Monthly Archives: June 2015

Crossing Arkansas

I was up early Thursday morning. I walked about a half mile to the Whataburger to buy breakfast. Their breakfast taquito was more like a breakfast burrito – scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage wrapped in a soft flour tortilla.

Donna did her exercise routine in the Walmart parking lot where we spent the night. It was early and the lot was almost empty. We were ready to pull out and leave Texarkana behind by 9am. We hit I-30 and stopped at the Arkansas Welcome Center a few miles later. Donna went in a picked up a state road map and brochures with points of interest and bicycling information.

I-30 to Little Rock was smooth sailing. It runs through heavily forested terrain. The deciduous trees have kudzu vines growing on them. We made a short pit stop in a rest area to eat lunch, then continued on to the I-440 loop south and east of Little Rock. This stretch of road is terrible. We pounded through uneven pavement with poorly filled potholes. Most of the road is elevated over swamp land and the surface is anything but flat and level.

Once we hit I-40 east, the road was better until we were about 60 miles from Memphis. Then the road surface deteriorated once again. All of the rivers, ponds and lakes we saw on the way were flooded. Some of the rivers had crested over the levees and flooded farmland. I wondered what the Mississippi would look like when we arrived at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park on the bank of the Mississippi River. I looked up the river level the night before and it was showing 15 feet. Flood stage is over 31 feet so I thought it would be okay, but seeing how everything was flooded on the way there had me wondering.

When we arrived at the RV park, a sign at the office showed the river level at 15 feet and said the park doesn’t flood until it reaches 32 feet – so we’re fine. The park is located on the west bank of the river in West Memphis on the Arkansas side. It’s in a forested section of land that has been cleared out with large grass fields. Some of the sites are paved, the rest are on gravel. The paved pull-through sites on the riverfront are priced at $270/week while a gravel pull-through by the grass field is $186/week. We opted for the gravel pull-through by the grass field. The view is nice. The river front might be a nicer view, but I don’t think it’s worth the price difference.

Donna prepared a flank steak with lime marinade and I grilled it along with zucchini for dinner. Donna topped the flank steak with an herb salad and the zucchini with lemon salt made from chopping zested lemon and kosher salt together.

Lime marinated flank steak with herb salad

Lime marinated flank steak with herb salad

We dined al fresco at the picnic table in our site.

View from our site at dusk

View from our site at dusk – the clay bank is the Tennesee side of the river

We took a walk through the park and watched barges going up and down the river. Some of the barges are huge – we saw one tug pushing 21 barges rafted together.

A small barge on the Mississippi

A small barge on the Mississippi

It’s quiet and picturesque here. I’m looking forward to a relaxing week. We might take an Uber or Lyft taxi downtown and check out some of the clubs on Beale Street this evening.

River bend north of the RV park

River bend north of the RV park

Great Day in College Station

We saw a few sights in College Station, Texas on Tuesday. Donna and I rode the scooter down through the Texas A&M University campus to the George Bush Library and Museum. This was the first visit to a presidential library for both of us. It’s well worth the $9 admission.

Donna at the fountain in front of the George Bush Library and Museum

Donna at the fountain in front of the George Bush Library and Museum

The library chronicles the life and times of our 41st president, George H. W. Bush. It goes back into his childhood and takes you into the new millennium. Donna was inspired to write a post here on her organizing blog after hearing something in his inaugural address from 1989. The library is not all about Bush – it also highlights newsworthy events from World War II to end of his political career and beyond. If you go, be sure to allow an hour and a half or more to see the exhibits.

Donna looking presidential in the re-creation of the oval office

Donna looking presidential in the re-creation of the oval office

Me, not so presidential

Me, not so presidential

After touring the Bush Library, we rode the scooter to the Blackwater Draw Brewing Company just a couple of miles away from the library.

We sat at a table and a waiter brought us menus and ice water. Donna realized she didn’t have her glasses. She wasn’t sure if she had them at the museum and set them down at some point or maybe left them at home. She was racking her brain, then came up with the idea of looking at the photo on my phone (posted above) and sure enough, she had her glasses on when we arrived there.

We told the waiter we had to go back for her glasses. We rode back to the library and Donna went to the ticket desk. She asked if anyone had turned in any lost glasses. The girl at the counter asked Donna to describe them. The girl said, “You must be living right” and handed Donna her glasses. She was pretty relieved as these are her glasses for reading, driving and also double as her sunglasses thanks to transition lenses.

