October 16 to 22, 2008

October 16 to 22, 2008 ; Fargo, North Dakota to San Antonio, Texas

Thursday ; Fargo, North Dakota through South Dakota to Sioux City, Iowa

Today was sunny and mild. It's great to finally be back in sunshine after more than a week of gloom. And as has been our experience in previous years, two hard days of driving south brings us to milder temperatures.

This morning before leaving the Flying J in Fargo, North Dakota we drove over to their RV dumping station and emptied our waste holding tanks. Unfortunately their RV dumping station did not have a fresh water refill. If there's any lesson we learned from travelling for two years with our previous ( piece of shit ) truck Dee-Dee, it was that a mechanical breakdown can leave us stranded without campground services ( like in the parking lot of a GM dealer ) and therefore we take every available opportunity to dump waste holding tanks and refill fresh water before starting a day of travel.

We continued heading south on I-29. Soon we were in South Dakota. Oh, boy, I get to fill in a blank on our map of North America on the side of the trailer which indicates where we have travelled. It's been about a year and a half since I've last applied a new state or province decal to the map. Filling in the five blank states on our map from North Dakota down to Texas was a part of why we planned to spend Canadian Thanksgiving in Winnipeg then head south from there.

We stopped for lunch at a roadside rest area just south of Watertown, South Dakota. After lunch we stopped to refill with diesel at another Flying J, this one at Sioux Falls. ( sigh ) The fresh water spigot at their RV service island was out of order. We found our way to Wal-Mart and replenished groceries and supplies. We can certainly tell that we are back in the United States. Fat women ! We left Sioux Falls continuing south on I-29, planning to spend the night at Union Grove State Park. When we arrived at Union Grove State Park, the water to each campsite was turned off, and their shower / comfort station was under reconstruction. We didn't feel that it was worth paying the camping fee under those circumstances, so we left, planning to boondock overnight at a roadside rest area a little further south. When we got to the roadside rest area in the southeastern tip of South Dakota, near the border with both Iowa and Nebraska, signage indicated that overnight stays in South Dakota rest areas were not permitted. However, the rest area had a functional RV dump station and water refill, so we refilled our fresh water tank. Great ... now we had empty waste tanks and a full water tank.

It was getting dark by this time. We continued south on I-29 crossing into Iowa at Sioux City. Oh boy, another decal on the map ! We found our way to Stone State Park near Sioux City, arriving just as it got dark. We had the entire state park campground to ourselves, which was a bit spooky. There were lots of animal noises in the dark in the forest. Small animals, like mice, medium animals, like raccoons, and all the way up to large animals, like deer. We couldn't see any of them, just hear them.

Well, since we left home 11 days ago, and over 3000 km. / 1900 miles ago, this is the first night that we've had to pay for camping. Not bad, from an economy standpoint.

Friday ; Sioux City, Iowa to Hebron, Nebraska

Boy, they surely do grow a lot of corn in Iowa and Nebraska ! Today was mild and cloudy in Iowa, mild and sunny in Nebraska. Since we had such a lovely state park all to ourselves this morning, we decided not to leave until after lunch. We both took long, hot showers in the campground's comfort station. Joanne took Bo for a couple of long walks. I spent the morning working on some minor maintenance chores.

It was a bit confusing getting out of the state park and through Sioux City back to I-29. We continued south on I-29. Just before Omaha, we turned southwest on Interstate 680, crossed over the Missouri River and entered Nebraska. Woo-Hoo ... another decal for the map on the side of the trailer. I-680 took us around the northern edges of the city of Omaha, then we turned onto I-80 heading southwest initially, then west. On the west side of Omaha we refilled with diesel at yet another Flying J. Boy, this pace of travel sure does cost us a lot for fuel. Most days we travel with our CB radio on the truckers' channel. I use it to assist truckers that are passing us. Today, from Omaha to Lincoln, and beyond to Hwy. 81, there was constant griping and sniping amongst the truckers. Some pretty vicious stuff ! Especially when some truckers felt that one of them had impeded an ambulance trying to get by.

When we stopped at a Nebraska roadside rest area, we noticed signage that prohibited smoking anywhere on the rest area's grounds. HA HA HA ! Can you spell "ludicrous" ? ! ? What ... the corn doesn't like second hand smoke ? ? ? We were planning to boondock overnight at a rest area on I-80 near the junction with Hwy. 81. When we arrived at the rest area, we decided it wasn't really a suitable place to boondock overnight, and it was still early enough to keep driving for awhile. We turned south on Hwy. 81, heading for the state of Kansas. Using our campground directories, Joanne found a municipal campground in the town of Hebron, just north of Nebraska's border with Kansas.

