On Dec. 11th, I traveled 225 miles from Arkansas into Texas to Martin Dies Jr. State Park. The roads were state highways and in really good shape! I did not have to dodge poorly patched areas, holes, etc. No road construction! The trip took just over 4 1/2 hours with one 15min. stop. Unfortunately I drove through a lot of rain!!

It had been raining off and on overnight but I was fortunate enough to have a 1 hour window to take care of everything outside in order to hook-up. After pulling out, it didn’t take 5 minutes down the road, and I ran into a good rain. So good timing!

I have to share this unique experience when driving around Texarkana, the first larger city on the way. This city is half in Arkansas and half in Texas, thus the name. So as I’m taking the loop around the city, my GPS states, “Welcome to Texas”. I literally did not go a mile and it said, “Welcome to Arkansas” Then I looped onto the interstate and it stated again, “Welcome to Texas”! 😂 And then I stayed in Texas! That was different!

I wonder what it is like to live and work I that city? You could live in one state and cross the street to work in another. What if your yard and house are in two different states? How do they handle that? And they sure have to have a system for coordinating their city streets, water and sewer expenses I would think. Do you have to pay two sets of property tax? Questions questions!! 🤔Interesting!

I had about 15 minutes of good travel, and then it started raining again. And it rained all the way for the next 3 hours!! And it wasn’t sprinkling, it was raining!! At times I almost had to pull over because of the lack of visibility, but I drove out of that extreme just as quickly. It wasn’t a white knuckle trip, but it was full attention! I didn’t even have the radio on! The worst part was trying to stay out of the tire tracks which had really filled with water because it was raining so hard ! Even with the weight I had I could feel the truck being pulled by that water on the road. So I was always a little bit to the left or the right of the tracks.

This central eastern side of Texas, again, resembles Wisconsin in the type of trees and geography. But I did not expect all the undulating hills. I call them that, because that is really what they were. Instead of one long grade to climb a height, the hills went up, then down a little, then up farther, then down less…you get the idea, until you leveled out. Reverse going down.

When I am not pulling an RV, as an auto driver, I hardly notice the hills. But with an RV, it is : awareness, assessment and strategy. Awareness is the type of terrain and the steepness of the hills. The assessment is how much I will have to accelerate and brake as I maneuver through the hills. The strategy is to pull safely, not overtax the engine and save diesel!!! Too much acceleration to pull up a hill, extra diesel… extra $$$ !!

So what do I do? I try to maintain a decent speed without a lot of acceleration. I don’t want to pick up too much speed going down the hill and be unsafe with the RV, but I want to use that momentum going up the hill. So, I monitor my descent and speed, and then before the bottom, I judge when to start to accelerate and use the momentum + limited acceleration to get me up the hill. With these hills, I had to use the turboboost (which adds air so the fuel burns faster, more efficiently??) and it’s like downshifting and overdrive together. That truck can walk that RV up ANY hill AND gain speed when that is on! The engine is roaring ( which I guess is normal) but remember the $$ signs! So I use it to keep a decent speed (50-55m.p.h) and not back up traffic if there is not a slow lane.

The trick was not to keep accelerating too long, because when I got to the top of the hill, there wasn’t much distance before I started back down again! The LAST thing I want to do is put the brakes on ! (The weight of the RV is around 8-9,000 # so it can push you downhill if you let it and pull you back going up.) So can you see the balancing game that is going on? It’s not a relaxing , daydream type of drive. …Just the facts.😅

Not everyone is that particular about their speed, engine wear and diesel costs. But I am!! And I still got only 81/2 to 9 miles to the gallon! Without the RV, on a highway, I can get 16-20 m.p.g. So big difference!

Thankfully the rain stopped for the last hour of my drive. By the time I arrived, it was near 4:30p.m. and I was getting drained. I found my campsite and realized there was no way I was going to be able to get in that tight site AND have my slides open… at all!😣 The trees were tight on both sides. 😲 I called back to the ranger station and was able to get the site right next to it which was way more open! Thank goodness. 👍

I was able to back it in and get the jacks down before it got too dark. I hooked up the water and electricity with a flashlight. Cleared out what I needed to from the truck, and that was it! Done! 🍴 I would unhook in the morning.

I fed the cats 🐅🐆(ALWAYS first or they will trip you!) warmed up soup and ate. I knew I was tired because I didn’t want to get up after I sat down! 😴

Hot shower, warm jammies and into the recliner I went. Let it rain now. And it did!! So that completes my adventurous day of moving to Martin Dies Jr State Park.

(I will include a couple pictures I took the next day.)

Now here are some fun pictures and a couple more stories from Millwood State Park. 😃

My campsite was near a boat launch . So when my neighbor came back from fishing and I was outside, he told me a diamond back rattlesnake was by the boat launch! Well you know me, I had to go over there immediately to see this! So here it is!

Because it was so cold, the snake was not moving at all. And I was told it would probably be like that until morning . The next day I went to check in the afternoon just in case it was dead. 😬 But it was gone. It was probably two to three feet long maybe and pretty skinny. I didn’t know they would be out and about because it hasn’t been very warm!!

Millwood state park was the first time I enjoyed having campfires. Nice weather, beautiful location, lots of dry wood to gather and time to enjoy it. 👍

I hope you have enjoyed this installment! I will work on my next one from Martin Dies Jr State Park. Stay healthy!!