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Published: February 10th 2020
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blog 02-09-20 Travel Days
I left Carrabella and the Gulf of Mexico about 9:30 and headed west then north then west again. The area I covered had been severely damaged in 2018 by hurricane Michael that made landfall as a category 5 hurricane, making a direct hit on Mexico Beach. That area still hasn't recovered and as I headed inland the damage was profound. There were miles of pine trees just snapped off about 15ft from the base, houses, if still standing, had blue tarp roofs, and many trees especially along interstate 10 were just uprooted.
The maintenance man at Ho Hum Campground where I was staying told me that after the storm there was nothing at the campground but wires and pipes sticking out at every angle. It took a yr for the to put place back in order and no buildings were destroyed. There was a bad storm while I was there and I mentioned it to the same man about how bad it was. He said, "What storm, that little blow last night?" It was pretty scary to me but if you've been through a Cat 5 hurricane everything else is nothing.
I drove west
on I 10 for 6 hrs and settled for the night in Golfport, Mississippi. We stopped several times at rest stops and walked around so I didn't stiffen up too badly. The campground also has a flee market that would open in the morning, Saturday, so I thought there would be lots of traffic and people around. I left about 9 am and things were still fairly quiet so I guess people get up later here.
The grass and fields are green and there are yellow flowers in the medium and occasional fields. Traffic was light so it wasn't a stressful time but it was a long day of over 400 miles. Then I headed northwest.
I altered my plans about the route for several reasons. 1. I didn't want to get anywhere near any of the cities in TX. I had very bad experiences last year. 2. My final destination in NM is Roswell and that is further north so Dallas and FT Worth were in the bulls eye for serious traffic problems. 3. I have not camped in one state and that is Arkansas. My son Dave suggested that I swing north a little more
and get that last state on my map. The kicker for this change of plans came from my friend Kim while I was camping with my girlies. She told me about a longhorn parade in Ft Worth every day. That is just something I couldn't miss so I went north west, overnighted in Texarkana, Arkansas and took rt 30 then 380 north of Dallas and found a Thousand Trails campground just north of Ft Worth where I can stay for 3 nights for the cost of my already paid membership.
All the little pieces fell into place and here I am in Bridgeport, TX in a basically free campground ready to head to the Stockyards in Ft Worth tomorrow. The weather is the only wildcard. It is supposed to rain for the next few days, I hope they still walk the steers.
There was a small thunderstorm that blew through tonight but the afternoon was beautiful, sunny and 75 degrees. I can only hope for tomorrow.
Some of the sights along the way that didn't get in a picture.
In AR the concrete was dirty, like it had black mold on it. Overpasses and bridges.
In TX a ranch had fence posts made from tree limbs not posts and they wove the ranch name in the fence.
I saw 32 red tail hawks on Saturday.
daffodils were blooming
almost every ranch in TX has at least one long horn steer in the field.
Most of the cattle were black angus and the horses were mostly paint.
There is a Dollar General on every corner
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