We found our way to Hebron's Riverside Park, a nice municipal campground costing five dollars. We have found that municipal and regional campgrounds are usually good, and usually very reasonably priced. Beats paying more than forty bucks at a KOA ! We were even able to get one TV station using the trailer's roof top antenna.

Saturday ; Hebron, Nebraska to Halstead, Kansas

We woke this morning to a very thick fog, but when it finally burned off around 10:00 A.M. it became a beautiful, sunny, warm day. At lunch time I had to switch from a sweatshirt to a t-shirt. We refilled our fresh water tank and dumped our waste holding tanks, then departed Hebron's Riverside Park. We continued southbound on Hwy. 81. Soon we crossed from Nebraska into Kansas. Oh, boy, another decal for the map on the side of the trailer. The farm fields in Kansas were endless miles of something that was similar to corn, but not exactly like the corn that we're used to seeing. The stalks were shorter, and the tops were large, brown, flowering stalks. Maybe that's what's known as milo ?

Hwy. 81 became Interstate 135. At Salina, where I-135 crosses I-70, we turned east on I-70 to go to a Flying J just a few miles down the road. We refilled with diesel, then returned to I-135 continuing south. Just a few miles south of the intersection of I-135 and I-70, and the city of Salina, the traffic began to slow down rapidly. There was ... HUH ? ? ? An airplane crashed on the highway ? ! ? Well, being a pilot, I should be more specific. This was a "forced landing", and quite different from a crash, from a pilot's perspective. Although I suspect most civilians would find little difference. A bent and crumpled airplane on the highway would qualify as a crash in most people's books.

It was a retractable gear, low wing, single engine Piper, probably seating four. For reasons that were not obvious, it landed "gear up", sliding along the Interstate on its belly and wings, so the airplane was significantly damaged. But it was obvious that no injuries would have been sustained by the occupants. WELL DONE ! ! ! It gives me increased confidence, and reassurance, as a pilot, to see a forced landing executed so well ! We arrived at the back end of a short line of stopped traffic even before most of the emergency vehicles had arrived, so it must have happened just a few moments before. If we hadn't stopped to refill at the Flying J, we probably would have missed it. Since it was close to the city of Salina, which has an airport, and the Piper landed gear up, like the pilot didn't have much time to prepare for the forced landing, I surmise that it was an EFTO ( engine failure upon take-off ) incident. If a plane's engine fails upon take-off at such a low altitude that there isn't even a possibility to turn around and return to the airport, there's not enough time in a retractable gear aircraft to get the gear lowered. On the other hand, when I took my retractable gear training in a Cessna 172RG Cutlass, I was taught not to retract the gear immediately after take-off, in case of EFTO. But ... it's hard to resist the temptation to suck them gear up into the underbelly about 2 seconds after the wheels leave the ground, especially when family or friends are watching your take-off.

We continued south on I-135 until just before Wichita. We turned south onto County Road 801, then east on Hwy. 50, to find Spring Lake RV Resort near Halstead. It was a large, friendly, Passport America affiliated campground. First time since we left home in Keremeos 13 days ago that we've had a full hook-up campsite.

Sunday ; Today was sunny, mild, and extremely windy. It was a good day not to be driving. And we were in need of a day of rest. We were tired physically and emotionally. Spring Lake RV Resort had good Wi-Fi ( early in the day ! ), so I spent much of the day on the computer getting caught up on online chores. Sending and retrieving e-mail, updating my blog, reactivating our U.S. cell phone service, checking our investments, paying bills ... ! WHEW ... I'm having new blog site learning curve problems ! I did the 102,000 km. inspection on Lanoire.

I noticed as I was processing a couple of photos that I took of yesterday's forced landing incident that the Piper's triple bladed propeller was undamaged, which indicates that it definitely was not spinning when the plane “landed” on the highway. A “gear up” landing with a spinning prop would mangle the propeller ( and ruin the engine ). It was obviously an "engine failure" forced landing.

The Wi-Fi signal deteriorated severely in the afternoon, perhaps due to the strong winds. It resulted in a long, frustrating period of trying to get our U.S. cell phone reactivated. And the final stumbling block was ... while I got the online portion done, I didn't realize until that was finished that we didn't actually have a cell phone signal in the campground, preventing me from completing the process ( sigh ). In the evening we watched Amazing Race. I chatted briefly with a "neighbour", a baseball cap wearing redneck from West Virginia. He was complaining about Kansas. Hey, bubba ... you're from West Virginia ... people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones ! He also wanted to tell me about the "brilliant" stock market moves he made recently while "drunked up" ( rolling my eyes ).

