Our Wander Years

STE2 Hop 8: Austin TX to Rockport TX

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 8

212 miles via TX 620, TX 71, TX 210, US 183, TX 188 and some local roads, with a refueling stop. Cumulative tow miles: 1665. Truck miles: 367. Cumulative truck miles: 1930.

The refueling stop was unplanned and was due to remembering, too late – I was already hitched up – that I hadn’t taken the truck down to the corner gas station to fill the tank. So we had to start off looking for a place that we could get the rig into. We found one about 10 miles into the journey, which wasn’t all bad as it reduced the anxiety on the destination end when the gauge hovered near “E”.

Once again, the trip was pretty boring. Lots of flat farmland (after fighting our way through Austin church traffic) and nothing to really catch our attention until we were about 20 miles from Rockport. Then the Hurricane Harvey damage started to show up. Fences down, roofs being repaired, piles of debris lining the road.

Rockport itself is, reportedly, a mess. I will check it out today. But the park is located directly across the street from a restaurant that is being rebuilt. Looks like it lost most of its roof and windows and probably had lots of water damage.

We spent our three nights in Austin at La Hacienda RV Resort. This is a very nice medium-sized park near Lake Travis. It was packed, which didn’t surprise me a lot as I had had a lot of trouble finding a park in the Austin area that had vacancy. I asked the office staff why it was so difficult finding a campsite near Austin and the answer surprised me: winter seasonals are starting to arrive. That is very different than our experience in Florida where the parks seem to be only about half full until Christmas. I guess snowbirds in Texas roost earlier.

The biggest problem with the site we was given at La Hacienda was that it was designed for a motorhome – you drive in, back out. Except with a fifth wheel you can’t just drive in because you need to unhitch, too. We were lucky in that our site was at the end of the row with a large grassy field to our right, so I was able to unhitch and drive around using the field. But we had to back out of the site, which is, I believe, a first for us.

We have been having problems with the large 47″ TV in our living room. It has always been very poor at pulling in stations, whether we are on cable or antenna. Typically we get about two-thirds of the stations that the bedroom TV gets. Lately, this problem has been compounded with the screen simply going black at random times. As I was out, taking Rusty for a grooming, I got a text from Jett telling me to buy a TV while I was out. Well, the PetSmart was right across the street from a Best Buy, so I returned with a groomed dog and a new TV and spent most of the day on Friday replacing the television. It was harder than I expected, mostly due to the two televisions having very different mount points. I had to improvise to get the new TV mounted.

Our site

Swapping out the TV

Sadly, the new TV doesn’t pull in stations much better than the old one, so the problem must be in the cable connection. Which is not easily solved. The new TV does have a better picture on the stations it gets and does have WiFi, so we now theoretically have the ability to use Netflix. And it doesn’t go black. But I now have a used 47″ Samsung TV that is probably not as bad as I thought, so I need to find a way to donate it – to either a person or an organization.

Part of the attraction of the Austin area was visiting with Jett’s nephew and niece and having another spectacular dinner at his restaurant, Café Malta. If you ever get to Austin, make an effort to get to this restaurant. It is always imaginative and always superb. The big winners this time were the cream of broccoli soup, the braised lamb ribs and the brisket ravioli.

Braised lamb ribs

Jett’s sister was also visiting which was another reason for being there at this particular time. Of course we had to have a couple of games of hand, knee and foot and I am happy to report that Christine and I simply crushed Jett and her niece.

Categories: Family, Food, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE, TX | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 7: Corsicana TX to Austin TX

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 7

156 miles via TX 31, I-35 and TX 620. Cumulative tow miles: 1453. Truck miles: 165. Cumulative truck miles: 1563.

Texas is boring. There is no notable scenery. It really is a matter of putting in the time to get where you are going. Fortunately, this hop required only 3 hours of driving and they were uneventful. Except for the wind which in this case was mostly in our face. But it was strong enough to buffet us. And make me grateful that it wasn’t coming at us sideways.

Our home for 2 nights in Corsicana was the American RV Park (and Sales – but we didn’t see anything for sale). This is a medium-sized park with mostly long-term residents. But they had two rows of pull-throughs and they were long enough to fit us comfortably. And their ice was about the best we have found on this trip and only $1.79 for 10 lbs – cheaper that WalMart. Small things like that make me happy.

