We love traveling the two lane roads that wander through America’s countryside and small towns. They usually take a little longer than crossing the country at high speed on the super slab, but it’s worth the time.
I always tell people that Denny’s in Paducah, Kentucky and Denny’s in Kingman, Arizona are the same. That’s just boring. On the two lane roads you can find small mom and pop restaurants that serve young fried chicken. Who knows how old the stuff is they feed you at those chain places?
You won’t find the Spotted Ass Ranch at your nearest highway off ramp.
And folks in small towns don’t hesitate to tell you how they feel about things.
We drove about 320 miles on mostly two lane roads yesterday, from the Colorado River Thousand Trails preserve in Columbus, Texas to Pleasant Valley RV Resort in Mission, Texas.
The wind was blowing steadily when we were getting ready to pull out of our RV site and by the time we left the campground I was beginning to think we maybe should have postponed our trip by a day. It wasn’t as bad as some of the wind we have dealt with in northern Arizona in the spring, but enough to keep me on my toes.
We drove about 20 miles west on Interstate 10 and then took U.S. Highway 77 south through the small towns of Schulenberg, Hallettsville, Victoria, Refugio and a few others before we joined up with Interstate 37 and took it south a few miles to the north edge of Corpus Christi. Then U.S. 77 broke off again and took us through Kingsville and to Riveria, where we picked up State Route 285 west 22 miles to Falfurias. From there it was about 70 miles further south to McAllen, and then another 20 miles or so to Mission.
The wind eased up somewhere around Riveria, and except for a pit stop somewhere along the way, and a stop to top off our fuel tank at the Flying J in Edinburg, we rolled right along.
When we got to Pleasant Valley and pulled up in front of our RV site, which is right next door to my friend Jim Lewis’ park model, there was a welcoming committee waiting to greet us. Actually, I think it was just happy hour, but I want to believe they were my welcoming committee, so please don’t burst my bubble.
After hugs from Jim, and Ron and Brenda Speidel, and being introduced to a bunch of nice folks whose names I don’t remember, I got backed into our site without running over anybody, thanks to Ron and Miss Terry’s expert directions. Once we were parked and plugged into electric, one of the guys said I made it look easy. I told him I’ve lived long enough to learn that life goes a lot more smoothly if I just follow the directions of people who are smarter than me. And since about 75% of the world is smarter than me, it’s not all that hard if I just listen.
We’ll be here for a week, catching up with Jimmy, Ron, and Brenda, and making some new friends. Since everybody here at Pleasant Valley seems so nice, that shouldn’t be hard to do.
Congratulations to Jim Vierra, winner of our drawing for a signed paperback copy of Explanations and Advice for the Tech Illiterate by Randall Morris! Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.
Thought For The Day – Life is not a fairy tale. If you come home without your shoe at midnight you are probably drunk!
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