Monday ; Halstead, Kansas through Oklahoma to Texas border

This morning Kansas was cloudy and mild. This afternoon and evening Oklahoma was sunny and hot ! GOOOOODBYE, WINTER ! ! ! Yesterday I thought Kansas was full of rednecks. SHEESH ... I hadn't been to Oklahoma yet. Thick men with no necks wearing bib front denim overalls. Bumper stickers reading "If you're a Commie ... vote Obamie". YIKES ! On the plus side, we just finished having Oklahoma catfish for supper. All of us ! Including Teddy & Bo ! We all loved it ! HA HA HA ! First time Teddy's had catfish since we WorkCamped at YMCA Of The Ozarks' Trout Lodge in Missouri 4 years ago.

This morning we departed Spring Lake RV Resort and headed east on Hwy. 50 back to Interstate 35. We turned south on I-35, stopping to buy groceries in Wichita, Kansas. On the south side of Wichita I-35 became a turnpike ( toll road ) to the Oklahoma border so we went south on Hwy. 81, the "free" road parallel to the turnpike. We weren't in a rush, and it was interesting to go through all the little towns and villages that the turnpike bypasses. Once we crossed from Kansas into Oklahoma we turned southeast on Hwy. 177 to get back to I-35, then continued south on I-35. Joanne saw a billboard advertising The Pit Barbecue, so we stopped at Cowboy Travel Plaza in Orlando, Oklahoma to buy a pound of barbecued chopped beef at The Pit. MMMMM ... we're back in the part of the country where "barbecue" is a noun, and an art form ! HA HA HA !

WHEW ... we reached Oklahoma City at rush hour. We refilled with diesel at a Flying J. Even after 4½ years of experience, it still makes me sweat heavily ( mind you, it was 83 degrees ! ) to drive our big rig through a large city, on a freeway, at rush hour, at 70 MPH in bumper to bumper traffic. We were going to stop for the night just past Oklahoma City, but the only Passport America campground in the vicinity was ... a nudist RV resort. Oh, I don't think so !

South of Oklahoma City we saw a billboard for Punkin's Barbecue & Catfish Restaurant, half an hour down the road. We discussed treating ourselves to a catfish dinner, and by the time we arrived at the town of Pauls Valley, we were salivating over the prospect. ARGH ! ! ! Punkin's is closed on Mondays. With teeth gnashing, we continued south on I-35. We decided we would drive all the way to the Texas border, and boondock overnight at the Texas Information Centre. Just before we reached Texas, we saw a small ad on the side of the road for McGeehee's Catfish Restaurant, 4 miles off the Interstate. I slammed on the brakes and took the exit !

The restaurant was difficult to find. It was four miles on a series of back roads that looked like something out of the movie Deliverance. Twice I had to make a "u-turn" by backing the rig off the road onto someone's driveway entrance. I was afraid that we would eventually end up somewhere where I wouldn't be able to turn the rig around. But finally we found McGeehee's. No menu ! They served ... catfish ! All you can eat ! We sat by a window, watching the sun set over the banks of the Red River, the border between Oklahoma and Texas. And we ate catfish. A lot of it ! And wrapped a big piece in a paper towel and put it in Joanne's purse for Teddy and Bo. The catfish was served with freshly made, hand cut french fries, hush puppies ( we don't like hush puppies ... deep fried balls of cornmeal ), cole slaw, pickled green tomato relish ( very nice ! ), tartar sauce, all home made, an inch thick slice of a large, sweet onion, pickled jalapeño peppers ( didn't eat those ! ), sliced pickles and lemon wedges. YEE-HAW !

Finding our way back to the Interstate in the dark was even more difficult than finding the restaurant in the first place. A few more miles down the road and we stopped for the night at the Texas Information Centre at the Oklahoma / Texas border. And Teddy and Bo ate catfish ! HA HA HA !

Saw our first armadillo of this year today. Road kill, unfortunately. Saw our first Whattaburger of this year, Joanne's favourite burger joint. I'm partial to In-N-Out Burger in Southern California myself. Saw a lot of dog shit at the Oklahoma roadside rest areas. I guess the good ol' boys down here don't pick up after their dogs ! I guess if I didn't have a neck ( well, actually I don't ), had that big a stomach, and wore bib front denim overalls I wouldn't be able to bend over to pick up after my dog either ! HA HA HA ! Saw a sign advertising fried pies. What the **** is a fried pie ? ! ?

