BLOG UPDATES FOR NOV 17, 18, & 19TH

SPENT A NIGHT IN A TRUCK STOP REST AREA
This blog update is coming to you from Post, Texas. We are at a McDonalds & it's Thursday morning 10:25 Texas time on Nov. 20/08 I am going to do the update starting with Nov. 17th to Nov. 19th. When we get our satellite system up & running I will post the week's pictures into the first photo album of the trip.............

MONDAY NOVEMBER 17TH
ONLY IN AMERICA:))
We knew that parking for the night in a rest area's truck stop section was going to be noisy but we were too tired to go any further after the day's fiasco with the bad bump & the State Park campground disappointment. We put the rigs television antennae up & were pleasantly surprised at how many channels we could get & the clarity of those channels. Watched Barack & Michelle Obama interviewed on 60 minutes Sunday night. Didn't put the slides out because of it being a rest area & knowing we would have trucks coming in & parking right beside us on both sides.. We were both asleep before 8:30. Trucks came & went during the night but for the most part we slept fine until one fellow (the truck with the cross in the grill) pulled in right beside us around 3 a.m. & left his engine running. We got up & hit the road about 3:40 a.m. Well, afterall it was a truck stop.

A lot of people don't like driving at night but I have always enjoyed it. Not much traffic & I always like looking at all the neato-o colored dash lights. We saw 3 or 4 dead deer along the road so knew we were in heavily populated deer areas. It's the down side of night driving & we were both glued to the windshield watching for the tell tale sign of deer ahead. We later saw a big Class A motorhome pulled over with a dead deer under it. All & all we saw close to a dozen dead animals alongside the road before sun up.

Crossed the Mississippi river from Illinois into Missouri, hooked up with I-57 & headed in the direction of Memphis, Tennessee. Slipped into a McDonald's for a coffee because we saw a sign saying they had internet. Checked the emails, hastily updated the blog, & we were back on the road again. Just west of Memphis we climbed on Interstate 40 & made the big swing to the west. The sun finally came out after 2 dreary days & lit up the beautiful autumn Arkansas leaves. It looks like the first October week in Ontario here. Two years ago on our way home from Arizona we stumbled across a little used RV park just off the Interstate in Hazen, Arkansas. Called T-Ricks, it's on the south side at the Citgo gas bar. We were tired from being up so early so decided to call it a day around 1 o'clock. Only 2 other rigs here. Electricity, water, sewer hook-ups & cement pads. Not all sites are equal so chose your site carefully. Lots of trees & a nice spot for an overnight stop along the way though. Plenty of room & safe for the dogs to wander & romp. Twenty five dollars a night but we got the site for free. Kelly is such a wheeler dealer. Spent the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine & 60F temperatures. Cleaned up the rig, made some changes here & there, had hot showers, & just basically relaxed for the remainder of the day. Nice to be off the road & out of the traffic for awhile. No signs of any further damage from the Kinmundy bump on Sunday........yet!!

We were surprised at the clarity & number of TV channels available again by simply putting our antennae up. Something has changed for the best in the past 6 months in regards to all these digital television waves & things. The picture quality is amazing for antennae television. I'm sure our flat screen television with digital tuner has a lot to do with it as well but if we continue to find this kind of reception throughout our travels this winter we may very well consider making some changes to our present television/internet set up.

While sitting here typing this I glanced out the window to my left & noticed two people about 50 feet away. Needless to say, they immediately caught my attention. Whispered to Kelly to grab my camera & got one shot off before they disappeared from view. Very strange & Kelly said............we must be in America:))
(Keep in mind......Kelly is an American)
Kelly later talked to this couple & it turns out they travel full time in their motorhome which is parked a near us. They told Kelly they are homeless, unemployed & not looking. They only travel on Wednesdays & drive no more than a hundred miles at a stretch. They are heading for Florida. While talking to them another old timer pulled in with an old pick-up truck & a big dinosaur of a 5th wheel. Been on the road for the last hundred years I think. Another couple pulled in with a Class A Airstream on their way from Aurora New York to Yuma, California. Said they have been doing this trip for years & always stop at this campground for an overnighter. While Kelly was in the Citgo store earlier there was a disheveled woman walking around in there mumbling something about the shadows in her life. The clerk said she was homeless & living in her car out the back beside the dumpster. We later saw her there pacing back & forth beside her car. When we left early the next morning, the lady & her car were gone. Hopefully, help came for her in the night.

A long day for the Bayfield Bunch & we were out like a bunch of light bulbs by 8:30 p.m.

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18TH
TO-DAY WE WERE IN PARIS......TWICE!!!!

A good night's sleep for Al so no excuse for being grouchy to-day. Ya right!!

Fueled up at the Citgo station & we were westbound on I-70 by 6 o'clock. An uneventful morning as we crossed the Texas State line in Texarkana about 10:45. Clear skies, lots of sunshine, & temps somewhere in the high 50's. A nice driving day.

