DAY 33, Texarkana (Texas/Arkansas)
Our plans to stay in nowhere, Texas were scrapped this morning when we woke up to rain. There’s no point staying somewhere that isn’t on our list of attractions if it’s raining. As we always say, if we’re going to be stuck in the camper all day, we may as well be going somewhere. We did some cleaning this morning, washing the inside of the windshield and vacuuming and such. My little Dirt Devil I got in college is sure getting a workout this trip. We headed to a Passport America campground in Texarkana which is on the border of Texas and Arkansas. There was a county park that was super cheap, but something like a 20-mile drive away from the interstate we are on. We are all kind of grumpy so we decided to pay more and stay at the place right in Texarkana. The book says it has an indoor pool. The main thing is that we will officially be out of Texas. I’m starting to dislike Texas a lot. Maybe because we don’t have any destinations here and it’s a big state to get across. Gas is cheap, though. We’ve gotten gas for $1.90/gal and $1.99/gal here.
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As we approached the RV park here in Texarkana, we got a sinking feeling. The neighborhood started getting worse the closer we got to the park. Plus the mapping software showed it 4 blocks away from where it really was, so we thought maybe it had vaporized like the one yesterday. We did finally see it, though, and it had a high black wrought iron fence around it and a brick office, which is rare for an RV park. We thought it looked pretty nice after all. We were both getting organized to get out of the camper and check in and we were practically attacked by RV park staff trying to help us get in. They ended up giving us the Passport America discount, even though it was supposed to be effective only Mon.-Thurs. As we pulled in, I could see there was an adjoining motel (which actually turned out to be small apartments) and a restaurant. At the campsites, there were concrete parking pads and the electric and water were located in a brick box. We have a big oak tree at our site. So big and old, it’s too big around to put the dog tie-out around it. Walking around with Nora, I thought this must have been a really premier place, and then the neighborhood around it kind of deteriorated. Talking to someone in the laundry room later, I found out that was pretty much the case. It was an old Howard Johnson and it was really nice, in a historic area near downtown. Then the interstate came through and everything went south. I should mention there’s a freight rail track that runs right behind the place. It is a BUSY track. I was overcome by motivation after we parked and I had Michael and Nora “help” me with the laundry, then put them down for naps while I made dinner and cookies. After dinner we took Nora to the pool. It was kind of neat because the pool is under a giant glass dome, and it’s a nice pool. Unfortunately it either isn’t really heated or it’s heated by the sun or something. It was COLD. Really cold. They have a sauna attached, and we turned the sauna on so we could warm up when we got out of the pool. Poor Nora is just like me. After about 10 minutes in the pool, her lips turn blue. It was kind of a long hike between the camper and the pool, so David and I were exhausted after I carried Michael back in his carseat carrier and David carried Nora back wrapped in a towel inside the duffel bag. Nora went to bed and Michael stayed up while I finished folding the laundry. We’re watching football on TV (since we’re actually in a city and it’s a weekend) and listening to acorns and rain fall on the roof. It’s been pretty cramped in here today because it’s too rainy to tie the dogs out. But I think we’re both recovering from yesterday. We are looking forward to having several destinations that are only 100 to 200 miles apart.