April 17, 2019

Much has happened in the time since we left Texas less than a month ago, so this may be a lengthy read.

We took our time and made the 1,200-mile trip back to Kentucky in seven days. Except for one incident, the trip was uneventful, which is always a good thing.

Dave leaves the trip planning up to me, and something that had me concerned was driving through Houston, the 4th largest city in the U.S. At one point of I-10, there are six lanes of traffic going each way! I think of driving in Nashville as a nightmare, but Nashville ranks a distant 24th.

Before leaving Bandera, I sought advice from friends who had experience transiting Houston. The consensus was that ‘timing’ was critical: either in the very early morning hours, or just after the morning rush hour. Our friends also suggested that if we had to stop for the night, staying on the west side of the city was safer than the east side. I paid close attention.

We left Bandera around 9 in the morning, and about 3 p.m. in the afternoon decided to stop for the night in Katy, just west of the city (Katy Lake RV Resort, w/Passport America 50% discount, $30.) It was too late in the day to try going through Houston.

The RV sites that are reserved for transients such as ourselves who only want a space for the night, are immediately inside and to the right of the automatic gate. But making a sharp right turn there is impossible. So, it was recommended that we drive Felix straight into the RV park, turn at the end and come back around.

Once inside the gated entrance, I noticed a couple of people who looked at the rig funny as we pulled around and into our site, but it wasn’t until we parked that I learned why: one of the tires on the car hauler was flat. From the looks of it, it had to have just occurred. I was grateful that it hadn’t happened while we were on I-10…there was a lot of construction going on and there was no shoulder to use in case of an emergency.

Since his knee surgery, Dave can’t bend his left leg, so we worked together on getting the car off the trailer so that the trailer could be jacked up enough to get the tire off. We didn’t have a spare, but luckily there was a Firestone dealer less than a mile away.

It took the techs a couple of hours to get to it because they were pretty busy, but the tire was able to be repaired, and we got it back on the trailer before sunset. All things considered, we couldn’t have asked for things to have fallen into place any better, but what a long Day 1!

The trip had a few pleasant surprises along the way. For one thing, we used our membership to “Boondockers Welcome” for the very first time.

BW is a service that connects campers to “hosts” (who oftentimes are campers too–but not always) that allow overnight parking on their private property for free. The annual membership is $30.

I compared the map of possible hosts to our route and found one in Tylertown, MS, a few miles east of I-55 and just across the Louisiana/Mississippi state line that had enough room for our rig. This particular host allowed campers to stay for up to 3 days, and the reviews of the property were good.

After our request to come and stay for two nights was approved, we were able to communicate with the owner directly. From the sound of his messages, he was gracious and accommodating. He texted specific directions to his place and was waiting for us when we arrived. He even had set out an orange cone marking the driveway to his property, making it easy to find.

And what a piece of property it was! It was their slice of heaven on earth, nestled in the middle of tall pine trees off a quiet 2-lane road. Our host met us on his 4-wheeler and accompanied us down the driveway to a spot that had more than enough room.

The site had electric and water, and there was a dump station near the top of the driveway if we wanted to dump our tanks before we left. This was more than we expected, or even imagined. It was so peaceful and quiet here.

We stayed from Saturday afternoon to Monday morning and visited with our hosts here and there throughout the weekend. Hugh and MJ couldn’t have been more gracious. They traveled in their motor home from time to time, so we swapped stories from the road.

The more we talked, the more I liked them. Nice, honest people who’d been blessed with good fortune and who, in turn, were sharing their blessings with others. It was a positive first-time experience with something we hadn’t tried yet, and we ended up making two new friends in the process!

Another first for us was staying at the Army Corps of Engineers park at Enid Lake in northern Mississippi. I’d always thought that the sites at USACE campgrounds weren’t large enough for us, but I was wrong.

For two nights at $10/night (half-priced using the America the Beautiful pass for seniors) we stayed in a pull-through site overlooking the lake with all the amenities: electricity, water, and sewer. It was absolutely beautiful and I wish we could’ve stayed longer, but duty was calling.

After six months of travel and being exposed to the elements, Felix was long overdue for a bath, so we set the GPS for the Blue Beacon Truck Wash in south Memphis. This was our first time ever going through a commercial truck wash.

I had no idea what to expect, so I researched its safety on one of the RV forums we follow, IRV2, and the comments were generally positive. Someone suggested tipping the crew before they start washing, and that idea was genius.

It took less than 20 minutes for a crew of six to scrub Felix from top to bottom, stem to stern. We paid extra for the Rain-X rinse, and it was well worth it–Felix was revitalized! The wash and Rain-X rinse cost less than $60, compared to 3 or 4 times that if it were done by a mobile RV washing service.

We finally arrived at our destination, the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, or LBL for short. We are two of nearly 20 workampers at Hillman Ferry Campground, on the northern edge of LBL, just south of I-24 in Western Kentucky. In exchange for 40 hours of service, we get a free campsite with electric, water, and sewer. It’s a win/win.

Dave and I work at the gatehouse, welcoming campers and helping them get registered. We’re outside most of the time and there’s a fair amount of walking. We split the 8-hour shifts, five days a week however we want, so I’ve been working the first four hours of a workday and Dave relieves me and works the second half. We’ve been at it for two weeks now, and Dave’s new knee hasn’t given him any problem, and that’s a miracle!

Our first week of work happened to be the week of spring break, and it was baptism by fire.

More than half of the 374 campsites here were occupied, and kids swarmed everywhere. This is very much a family-oriented campground, and generational, it seems. A lot of families who camp here now camped here when they were kids.

Our grandkids spent last weekend with us, and Maeby’s already announced that she’ll be spending the summer here. To be honest, we’re living in the middle of nature, and it’s really nice. Our site is at the top of a hill overlooking the lake, and an array of birds can be heard singing from morning till night.

We are so grateful for this opportunity at the Land Between the Lakes, and for all the blessings of being close to family and friends. The plan is to be here through the end of October, and that’s fine by me. Life really is better at the lake!