The trip back to Kentucky was quite different this year. First of all Twyla and I had two vehicles to tend with, she drove her van and I drove Annie the motor home. Secondly, it took longer because Annie is a vintage (76) model so speeds on the highways were kept to around 55-60 mph. And lastly, since Annie is aging (aging well, but still aging), the seemingly minor oil leak that she has progressively grew worse the further we drove so we also had to stop more often for oil level checks.
It's more difficult with a motor home to find good, free campsites as well. RV parks are nice occasionally, but can be expensive if that's the only means for overnight stays. It took us about nine days to make the trip, not including one day we took just to relax and recoup. We set a goal of about 200 miles a day which was about right and we decided to just stick with the interstate highway rather than the side roads which would have lengthened the trip significantly. Overall, we had a good time and enjoyed the variety of the landscapes.
Our first leg of the journey landed us in Windslow AZ at the McHood campground situated by a beautiful reservoir. I have camped here in the past several times and always enjoyed it. The landscape though, like most of AZ is pretty brown and dry, even here. Usually the Spring colors really pop this time of year, but beautiful nonetheless.
Our next stop was a Petro Stopping Center near Grants NM. We simply parked out at the perimeter of the parking lot, as did other overnight campers, right up next to the highway. The next day we traveled our daily quota of miles but couldn't find any good camping spots without driving quite a bit off the path. So we settled for a small parking spot at a Phillip's 66 station in Santa Rosa NM. I didn't snap any photos of the Petro center but I did look out the window and snapped a shot of our 'view' when we were at Phillips 66. Fortunately, the station was not very busy and we were grateful to the manager for allowing us to overnight. We were tired and just wanted to get some rest.
Continuing with our 200 mile trek, the next day landed us near Groom TX, and nearby we found the McClellan Creek National Grassland campground which is where we setup camp for the night. There was a small fee for overnight camping but it was a nice peaceful setting and we were just happy to have a place to stay. We didn't really snap any pictures of this place but you can Google it and find out more about it. There were lots of trees and fairly level parking spots, and a lake nearby, but it too appeared quite brown and dry.
One of the nicest places we found on our route was the Lake El Reno RV Park in El Reno OK. It too was a pay site, but for the $15 a day fee, we had access to electricity, hot showers, a garbage can for every site, picnic tables, fire rings, a grill and water hookups. They had great views of the lake, it was well kept and lots of activities for those who were interested. We really appreciated the hot shower after the long trip and Twyla got to feed the geese and the ducks. Bonus! It was cold and rainy most of the time, that's why she's bundled up and why we didn't get out of the motor home much. We also stayed here an extra day because we needed a down day, off the road to recoup. Lastly, the owners were excellent, great customer service, and made us feel at home.
Our next 200 mile trek brought us all the way to the eastern border of OK. We found a casino, the Cherokee Casino and Hotel, nearby that not only allowed for free overnight camping, for five campers for up to two nights, but also had free electricity hookups, and dump stations at each site. We did go into the casino to at least drop a little money into the money pit to thank them for the use of the site, but as it turned out, Twyla played a few games (we had to have help on how to play the machines) with our $10 of seed money and won a total of $50 within just a few tries. After which she abruptly cashed out and so we left the casino in the green.
The photo below is one I got from the Internet, you know what a casino looks like, but it does show the camping area where we stayed.
After leaving the casino, we headed into Arkansas. I guess you've noticed by now that there aren't that many dispersed camping areas outside of the southwest US. We did find an overnight campsite location, Mike Freeze Wattensaw NWA dispersed camping, Hazen AR, just a small camping area near a lake that was good for the night. It was pretty close to the expressway and was pretty much for sportsman as it offered fishing on the lake and had an archery range but was also used by a lot of travelers in small vehicles for an overnight stay when traveling.
The next day we headed into Tennessee and planed to stay at the Natchez Trace State Park, but when we reached the park there was no one in the office so we found a man who was employed there and talked to him about staying overnight, and he said we could just pick a spot and he would come by later for the fee, which was $29 a night with no amenities. I just smiled, thanked him, and we drove on. We ended up just staying in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant about an hour on down the road just outside of Nashville TN and we had a good meal to boot.
Fortunately, the extra hours drive that we made that day put us on target to reach our destination even earlier than we hoped, fortunate because the next day we woke up tired, drowsy, and really not ready for another long day. We headed into Nashville and then up into Kentucky. We went up to Elizabethtown then back down to Campbellsville, our destination.
We're now camped on my daughter's land and have had a couple of days to rest up so we're feeling better. I hope to get some things done on Annie while we're here, including getting the notorious oil leak fixed. And it looks like we'll be here for a while as my driver's license is due for renewal so I'll have to hang around until they okay me to renew, which should be about mid-July.
I don't know what our plans are at this point for when we leave here, but during this stay I hope to show Twyla a lot of the sites and places that I frequented when I lived here, as well as visit some of my friends that have kept in touch.
Much peace, much love,
Bernie and Twyla
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