katvans
Cave Creek, AZ
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Big Brown Jug’s First Cross Country Voyage - Day One and Two
We left Overgaard early afternoon on Saturday to begin our trip to North Carolina and then on to Indiana. Slightly overcast skies made for good driving on I-40 until we came to a slow down due to a terrible accident. It appeared that a truck pulling a fifth wheel rolled many times. The trailer basically exploded with the contents spread over a large area. Not a good sight at the start of our trip.
We entered New Mexico in the late afternoon with moderate traffic. DH was amazed at the number of trucks on the road. We both noticed how few motor homes and trailers are on the road. Maybe it is just due to the weekend. DW had researched the Love’s truck stops along the route for quick over night stays. Also, Flying J’s as a back up. Pulled into the Love’s at Albuquerque and found it to be much less than advertised and not suitable for an overnight stay. Went back to the Flying J, and found that they had very few overnight spots, all were taken and any other spot would be a tow away. Note: going back is not ever on DH’s driving agenda.
Drove on through Albuquerque and found a great little RV camp – Hidden Valley RV. The camp spot was level, full hook up for $22 and clean showers. This was a very suitable over night spot; quiet and safe.
Left the camp spot bright and early and headed on down the road. After Santa Rosa, we pulled over to a rest area and had breakfast and more, stronger, coffee. Sunday morning traffic was light and we drove on into some slight showers and on to Texas. The only major town on I-40 in Texas is Amarillo. If you are hungry, this is the place to be. Along the highway, every restaurant is represented, sometimes, twice!
DH wanted to drive to the other side of Oklahoma City before we stopped for the night. Mostly to avoid Monday morning traffic since I-40 goes right through Oklahoma City. What a horrible road I-40 is in Oklahoma City. The wheel base of the Seneca was not made to go over this road. We shook and rattled, the road was smooth and then we shook and rattled some more. It never seemed to end. We will never drive through Oklahoma City again on I-40.
Going through town was worth it since we found a great over-night spot in our Casino RV book. We have stopped for the night at the Firelake Grand Casino at exit 178. They have electric and water hook-ups and a dump station. The casino is large and we left winners. The RV lot is small, 20 spaces, but free if you sign up for a players card. So we won all around!
DH found a part of the motorhome on the floor while DW was fixing dinner. Probably many more parts to come after that rock and roll ride through Oklahoma City. Off to Arkansas tomorrow.
DW = Kathy
2007 Seneca 35 GS
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ronfisherman
SE Michigan
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Nice report.
We traveled US69 in Oklahoma this spring. Same kind of roads. Must be a OK thing to have rough roads. 
2004 Gulf Stream Endura 6340 D/A
TST tire pressure monitor system
Kodiak Chassis Class C Rally July 15th -18, 2010
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marknpat
Colorado
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Enjoyed the trip report - hope this is just the first installment. Drive safe and keep us up to date on your trip. Mark and Pat
Mark and Pat
09 Itasca Cambria 28B
08 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited (TOAD)
06 Jeep GC Overland 4x4 5.7 Hemi
"Fun is standard, Pavement is optional" JEEP
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katvans
Cave Creek, AZ
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Big Brown Jug’s First Cross Country Voyage - Day Three
We left the Firelake Casino on Monday morning and traffic was light on I-40. Before we left, we dumped the motor home in their free dump station, filled up the tank with cheap gas (no sales tax) and received a three cent discount for DW’s player’s card. On the way out the door, they told DH to help himself to a free soda and coffee for me. What a great time we had at Firelake, too bad it was only one night.
We shook, rattled and rolled our way out of Oklahoma. Arkansas was better, but not great. Again, we both noticed how few motor homes and trailers are on the road.
DH wanted to drive to the other side of Memphis before we stopped for the night. Our “Free Campgrounds” book was for the Western states, so Tennessee was not included. We looked through our tour books and couldn’t locate anything suitable. We stopped at a station that advertised travel information, but they did not have any maps or camping information. We then stopped at the first Travel Center we found, it was closed. It does not open on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Guess everyone traveling on the weekends and Monday know where they are going in Tennessee. The next rest stop had travel information, but they were out of camp guides and the attendant was not leaving the phone in his office to go get any.
