The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #18 in VA,NC,SC,GA,AL,MS,LA
& TX 7/15/98
From Corpus Christi, TX., Hi Everyone! This trip started in late
evening on 7/10/89 my son Dave's birthday. The sun would soon
be down out of my eyes and it would cool down. I was glad it was
not yet down as there was a lot of construction in Norfolk, Portsmouth,
& Suffolk in the first few miles of the trip and it was good
to have the daylight to follow the detours. I cussed Gus for giving
me bum dope but had to apologize because he was doing the best
that he could do with out of date maps. The errors on the maps
for this area are very bad. I don't know who is responsible in
Virginia for updating the Census Bureau data base that is used
to make these electronic maps. California maps are very accurate,
Most states have some errors, Virginia ranks with the worst.
I see they are using tricks to control the speeding on US 58 in
VA, I saw two patrol cars setting on the side of the road with
the lights flashing. When I go by them (not over the speed limit)
I see no one in or around them. It works pretty good as most traffic
was not more than 5 miles over the 55 limit. The weather in VA,
NC & GA was very good, got a little rain in AL where I stopped
to visit my niece Sue & her children Lisa & Marshal. This
was the first time to visit them in some time, The children had
sure grown. Had a nice visit & good chow. Then headed west
after the weekend 7/13/89.
In Mississippi I was cruising along in the rain on I 20/59 and
failed to hear Gus tell me to stay on I 20 when 59 split to the
south. At night I use a filter to dim the computer display so
I failed to see that I was no longer on the highlighted road till
I see the distance to my destination increasing instead of decreasing.
I was seeing parts of MS that I was not supposed to see. I pulled
off and told Gus to get us back up to I 20, he found some back
roads and I saw parts of MS that not many see. I was looking for
someone to take part of the blame for my blunder and come up with
my son Jeff & Alexis for giving me a package of 8 CDs of big
band music that I was listening to when I missed Gus's command.
When I got into Louisiana I noticed my brakes were not acting
right. It took me awhile of thinking to figure out what was wrong.
I had a very hard peddle and the brakes were slow to come on,
they were OK once they come on but I had to leave a longer distance
between me and the car in front of me. I finally figured it out
and went to the GM dealer in Monroe to get a hydraulic accumulator
for the Power Master brake booster I have installed on my coach.
It was not in stock but they could have it the next day. I headed
west without it and as I was going south from Shreveport, LA I
came to another GM dealer in Mansfield and was told they could
have one by 11:00 the next day. I ordered it knowing I was only
17 miles from Bob & Betty Moore's my next stop and I could
come up and get it. Gus did me wrong again and could not find
Bob's place, he was 5 miles to far south. Again it was not his
fault, the highway numbers had been changed and the map was out
of date. After a phone call and Betty coming out to look for me
I made it. Bob is an Iron Angel and they will be going to the
Iron Angel Navy reunion in Corpus Christi. The Iron Angels were
Fighter Squadrons in the Navy, VF 14 in WW2, in the 1950s when
I was an Iron Angel it was VF 141 and the last squadron to be
Iron Angels was VF 53, there are a lot of Iron Angels. Bob is
now a Captain in the Sheriff's Office, it always helps to know
a few of those. Had a nice visit and good chow, got the part for
my brakes, installed it and they again work good. After spending
two nights there I headed west to my cousin Rod & Roseann
Kinkaid. Rod is that famous Texas county commissioner that claims
to have designed the inverted speed bump to control traffic speed,
at this it is very good, it also tests your suspension and it
will find rattles you never knew you had. Most people know these
speed bumps as chuck holes and washboard roads and usually have
some adjective in front of the name.
I told Gus to go the fastest way to get there and Bob pointed
out that this was taking me a long way around so I told Gus to
take me the shortest way, this looked better but I should have
remembered the time I told him to take me the shortest way to
Niagara Falls, NY from Coleridge, NE. The shortest way is not
always the best way. He took me through down town Chicago as that
was the shortest way. This time the shortest way was on those
famous Texas roads with the inverted speed bumps. They post a
35 MPH speed limit knowing full well, that you can never get up
to that speed on these roads. I would also like to know, with
all the area in Texas, Why are the roads so narrow? On some of
them I have to drive with the left wheels on the center line to
keep the right wheels on the pavement. On some of them they leave
the center line off to make you think you are on a nice wide lane,
until you meet someone coming the other direction! I got a good
chuckle out of some of the road signs on these Texas roads. Like
the one that said "WATCH FOR MUD ON THE ROADWAY". Now,
it's been so long since it's rained in Texas, that the average
Texan wouldn't know what it was if he found it. And they didn't
tell him what to do with it if he finds it. Another one said "WATCH
FOR ICE ON THE ROADWAY". Now, as you know the temps. have
been over 100 for several days, and again they didn't say what
to do with it if you find it. I can see it now, a long time ago
a Texas Co. commissioner was driving in the winter and hit a spot
of ice and spun in. He did his duty and had a sign erected to
warn others of the hazard. Just think of how littered the highways
would be up north if they posted signs like these.
I finally made it to the Kinkaid ranch
near Terrell, TX where my cousin Rod, the famous Co. Commissioner
& his wife Roseann live, and low and behold! The road passed
his ranch is now paved, he should have gone out of state for a
contractor though, as it is still narrow and has those famous
Texas inverted speed bumps in it. Now that he has his road paved
he is not going to run again. Now there can be another Co. Commissioner
and one more paved road in Texas. Had a nice visit and enjoyed
some good chow before heading up to Plano, TX where my nephew
Rod & Laura and Nathan live I enjoyed a short visit and learned
that he is designing bridges for these famous Texas roads. Then
headed to Corpus Christi, this time I told Gus to take the fastest
way and he took me through Austin & San Antonio, way out of
the way but I was on good roads. I did see some more of those
Texas road signs on a stretch of new blacktop telling me there
was no center stripe. Only a blind man would not know that there
was no center stripe and putting up a sign to tell him would do
no good. There were hundreds of those signs, If they didn't waste
money on stupid signs they would have enough money to make better
roads. Another sign was posted at a rest area on the interstate
that read "WATCH FOR SNAKES". Now this is something
my daughter Jenny does very well, ever since she was surprised
by a big black snake while looking for ancestors in a cemetery
in Virginia. I was over a little way and came running in time
to see the tale-end of this big snake going down a hole into a
grave. After she screamed I think the snake was more scared than
she was. It could have been one of her ancestors (on her mothers
side, coming up to look her over)
Got to Corpus in good shape and drove by the Ramada Hotel where
the Iron Angels will be having the big blowout and could see no
place to park the motorhome. I drove out to the Naval Air Station
and parked in the on base RV Park for $8.00 per day and will rent
a car or ride the city bus to town for 25 cents senior citizen
fare. I walked around the base and see nothing that was here in
1953/54 when I was last here.
7/21/98 Till next time, Dallas or Dad if it fits.
