Day 22 – 6082 miles … Heading to the Gulf

The rest area on I20 near mile marker 386 was still full when I woke up and got moving. When we are trying to make up miles, I find that I drive until 1230a or 1a then stop. I could probably press on for another hour or so, but I want to make sure that I am always alert … I will tell you, that driving the RV needs a great deal more concentration than driving a car. It takes its toll. I set my alarm for about 545A and am usually back on the highway by 615A. This morning was no different.

I was on the other side of Dallas by 830A, and everyone was will sleeping. I stopped for fuel around 930A and we converted back to road mode … everyone awake, and in not a bad mood. As we got into Shreveport I passed a large RV store, I needed some parts (the hinge for the awning that the drum broke in TN) and decided to make a diversion. On the way to the RV place, we pass by a water park … ok … not a bad idea … so we stop.

We spend about 2.5 hrs at Watertown in Shreveport, LA. Not a huge complex, more of a large swimming pool than a water park. The wave pool was open, but the wave machine was broken … wouldn’t this just make it a pool? Of the 4 big slides, only 2 were working … but they had 2 large pools, with smaller slides and 6ft platforms to jump from. The kiddie pool that was perfect for Genna, it has tunnels, mini slides, fountains … she loved it. We had as much fun here as in any of the Orlando water parks.

We get back in the RV and while we stop at the RV dealer, we make and have lunch. The RV dealer had none of the parts we needed, but they did have some new RV’s  that we went to see. The salesman was great, knowledgeable, friendly, not pushy and genuinely wanted to help. I went first with Kate. Then we wanted to show Michelle and the girls, so he turned the AC on the unit and cooled it down. After we saw it, we went back on got Kelly and Jack … we must have spent over and hour at this place looking at our possible future adventure mobile :) … Our motor home is 29ft no slides. We spent time on a 34ft, 3 slide, bunk beds, class A machine. List price $113k, on sale $75k … :) … the economy isn’t doing that well for RV sales. The 34ft machine with slides open has almost 3x the internal space of ours … it made our machine look tiny by comparison.

The girls have been discussing that our next adventure should be to Alaska … Florida to Seattle then up the coast to Alaska. While this RV would work, they would like one a little larger, so they would have more room :) … Alaska in summer 2011, any takers … we could convoy and get really cool CB names … dibs on “bandit”.

We push to make our campground in Lafayette, LA by 730P. This is another KOA, more of a parking lot then a campground. The humidity is very high, and most of the campers here have large industrial fans on their site, so they can get a breeze. I fall asleep with Jaci around 930P, and I am told that the laundry is done that evening.