Dispatch from the Road 2025

  May 17 2025 Friday We have continued our travels to the west, taking highway 380 all the way through Texas and into New Mexico. We are stopping for a couple nights in Roswell New Mexico. If you have a preconceived notion that Roswell is a small dusty spot in the desert promoting itself because of the alien crash there in 1947, well you’re partially right. Roswell is a dusty spot in the desert and there are lots of businesses with fake space ships and alien figures out front, but it is so much more. It has grown over the years and now sports every franchised business there is. It has all the big box stores, a college and a large area of new big expensive homes. It even has a Planet Fitness; we spent an hour there torturing ourselves. We are staying at the Elks lodge here in town. They have about ten RV sites with Water/electric behind the lodge. $25 a night. Millie and I had dinner at the lodge and then took the truck to a car wash to clean off 2000 miles worth of dead bugs that w...

  longer drive than we planned May 15 2025 Thursday  The goal for the day was to get up to highway 380 while avoiding Fort Worth and all interstate highways. We were able to do that, I’ll draw a map with the route. Our proposed destination was the town of Graham Texas which had several RV parks listed in my online directory. After our journey of 300 miles, we were ready to end the day and put our feet up.  Unfortunately, the supposed RV parks were little more than dirt parking lots. Originally probably hastily set up for oil patch workers, they are now fully occupied by workers in the windmill industry.  That’s what we were told, but it sure looked like a lot of down on their luck folks were living there permanently. We decided to try Rule Texas, the next town in the direction we were headed. We found an oasis in the desert in Rule. I’m not sure what the actual name of this park, we just followed the RV park signs.  A gem among many thorns It is a small park wit...

  Oversize load got stuck in an old girder bridge at the lake. May 14 2025 Wednesday Unless we have a specific destination, we like to fly loose, with no reservations and a flexible route. We usually have some vague idea of where we will end up for the night, but are always open to change.  Such was the case today; we headed out from Vidalia Louisiana with a target of Livingston Texas. About ten miles past Jasper Texas the highway department shut down the road, literally right in front of us. On the causeway directly in front of us a truck with an oversize load truck had wedged itself in the steel girders of a bridge. It was going to be a while before they got him unstuck. The highway dept worker suggested a detour but said it would take about an hour to go around either end of the long lake. We decided we’d rather drive than sit there. We traveled about 30 miles up to the far north of the lake and were about to turn southwest to complete the detour when we had an epiphany. We...

  May 13 2025 Tuesday We continued westward today, traveling into Mississippi. About 50 miles south of Tupelo we intersected with the Natchez Trace Parkway. We traveled along the old route used by American Indians and later by settlers who came afterward. No one knows the built the trail; it predates recorded history. More than likely it was originally a trade route but why these two dots in this vast continent? What was there in Tupelo that was so important to the people of Natchez that they would hike 444 miles to trade, or vis-versa the people of Tupelo hike to Natchez?  I could ramble on about the mysterious origin of the trail, but there is also the more modern query; why do present day RV travelers think it is mandatory to experience the parkway? Someone probably mentioned it in a book or magazine, social media picked it up and now every RV’er thinks it is a right of passage to drive the Natchez Parkway. The Natchez Trace The present day “trail” is a two lane 50 mph unbr...

  The trip so far May 12 2025 Monday We had to travel on interstate highways more than we like so far on this trip, so after a relatively short run south on I-85 we jumped ship and looked for “the road less traveled”. we found what we were looking for on highway 278 and we rode it all the way across Alabama and into Mississippi. It was a good road, mostly two lanes, and passed through many small towns and villages. Sometimes we would be the only vehicle on the road with nothing in sight either oncoming or behind us. It couldn’t have been a more pleasant drive. Good eating here! In the town of Guin, we discovered Jacks, a southern chain restaurant that is unique in that its fast food and also home cooking. It was a pleasant surprise and we will not hesitate to eat at a Jacks again. Our overnight campsite We overnighted in a Corp of Engineers campground on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway near Aberdeen Mississippi. $15 with our Senior America the Beautiful card. Blue Bluff was a typi...

  Little River Canyon May 11 2025 Sunday  In the morning the rain was holding off for now and despite the ominous clouds hanging low we drove the rim road of the Little River Canyon. We stopped at all the overlooks in the 15-mile-long road. The recent rains here; including yesterday’s watery contribution created spectacular viewing today. Tons of water per second thundered over the waterfalls, it was truly magnificent to see in person. The swollen river rushed downstream with an enormous force, sweeping over the bands and shooting skyward as it rammed into the huge boulders in the river bed. It was a sight to behold! One of the many canyon overlooks At the end of the canyon rim road, you are really out there, no houses, no Dollar General, lol, not even any signage, just a fork in the road.  We could have back tracked the Rim Road but what’s the fun in that. We chose the right fork and went exploring. We meandered through the country eventually reaching a small village nam...

  Driving days 1 and 2, home to Alabama May 9 2025 Friday Today is a travel day with Fort Desoto State Park as our destination. One of our favorite Bluegrass groups, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage is performing on Saturday in the nearby town of Henagar Alabama.  First obstacle to the 240-mile run today is Atlanta. Feared by many travelers, I’ve never really had a trouble getting through the city. Today was no exception and we streamed right through along with a several thousand other travelers, but heavy traffic doesn’t bother me, as long as everyone keeps moving.  From Atlanta we had to steer northwest to the upper right-hand corner of Alabama. We took I-75 partway and then a series of secondary roads.  Fort Desoto State Park, Alabama May 10 Saturday What I remember most about our stay in North East Alabama was the cold damp rainy weather. Saturday was pretty much a wash out with rain all day, Hiking was out of the question but we tried to do the driving tour of the Li...