Monday, August 28, 2023

It has been an interesting day.  There I was, in Baird, Texas at the Sundance RV Place, (motto:  "We have more burr clover here than anyone else"), cleaning the burr/stickers out of the two dog's feet and coats and sooooo looking forward to driving the rig thru Fort Worth/Dallas in the morning rush hour that I could just spit, when I decided to go around DFW no matter how far, and how long it would take me.

At this point I grabbed the atlas and found that just thru happenstance (serendipity?) I was camped at the intersection of I-20 and RT283 which in conjunction with a couple of other routes would take me to Jacksboro, Texas which would put me onto RT380 which would run me across to I-30 at Greenville, which is where I would go thru upon leaving DFW anyway.  So, I turned left and meandered over hill, and hill, and hill, and dale, and dale, and dale, and thru small, beautiful towns that still retain the flavor of the 1800's when which they were founded, past magnificent ranches with huge houses perched on green hills, thru really nice modern towns that looked just like a great place to live, and all this on some of the nicest, smoothest secondary roads I've ever experienced.  And (wait for it) no big trucks!  I bet I didn't see more than a dozen 18-wheelers the whole way.

OK, that's the plus side.  The other side is that I drove an extra 75 miles and about an extra 2 hours, to enjoy the above.  Now, if you've ever driven I-20 thru DFW, you know it's not fun, and if you've ever done it three times, both ways, in a Big Class A RVs you'd know it's a great way to peg your not fun meter.  Since I've done it at least three times, twice in the Newmar, and once in the Thor, I really was perfectly happy to pay the piper with 75 extra miles and two extra hours.

Since I left early, and was running ahead of schedule, and had extra daylight to spend, I ended up in Texarkana, TX.  And, because I figgered I deserve a comfortable camp, and some comfort food, I ended up in a nice KOA and ordered in a pizza.  (So how come they spell pietsa, pizza?  Made no sense when I was in elementary school and makes no sense today.  Sort of like gas air-conditioners.  Explain them all you want, and they still make no sense.  And, by the way, whatever happened to poor Clemintine?  Poor girl lost forever, dreadful sorry, Clemintine.

Anyhoo, I dialed up Domino's and got a call center lady who had no idea if the local Domino's would deliver to a RV park, or even just what an RV park was, so Pizza Hut got the order as their phone was local and they knew just where the park was.  However, I just gotta say it was the worse pizza I've ever eaten.  Never ordered from them before, never gonna order from them again.  I am a Dapper Dan Domino's Man!  (See the movie, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" for clarification of that statement.  

Me and George Clooney.  Buds forever.

I just spent an hour on the Google trying to find a shop where they would work on Cummins RV Generators and got a "Maybe, possibly, might, but probably won't have the fuel pump anyway" referral and they open at 8 AM tomorrow so I am going to be parked in their parking lot at 07:30.  I've found it is a lot harder for people to say, "We can't help you today" when you are standing in front of them and not just a voice on the phone.

BTW:  I saw several instances of something here in Texas that I have never seen any anywhere else before.  Three-car trains.   Seriously, one car pulling two cars behind it.  Just like a three-car train.  And each time I saw one, I saw two or three others in close proximity.  As in maybe three or four three-car trains in a mile or so.  Weird.  Is that even legal?  Must be.

First Officer, 

Rusty Pistons

Starship Bounder, NCC-1703