On Driving in the Wind

Today was not the worst day we've spent traveling in the motorhome in the wind, but it was in the top ten. " What's the big deal?", you say. "Surely a vehicle that weighs 30,000 pounds can't be affected by a little wind", you say. I used to think that too.

The problem is that the motorhome is 40 feet long and 13 feet high and that makes a hugh "sail" when the wind blows on it. To complement the big sail the side turns into, the front of the motorhome is almost 9 feet wide and 13 feet high; another sizable sail! True, the weight of the vehicle helps offset the sail area, but remember it is all attached to the world by 6 patches of rubber about 8 x 2 inches.

The bottom line is that it doesn't take much wind to push the motorhome around. If the wind blew in a straight line at a constant speed, the corrective inputs through the steering wheel would be pretty simple; just crank in a little left or right and go with the flow.

Unfortunately for the driver, the wind is constantly changing speed and direction. Every passing truck disrupts the flow, as does every building, overpass, stand of trees, hill, ditch, and wind goblin. The result is a constant battle between the yawing, dipping, dodging motorhome and the steering wheel. Today I won, but tonight I'm tired and my shoulders ache!

The track today was south from Kilgore on US259 to south US79 to south US77 to our campground here in Schulenburg. 273 miles, 36.2 gals., 7.6 MPG.

Texas Bluebonnets

MMG was delighted today to find toward the end of the day that the Texas Bluebonnets are beginning to blossom.

Wait minute, I'm not a Bluebonnet!

As Spring progresses the fields of the Texas Hill Country will come alive with millions of Bluebonnets, covering the pastures from fence to fence, looking like a low hanging cloud of royal blue.

They Don't Build'em Like They Used To

Fayette County Courthouse, La Grange, TX

Streets Either

West Cedar Street, La Grange, TX

I can just hear the planning commission meeting on this issue. "OK, we'll compromise. Widen the street AND save the trees!"

Tomorrow, on to San Antonio and Spring Branch!

MMG and DDG

The Country Tavern

A new high point of the day! And a new all time best loinback pork rib I ever ate!

Saw an article the "best" Texas BBQ joints in the March issue of Texas Highways magazine and found a new challenge -- how many of the recommended joints can we visit?

The first was right in tonight's backyard. The Country Tavern has been serving BBQ to the folks in this area since 1939. Obviously, they must be doing something right and we needed to find out what it is.

The first challenge was to find the place. It is literally out in the sticks -- in the woods about five miles from Kilgore -- the nearest neighbor is the C-store across the road. Nothing else for miles. The website leaves a lot to be desired but the picture is accurate, even today!

On entering, we were invited to find our own seats. MMG thoughtfully picked a booth under a light so we could read the menu. First (and, it turned out, only) mistake.

Upon arriving at our table, the waitress asked if we knew what we wanted. We explained it was our first visit and we'd like to look over the menu. She replied that there was no menu. We could have our choice of ribs, brisket, sausage or turkey and a choice of two sides from slaw, beans, potato salad, or chips. We would get whitebread, sauce and pickle chips.

MMG went with ribs and I the brisket.

Right up front, there was nothing special about the brisket. It was well above average, but that's what is expected in Texas.

The ribs were another thing! Done Memphis style, the dry rub was by far the best I've ever tasted. A little sweet, a little hot, thick enough to char to a slight crust over the tender juicy meaty loinback ribs.

In this case "loinback" appears to mean the same as babyback, but from a more mature pig. If you really care, here's more than you'd ever want to know about pork ribs! http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/ribselect.html

I've been known to say that the only purpose of BBQed meat is to transport the heavenly sauces to your mouth, BUT putting sauce on these ribs would be real crime!

There were a couple of other nice touches.

First, the BBQ sauce is served warm in the serving bottle. It's kind of nice to put warm sauce on your hot brisket rather than the usual cool/cold stuff.

Second, the damp, hot hand towels presented at the conclusion of our meal were really welcomed and, in our case, necessary!

We did not save room sample the only desserts, pecan, peach or blackberry cobbler. Next time fer shur!

Gotta go. Hungry again now,,,,,,,,

DDG

Lazy Day

The map stats tell today's story. I-20 west from West Monroe, LA, to Kilgore, TX. 168 miles, 20.9 gals., 8.0 MPG.

We had planned to go as far as Tyler, TX, a whole 200 miles, or 32 miles further, to spend the night. We picked Tyler a., because it is a convenient jumping off place for our planned cross country route to Schulenburg, TX, about 300 miles to the south on I-10, whereby we avoid having to deal with both Dallas and Austin, both traffic challenges, and can use I-10 into San Antonio to exit 582 where we can get the motorhome washed before we head north to Spring Branch for the rally, b., Tyler is a short distance from Canton, TX, an eclectic shopping adventure , and c., we had stayed in Tyler before and are comfortable with staying again.

Unfortunately, when we called to make reservations at the campground, we found that all the local campgrounds were filled with workers called in to deal with the aftermath of last fall's refinery explosion.

