20 Jun 2010 - The Dream Begins

          Well, once I realized that I was going to be taking this first trip after retirement on my own, I decided that it was still going to be a great trip.  After all, it wasn't like I hadn't driven or pulled RVs off and on for years so I knew that I could handle it on my own.   It would only take another hour or so to do the final loading of the 2009 299 RLS Jayco 5th Wheel RV.  The F250 SuperDuty Ford Diesel Truck was filled up and hooked up to the RV.  The plan was to leave Monday morning but...plans are made to change.  Dave was off at work so there was no real reason to wait for Monday morning. Taking the trip alone might have been a little misleading.  Willy, Gretchen, and Harley, my three intrepid dachshunds, had been eager and ready to head out from the moment the RV appeared in the driveway.  Like me, they love to travel!
          So at about 1:30 PM today we left Schertz, TX on the initial leg of the trip around the country (or at least part of it).  My son just returned to Florida from a tour in Iraq and Afghanistan so my first layover with downtime was going to be in Panama City, Florida.  Traveling east on I-10 was no problem.  Sunday turned out to be a great day for sailing right on through Houston with minimal traffic.  I should probably mention that  Willy, Gretchen, and Harley are great travelers.  They settle down in the back seat of the truck and snooze until you are ready to stop and then they are ready to go.  We made a couple of pit stops in rest areas to take a walk and later on to fix a quick dinner. 
          I usually like to find a place to stop for the night when I'm ready but, for this first night,  I looked up an RV park before I left home since I had no idea what I'd find along the road.  Since I didn't head out until afternoon, it was getting dark as I pulled in the Cajun Haven RV park in Egan, Louisiana.  All was good as I made sure they had pull-through parking when I googled them.  I arrived at the park right behind an older motorhome sporting open windows and five older people who looked exhausted.  After we all checked in, the manager had us follow him around to park to our sites. 
          The site for the motorhome was first.  Once they pulled in, we went on down the road to my site.  The helpful manager hopped down from his vehicle and wanted to know if he should hook me up especially the sewer.  I said thanks but I could handle it and sent him on back to the motorhome as they looked beat.  I planned to hook up the electric only and leave the truck hooked up since I would be leaving first thing in the morning.   Once the A/C was running in the RV and I did a bit of quick leveling outside, the fur-kids and I set out for a walk around the park.  The motorhome folks stopped us for a quick chat.  It seems that the two couples flew out to California to pick up the motorhome that was owned by one of the ladies whose husband had passed away several months before.  They had no RV experience and the lady who owned it had no idea how it worked.  Guess hubby did it all--what a mistake!  Their dash A/C apparently died earlier in the day so they were hot and exhausted and very happy I sent the manager back to help them.  I asked them if they had a generator onboard and suggested that they could run the motorhome A/C while they drove the next day.  We left them looking for the manual on how to use the generator and continued our walk.  The dogs wanted to explore but with little to no lighting in the park, mosquitoes big enough to carry a dachshund away, and the thought that this area could possibly have snakes and even alligators lurking around the edges, I vetoed that idea and we headed back to the RV for a shower and a snack before bed.