We rode back to the Blackwater Draw Brewing Company and sat at the same table we were at before. The waiter brought us water and menus again. They had five of their beers on tap, plus a selection of other Texas craft beers in bottles. I went for the RIP Smash IPA. Donna tried a Kolsch but wasn’t impressed, so she decided to stick with water. We both ordered the daily special which was oxtail tacos with a sweet and spicy pineapple-mango salsa that was very tasty.

Beer board at Blackwater Draw Brewing Co

Beer board at Blackwater Draw Brewing Co

The IPA was okay, but just okay. I haven’t been impressed with Texas IPA – it just doesn’t measure up to the west coast IPAs found in California and Oregon. I also tried the Contract Killer coffee porter. This was a winner. I’d gladly have another glass of this brew.

We rode back to the RV park via old downtown Bryan. It was pretty sleepy. We saw no need to stop.

On Wednesday morning, Donna did her exercise routine while I prepared for the road. We lit the fires and pulled out of the RV park at 9:45am. I had a couple of challenges getting out of the residential neighborhood. I had to make a couple of loops before I found intersections with streets wide enough to make the turns we needed to make to get to the highway.

We headed out of town on TX6 to Benchley, then hit TX-OSA (Old San Antonio Road). This was the worst stretch of road we’ve been on since the time we drove up US89 in northern Arizona. The road had bumps and dips that worked the suspension overtime. It also had uneven lane surfaces that had the coach rolling from side to side. Our air suspension actively adjusts to maintain ride height, but it can’t react quick enough to sudden surface irregularities like these. The first hour of driving was exhausting. The lane was narrow with no shoulder and I had to maintain concentration to keep from drifting off the road due to the poor surface.

The road eventually improved. Our route took us through Tyler then Linden, Texas which is birthplace of the great blues guitarist, T-Bone Walker (Stormy Monday). Almost all of the rivers and lakes we saw along the way were flooded. There’s no drought in this part of Texas.

I know I said in my last post that we’d be heading to Shreveport, Louisiana. As always, plans have a way of changing. Since Memphis was our next goal, we decided to take a more direct route through Arkansas. Earlier, I was worried about the possibility of tornadoes, but the weather forecast was looking favorable.

We’re doing something different going down the road that I think we only did one time before. The temperature and humidity were so unbearable when we left Rockport and again when we left Bryan that we’re driving down the road with the generator running and the front roof air conditioner on. It’s so much more comfortable.

We crossed the stateline at Texarkana and decided to park for the night at a Walmart in Texarkana, Arkansas. Today we’ll drive to Memphis and check in at the Tom Sawyer RV Resort on the Mississippi River.

Last Stop in Texas

The heavy rain in the forecast didn’t happen Sunday afternoon. Instead, weather-wise, it was one of the nicest days we had in Rockport, Texas. I had already loaded the trailer, including the scooter. We thought about unloading the scooter, but decided against it. We didn’t need to go anywhere and I didn’t want to get it out of the trailer when the weather can change in an instant.

Donna took a long morning walk. She went out Copano Ridge Road to Harbor Point on Copano Bay. Her round trip was about five miles. After lunch, we went out and walked together around the park. We went out on the fishing pier – there was no sign of the jellyfish we saw there before. The wind was light and it was getting hot out. The temperature reached the upper 80s.

While it was dry out, I decided to take care of one more maintenance task. I should change the fuel filter for our Cummins ISL diesel engine annually. I had put this off because I couldn’t find my spare fuel filter. I always like to have a spare filter on hand in case I get a load of bad fuel on the road. I ordered a replacement filter when I bought the air filter element. My intention was to install the spare filter I’d had for a year at that time and rotate the new filter into the spare role.

On Sunday, I got serious about finding my spare filter. Normally it would’ve been in a bin in the trailer where I keep things like that, but I remembered putting it into a basement compartment where it would easier to retrieve when were loaded up and traveling. If I could only remember where I put it. Donna suggested that I take everything out of one of the compartments. Way in the back, there was a cardboard box I didn’t recognize. I opened the box and there it was! It was in an Amazon box – I was expecting to find a Cummins Fleetguard box.

Changing the fuel filter is always a messy deal. Fuel drips when the old filter is removed. You have to be sure the rubber seal in the center comes off with the old filter, then install the new seal before screwing the new filter in place. Once the new filter is tightened, the fuel will stop leaking.

