Arrived safely in Arlington, Texas yesterday mid-afternoon.  Worst Wi-Fi experience to date at this RV park.  Could not gain access yesterday afternoon or evening.  And the connection is not great now.  It is early Monday morning and raining hard, which should serve to clean off the motorhome and Jeep.  Not just road dust but bugs continue to be thick. Need to do some shopping and get a device to clamp the windshield washer hose in place, since it flies loose whenever I push the washer button.  I have lost nearly a gallon of windshield washer liquid along the way.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the scenery along the highway beginning on I-45 in Huntsville and extending northward into the Dallas area.  Rolling green hills, large lush trees and bushes, etc.  Not what I thought Texas would be like.  Apparently they have had more rain lately than is usual.  But I was expecting flat land with sagebrush and longhorn cattle.  That must be farther west.

The roads continue to be pretty bad in many places.  Not just the Houston area but much of I-45 was a chore to drive.  And the traffic was heavy everywhere, even on a Sunday.  We had hoped to work in a church visit but things turned out to be too complicated.

The location of this RV park is on a VERY busy city highway.  Getting off I-20 and squeezing the motorhome and Jeep through the many lanes of traffic, moving to the far right lane at the right intersection, and negotiating a turn in intense traffic that was not at all friendly to a motorhome was quite an experience.  Then the view of the entry sign to the RV park was blocked by an old building until you are right on top of the entry, requiring a hard right turn in very congested traffic.  A terrible location.  Apparently it was once a quieter location and the city built up around it, including the stadium for the Dallas Cowboys and other stadiums.  Sunday afternoon was not a peaceful experience here.

We did get to visit with the family of Betty's niece, Heidi, who lives and teaches school here.  They drove out to the RV park to see our motorhome, then we shared dinner at a local BJ's restaurant, a very pleasant experience.

Rick, Heidi, Iris, Izak, and Spencer

This morning we managed to get to a store to buy a hose clamp to fix the windshield washer hose.  Seems to work very well now.  We also did grocery shopping at an Albertson's grocery store.  After that we found an Ace hardware store to buy some narrow gauge wire for minor fixes in the future and also to use in case the washer hose causes any more trouble.

Today in the afternoon and evening we visited with the family of Betty's nephew, Mark, who lives near here.  They have a beautiful home with very pretty and tasteful appointments.  Yayi, Mark's wife, has made excellent choices in home furnishings, creating a warm and comfortable home for the family to live in.

Jamie, Mark, Paola, and Yayi

Paola and Yayi

Arrived safely in Baytown, Texas, where it is 99 degrees with real feel of 114 degrees due to high humidity.  Feels awful.  The bayou area was bad but this is a near desert.  We are in a "resort" that is actually a virtual stalag with hundreds of RVs jammed together within a fenced in area with locked gates.  It is clean and neat, but huge and impersonal.  People do not even return a hello as you walk by.  There was no sign when we entered to tell where to drive to for check in.  We leave tomorrow morning, thankfully.

The "resort" tells you to deposit bags of household garbage in "blue bins (dumpsters) conveniently distributed throughout the park," but in actuality there are a few large blue dumpsters at the entrance to the park, very inconveniently located a couple hundred yards from our site.  Fortunately, a very kind couple along my long walk in this oppressive heat offered to take me the rest of the way and back to my site in their rented golf cart.  The rental of golf carts and storage sheds is the management's preoccupation, and the signs at the entrance are rental offers instead of the usual helpful signs directing you to the office for check in, as every other park has done.

The drive out here on I-12 and I-10 was on some of the worst interstate highway I have ever seen.  Louisiana traveling west into Lafayette was terrible, but so was Texas around Beaumont.  The speed limit increased to 75 mph through that part of Texas, then dropped down to 65 a few miles out of Beaumont.  Then varied from 55 to 70 back and forth.  All this on a federally funded interstate highway.

Love bugs were a problem all the way.  When the sun goes down I shall try for the second time today to get them off the motorhome.  We were saying to each other that a better way to do this trip would be to head north out of Florida until we got to cooler weather, then turn west, cycle down the west and return home along the southern route in October when the weather here hopefully would be cooler.

