A VERY STRESSFUL DAY!

Thursday, April 20 – We snuck (Sneaked was the original past tense and past participle for sneak. Used as early as the late 1800s, snuck has become the standard variant past tense and past participle of the verb sneak….just in case you are interested in a little English history…lol) through downtown Houston bright and early this morning. Traffic was heavy, but we moved right along and had no problems. We arrived at our destination – the Texarkana RV Park in Texarkana, TX, shortly after noon.

Texarkana RV Park is a very nice Passport America park. They have concrete streets and patios, large gravel, full hookup pull-thru sites, laundry, game room, a pond and rental cottages. We have never stayed in an RV park that has better placed sewer, water, and electric hookup locations. We have stayed at this park in the past and recommend it to fellow travelers passing through northeast Texas.

Looking right.

Looking left.

Bella was so happy to get off the road.

Friday, April 21 – Our sprint across the country continued today with an early departure from Texarkana, TX. We had many miles to cover and wanted to get an early start so we could be off the road by mid-afternoon. I suppose you hear God laughing at those plans! Two hours after leaving, just east of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, Paul noticed smoke in his rear-view mirror. He quickly checked our tire monitor. It showed no indication of trouble. He carefully pulled over to the edge of I-30, a VERY busy interstate to investigate.

No flat! Everything looked fine. We waited a while to get our minds together and decided to move on down the freeway. Nope, we didn't get a mile before the smoke returned. After careful thinking, we decided it was either a brake on the 5^th wheel was stuck “on”, or we had a bearing seize. Marsha checked on the Internet and found we should NOT drive with a bad bearing. So we called Coach Net, our roadside emergency carrier.

They said help would be quickly sent and even dispatched the Arkansas Highway Patrol to check on us. Officer Church, with the Highway Patrol, was there within minutes. We soon found out that additional help would not follow suit. The Officer lit up the side of the road with his blue lights which was a wonderful relief.

With help supposedly on the way, Officer Church had to move down the road, but he assured us we were safely off the highway, and he would return in about an hour to check on us. Hopefully, we would be gone by then. Unfortunately, we were still waiting for roadside service. Officer Church recommended we head for the next exit and offered to follow us with lights a blazing to keep traffic from rear-ending us. We had to stop twice because our wheel was smoking but at the second stop the roadside repair service caught us with us. Thank you to Officer Church. We have never met a more caring and concerned Officer. He even called us at 6:30 p.m. to be sure we were back on the road and safe. How wonderful was that!

They removed our wheel and chained up the axle so we could drive carefully to their repair facility. Officer Church again escorted us down I-30 until we exited the freeway.

We pulled immediately into the repair shop. The guys started work immediately. We would have been out of there in no time but they had to order parts from a nearby town and wait for over an hour to have them delivered. Not only was a bearing shot but we needed a new brake pad. $$$

It was a huge place.

These guys were so polite and concerned for us. They tried to get us back on the road as soon as possible. Thanks so much to Hartsell Farms & Excavating Co.

Our early departure this morning was destroyed to say the least. We broke down about 8:15 a.m. and did not get back on the road until 2:30 p.m. No way to make our intended destination so we found a stop in Blytheville, AR, where we had stayed previously and called it a day. What a stress filled day!

Grizzly's RV Park is absolutely nothing to write home about. It is good for one night only! PPA, $14.00/day FHUs. That is all we can say about it.

Looking right.

Looking left…isn’t that beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

ONE MORE DAY IN THE BIG CITY

Monday, April 17 – Monday was a work day for many Houstonians, so we took a walk among the towering skyscrapers enjoying the hustle and bustle of downtown. On one of our visits, Marsha wants to take the architectural walking tour. There are so many neat building designs in the city.

 

Well before the 1913 completion of the building we know today as The Rice, the land at 909 Texas Ave. was the site of the old Capitol of the Republic of Texas from 1837 to 1839, before it moved to Austin. The Rice is now a luxury apartment community which rents from $700 to $3,500 a month.

A gorgeous chandler in the main lobby.

We had hoped to visit the observation deck in the Chase building, the tallest building in downtown Houston, but the building owners went and closed the viewing area because it was disrupting daily business. We are glad we were able to visit the viewing area last year.

Instead of visiting above ground,  we visited the underground area. This maze of tunnels is full of eateries and shopping venues mostly used by the men and women working downtown. These miles of underground sidewalks make a wonderful alternative to walking outside when temperatures top 100 degrees and the humidity approaches 100 percent. We were there during lunch time, so we enjoyed the workers heading off to their favorite lunchtime stops for a quick bite to eat.

We enjoyed the remainder of the day walking downtown and enjoying time together on Carrie's roof patio. A little cards and a few beverages was a fun way to relax and enjoy some “family time.” I should note the boys need to brag about their card playing powers. Dave won the game of cards, and Paul placed second. (Marsha says…Who cares!) The girls settled for the bottom three places. (Marsha says…That is not nice!)

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

MORE FUN ON EASTER DAY

Sunday, April 16 – After our Easter meal and some relaxing, we all joined in for an evening/early night stroll along the Buffalo Bayou Sesquicentennial Park, a river walk flowing through downtown.

We also checked out the Aquarium area, the Theater District, and the Seven Wonders.

Lots of colorful carriage rides.

In Buffalo Bayou's Sesquicentennial Park are the seven 70’ tall pillars “Seven Wonders.” The columns highlight Houston's history through the themes of agriculture, energy, manufacturing, medicine, philanthropy, technology and transportation. Each column is constructed of 150 individual children's drawings, etched in stainless steel plate. Each column has a 30-foot high brick base.

What looks like lace from a distance is actually laser-cut steel. To honor the park's concept, Chin, the artist,  asked schoolchildren born in 1986, Houston's sesquicentennial year, to submit drawings depicting each of the seven themes: agriculture, energy, manufacturing, medicine, philanthropy, technology and transportation.

Selecting 150 for each pillar, he and artists Rachael Splinter and Helen Nagge translated each drawing into a computer image, which was then cut into stainless steel. Our photos just don’t do it justice. You need to see these for yourself.

All seven of the columns.

Not a bad “urban hike” for one day!

After four long days of driving, we have arrived back in Canton, Ohio. Stay tuned for the drama of our drive to Ohio.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!