Valparaiso, IN to Home!

Sunday March 31st

Got the trailer ready to roll; pumped up the leaky tire.  Then headed to Jim and Michelle's house for their annual Easter Feast.  We stayed until about 2:30; when I realized what time it was I hustled Cathey out just as the Easter Egg Hunt was commencing.  We got the truck gassed up, got the trailer hitched and then hit the road. 

Traffic around Chicago was not bad but had a hard time finding trailer parking at the Oasis on the tollway.  Got home about 9pm.  End of this year's trip!!!!

Casey, IL to Valparaiso, IN

Wednesday March 27th

Today was the day to get the trailer re-winterized, since we will be staying in a Motel in Valparaiso for the next several nights.  Winterizing didn't take long but getting everything packed in suitcases for the motel stay seemed to take all morning.  We finally gat on the road about noon and then stopped when we got to Terre Haute for lunch.  

There is a state highway, IN-63, that goes N and eventually joins US-41.  It was 4 lane all the way and turned out to be a pretty good choice.  When we got far enough N, we made the short jaunt over to I-65 and then exited on IN-2, which is the back door into Valparaiso.  Arrived about 6pm.

West Memphis to Casey, IL

Tuesday March 26th

We found out yesterday that Eve has her spring break this week, so now we are in a hurry to get to Chesterton, IN, to spend some time with her while she is not in school.  Got a fairly early start today and made a gas stop just outside the KOA (in Arkansas).  Gas was only $3.29/gal - cheapest since last December.  

The whole trip through AR and MO today was all pretty flat.  A lot of the fields still have cotton stalks with a little fluff still hanging on - the only way that I would know it was cotton.  We only traveled N as far as Sikeston, MO where I-55 junctions with I-57, where we headed E to cross the Mississippi River and then headed NE toward Effingham, IL.  

Cathey is not looking forward to another night in the trailer because we know it will be colder than it was last night and that seemed pretty chilly.  I had to stop in Effingham to get more RV anti-freeze, since tonight will be the last night in the trailer.  We will stay in a motel while we are at Jim and Michelle's.  

I had planned to stay at an RV Park near Effingham and then continue up I-57 but we couldn't get hold of either of the campgrounds near Effingham so Cathey found one E of Effingham on I-70.  It was a KOA and they were open but did not have their water turned on yet.  That's not a problem for us since we travel with our fresh water tank full.  We will have to change our route though.

The KOA was about 20 miles E of Effingham, near Casey, IL.  They still had a lot of snow and ice on the ground there.

Texarkana to West Memphis

Monday March 25th

Got on the road by 10:00 and made it to Little Rock by about noon.  Stopped and had lunch just E of Little Rock at a truck stop.  Arkansas is pretty flat and swampy, a lot like Louisiana, just less interesting.  We got to West Memphis about 5:30 and the temperature was only 41 and it felt colder.  

Off Day

Sunday March 24th

The wind was gusting to 30mph today and more to the E, so we decided to stay in Texarkana and wait  for a better day.  It rained a little last night and was overcast most of the day today.  We slept in and debated if we needed to unhook the trailer to go anywhere; cabin fever was the deciding factor and we unhooked the Suburban and went out to explore both Texarkana's; there is one on each side of the state line.  Not much to see and it didn't take long.  Ended up at an Olive Garden for an early supper; then back to the trailer.

Denton to Texarkana

Saturday March 23rd

We had planned to leave and head north to Oklahoma City or Tulsa today, but the weather forecast for Tulsa was rain and sleet overnight; I wasn't ready for that!  We decided to head East and go through Arkansas.  Rather than go into Dallas to hit I-30, we went N to US-380 which took us E and eventually joined with I-30.  

We got a late start so we only made it as far as Texarkana, on the border of TX and AR.

Lunch was an interesting stop today.  We were in Greenville, TX and had not a restaurant in sight so we saw a Mexican supermarket that said Taqueria, and we thought we could at least get some tacos.  

The only thing we recognized was chicken and vegetables.  The soup of the day was Menudo, but I wasn't ready for that.  The lady behind the counter had to call someone over to interpret for us; she couldn't speak English.  The lunch was pretty good and later we bought some bakery stuff, also good and probably with less sugar than a regular bakery.

BBQ Lunch With the Reeves'

Friday March 22nd

Got up late and sat for awhile before attempting to shower, but I think the sleeping bag experiment did some good.

Dan and Patricia came over about noon and we visited for awhile and then went to the Spring Creek BBQ in Lewisville.  Texas BBQ is great stuff and this one is one of the better ones we have ever eaten at.  After lunch we went to the nearest Starbucks and I found the mug I was looking for, but the lady at the Starbucks told me that there is also a "Fort Worth" mug.  We drove quite a ways towards Fort Worth and stopped at a couple of Starbuck's stores but didn't find any of the mugs.  Cathey did find a shoe store that she wanted to visit and actually found a pair of shoes that she was looking for.  

For supper we stopped at a Chili's and just had a bowl of chili.  Filled the Suburban up with gas before we came home so that we would be ready to go in the morning.  Gas here is in the $3.60 to $3.70/gal range.