Mont Belvieu RV Resort

Very Crowded Hundreds of RVs in this "resort"

We are in slot #253 out of 255 total slots in this giant "resort"

Yesterday was so busy that I did not manage to post to this blog.  The day started early with David Jenkins, my nephew, driving Betty and me down to a place near New Orleans where we took an air boat ride in the bayou.  I strapped a GoPro camera to my hat and shot a lot of video, one example of which is included here:  video of air boat ride.  Betty and I got some still shots that I have inserted below.  The boat ride ended with a downpour that soaked everyone, so some time was spent drying everything out later that day.  After we got cleaned up and changed our clothes, David returned to take us to a wonderful steak dinner.  It was late by then, so no blog entry got made.  David looks a bit like Tom Hanks, so I joked that with that Alabama hat he might pass for Forrest Gump.

The Air Boat We Rode On

Betty Took This Shot of David and Steve Before the Ride
We Did Not Look That Clean After the Ride

The Ultimate Swamp Adventures where we loaded up for the ride.

Air Boat Driver Kisses Baby Gator

Driver Leaps from Boat in Flip Flops to Chase Gator in Swamp

Betty and David

This morning we discovered why the air conditioners were performing so poorly yesterday as we got around to cleaning the AC filters, all dozen of them that are placed across the ceiling of the motorhome.  Somehow that task had not made it onto our many task lists, so they were in bad need of cleaning.  The AC units work MUCH better now.

Arrived safely in Denham Springs, Louisiana near Baton Rouge.  The ride on I-10 and I-12 had on-and-off rain again, this time with some strong wind gusts.  Traffic was heavy as we neared Baton Rouge, and a bad accident had a miles-long line of traffic on the other side of the interstate.  Fortunately we were clear of all that.  We got a pull-through site at the KOA RV park, but one of the shortest I have seen.  We had to pull all the way up to the exit road, and the Jeep dinghy was still nearly out in the entry road.  We unhitched the Jeep and parked it beside the motorhome, so all is well.  We usually like to keep it hitched behind the motorhome if not needed before the next departure.  The hookups were far to the entry road side, so extra length of hookup cord and hose were required.

We did take time to stop off at the Infinity Space Center in Mississippi near the state border with Louisiana.  It was nice to have the extra time to experience an unplanned adventure.  The center has outdoor exhibits and a two-story building of exhibits indoors.  The intricacy of the machinery designs of the individual motors as well as the combination of complexity that had to be coordinated for a successful lift-off with enormous power and danger was awe-inspiring.  So much went into the space program, and now we hear so little about any of it.

Booster Rocket Stage with Several Engines

Intricacy of Each Engine

View of Space Center First Floor from Second Floor

After getting set up at the KOA, David Jenkins, my nephew, and his two sons arrived to take Betty and me to dinner, where we were served far more seafood than anyone could possibly eat.  Tomorrow we shall go on an air boat ride.  Stay tuned . . . 

Arrived safely at Shady Acres Mobile Home and RV Park.  Very hot and humid day on the road, punctuated with rain now and then.  Had generator running the whole way, with dash and two roof AC units going at once, yet the rear section of the motorhome was in the 90s inside.  Glad to be parked in good shade with 50 amp hookup to allow the two AC units, and two indoor fans, to get the inside temperature down to the low 70s where we like it.

Very quiet here, since most slots have full time mobile home residents who keep it quiet.  Some RV parks are noisy with coming and going of many rigs at all hours.  I prefer a place like this.

The drive along I-10 has some of the best scenery of any interstate highway in America.  We did not manage to get a good photo, bouncing along the road, but the lush trees and grasslands between Tallahassee and Pensacola especially make for a pleasant drive.

We have arrived safely at the Tallahassee RV Park.  Rained on and off beginning about 100 miles east of Tallahassee.  Before that it was all sunny and clear.  Traffic not bad, and the motorhome performed very well now that we have the Saf-T-Plus stabilizer.  The park is a bit pricey at $45 after Good Sam discount.  It might be a pretty place in good weather.  I have attached a photo below.



A special treat was the visit by John and Judy Fiedler.  John is Betty's cousin, her Aunt Francis' first son.  John and Judy live in the Tallahassee area and dropped by for a visit at the RV park.  John is also an avid photographer, which gave him and Steve much to talk about.  Judy shared many photos of their home, and we showed them several videos of our home in St Augustine.  It was a wonderful time and care will be made for future visits in the near future.

John and Judy

Betty took her fourth test drive of the motorhome today.  It again was on I-95 but today it did NOT rain.  Made for a much better driving experience.  Again Betty did just great.  Here is a link to her driving along I-95 between SR 16 and International Golf Parkway exits:  https://youtu.be/RmwLXcpvstg