The "Mom visits" are behind us; it's great to see family, and nice to move on. We are down for the night about 5 hours from home, in a very nice Passport America park (Lazy Longhorn in Victoria, TX).Some observations...
We drove by RV lots that are selling former FEMA trailers; we saw $4,000 on them in Oklahoma City, $2,999 on them in the Dallas area, and $6,000 on them on the road today. There were a couple of them in the RV park where we stayed to visit Joan's Mother. They had a hard sewer pipe going to the sewer connection, leading me to believe that there were no "conversions" to holding tanks, making them "legit" RVs. No doubt there are people living in them. This is the first we've seen that. In fact, there appeared to be quite a few "permanent" residents in that particular park.
Parked near us was a newish Cardinal (Forest River) with full body paint. Yes, I know it isn't built like our HitchHikers, but it was certainly pretty... looked like a big dollar unit with that paint. Full body paint is going to be a necessary option to compete in the marketplace.
We drove for an hour and a half... and were still in the Dallas area. Even though we planned our departure around avoiding "rush hour", we still got into plenty of traffic that wasn't rushing. I don't know how people are able to make that commute on a daily basis.
Flying Js have really changed since Pilot took over. Pay-at-the-pump doesn't currently exist at the RV lanes... run your Flying J card and you then have to go inside to give them your Rewards Card, your credit card, and a best guess at how much fuel you will use. They put that on the card, then you head back out to the pump, pump your fuel, then go back inside to wait in line again, where you get another receipt for the fuel you actually pumped. So, for your "loyality", you get to make two trips and wait in line twice. We have generally used Flying Js when they're on our route, but I think that will be changing... not worth the extra time.
Picnic Areas... at least the ones in Texas; they make a good place to pull in to use the potty or fix a bite to eat. Would it kill them to put a note on the sign to tell you which side of the road they're on? We saw that at one area... and NOT at all the others.
Autumn turned back into summer as we progressed south. October is beautiful in south Texas, and that covers a LOT of territory. It made it to 84 degrees today... AND, we had a tailwind!
That makes a nearly 4 mpg difference from a headwind (which we usually seem to attract).Little Izzy is an amazing travel cat. No fuss, she occasionally goes from Joan's lap to laying beside me while we are rolling. She doesn't make a peep, and goes right into her carrier when we stop. Even though we take her back to the HH when we stop, her bladder has greater endurance than mine. Rubbing a cat's belly is a great stress reducer... beats the heck out of a worry-stone.
We ran beyond our 2/2/2 today, by choice. Not feeling any get-home-itis, we just knew where we wanted to stop for the night and there was no need to pull off any earlier. While it's not a "schedule," the timing will work for stopping at my favorite fast food place tomorrow: the Schnitz (Weinerschnitzel). Planning is important.
Happy to be wandering.
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