Tripometer – 13,850 mi
Gas Gauge – 1065.271 gal
Location – Roadway Inn, Junction TX
Lodging – $71
Cans of OFF – 4
465mi and 63 gal gas in one day. (That’s a little deceiving. We fueled up shortly after we got on the road this morning and filled up three more times during the day including right before we arrived at the hotel this evening.)
Today was unquestionably a driving day. We had intention to make good time across Texas and spend a few days relaxing in one place before we hit New Orleans next weekend, but we made more miles today than we expected. We decided fairly soon after we left El Paso that we were going to try and make it to Louisiana in three days. To save time we would drive until we started to feel sleepy and stop for the night no matter where we were.
It was a very windy drive today. In places we had to slow down to 45mph just to feel safe driving down the road. Unexpected gusts of wind combined with tractor trailer traffic can push our rig six or more feet sideways before we can catch it and this makes for a really stressful drive. Our favorite stop on the road today was a truck stop called Road Ranger. Kelly was disappointed that they didn’t have any Road Ranger apparel. We both wish that they had a Road Ranger dog collar. During one of our many gas station stops today we ran into a fellow RV couple at the gas pump (not surprising). The couple was travelling from Cape Cod to home #2 in Tuscon, AZ and had recently stayed near New Orleans. As we parted ways they recommended a small campground at the southern tip of Louisiana, Grand Isle State Park. Looking further into their recommendation as we travelled down the road, we think we may look at staying there for a few days before we go into NOLA.
Keenly aware that we were leaving the region of good Mexican food, for dinner today we stopped at Chuey’s Mexican Restaurant. The meal was average and wouldn’t usually warrant mentioning except for the perfusion of John Madden paraphernalia all over the restaurant to include menu items named after him. When asked, the owner of the restaurant shared that John Madden used to frequent this little place in the middle of nowhere Texas when he was travelling through this area during his time with the Dallas Cowboys. We’re assuming the food was better in John Madden’s day.
During the late evening the wind died, and the roads flattened and became straight, beautifully paved interstate highway. We fell into a driving groove and stayed there until almost midnight. When weariness set in we were absolutely in the middle of nowhere and our only free camping option was a gravel parking lot at the end of an interstate exit. This sounded way too exposed. We decided to grab a hotel room for tonight and to get back on the road early in the morning.