Dunes and Dinos - Sawyer, Michigan 7.30.24

 

There’s no place like … Oh, you know!  North from Dallas, 7.27.21 – 8.1.21

As the late Gilda Radner used to say, it’s always something.  On Tuesday morning we left our Grand Prairie campsite with great expectations, only to notice immediately that the brakes on the trailer were not working.  The brake controller, a device which engages the separate trailer brakes at the same time as the truck brakes, was not working for some reason.  The truck can stop both the vehicle and the trailer, but it is hard on the brakes.  So it had to be fixed.

We spent about two hours at a Camping World, only to be told the problem was electrical and with the truck, not the trailer, so not their department, and that we should go to a Toyota dealership.  We did so and the staff there checked the electrical system extensively and determined we needed a part which they did not have in stock.  So we drove to two different auto parts stores and found the part, but then were told it was some other issue that had to be dealt with the next day.  While we were adjusting our thinking as to staying in the area for another night, one of the technicians came and told us that the problem had been fixed.  We really appreciated the staff’s willingness to keep at it, trying to solve the problem, and since their actual adjustments were minimal, they did not charge us.  We left with a really good feeling about the place. 

Sometimes I think the weather in Texas is as crazy as in Chicago.  After days of blazing sun and smothering heat, as we drove north we ran into a thunderstorm that caused warnings to appear on our phones, with high winds, lightning, and such heavy rain that traffic slowed to a crawl for a short time.  It didn’t really break the heat for long, but it made a spectacular sight, the cloud front moving over the huge Texas sky. 

We camped in Alvord, a town on the northwestern edge of the Dallas metro area, just to put some miles behind us.  Though we hadn’t really done much all day, for some reason it felt like a long day and we needed to rest.

A quirk I noticed when driving through Texas is that county units of government seem to mean more here than in other places.  There are signs posting every county line.  I have seen a few of these in other places, but here it’s consistent.  You can also see a distinct drop-off where the highway maintenance stops and starts at a county line.  The pavement may be a different color and of different materials, not to mention maintained on a different schedule.  I vaguely remember a place in my childhood home town of Cambridge, Wis., where the snowplows stopped in the middle of a road because they had reached the Jefferson County line, but as I say, haven’t seen that kind of division so consistently as here in Texas.

Moving through several states quickly in the next few days, we drove on toll roads in Oklahoma, which I think I should mention by way of warning.  The tolls are high, the system is confusing, and they don’t take anything but cash.  All of which I could forgive if the roads were excellent, but they are not.  They’re like interstates everywhere – some areas are nicely kept up, some are bumpy and need attention.  The confusion over what receipt or ticket to show, why sometimes there is a high fee (because we have three axles) and sometimes a small refund, and why we were continually asked where we were coming from (why should our word determine the toll?), eventually led us to reroute the last leg of Thursday’s drive onto non-toll roads.

The lush, rolling hills of Missouri are not only beautiful but comforting, because they remind me of home (Wisconsin, where I grew up).  Driving toward St. Louis, we found a campground in our directory that appeared to be downtown.  This did not sound right but indeed it was – a large RV park affiliated with, and in back of, a huge casino, practically on the riverfront and less than half a mile over the bridge to the Gateway Arch.  We had made reservations online, and when we stopped into the office to look for a map, LCR reported it appeared deserted, not only unoccupied but as if it had not been used.  Access to the grounds was through an electronic gate using a code that was sent through email with the reservation confirmation.  As far as we could tell, it was largely unmanned.  There was someone on duty to answer phones, because LCR did get help when he discovered a problem with the water supply (we were routed to a different site), but still, it seems kind of weird to me.  It may be the wave of the future, because the following day we bought gas at a similarly unattended gas station – no office, no restrooms or C store, only pumps and signs with telephone numbers to call in case of problems with gas delivery.  I hope I’m not hopelessly old-fashioned when I say it was a bit creepy.

We got tickets to a riverfront boat tour online, and after considerable digging through websites and the confirmation email, we found what we hoped was parking near the entrance to the boats, where we could take both the truck and RV and thus avoid paying for two nights of camping when what we really wanted was to take the tour and head out immediately.  We did find what we wanted, all right.  Parking was on a cobblestone levee so ancient I imagined Mark Twain must have walked on these stones, and at an angle of at least 10%.  We had been warned but still it was a surprise to see it, almost comical, hardly a “parking lot” at all, yet exactly what we needed.  Of course they put a ticket taker at the entrance so they could charge a fee and call it a parking lot, but the fee was not high.    

The tour was conducted by a private company in a partnership with the National Park Service – the Gateway Arch, after all, is a National Park.  We did not go up into the Arch because we had been there and just wanted the boat tour.  A park ranger narrated the tour.  It was, as all National Park programs are, extremely informative and entertaining, with many stories about the history of St. Louis and the Mississippi River, in particular the various bridges we went under.   I admit the most surprising thing I learned is that the Mississippi is still very busy with freight traffic, so much that if you want to take a pleasure boat on the river, there are places you should not do so because the barges are huge and they have the right of way.  I thought of river freight traffic as a thing of the past, but not so.  While we were on the tour, we saw a tug pushing a flotilla of 15 huge barges, equivalent to over 3 miles if they were using train track. 

After the tour we ate at the riverfront café, part of the boat landing – catfish and sweet potato fries, then we were ready to hit the road. 

After spending the night in Springfield, IL, we woke up with a sudden feeling that we should be on the road directly, though we had plenty of time.  We got out and drove to Chicago without delay.  It just seemed like time.  It was joyous to greet the girls and dog Chia and to see the old homestead.  A bit overwhelming, in fact – on the road, you leave much of your regular life behind, but it is right there when you get back, in all of its glorious color and messy detail.

 

Update on gas prices:  Back in Chicago, it’s holding at around $3.59.  As you may remember from previous posts, for the most part the high was $4.59.  So could be better, but not quite the horror story we were prepared for.

Signage:

Signage:  Roof Doctor, Chehalis, WA:  I like big roofs and I cannot lie.

At trailheads in Olympic National Park:  No pets, weapons or vehicles.

Glenwood Christian Church, Eugene, OR:  Cross training inside!

Sign in southern OR:  Now hiring.  Long hours, low pay, boss is a bum.

Public service announcement, Mendocino County, CA:  21+ for a good reason.  Your brain will thank you later!

Hwy sign before bridges in desert:  If flooded, turn around, don’t drown!

Toyota dealership in Oklahoma City:  We’ve been practicing high monthly payment distancing.

 

Business names:

Quality Random Stuff, Cave Junction, OR

Northwest Hairlines, Beauty Salon in Cave Junction

 

Dispensary names continue to amuse: 

Gram Central Station, Portland, OR

Bud Junction, Cave Junction, OR

Need Weed?  King of Cannabis, next exit.  Roseburg, OR

Hempzy, Oklahoma City

Lucky Leaf Expo, cannabis convention, Oklahoma City in September 2021

Robot Pharmer, Tulsa, OK

Madhatters’ Emporium, central MO

And the winner:  Are you a friend in need?  We’re a friend with weed!  Mesa, AZ

 

I have really enjoyed sharing this epic trip with you.  If you’ve enjoyed this blog, I’d really like to hear about it.  When we went out to clean the trailer, Chia jumped right into the space under the table, which is where we have put her bed on past trips.  She is cozy in her little space and down for a road trip!  If you too would like to be in on future voyages, drop me an email at lu.redmond@gmail.com.  We will have one or two shorter trips coming up in the fall of this year. 

 

For now, good-bye! 

Luanne