After Hot Springs, we drove through the rest of Arkansas, crossing the Red River at Texarkana into Texas. Crossing the Red River was not notable, there are no pictures (or videos) of it besides noting that we are now in Texas.
Texas took over two days to cross. And we left the Mini connected to the Winnie for the entire trip across Texas. This part of the trip was focused on getting to the next part.
The first night we stayed at Dallas Northeast, which was east of Dallas by about 50 miles. Very nice campground, and it had a large pond that was used for fishing. The campground also rented cabins and a silverstream trailer. Sadly, the pool was not open (this seems to be a theme with this trip. Even in southern climes, pools don’t seem to open before Memorial Day!)
Vicki attended a Bible study at the campground that evening. V: This was listed at the campground office and I’m so glad I went. Very sweet people were leading this study in John and this was another divine appointment, as I had the opportunity to pray for a sweet lady who was struggling with health challenges. There is nothing better than knowing God is using you for His purposes to encourage His people.
The second night we stayed at Bar J Hitchin Post, which was in Sweetwater TX, west of Abilene. This was a campground that was close to the freeway, we could hear road noise throughout the night.
Steven grabbed some burgers and frozen custard from Freddie’s for dinner. Freddie’s was easily within walking distance. And this campsite was the first place we saw cactus.
There were no good hiking trails near the Bar J Hitchin Post, so Steven took a walk along a back road. Along this road was a cotton co-op warehouse and a junkyard for wind turbines.
We again got conflicting information from our GPS while traveling through Dallas. I am going to start writing down the route and ignoring the constant rerouting that is happening.
As we drove westward, the flora changed from tall trees (oaks and pines) to smaller trees (live oaks and mesquite) to scrub and some cactus. The land was mostly flat, so we celebrated seeing something a little different in the landscape.
Texas is definitely an energy producing state. Besides the expected oil fields, we also saw wind turbines and solar farms.
Texas also had some interesting sights at the highway rest areas.
Our final travel day in Texas, starting in Sweetwater, ended in Carlsbad, NM.
I was concerned about the gas mileage on the RV, it dropped noticeably below the 7mpg that it has consistently had. But I am going to chalk that up to running into 15 mph headwinds. Headwinds are preferred because the RV doesn’t want to jump sideways.