Not a lot of amenities but we didn’t care. It was quiet so we got some good sleep. It was also just a half-mile from WalMart, so we were able to replenish the pantry. We dined out at Sirloin Stockade which turned out to be a Sizzler-style steakhouse. Not an epicurean delight, but decent food at a decent price. We happened to arrive on Senior Wednesday which meant that we dined for about $8 each. With unlimited (small, thin) sirloin steaks. Jett had two, I had one (but I also had some pot roast).

One problem with our site: there was a huge nest of fire ants right next to the sewer connection. I knelt for about 30 seconds to hook up the hose and when I stood I saw about 200 ants roaming around my right leg. I brushed them off quickly and didn’t think any more of it. Until my hand and leg started tingling. Now, nearly a week later, my leg is still covered with red welts. But, oddly, they neither hurt nor itch.

Categories: Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE, TX | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 6: Durant OK to Corsicana TX

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 6

157 miles via US 75, I-635, I-45 and TX 31 with a brief stop to figure out how we screwed up. Cumulative tow miles: 1297. Truck miles: 173. Cumulative truck miles: 1398.

This was another hop that didn’t exactly go as planned. I intended to take a route that used US 69 instead of US 75 because we had had enough of 75 and didn’t like it very much. But after we exited onto US 69 and passed through Denison TX, we missed a turn and ended up back on US 75. We stopped at a truck stop to get our bearings and decided that it would be best to take US 75 down to the outskirts of Dallas, then use I-635 to go around rather than through. We picked up I-45 south of Dallas and it was pretty simple from there.

Not much scenery on this hop. And the roads – notably US 75 – were very rough. Not a fun hop to drive.

Our home is Durant OK was the Durant KOA, conveniently located adjacent to the Choctaw Casino. The campground was superb. Without question the best KOA we have ever seen. All pull-thrus. Wide concrete pads, plenty of room for the truck, landscaping and a very nice patio set, all included. A gorgeous clubhouse, a double dog park. There is nothing bad to say about this campground. We would stay here again in a heartbeat.

We also loved the casino, despite losing about $200 there. It is big and beautiful with a wide variety of slot machines and entertainment options, including a movie theater and a bowling alley. It also had some very fine fast food dining options including Smashburger which is now our favorite burger place.

The view from our site at night

Ready to leave our site

Categories: OK, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE, TX | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 5: Bartlesville OK to Durant OK

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 5

222 miles via US 75, with a refueling stop and an unexpected detour in Tulsa. Cumulative tow miles: 1140. Truck miles: 285. Cumulative truck miles: 1225.

This was probably the longest hop we have ever traveled on a single US route. US 75 travels basically due south all the way, so it was a logical choice. Google wanted to divert us onto a toll road south of Tulsa, but we don’t like toll roads so we continued on US 75. Or tried to. Turns out there was a closed ramp for where US 75 turned west in Tulsa and I missed the detour sign, so I had to scramble and find my own detour. It cost us a couple of miles and about 5 minutes. Not a big problem.

We didn’t like US 75 much. Parts of it were smooth and wide, but most of it was narrow and bumpy. And more sharp curves than I expected. The rough ride jumbled things in the RV pretty good. Jett didn’t like the curves.

Our home in Bartlesville was the Riverside RV Resort. I didn’t have high hopes for this park. On Google Earth it looked small and the sites looked cramped. But we were given one of the few pull-through sites in the park and it worked out very nicely. It put our window side up against the creek, which gave us a lot of privacy. We didn’t even drop our shades at night.

We spent our free day in Pawhuska (see my previous post) and spent the night surviving a severe thunderstorm. Before the storm hit I took Rusty out for a walk where I was trying to find a place to shelter in case we received a tornado warning. Didn’t find much – Plan B was to drop down into the river ravine and hang onto roots. Not much of a plan, but, fortunately, I didn’t have to execute it. The rain was heavy only for about an hour. The lightning was too frequent and too close, but did no damage – except the loud clap at 3:11am the made both Jett and me pop up out of bed.

I never like severe thunderstorms in Oklahoma.

I was chatting with our neighbor the morning after and the topic of Rockport TX arose – our STE2 Hop 8 destination. She said she was there just 2 weeks ago and the Hurricane Harvey devastation is hard to believe. She showed me some photos. Horrible. I expect we will see things we have never seen before when we get down there.

