Our RV Adventures

With a 337 mile trip to Waskom, TX this morning, we were pulling out of the Benchmark RV Park a little before 10am. I was happy to hear no more groaning from my power steering, so I guess the added AW32 hydraulic fluid took care of that problem.

We’ve stayed at Benchmark once before, and it’s a really nice park. All 27 sites are long pull-thru’s, and at $17 Passport America, it’s a great deal.

A few minutes later we were back on I-20/I-59 heading for Miss Ellie’s RV Park in Waskom, about 3 miles into Texas from Louisiana, and about 20 miles west of Shreveport. The last time we were in Shreveport was last year when we had some time off from our gate guarding gate near Carthage, TX about  50 miles away.

The first leg of our trip today was only for about 90 mile to the outskirts of Jackson, MS, Brandon, MS to be exact. And Sonny’s BBQ specifically.

When we were eating at the Sonny’s BBQ in Pensacola a week or so ago, I noticed they had a location in Brandon, MS. I was checking to see if their Jackson, MS restaurant was still open, and found it wasn’t.

But checking where Brandon was, I saw it was right off I-20 about 15 miles east of Jackson. And checking Google Maps I found they had a really big parking lot in back. Big enough for an RV + Toad. So 90 minutes after we left Benchmark, we were pulling in the Sonny’s BBQ parking lot.

This time Jan and I both started out with the Salad Bar, and Sonny’s BBQ does have a good one, with a lot of delicious options.

And besides being really tasty, it helped fill us up, so we had more leftover BBQ to take home.

Jan got her standard Pulled Pork Sandwich with Fries.

While I went with my go-to meal, Sonny’s Pork 3 Ways.

You just can’t go wrong with anything Sonny’s.

The trip was going really smooth until we started hitting rain west of Vicksburg, and it keep with us all the way through Shreveport  and on to Miss Ellie’s RV Park about 3 miles into Texas.

We stayed here at Miss Ellie’s back in 2014 on our way north to meet up with Nick and Terry Russell in Elkhart, IN. Even though it’s not a Passport America park, it’s right off the Interstate, and at $22 it’s still a good deal.

We got in about 4:30, got parked, and set up. We got a nice long site,  so we didn’t have to unhitch since we planned to stay in tonight.

Tomorrow we’ve got a 300 mile trip back to the Colorado Lake Thousand Trails, which has kind of become our home park. Saturday is Landon’s 6th birthday, and then we’ll start looking for our gate for this year.

Hopefully.

Thought for the Day:

“I am not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” – Woody Allen

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We had planned to be up at 6 and on the road by 7:30. Instead we were up at 6:30 and on the road by 8.

We only had a 240 mile trip to Meridian, so normally we wouldn’t be on the road until around 10, but today we had kind of a time crunch.

Since we were overnighting in Meridian, we definitely wanted to eat at Weidmann’s Restaurant. But there was a problem. On Sunday, Weidmann’s is only open from 11am to 2pm for their Sunday Jazz Brunch.

So we wanted to get to Meridian by 1pm or so, to have time to get to the restaurant before they closed.

But besides our late start, there was another problem. We needed to get diesel before we got on I-65 S. And of course this was the ‘perfect’ morning for a really slow diesel pump.

So $300 and almost an hour later, we were hitched up and on the road by 9am. Later than we had planned, but with luck we might still make it.

We took I-65 south to Birmingham where we then took I-20/I-59 south by Tuscaloosa and on toward Meridian. We did run through another of those strange brief heavy rains under bright sunshine.

Then on the west side of Tuscaloosa we ran into another slowdown. There were signs for a construction zone ahead, and then traffic slowed to 5-10 mph crawl. Finally after about 20 minutes of this, passing construction equipment with no one around. we finally came to the traffic obstacle, the thing blocking the left lane, and forcing all the vehicles down to one lane. It was a SUV with flashing blue lights just setting in the left lane with no one around. In fact we didn’t see a single worker. And then once we were all past that, it was back to full speed again.

We got to the Benchmark RV Park about 1:15 and got parked and just plugged in shore power. We didn’t even put out the slide yet. And as soon as I had the truck unhitched we were on our way by 1:35.

We were only about 10 minutes away, so I was hoping that we could still get in for the brunch. And as it turns out, Weidmann’s is one of those places that if you make in the door before 2pm, you’re good to go.

Weidmann’s is the oldest restaurant in Mississippi, in operation since 1870, and a quick look at just their Brunch menu will show you why they’ve lasted this long.

Jan of course, went for the Crab Cakes, homemade with lump crabmeat, special seasonings and served on fried green tomatoes with a white wine sauce and served with fresh fruit.

Jan has a new favorite dish, I think.

I decided on the Prime Rib PoBoy, a 8 ounce prime rib served on a PoBoy bun with their spicy horseradish sauce and topped with flash fried onion rings and served with homemade potato chips.

And mine too was delicious, and so big that I could only eat half of it. And what’s even better here are the prices.

My 8 oz. Prime Rib PoBoy was only $13.95, and Jan’s Crab Cake were only $15.95. Really great prices. And our waitress Londa was great too. (she insisted I tell you that)

Getting back to the rig, we put out the slide and I set up the Satellite dome. We don’t normally hook up water and sewer on these one night stops, so after I let out the awnings, I was done.

Well, almost.

I had noticed this morning that as I was pulling out of the park that I was hearing a little groaning from my power steering. But it was fine once things warmed up. So I figured that I was a little low on hydraulic fluid and would add some when we got to Meridian.

I did keep an eye on my engine temp just in case since strangely enough, the same hydraulic system that runs the power steering also runs the radiator cooling fan. But the temp stay in its normal 175-180 degree range the whole trip.

So after I finished setting things up, I looked for my gallon jug of AW32 hydraulic fluid, and I couldn’t find it. It should have been in the back of the battery bay, but it wasn’t. And I checked a couple of other likely bays with no luck.

So it was off to a nearby O’Reilly’s for another gallon to take care of the problem.

Tomorrow we’ve got a 300 mile run to Miss Ellie’s RV Park a little west of Shreveport. As I mentioned yesterday, due to all the flooding and the road closures along 1-10 / I-12, we’re taking the northern route home.

In fact the flooding is so bad down there, that they are helicoptering in supplies to the motorists who have been stranded on the Interstate for more than 24 hours.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected.

Thought for the Day: 

Apparently Cinderella is proof that a new pair of shoes can change your life. 

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