November 1996
USA Trip - Part III
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Saturday, 23 November 1996
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During the first two
trips, we visited 18 states and travelled 8,200
miles in the RV. On this trip, we plan to spend
some time in Mexico and then see more of the
western states.
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We had a good but long
flight which arrived on time at 14.45 local
time. It was a very long wait clearing customs
but the taxis only took fifteen minutes to take
us to the RV storage location. Both the RV and
car were fine, just a little dusty. Both started
the first time which pleased us considering they
had been in store for over three months.
Compared to the UK the weather is a perfect 70F
with clear blue skies, so it was straight into
shorts. We are staying for two nights at Apache
Palms which is about 100 yards from where the RV
was stored, while we recover from jet lag and
stock up the fridge etc.
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Sunday, 24 November 1996
One of the things to do today was to send an Email to confirm our safe arrival,
however, it proved impossible to get a connection even after several attempts
from different phones, so it seems after three months little has changed!
Monday, 25 November 1996
As we had over 1,200 miles to cover to join the caravan to Mexico, we were on
the road by 8 am driving along the I10 some 390 miles, most of which was through
New Mexico. The scenery was mainly flat dry
scrubland with lines of barren hills on the horizon which never seemed to get
any nearer. For the most part, the road was very quiet only becoming mildly busy
as we passed a town. We camped for the night at Las Cruces NM
Tuesday, 26 November 1996
The previous evening we decided that we would go via
Livingston TX so we could register both vehicles in the state of
Texas (Lone Star State). As well as reducing the insurance
cost for both the RV and car, it would enable us to avoid becoming liable for
property tax on the motor home, but the slight downside would be that it would
add another 400 miles or so to our journey. As a result, we were on the road by
7.30 am and broke our record by covering 490 miles in one day in the RV.
Typically we only drive about 150 miles between campgrounds. On the way to
Junction City, Texas where we camped for the
night, we were most surprised to see signs of snow lying along road edges on the
hilltops.
Wednesday, 27 November 1996
Yet another record is that we were on the road by 6 a.m. watching the sunrise at
about 7 a.m. as we continued to drive along the I10. We pulled into the
Schulenburg RV Park at 10 am, quickly uncoupled the car and then drove the car a
further 180 miles to the tax office in Livingston. In comparison to the civil
servants in similar positions in the UK, it seems that similar people in Texas
go out of their way to be friendly and helpful to visitors. Rita Grimes at the
tax office not only helped us obtain titles and registration but also helped
with advice on state inspection (MOT) as well as directing us to the Escapees
park, where we met some of the staff who run our mail forwarding service. We
were amazed at just how much mail was waiting for us, unfortunately, like back
home a high percentage was junk mail! We finally arrived back at the campground
at about 9 pm, agreeing that even though Texas was a huge State, what we had
seen so far during the past few days left us feeling a little indifferent, as it
was mainly flat and with very few interesting features.
Thursday, 28 November 1996
Today is Thanksgiving Day and a long holiday weekend for most folk and us a
break from travelling. The management of our campground laid on a free
Thanksgiving dinner for all campers as well as their own family. It was an
excellent and plentiful spread of traditional turkey, ham and sweet potatoes as
well as pumpkin and pecan pie with ice cream. Later Valerie found that the
carpet in the bedroom was wet which started George investigating the source. It
turned out that a valve controlling the water supply to the ice maker was
leaking, as a quick fix the ice maker was temporarily turned off.
Friday, 29 November 1996
For the last 10 months or so we have exchanged Email messages with Tony and
Judith Austin, who is another English couple who have also been exploring the US
in a motor home. We met them for the first time in the Wal-Mart car park in
Corpus Christi and they turned out to be a
delightful couple. We spent the day exchanging experiences and stories ranging
from views on the US to the frustration of acoustic couplers!
Saturday, 30 November 1996
After several cold days, it warmed up as we drove the 163 miles to
Mission TX which is where the caravan to Mexico is
gathering in readiness for departure on the 4th of December. When we arrived
there were about 12 rigs already there, being an even mixture of trailers, 5th
wheelers and motor homes. We spend the afternoon arranging insurance for Mexico
as well as getting the RV serviced and fuelled.
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