Today we are going to the Choctaw Casino. We will probably lose money there – money that we should have donated to Hurricane Harvey relief.

Categories: OK, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

Pawhuska OK

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Sparky

Flying the Osage Nation flag

We used our free day in Bartlesville OK to travel 20 miles to Pawhuska, in the Osage Reservation, and capital of Osage Nation. We visited the Osage Nation Museum, which is a nice little museum chronicling the history of the Osage tribe – including the period in the 1920’s when white men married Osage women, then murdered them, specifically to obtain the rights to the oil that had been found on tribal lands. Several dozen Osage Indians were murdered during this period. Murderous greed.

We also walked around downtown Pawhuska, which was a fairly interesting small town with some interesting shops featuring Osage crafts. We had some ice cream and marveled at the line which wrapped around The Mercantile. We learned that Pawhuska is home to the Pioneer Woman, one of the most popular chefs on the Food Network. She actually is in the restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays and people travel hundreds of miles to see her and sample her new recipes.

We didn’t stand in line.

Osage Nation Museum

Shopping

Pioneer Woman line

Categories: Adventures, OK, Places, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 4: Junction City KS to Bartlesville OK

Posted on October 21, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 4

209 miles via US 77, US 400, KS 99, US 166, US 75 and US 60 with a refueling stop in El Dorado KS. Cumulative tow miles: 918. Truck miles: 209. Cumulative truck miles: 940.

The truck miles equaled the tow miles in the case because we did something we almost never do: we stayed hitched up overnight. That meant that we needed to plan a refueling stop for Hop 4. There weren’t a lot of options – we didn’t pass a single gas station in the nearly 90 miles to El Dorado. And we cut it close – the low fuel light popped on as we turned into the service station. But we made it, no problem. We even took a lunch break.

The route was, as usual in Kansas, boring. The only thing that made it interesting is that the corn and wheat harvests were in high gear and nearly every field had harvesting activity. Which also meant that there were a lot of trucks on the road hauling the harvest. But no major slowdowns.

Our one-night stop in Kansas was at the Owl’s Nest Campground. Our original plan was to spend 2 nights here, but we cut it to one in order to make it to Bartlesville OK on Friday – so we could get to the Osage Nation Museum on Saturday. It turns out that we didn’t like the campground much and were very glad it was just one night. The campsites were mostly small and the roads were narrow. Plus there was no cable TV and absolutely no over-the-air service. So we played cards, watched DVDs and left without looking back.

While we didn’t like our overnight stay very much, we had to appreciate it for what it was: the culmination of our 5-year goal to visit all 48 states.

Refueling stop in El Dorado

#48 – Kansas

Hitched up at our site

Categories: KS, OK, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 3: Kearney NE to Junction City KS

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 3

242 miles via I-80, NE 10, KS 8, US 36, US 81 and I-70. Cumulative tow miles: 709. Truck miles: 258. Cumulative truck miles: 731.

Sunset at the Kearney RV Park

This was another boring trip in terms of the scenery, but this time we had some navigation issues to keep us busy. I originally planned this to be a 230-mile trip the used only about 6 miles of I-70 at the end. But Jett convinced me to add a refueling stop and, knowing that range was no longer an issue, opted for a slightly longer but faster route down US 81.

We saw a lot of corn, much of it being harvested. Consequently we had some trucks on the road carrying corn and wheat. But not many. Traffic was not a problem.

The truck ran flawlessly once again. It has now been over 1,000 miles since it was repaired. I am starting to think that the repair was good.

For the two nights in Kearney we stayed at the Kearney RV Park & Campground. This was a nice short-term place. Concrete pads on large pull-through sites. No cable TV but we pulled in about 10 channels over the air. Not that it mattered, but the park had a lake with a beach. And it was near shopping. We dined at Culvers the first night and at Whisky Creek Wood Fire Grill the second night. Whisky Creek was a mixed bag. The salad and bread were simply excellent. The prime rib… not so much. Very strange prime rib. Almost like ribeye – very fatty. And not very thick. Good flavor but still disappointing.

Categories: KS, NE, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 2: Chappell NE to Kearney NE

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 2

190 miles, almost exclusively on I-80. Cumulative tow miles: 467. Truck miles: 204. Cumulative truck miles: 473.

