We survived the fourth day on the road and clocked nearly 400 miles from Vicksburg, MS to Mansfield, TX. Our drive across Texas, although tiring was very beautiful. The progeny of the wild flowers planted during Lady Bird Johnson’s campaign to beautify her home state continue to bloom in profusion in the medians and along the shoulders of the public roads. And thanks to the copious amounts of rain they have been having all winter the prairies are a grassy green as far as you can see. Not what one would expect in Texas but thoroughly appreciated by these two travelers!
Phil called his niece, Debbie and let her know we had arrived and after a good nights sleep we would come to her house. She and her husband, Connie prepared a delicious early Sunday dinner (THE best meatloaf I have ever eaten for the entree!) and we had a great visit catching up with all the latest news. Debbie had been kept in the loop as well as reading the blog so she was pretty much up to speed about my surgery and recovery. Before we left we made plans to go out to dinner at Cheddars, our favorite restaurant in Arlington (Connie paid ignoring our objections—thanks Connie!) then attend their grandson, Austin’s Little League Ball Game. It started late so we headed back to Penny the Pace after an hour or so but it was fun. Those 12-year-olds are talented little ball players and we heard Austin hit a triple right after we left! We were sorry we missed that!
Another niece, Pam (Debbie’s sister) and her husband, Leslie met us for lunch the second day and we enjoyed a delicious meal at Cheddar’s getting a preview of the good food we would savor the next day at dinner. It was so good to see them again and get caught up on the news about her family.
On the fourth morning in Mansfield we pulled out early and drove as far as Big Spring, TX. This would be our longest day in this leg of our westward trek. We stayed at the “Whip In RV Park” (sorry no picture) and received a 15% discount because we are Escapee’s. Full hook ups with free WiFi and cable TV. We drove to a restaurant named Furr’s Buffet, that was actually pretty good food (The food was lukewarm—how do restaurants get away with that?) but a buffet it wasn’t. Actually it was a cafeteria with a server behind the counter. The price was right with our senior discount so in spite of our confusion we managed to get plenty to eat. I turned in early after watching TV for a while and Phil stayed up and watched a little more TV.
West Texas and SW New Mexico (our next destination) was experiencing a serious windstorm and we were right in the middle of it in Van Horn, TX, which was our next stop on Thursday night. We parked at Mountain View RV Park and it was nearly deserted. A self-help park with a Passport America ½ price discount offers FHU’s and cable TV that has two really bad channels. Preferring to be safe than sorry, we spent two nights rather than the one we had planned hoping to wait out the storm before pulling out on Saturday. The first night we had salads and sandwiches at home and the second day we ate at the local truck stop and Phil had a pretty good Mexican style dinner with red chili sauce he really liked and I managed to eat half of a hamburger bringing half of the meat home with me for my snack that night.
Because the wind had slowed down on Saturday morning we got busy and managed to leave by 9 AM. That’s some kind of record for us! :-) We still bucked a headwind of about 20 MPH all the way but it was only 190 miles to Deming so Phil managed to keep Penny between the lines with a little effort. Shortly after leaving Van Horn we gained an hour (moved into Mountain Standard Time) so we were very happy about that and pulled into the Dream Catcher RV Park at about 1:30 PM. We are members so they charged us $12.50 plus $2 for electricity (if we leave by 8 AM) or we could have opted to read the meter. We have FHU’s and there is hardly a blade of grass anywhere but the sites are wide and the park is nearly empty so it is quiet. We unhooked the Ranger and found the local Denny’s for our “linner” and spent a quiet evening before going to bed early. The wind continued to blow but the forecast called for it to die down overnight. Hopefully, our drive to Benson, AZ today will be without incident and we plan to rest a couple days and visit our friends, Jerry and Suzy .