Tuesday ; Oklahoma / Texas border to San Marcos, Texas

Today was sunny, hot, and humid. I applied the Oklahoma decal on the map on the side of the trailer, the last of the five state decals I needed to fill in the large blank on the middle of the map. We have now visited ( and applied the decals ! ) all ten Canadian provinces, and 39 of the 48 contiguous United States. The remaining 9 states are all little states on the northeast seaboard. I doubt that we’ll ever get there. We might get to Alaska at some point in the future.

Before departing the Texas Information Centre we went inside and picked up some maps and brochures. Some time ago I had ordered a Texas Tourist Information package by e-mail, but it had not arrived by the time we left home 2 weeks ago. We continued south on I-35. Mid-morning we stopped at a rest area for a bathroom break. I noticed a car with Manitoba license plates, and a Winnipeg car dealer license plate frame. I approached the elderly couple to chat. They were indeed from Winnipeg, having left there at 2:00 A.M. yesterday, and driven non-stop, for 30 hours ! ! ! They were about ¾ of the way to their winter home in the Rio Grande Valley, and intended to be there tonight, in about another 10 hours. Forty hours to drive 4000 km. / 2500 miles ! ! ! That’s a pretty tough way to travel, at any age !

On the north side of Dallas / Fort Worth we had a choice between I-35E through Dallas or I-35W through Fort Worth. We chose to go through Fort Worth. Near downtown Fort Worth there were six levels of roadways above us, curling, twisting, rising, falling, entrance ramps, exit ramps, overpasses ... ! It looked like something out of a science fiction movie. To paraphrase Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz ... “we’re not in Kansas anymore, BoBo”.

At Waco we stopped at another Flying J to refill with diesel, empty our waste holding tanks, refill our fresh water tank, and have lunch. I chatted with another couple from Winnipeg. This couple were from our neighbourhood of St. Boniface. Obviously it’s time for Winnipeg “snowbirds” to head south.

We passed through Austin during afternoon rush hour ( sigh ). Just past Austin, at the town of Buda, I saw a Cabela’s and decided on impulse to stop and browse. We had been to a Cabela’s once before, four years ago, in Dayton, Ohio ( Joanne’s comment on Ohio ; “flat, ugly, got nothing going for it !” ). Cabela’s is a chain of sporting good stores. Their outlets are the size of a Wal-Mart. After browsing for awhile, we continued southbound on I-35, stopping for the night at a Wal-Mart in San Marcos. The young women in this part of central Texas wear shorts with high heeled cowboy boots. Trying for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader look, I guess, but they look more like hookers than cheerleaders. Did I just say that ? I've become my father !

Wednesday ; San Marcos to San Antonio, Texas

Today was sunny, hot, and humid, temperature of 88 degrees. We chose to stay at the Wal-Mart in San Marcos last night so that we would have only a short distance to drive today to San Antonio, leaving us time in the afternoon after getting set up in a campsite to sightsee in downtown San Antonio. We left San Marcos heading south on I-35. On the north side of San Antonio we got onto I-410, the ring road around the city. On the south side of San Antonio we found our way to Hidden Valley RV Park. We got set up in a site, unhitched the truck from the trailer, had lunch, and set off for downtown San Antonio.

First stop was The Alamo. REMEMBER THE ALAMO ! We wandered around the grounds, and listened to a history lesson told by a staff member out in a courtyard. I learned the story of The Alamo, although I had probably already been taught it ( to no avail, apparently ) by an elementary grade history teacher. I also learned, probably more importantly ( to me, at least ), what exactly a Texian and a Tejano are, and about the history of Texas, first as a part of Mexico, then as an independent republic, before becoming a state within the union of the United States. I thought that the only remnants of The Alamo were the iconic front gates, but much of the fort remains, within lovely, landscaped grounds.

We crossed Alamo Plaza to get to RiverWalk, the beautifully landscaped promenade on each side of the San Antonio River as it winds its way through downtown. We walked around for a couple of hours, admiring the setting, and visiting La Villita, the "old town" village of shops and restaurants. With tired legs ( particularly my knees ! ) we cut through the very large Rivercenter Mall to get back to where we had parked the truck.

We chatted briefly with our "next door neighbours", a couple from Michigan with a German Shepherd. They are here for a reunion of Vietnam Veteran Dog Handlers. I didn't want to ask ; what did the American forces use dogs for in Vietnam ? I lost my interest in chatting with him when he began to espouse his beliefs regarding handguns ( rolling my eyes ). God Bless America !

DSK