West of Texarkana is the town of New Boston & just beyond there was our turn off for highway 82. Had decided earlier not to try going through Dallas. We've been on the Interstates since Port Huron so figured it was time for a break. Some people on the RV Net Forums had suggested the 82 route north of Dallas so we're giving it a whirl. Coming home last year we came across north of Dallas from Jacksboro through Denton to Greenfield & found that route way to congested & that was not an option. KELLY TOOK THIS PIC OF DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS
Lots of construction going on in the city of Paris, Texas but we were able to thread our way through the traffic cones, around the workers, past the detour signs, & somehow remained in the narrow pot holed construction lanes. Nearly missed a turn at a particularly nasty intersection but we made it through & breathed a big sigh of relief as I watched Paris disappearing in the rear view mirrors. Next big town would be Sherman. Into a bit more construction & a couple sweeping curves to the left. The sun caught my attention when it appeared in my driver's side mirror. Odd, it should be high up on my left side, not in my mirror. More construction & congestion & before I could logically figure out the strange positioning of the sun we nearly missed a turn at a particularly nasty intersection. AWWWWWW NUTS!!!!!! It was the exact same intersection we had just bounced through about 20 minutes before. We had traveled in a complete left hand circle & back into the construction area of Paris. *!!#^>"+! How did this happen!! Watched Paris disappear in my rear view mirrors for the second time. I was beginning to see shades of Bill Murray's movie, Groundhog Day. What if we have entered the Twilight Zone & are doomed to repeat this route around & around forever & ever. We were totally glued to every road sign going by dreading the thought of making the same mistake again. Finally, there it was, a big green sign with the number 82 on it & an arrow pointing to the exit west. How had we missed that before!!!! Had it been any bigger it would have jumped out & slapped us in the face..................
LITTLE CORA'S FAVORITE TRAVELING SPOT
Motored on to the town of Bonham & noticed on the map it had a State Park about 5 miles to the south. Figured we would call it an early day again so headed down to the park. Well, once again, it was not going to be. The park was small with no sites for a pull through set up. Got us on a narrow road with an undo-able hair pin turn to the left so went right round a sign & wooden barrier on the road that said, No Admittance!! A short distance up the road was the park's work yard & luckily it was just big enough for us to make a sweeping tight turn around to the left clearing a wooden building by about a foot. Back on the road, around a wrong way road sign & back out of the park across a narrow bridge alongside the lake. (picture) Beautiful little park with RV sites right on a small lake but no spaces large enough for the Bayfield Bunch. Back to Bonhman & discovered the town actually had a Wal-Mart. I think the day will come in America when there will be no more small towns. Just big behemoth Wal-Mart complexes with little houses scattered around the fringes of the mega parking lots.

Picked up a few groceries after supper & that was it for another day.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 19TH

An uneventful night except for the ladies voice booming out over the Wal-Marts parking lot speakers in the middle of the night saying something like......."Attention Wal-Marts shoppers, take advantage of our indoor 2 a.m. special now in the ladies ware department. A free pair of men's socks with the purchase of every fully automatic shotgun!!"

Had forgot to turn on our blue flame heater before going to bed so by 4 a.m. I was up picking the icicles out of my beard. Despite the warming days, most nights still take on shades of the Arctic.
Said our good-byes to the little town of Bonham, Texas & resumed our journey west on highway 82 through Sherman & Gainesville. Good roads all the way with lite to moderate traffic. We will probably use this same route on our return as well. Nice horse farms, little cowboy towns, & just a nice rural feel to the countryside. The Dallas route would be a quicker & shorter but give me the quiet & picturesque countryside anyday.

We were practically airborne again as we came through the little town of Jacksboro. The main intersection had just been paved with a layer of asphalt about 2 or 3 inches high from east to west. Of course we were traveling from north to south. No warning sign about bump ahead as we motored through the interection on a green light & bounded ass over teakettle across the asphalt hump. Bounced out of our seats with all the familiar sounds behind us of bedlam in the cupboards again. I swear the townspeople were lining both sides of the street in the landing zone with score cards as vehicles launched themselves over that intersection. We got an 8 out of 10!!

And a big thanks to neighbor & friend, handyman Bruce from back home who expertly installed our wall mounted television this past summer. It has survived the Jacksboro bounce & thump plus the Kinmundy lateral whiplash wobble. Bravo Bruce, the television is still securely swing mounted to the wall.

Decided to stop at a rest area for a doggy pit stop & a stretch. Did a walk around the rig & noticed the bicycles didn't look right & on further inspection we realized the bicycle carrier had shifted somehow. Probably from the Jacksboro jump about a half hour before. Undid the ropes & took the big green tarp off the bikes. Removed the bicycles & set about repairing the carrier which I was actually able to do using some well placed heavy nail wedges. Good as new. RE-ARRANGING BICYCLES & BIKE CARRIER REPAIRSWHEN I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT BIKE CARRIER PROBLEM, KELLY SUGGESTED I CALL DIAL A PRAYER!!

Last year on our way home we stopped in the little town of Haskell, Texas where they have a free one night stop RV park courtesy of the town. Electricity, water, & sewage. Replenished our fresh water tank, dumped the holding tanks & got ourselves re-organized. Hooked up to shore water so hot showers coming up. This is actually a nice little RV park with about 25 sites. A restored 1883 house sits in a park like setting right beside the RV park & across the road is a pond & a nice large treed city park. Uptown is about a 4 block walk.
Did I mention the great weather yet. Sunny to-day with temps in the low 80's. And we also knew we were in the west again when the big Texas winds welcomed us with gusting head winds just west of Throckmorton. Looked up the library in Haskell with hopes of updating the blog there because most libraries have wireless. But, not this one. Wireless, what's that?? The library had their own bank of in-house computers so we were at least able to check & send a few quick emails. Hoping to stop in Brownfield Thursday morning at an internet savvy McDonalds we had used on our way home last spring.....Well, here's hoping:)) RELAXING IN HASKELL, TEXAS

THE 1883 RESTORED HOUSE BESIDE THE RV PARK IN HASKELL