Some BMW owners aren't so bad!

We are at a Cracker Barrel parking lot again tonight - this one is in Mount Vernon, IL - a few miles east of St. Louis.

It was an interesting travel day.  On the way down to Texas we encountered strong headwinds - I was expecting them to help me going the other direction....I was not so lucky.  At first we had a wind that was coming from the south helping us along - but as we gradually started working our way east the wind started blowing west!  It was weird as there as a line of thunderstorms going east - but the wind was coming away from the thunderstorm!  After about 2 hours of driving east against the headwind we had caught up to the west edge of the storm.  Low areas were flooded and creeks and ditches were full - it must have been a hard storm.  As we drove east the sprinkles turned into a steady rain,  There were several bad accidents on the highway - one was in the westbound lanes and involved 2 badly damaged semi trucks and had the entire westbound traffic shut down and back up for 10-15 miles!

After a couple hours of driving in the rain we broke out to dry roads on the east side of the storm - I don't believe I have ever driven from one side of a storm to the other side before!  There is a good chance the storm will catch up to us by morning.

As we passed an exit on the highway for Branson, Missouri - I realized that we were only 2 hours away from Jasper, Arkansas, and we had a camper and a motorcycle.....we had everything we needed and could have an Arkansas motorcycle vacation!

It was a long travel day, and we covered 668 miles in the 11 hours of being on the road.  I only made quick stops for gas and hopped back in and started driving.  The rain had slowed the traffic speed down considerably - and my normal 60mph driving speed blended in well with what the other folks were doing.   Texas highway speed limits of 75 & 80 are gone, and the speeds are now down to  55 or 60mph in the cities and 70 once you are outside the city limits.  I don't believe we have 75mph speed limits in this part of the country?

We have 290 miles to go on Friday - we should be home in the afternoon.      

(Hopefully this Cracker Barrell already had their used cooking oil container cleaned out and the trash picked up - and we won't need to experience that early in the morning).

We made it home yesterday about 3PM, and the feeble remnants of the storm that we had been dealing with since Oklahoma passed through a few hours later - no rain just some wind and clouds.

The trip home was 1,439 miles and took 25-1/2 hours of driving time.  We were gone from home for 16 days, drove 2,918 miles in the RV and consumed 294 gallons of gasoline.

It was a great trip as usual - thanks to Youzguyz for riding us around and putting up with our quirks!

Here is a photo that shows the road north out of Comstock - it was like this for 40 miles - then the next road was a bit better.  We did not get on a highway for at least 100 miles that first day of driving.

ThumperPaul wrote on 04/27/24 at 05:36:30:


The roads were great in Texas, and it is surprising that so many are chip asphalt - Kentucky stopped using that technology 30 years ago.  With our harsh winters and snow/ice asphalt holds up better.  A significant portion of my professional career was spent on road repair - I really wanted to see the chip process that is used in Texas.  I saw big piles of aggregate (chips) along the roads and semi trucks dumping into the piles for pending projects - some aggregate was gray, some brown and some was black.  The best roads we encountered were in Indiana - the worst were in Kentucky.

The rural roads out of Comstock drove fine - they were just not a road that you could drive an RV on quickly, and the first 40 miles were often driven around 40 mph.  I was also amazed by the remoteness, the lack of any kind of store or gas station, and the harshness of the land.  The amount of exposed rock was overwhelming to a guy that needs to mow his lawn every 5 days this time of year (our grass is a foot tall after being gone for 16 days).

Haha.  The people in podunk East Texas would argue with you that chip seal is indeed paved road!  They’re used to red dirt roads being top of the line!  You’re living in high cotton if you’ve got chip asphalt to roll on!

You’ll usually notice that the aggregate is locally sourced and matches the terrain.  Near the coast, it will be virtually white with all the seashells used.

Youzguyz:

I was not so curios about chip seal that I wanted to ride a clean motorcycle through it!  You did the right thing by "NOT" going down that road!

Here is a photo from our hike into Seminole Canyon.

Now don't be jealous Stew , but I might have a Sweet spot for her too !  

When she met my lips I tasted a touch of Heaven ... Ya might say ?  

Yep.....makes me want a snack every time I light it!