TRAVEL WITH THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:)): Jacksboro Texas

Sunday, March 21, 2010

BAD WINDS, SLUSH ON THE ROADS, & COLD!!!!

A CONTENTED LITTLE TRAVELER

First thing I saw when I stepped out of the rig this morning was my breath. It was cold out alright. There is electricity at this spot as well as water so we were able to use our electric heaters last night. And use them we did!! Didn't hook up to water Saturday night though because we didn't want to be froze to the water tap this morning & unable to leave early.

HEY MIKE, WENT BY THOSE WINDMILLS AGAIN THIS MORNING & CRACKED OFF A SHOT THROUGH THE DIRTY WINDSHIELD FOR YA:))

We left Coleman Park in Brownfield, Texas at 6:50 a.m. Rolling east out of town the big red rising sun was sitting right square on the road in front of us. Wow, talk about eye strain for awhile. We were not too long on the road when I was aware of a vibration in the rig. I could feel it in my seat but didn't feel anything in the steering wheel & thought that was kind of odd. Took me a couple minutes to finally figure it out. Before we left home last fall I had bought a foam seat cushion on sale at Canadian Tire. It has 6 small massage motors in it for legs & back. Of course I forgot to use it for most of the trip but I did remember to plug it in this morning. And yep, that was the vibration I was feeling in my seat alright. Oh, isn't this aging process fun!!!!

GONNA BE A COLD DAMP NIGHT AT WALLYWORLD IN BONHAM, TEXAS

We started out with light winds this morning but by 10 o'clock we were being blown all over the place again. Nice sunny day but those nasty wind gusts sure made for some tough driving. As usual there was very little traffic on highway 380 & it's the main reason we use this road coming & going to the southwest. I first came across it a few years ago while pouring over maps & Atlas's looking for a route west that avoided large cities. We use the section of 380 between Jacksboro, Texas & Tularosa, New Mexico. Nice rest stops along the way, very little traffic, some sleepy western towns, & a couple of free overnight spots with utilities.

I THINK WE JUST MISSED THE LOCAL SNOW STORM

The winds were really bad on the section of road heading north from Jacksboro on highway 59 to St. Joes just west of Gainsville, Texas. Our gas mileage probably dropped to about 2 miles per gallon:((

Fueled up in Bowie, Texas about 2 o'clock & pushed on. I wanted to get Gainsville behind us because I knew the traffic through there would be busy in the morning. We were surprised by the snow in this area & slushy spots on the road. Two years ago on our way west we did an overnighter at a Wally World in a town called Bonham so that's where we are right now. Sure is cold here!!

Did a little browse around in Wal-Mart & picked up a few groceries. We'll be out of here first thing in the morning & will spend tomorrow night somewhere in Arkansas before our northward swing up the Ohio Valley. The rig is running good, dogs are fine, & Kelly has been pacifying me with egg salad sandwiches while on the run. All is well in RV Ville...............:))