New fuel filter with date marked on it

New fuel filter with date marked on it

I marked the new filter 6-15 so I won’t have to remember when it was changed. The last step in the replacement procedure is to turn on the ignition key for 30 seconds. This activates the lift pump and pumps fuel into the empty filter. I repeated this four times for a total of two minutes fuel pump run time. The next time the engine is started, it will purge the air from the system at low idle, then it will run normally. This procedure works for CAPS injection systems and high-pressure common rail (HPCR) injection systems found on Cummins diesel engines. This is better than pre-filling the filter. Pre-filling the filter with fuel runs the risk of introducing unfiltered contaminants into the injection system. It doesn’t take much to ruin a fuel injector.

Around 5pm, a few clouds were passing overhead. We heard a sudden crack of thunder as lightning struck nearby and the rain began to fall. It rained off and on most of the night. Donna made fish tacos with fresh tilapia for dinner. They are so yummy with blackened tilapia.

Fish tacos

Fish tacos

On Monday morning, the sun came out and we had mostly clear skies. I dumped and flushed the tanks while Donna finished packing the interior items. When I fired up the Cummins, it stalled the first time. I restarted it and it settled into a normal idle and ran fine. I checked the fuel filter one more time for leaks as I did my walkaround before we hit the road.

Our route took us up TX35 along Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to TX185. We followed TX185 through Victoria, then hit TX77. This took us north through La Grange. I couldn’t help but sing parts of the ZZ Top song about a cat house in La Grange.

Rumour spreadin’ a-’round in that Texas town
’bout that shack outside La Grange
and you know what I’m talkin’ about.
Just let me know if you wanna go
to that home out on the range.
They gotta lotta nice girls.
Have mercy.
A haw, haw, haw, haw, a haw.
A haw, haw, haw.
Well, I hear it’s fine if you got the time
and the ten to get yourself in.
A hmm, hmm.
And I hear it’s tight most ev’ry night,
but now I might be mistaken.
hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.
Have mercy.

 

Further up the road we came to a screeching halt. Many Texas highways have high speed limits even though there are driveways and cars stopping to turn or cars entering the highway without an acceleration lane to allow them to merge with traffic. Apparently some one had pulled out of the gas station on our left and a car coming down the highway collided with it. It looked bad and was obviously a high-speed collision.

Car crash ahead

Car crash ahead

It was a reminder to stay alert and ready for cars entering the highway or braking suddenly. In an RV, keeping your distance is imperative. I can’t stop 33,000 pounds in the same distance as a 4,000-pound car.

We made our way to Bryan, Texas. I stopped at Big Gas Travel Center and pumped 60 gallons of fuel to top off our tank. In this humid climate, I like to keep the tank full when we are parked to minimize condensation in the air space of the tank. I also added Biobor JF to the tank.

When I went inside to pay, my Chase credit card was declined! I tried it twice, then I used my debit card to pay the fuel bill. When we arrived at Primrose Lane RV Park, my credit card was declined again. This happened frequently when we first started traveling cross country. The security folks at Chase thought all the charges in different states were suspicious. I talked to them last year and they added notes to my account indicating that frequent travel and large fuel bills were normal.

I called the number on my Chase card and through their automated system, I was able to authorize the charge for two nights at the RV park. I also added travel information. The system only allows me to indicate travel for up to twelve months. So next summer, I’ll have to go through this again. We have a 90-foot long pull-through site on a concrete pad. It easily fits our rig and I didn’t have to drop the trailer. The site is narrow though, only about 12 feet wide.

Once we were set up, I went online to pay my Flying J fuel bill. I charged $534 for fuel at Flying J during the month of May. I have my account set up with Flying J to pay electronically. It wouldn’t go through. I tried a couple of times but kept getting an error message telling me to call customer service.

I called and was put on hold for 15 minutes. When the representative picked up, I could hear some background noise but he didn’t say anything. I said, “Hello?” Then he said, “Hi, how are you?” I said, “Fine, is this Flying J?” He said it was – seemed pretty unprofessional to me. I told him what my issue was and he said the system was down for maintenance and I should try again tomorrow. Really? The system is down for maintenance and you give people an error message telling them to call? Why not have the message say the system is down for maintenance until XX? Or record a message to that effect for incoming calls? End of rant.

Our long, narrow pull-through site

Our long, narrow pull-through site

We plan to head over to College Station and have a look around today. Donna would like to get a bike ride in, but the roads around here in Bryan don’t have much shoulder and it may be too dangerous. We’ve booked two nights here at $18/night for full hook-ups with 50 amp service with Passport America. Tomorrow we plan to head east to Shreveport, Louisiana.