Friday, February 8, 2008

Next, Cross the country, Atlantic to Pacific

Friday, February 1, 2008
We drove two hours east, along the coast, to one of our fav places, Apalachicola, to St. Joseph SP on Cape San Blas. The surf was up and so was the wind, so cocktails on the beach were out of the question. But, we did walk on the beach for awhile. We entertained ourselves by watching the Johnny Cash Show on CD. He sure had a lot skinny long-haired folks in polyester clothes on his show.

Saturday, February 02, 2008
After a lazy morning, we drove into Apalachicola to window shop and have lunch at Tamara’s. The seafood bisque is still heavenly. We were disappointed that the lunch menu is now all sandwiches.

Sunday, February 3, 2008
A long day for us. We got away at 9:15 and did not get to Blakely SP near Spanish Fort until 2. We took a badly needed nap and watched TV, like A-classers the rest of the day. We even watched part of the Super Bowl.

Monday, February 4, 2008
We met Don’s cousin, Anne Harris and her son Andy, at Starbucks for a short visit. It was good to see them again. Our destination is Ocean Springs, MS to overnight with Dorothy’s college roommate. But, first we stopped at a Jeep dealer to get a replacement for the key I lost or mislaid last week. After two hours and $182 we got to Ocean Springs. It was wonderful visiting with Judy and her husband, Dave. They are perfect hosts. Nancy, a former coworker and bridesmaid in our wedding, and Ken, her husband, arrived in time with dinner. The girls stayed up until midnight chatting.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Another long day to Sam Houston Jones SP near Lake Charles. The CG is OK, but everyone was so friendly. Maybe since it is Fat Tuesday? We talked with several couples.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Another five hours brought us to Carmine, Texas. We had posted to the LD forum about seeking a worm hole to speed us through Texas and a kind woman posted back about Texas 105 and US290, which is a straight route from Beaumont to Junction. This allowed us to bypass Houston and San Antonio. We were more relaxed not having to deal with traffic.

We had the CG to ourselves and did some much needed laundry.

Thursday, February 7, 2008
A three and half hour jump got us to Fredericksburg. I wanted to get to Junction today, but we were tired and Dorothy wanted to stop here anyway to get some German sausage and sour kraut. We are at Oakmont CG, nice, but pricey, as everything is in these parts. They have a great grocery store here, H E B, which we really did enjoy.

Friday, February 8, 2008
Food day: Up at 6 to get to Dietz bakery in time to get some great German bread. Back at the CG at 6:30. The bakery does not open until 8. So much for our memory. We had breakfast and drove back the bakery and got two loaves and two turnovers.

Next to Opa’s sausage factory to get some of their fine product and some red cabbage.

We did our grocery shopping at H-E-B’s one of the best groceries in the country. Bought some tilapia and some tasty sauce to go on it. Yum! Gourmet!

We had the very best BBQ ribs ever today. Cooper's in Llano, Texas. Like most BBQ places in Texas, the decor is 1940's or whenever it was built. Dorothy noted that they had a web site on a falling down sign outside. http://www.coopersbbq.com/ Where you note there is NOT a picture of the place.

Saturday, February 9, 2008
We left Fredericksburg and got on the best section interstate in the country. I10 west of San Antonio west to New Mexico has little traffic and a smooth road surface. The speed limit is 80 and I even went up to 65 for awhile until dropping to our usual 58-60.

I nominate I10 east of San Antonio as the worst in the country and I10 west of San Antonio as the best.

West of Fredericksburg, the west of the movies starts. The terrain changes into long vistas and you are in low humidity country. It’s 5PM right now and the sun is 20 degrees above the horizon. In Ocala, it was dusk at the same time.

Road signs want you to watch for so many things. Ice, Water, Live Stock, Falling Rocks, Elk, Stopped Vehicles, Mud, Flash Floods, etc. I think it should be Fallen Rocks, as there is not much you can do to avoid rocks that are falling.

You might think that we stay in those roadside RV parks that you can see from the Interstate. They are called Easy-off, Easy-On. We avoid them like the plague.

Tonight we are in the asshole of west Texas, Ft. Stockton. We just did not want to push further today, as we have another long day tomorrow to get passed El Paso. We planned, before we left home, to go to Balmorhea SP, an hour west of here. But, we also planned to get there early Friday. Going into a state park on a Saturday is asking to be told there is no vacancy.

We could have gone into the Davis Mountains, but I think it would be too cool right now. It will be warmer when we come back this way. It’s a fine 77 degrees here in the dusty CG.

Sunday, we will be a scenic CG in the low mountains of New Mexico or some not so nice private CG. Not a lot of choices in this area. Unless you are willing to drive longer distances in a day than we are.

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