When MMG suggested we stay in Kilgore, I readily agreed, thinking we might see some of these
young ladies:

The Kilgore College Rangerettes

Instead, I got to see this:

Ornamental Drilling Rigs on "The World's Richest Acre"

Kilgore claims the "world's Richest Acre" because of the number of producing oil wells that were drilled on just one acre within the city limits. At one time in the 1930's, there were 1100 producing wells within the city limits. Some are still pumping!

The scenery on the way from West Monroe returned to rolling wooded hills. To get an idea of what we saw, just take yesterday's picture and change the light greens of the hardwoods to the dark greens of the Piney Woods.

Perhaps tomorrow we'll see some more interesting stuff.

Stay Well!

MMG and DDG

Just Another Day

Just a quick note so the family will know that we are safely settled for the night in West Monroe, LA.

The map drill is really easy today! Get back on I-20 west and continue to Louisiana exit 112 - West Monroe. That's it! 338 miles, 45.8 gals., 7.3 MPG.

Stopped a little early today so we could watch the Oklahoma - UNC basketball game. Wanted to see the once and future national players of the year compete. About as expected.

The drive started out in cold (45), cloudy, windy weather and got better all day (except the wind) and ended with sunshine, warmth (75) and just a light breeze. Nice change.

Alabama and Mississippi provided mostly rolling hills with wooded scenery on both sides of the highway -- almost like driving through a tree canyon. Someone turned off the redbud and wisteria switch almost as soon as we got on the road. They were replaced with a thousand shades of gray and green as the trees here are a couple weeks advanced from those were in just a few miles to the north -- and more dogwoods. Here's a picture of our most common sight today.......



When we crossed the Mississippi into Louisiana, poof! no more hills -- or woodlands. Just flat, flat, flat! Crop fields, and pastureland. Easy driving, but not very visually stimulating.

A quick thanks to friend Dave Lineback, who has been in the blog business since at least early 2006 with his Sunset Ridge - Life on the Blue Ridge Mountains in Alleghany County North Carolina blog. I wrote to Dave asking for help with making links on my page "live", i. e., so you can click on them and go somewhere.

Most folks I know would just send me a link to the Blogspot Help page and tell me to go read the answer I need. Not Dave, he took the time to send me detailed instructions complete with illustrations. You can test his (and my) effectiveness by clicking on the Sunset Ridge link above -- if it works you will go to a really interesting reading experience.

Tomorrow -- On to Texas!

Hope everyone of you is well and happy!

MMG and DDG

On The Way Again!

Got up and going early so we could get the donuts to the Tom Johnson gang before they started work. We were greeted as heroes when we made the delivery.

Here's a picture of the family that makes Dutchy Deb's locally world famous donuts, pastries, and coffees.


The lady with the gargantuan coffee cup is the renowned Dutchy (as in Pennsylvania Dutch) Deb. The large gentleman is her husband and the younger lady their daughter. They buy only the best of ingredients and hand make all of their wares. Their store is located at 252 N. Main St. Marion, NC. Open from 7 AM to 6PM Monday through Saturday.

Take Pride in Your Product!


Dutchy Deb's regularly purchases a dozen assorted Krispy Kreme donuts and offers them free to customers. They want to be sure that their donuts are so good that a customer will pass up a free Krispy Kreme to pay for a Dutchy Deb! Now that's putting it on the line!

Why all the fuss about our leveling jack?


Not all camp sites are level, or even nearly so. This picture is of our right front tire after the coach was "leveled". Yes, it is entirely off the ground! Unusual, but a perfect illustration.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling......

West on I-40 to US74 west to US441 south to US64 west to I-75 south to I-24 west to I-59 south to I-20 west to exit 100, then to McCallas Campground. 414 miles, 55.9 gals., 7.4 MPG.

Escape From The Weather Blahs

Here's how we started the day (again!)


It got better and after miles of fog and rain, at 2:03 PM we saw the Sun!

The rest of the trip was nice. We got to see the Spring flowering trees in blossom and the further south we came in I-59 in Alabama, the more there was to see. The redbuds were abundant along the highway....


Further south, the dogwoods are in full bloom, back further from the road in the forest, looking less like trees, more like ethereal white clouds floating in mid-air. Unfortunately, no pictures!

Likewise we missed the opportunity late in the day to get pictures of the wisteria which in places appears to be taking over the countryside! Just beautiful.

Easily the highlight of the day was having lunch with our long time friend Maria (yes, Rick, our German friend!) who came over from her home in Hiawassee, GA to meet us in Hayesville, NC. Even better, she picked up the tab!

GO Peter!

Part of our drive on US64 took us along the Oconee River where the Kayaking competition of the 1996 Olympics was held. There was planty of water running down the competition course because of recent rains. The white water was extreme! It reminded us that our son Peter had come over with a group of college buddies to run the course for the experience. After seeing it today, all we can say is "Peter, you the man!!"

Enough! Tired!

More tomorrow......