Funky trailer and nearby factory

This route was Boring, with a capital B. Straight, flat, a few trees among the fields, but everything brown. Dull, uninteresting.

All of which didn’t help Jett’s headache. We were supposed to stay in Chappell for 2 nights – and paid for two – but two things combined to cut it short: (1) I learned that the Osage Nation Museum, which I had scheduled for a visit next Monday, was closed on Mondays and (2) the train traffic in Chappell, with loud horns blaring all night long, kept Jett from getting more than about 2 hours sleep. Which explained her headache.

Normally I would not want to travel when she is feeling so lousy, but when the reason for her illness is the campground… what’s a guy to do? The Osage Nation Museum problem pushed the decision over the edge. I decided that I needed to get to Bartlesville OK two days early. The only way to do that was to cut a day out of Chappell and a day out of Junction City KS (our next stop after Kearney). So I called, made the necessary changes to reservations and, once Jett was feeling well enough to travel, headed to Kearney.

The fact that we paid for 2 nights actually helped as we could leave a couple of hours later than normal. We departed Chappell at 1:30 and got into Kearney at 5:30 pm, losing an hour along the way due to the time zone change. But it all turned out to be worth it when Jett got a good night’s sleep last night.

Our train-filled night in Chappell was at the Creekside RV Park & Campground. If you follow the link you will see that it actually gets pretty good ratings. Not from us. Yes, the elderly hosts were very nice, and the site was large and level, but the train noise negatives overwhelmed any positives. It is a very basic park. I also made the mistake of choosing a 50-amp site with no water over a 30-amp site with water. Not having water meant that we had to operate off of our internal fresh water tank, which is fine, except that the pump noise is very irritating. That didn’t help Jett’s headache, either.

In addition to being adjacent to the train tracks, the campground was also near a large grain elevator or similar structure that had a lot of truck traffic. There were also some interesting long-term resident rigs in the park, including a trailer with a bolt-on deck. Unique.

On a positive note, I liked Chappell. It is an interesting small town that seems to be brimming with civic pride. I shopped at a very funky old-fashioned food market that had a nice meat section and decent prices. I got some really good photos of the beautiful sunset and we got to add our 47th state. But the negatives outweigh the positives. We won’t return.

Sunset in Chappell

Our site at Creekside

#47 – Nebraska

Categories: NE, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE | Leave a comment

STE2 Hop 1: Rawlins WY to Chappell NE

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Hop 1

Our site in the gravel lot

269 miles almost entirely via I-80, with a refueling stop. Cumulative tow miles: 269. Truck miles: 269. Cumulative truck miles: 269.

This was a very easy navigation hop, but it was a true test of the truck repairs. We passed over the Rockies at 8500 feet. The engine got pretty warm, but didn’t overheat. Once over the pass it was a long, slow downhill trip to Chappell NE, elevation 3700 feet. Not only did we get out of the heights, we got a bit warmer, too. It was in the low 70s when we arrived in Chappell. Relief!

We refueled just east of Cheyenne and had a Burger King lunch. A whopper for me. Better than the carrots that I usually get for lunch while traveling.

Our overnight stay in Rawlins was at the Western Hills Campground and RV Park. This was a gravel parking lot where the only amenities were a dog park and cable TV. But those are the only amenities we care about, so it was fine for an overnight stop. We had dinner at the Golden 8 Chinese Restaurant. It had a very nice buffet for a reasonable price. Not spectacular, but a pretty good meal. Then we took a brief tour of Rawlins before refueling for the next hop. It is an interesting little western town.

Categories: NE, Places, Routes, RV Parks, STE, WY | Leave a comment

STE2 preview

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Sparky

STE2 Plan

Due to the truck problems and the decision to avoid the 11,000 foot pass on I-70, the starting point for the second segment of the STE (STE2) has changed significantly. So I thought I had better update the STE2 plan.

It starts in Rawlins WY and terminates in Brownsville TX. It will consist of 9 hops over 19 days for a total towing distance of about 1900 miles. The highlights will be completing our 48-state map and checking out the RV parks in southern Texas to see if we might want to spend a future winter down there. We will also visit the Osage Nation Museum and will see Jett’s sister and nephew in Austin.

And, perhaps most importantly, it will be warmer. The chill is really getting to us.

Categories: Preparation/Planning, STE | Leave a comment