Note: I was surprised to learn that the bridge I showed last week in Mobile was built in the early 1990s. We had missed seeing it when we drove through as it is over Mobile Bay on the highway that bypasses the city. When we drove the Ranger to New Orleans we stayed on the business route through town and went through the tunnel instead of around the city. The bridge was damaged by Katrina when an oil derrick smashed into it during the storm.
Phil called his niece, Debbie and let her know we had arrived and after a good nights sleep we would come to her house. She and her husband, Connie prepared a delicious early Sunday dinner (THE best meatloaf I have ever eaten for the entree!) and we had a great visit catching up with all the latest news. Debbie had been kept in the loop as well as reading the blog so she was pretty much up to speed about my surgery and recovery. Before we left we made plans to go out to dinner at Cheddars, our favorite restaurant in Arlington (Connie paid ignoring our objections—thanks Connie!) then attend their grandson, Austin’s Little League Ball Game. It started late so we headed back to Penny the Pace after an hour or so but it was fun. Those 12-year-olds are talented little ball players and we heard Austin hit a triple right after we left! We were sorry we missed that!
Another niece, Pam (Debbie’s sister) and her husband, Leslie met us for lunch the second day and we enjoyed a delicious meal at Cheddar’s getting a preview of the good food we would savor the next day at dinner. It was so good to see them again and get caught up on the news about her family.
On the fourth morning in Mansfield we pulled out early and drove as far as Big Spring, TX. This would be our longest day in this leg of our westward trek. We stayed at the “Whip In RV Park” (sorry no picture) and received a 15% discount because we are Escapee’s. Full hook ups with free WiFi and cable TV. We drove to a restaurant named Furr’s Buffet, that was actually pretty good food (The food was lukewarm—how do restaurants get away with that?) but a buffet it wasn’t. Actually it was a cafeteria with a server behind the counter. The price was right with our senior discount so in spite of our confusion we managed to get plenty to eat. I turned in early after watching TV for a while and Phil stayed up and watched a little more TV.
West Texas and SW New Mexico (our next destination) was experiencing a serious windstorm and we were right in the middle of it in Van Horn, TX, which was our next stop on Thursday night. We parked at Mountain View RV Park and it was nearly deserted. A self-help park with a Passport America ½ price discount offers FHU’s and cable TV that has two really bad channels. Preferring to be safe than sorry, we spent two nights rather than the one we had planned hoping to wait out the storm before pulling out on Saturday. The first night we had salads and sandwiches at home and the second day we ate at the local truck stop and Phil had a pretty good Mexican style dinner with red chili sauce he really liked and I managed to eat half of a hamburger bringing half of the meat home with me for my snack that night.
Because the wind had slowed down on Saturday morning we got busy and managed to leave by 9 AM. That’s some kind of record for us! :-) We still bucked a headwind of about 20 MPH all the way but it was only 190 miles to Deming so Phil managed to keep Penny between the lines with a little effort. Shortly after leaving Van Horn we gained an hour (moved into Mountain Standard Time) so we were very happy about that and pulled into the Dream Catcher RV Park at about 1:30 PM. We are members so they charged us $12.50 plus $2 for electricity (if we leave by 8 AM) or we could have opted to read the meter. We have FHU’s and there is hardly a blade of grass anywhere but the sites are wide and the park is nearly empty so it is quiet. We unhooked the Ranger and found the local Denny’s for our “linner” and spent a quiet evening before going to bed early. The wind continued to blow but the forecast called for it to die down overnight. Hopefully, our drive to Benson, AZ today will be without incident and we plan to rest a couple days and visit our friends, Jerry and Suzy .
Note: I was surprised to learn that the bridge I showed last week in Mobile was built in the early 1990s. We had missed seeing it when we drove through as it is over Mobile Bay on the highway that bypasses the city. When we drove the Ranger to New Orleans we stayed on the business route through town and went through the tunnel instead of around the city. The bridge was damaged by Katrina when an oil derrick smashed into it during the storm.
For more information Google:
Cochrane Africa Town Bridge Mobile Alabama
Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time ...
