more people to tell us we couldn’t through without a guide. When we asked where we could get one, we were told to go back into the French Quarter to find one. Being tired from walking as much as we had already done, we weren't in the mood to walk back and forth any longer and gave up on that plan.
After 2 nights in LA, we continued west on I-10 and stopped in Beaumont TX, This was another repeat campground for us from our Passport discount program. They had the lowest priced laundry and I made sure to get caught up ($1 each wash & dry). Beaumont also offered a complimentary “hot breakfast”. Breakfast offerings were waffles, biscuits and gravy, cereal or bagels. Gulf Coast RV Park
Day seven found us back on I-10 heading west through Houston to San Antonio for a 2 night stay. While in Beaumont we decided that El Paso would be our true destination, but with the mileage to get there (850+ miles) we would do 275 miles a day with a day off in the middle of the trip. Most of I-10 was posted as 75mph, a speed we will not do because of fuel economy as well as ride comfort. We plugged along at 62 mph and were glad to see the speed on the Interstate in Houston reduced to 60. The roads were usually 4 lines, several times increasing to 5. We were able to ride one full lane in from the right the whole distance of greater Houston, TX which is about 50 miles.
Under normal conditions, I’d have flinched and pushed the imaginary brake on the passenger side 5 or 6 times a minute. While I may have held on to the door handle a bit tighter than others it want well. Just over 2 hours in to the day’s drive and we swapped as is customary. When my 2 hour stint was up, we were less than 30 minutes from our destination and decided that I would remain driver. We could see multiple flashes of lightening in the skies and very dark clouds and I hoped we’d make it to the park and get set up while still dry. Mother Nature had other plans and about 10 miles out let loose with torrential rains. My options were to get off the highway and wait out the storm or push through. We pushed through. There was some puddle pooling on the highway but the local roads were another story. My luck was the roads were 4 lanes so I could stay near the middle to avoid the puddles.
We stayed 2 nights in San Antonio, dining twice at the Mexican Restaurant directly across the street. It was Fiesta week in town and the campground was very full. While looking at our routing towards El Paso from San Antoniol, we decided to deviate from I-10 and now plan to travel Route 90 which will take us through some fun little towns and communities. Travelers Word Carefree RV Resort
Next week’s journey will bring lots of new sites and places for us, stay tuned.