MMG and DDG

Tom Johnson to the Rescue!

Tom Johnson Camping Center, located in Marion, NC, about 30 miles east of Asheville, is the dealer from whom we bought our motorhome, though we dealt with the Concord, NC, (in the shadow of Charlotte Motor Speedway) location. Because of the high quality service and attitude we had experience with the Tom Johnson staff, we really wanted to get our repairs made there.

So, at 7:30 this morning, even knowing that the Tom Johnson service center was making appointments more than a month out, I called to throw ourselves on their mercy and beg that they fit us into their very busy schedule. I had no more described our situation to the service manager when he told me to "bring it on" and they'd get us worked in somehow. No mention was made of the 2 dozen gourmet doughnuts (from Dutchie Deb's in Marion) we dropped off on our way out the last time were here, or what a delightfully pleasant customer MMG was on our last visit, but when we arrived around noon, it was obvious that they remembered us fondly.

Thus it is that we progressed backwards today. Back north on I-85 to Spartanburg, then I-26 west to US 74, east to US 221, north to Marion. 146 miles, 21.3 gallons, 6.9 mpg.

The drive was remarkable only in that our view was limited to about 1/4 mile all the way. Rain, mist, fog, and then some more!

We arrived at Tom Johnson's about 11:30. By 1:00 they drove our rolling home into the shop and around 5:00 delivered it back to us with a new jack and control panel.

We spent the waiting time in the "Lodge" which is complete with a 50" flat screen TV, numerous leather couches, a real fireplace, very fast wifi, and free coffee. Had some enjoyable conversation with other customers while it rained steadily all afternoon.

We're spending the night in the Tom Johnson campground a., because of the lousy weather and, b., to get a chance to test the repairs before we leave!

Tomorrow, after dropping off some fresh doughnuts, we'll be headed West! again!

Our Best to you all,

MMG and DDG

We are on our way! We got underway about 10:30 this morning after having waited out the heavy fog in the area. The rest of the day was fog, rain, mist and the like until we broke out of it about 3 P.M.

One of the features of our original emails to the grandboys was a detailed description of our route so that they could track our travels on the big U.S. map their parents had gotten for them. Snuck a little geography lesson in there!

I suspect that these day, if they track us at all, it is on MapQuest or Google Maps or something similar, but we're still going to include it everyday. Here are today's stats. East from Cary on US64 to Asheboro, then NC49 to I-85 in Charlotte. Continue on I-85 to SC exit 11 (SC24) to Townville, SC. 252 miles, 33 gallons, 7.6 MPG.

As we drove out of Cary toward the storage garage to get the motorhome and start our trip, I was torn between excitement about getting on the road again and the disappointment that came with the realization that I will miss my favorite time of year in NC. Over the next 4 weeks, NC will explode in Spring colors as the Dogwoods, both white and pink, Wisteria, Peach, Pear, some smaller colored Magnolias, Redbuds, and Azaleas beyond counting will burst forth in all their splendor! There is nothing quite like it.......

The highlight of our day, other than driving past the plant where Goody's Headache Powders are made, was the Gaffney Peachoid. Gaffney, SC has named itself the peach capital of the world and decorated and painted the town watertower appropriately. Here's a picture and a link to more info: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2213. The link is really worth visiting....




That was the good stuff. The bad stuff is that one of our leveling/stabilizing jacks failed to operate when we reached our campsite. The safety feature dictates that if one jack does not work, none of the 4 jacks work. We need the jacks to level the Motorhome so we can extend our slide outs to enjoy the living space we have. A call to the manufacturer of the jacks netted the advice to "call your dealer for service". Very helpful.

So, in the morning, I'll be on the phone to the dealer to see if he can shoehorn us into a busy schedule and get us fixed up.

Stay tuned. The excitement builds......

MMG and DDG

DDG creeps into the 21st Century

In 1999 MMG and I retired and took our first "lap of America" trip.

We were so in awe of what we saw and experienced that we began sharing our trip via email to our two young grandsons and a very few of our friends.

Well, friends and family shared with other friends and more family and before long we had been asked to share our daily messages with a pretty large email list.

Since then we have made several more "laps" and continued the emails, adding pictures, first as attachments and lately, in a technological leap, embedding the pictures in the body of the email. Ever on the cutting edge, I even learned to downsize the pictures!

Another technological wonder has been our realization that rather than wear my fingers to the bone typing descriptions and histories of what we're seeing, I can embed links to internet sites that give far better descriptions and information than I.

Enough of our friends and family have asked why we don't "do a blog" instead of emails that I have finally been embarrassed into giving it a shot. Here it is!

MMG and I are planning to leave in the motorhome Thursday, headed West!, first to meet some internet friends ( http://www.rvforum.net ) at a RV campground north of San Antonio, then following Spring northward until we reach Yellowstone National Park at the end of May.

Beyond that broad plan, our itinerary is exceptionally fluid, but we are planning to be back home by early July.

We hope you will enjoy travelling along with us!

MMG and DDG