DW pulled out the computer and had internet access as we drove towards Jackson. She located the best camp spot ever! Natchez Trace State Resort Park is located at exit 116 in Tennessee. Covering 15,000 acres, it is wooded and the roads are paved. We are camped tonight on one of the three lakes. This is a true find. The next time we are bringing our boat. The site has full hook ups and costs $25 per night. Things happen for a reason. All the aggregation to find this place was well worth it.
DW plans on a later start tomorrow, can’t waste this lake and the scenery. Then we will be finishing off Tennessee and on to North Carolina.
Here are a few pictures - DW = Kathy
The Casino camp spot in Shawnee Oklahoma
Memphis skyline on the way in
Camp spot at Natchez Trace State Park
The lake at Natchez
mod edit: reduced picture size to width=480
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marknpat
Colorado
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Looking forward to your next report - great pictures!!
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TyroneandGladys
Chandler AZ
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The bad news on the condtion of I40 in Oklahoma is it is one of the better roaads in the state.
Tyrone
50 years in Oklahoma before going to AZ
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JTCHess
Woodbridge, VA
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Kathy, don't discount staying at Cracker Barrels along your journey. We have several times and it has worked out great!
John
2008 Winnebago 31C Outlook, Chevy Chassis
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bumpus4
Tn
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We go to NTSP which is 30 miles from NT. It is only 2 hrs from home in nw tn. At the times we were in our tt but now we have a Senece like yours. On both trips there we found it restful with plenty of security. Big clean restrooms and a dump at each site. Has a firing range, free boat tours of the big lake. Plenty of kids but were well mannered. We'll go back after the 4th after we leave the TVA campground at the Pickwick lock and dam.
Have a very good trip.
How is your Seneca on mph? And how about the senery east of N'ville in the hills?
tks, bumpus4
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katvans
Cave Creek, AZ
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Big Brown Jug’s First Cross Country Voyage - Day Four
Tuesday morning was beautiful as DW walked around the camp at Natchez, wanting to stay a few more days. This was not to be, DH has a destination.
We drove around the park to the lodge, boat ramp and and trailer parking area. Driving the eleven miles out of the park to I-40, we saw two deer and lots of vine vegetation. The vines seem to be taking over the forest.
We did check our mileage, in response to a question, it was 7.45. Not as good as we would like, but the diesel engine has only 13,000 and DH feels we will get better mileage when we hit 20,000.
Driving on the freeway, it was over three hours before we saw more than one motor home. Very sparse recreational travel out there. Semi travel is heavy. Tennessee has some interesting state parks, Toad Suck and Frozen Head to name a few. They are very well marked on the highway with their amenities included on the signs, with plenty of notice when the exit is approaching. We drove with no problems through Nashville and Knoxville and enjoyed the scenery at the Great Smoky Mountains. The Seneca had no trouble going up through the mountains.
Having left the well-signed freeway in Tennessee, we were surprised by the no-sign freeway in North Carolina. Ready to stop for the night, we assumed that we would be able to find a state park easily. This was not the case. With our experience of the travel centers being closed in Tennessee over the weekend and Monday, we were fairly confident to find them open on Tuesday in North Carolina. We were wrong, North Carolina has chosen Tuesday to be closed. (We certainly can't complain, since we found out this morning that Arizona has closed almost all of its State Parks). We exited at Morganton, with no luck, even on the computer and Good Sam. We drove into town, asked questions and got no answers. Back to the internet, we found James Lake. Luckily we found on the website that there are walk-in campsites only and that it is quite a drive.
A Google search found us a great spot in Hickory. Set back in the forest, we spent the night at Indian Springs. A small, beautiful camp with one pull through available. The couple running the camp ground are very nice and keep a well kept, enjoyable camp. Too bad we could not enjoy the catch and release pond or a hike on the river, but we did get a chance to walk around the property before dark.
I will leave you with a few pictures.
DW = Kathy
The vines at Natchez
Catch and release at Indian Spring
Into the Smokeys
Too late for a hike on the river
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edited 07/01/09 09:43am by an administrator/moderator *
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ronfisherman
SE Michigan
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Another great report. Like the campgrounds you have picked.
7.45 mpg is low for a Kodiak D/A. I do not see a toad in your pictures. We tow over 4000 lbs and manage to stay just over 10 mpg average over 40,000 miles. This includes trips through the Rockies. We do keep speeds between 55 and 65 MPH. Avg 60 most of the time. Ours has a sweet spot about 62 mph that does not make trans downshift to often.
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