Reset search
USA Road Trip 2013USA Road Trip 2013
SatelliteEdit route

USA Road Trip 2013

August 2013
Hi there and we welcome you to follow our RV trip across the USA commencing on the 7th August 2013. The trip has been planned for nearly 9 months now as part of our daughter returning to her US University where she studies on her sporting scholarship Read more
  • 29footprints
  • 2countries
  • 27days
  • 0photos
  • 0videos
  • 56.9kkilometers
  • 28.4kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 10

    Day 5, Odessa, Texas

    August 11, 2013 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today we travelled from El Paso to Odessa. The scenery changed from desert with mountains on most sides to plains with nothing as far as you could see. We eventually started seeing the oil derricks which let us know we were definitely in Texas. We stopped and had a look at the Meteor Crater at Odessa, where of all things I met an Australian Cattle dog called Roxy. Her master told me she was the best dog he had ever had. Tomorrow we head to DallasRead more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 10

    Big Springs, Texas

    August 11, 2013 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Day Five - Got away to a good start this morning and then straight to a Macca's so we could get some decent Internet access as the wi-fi at the RV park was pretty weak and probably a lot of users so couldn't get much done there.

    As we travelled, the RV was sitting pretty steady as can be seen by the speedo snap attached. The oil fields continued on in abundance for the next 100 miles or so, but then once we passed Big Springs towards Colorado City it suddenly stopped and was replaced by wind Turbines, thousands of them. It was so much like the old generation of power and fuel handing over to the next generation of wind turbine power, pretty ominous I thought and at the same time so futuristic and good for all concerned. The shift from old ancient fossil fuels to the new unlimited supply of wind power.

    The landscapes also started to change moving again towards more greenery and trees, undulations in the land, so different from the dead flat areas of the oil fields. We were now up into the higher lands away from the ancient inland seas that once occupied these areas and created the oil fields.

    Lunchtime came and we took advantage of our mobile hotel environment and made use of one of the many roadside rest areas, cooked up a hearty hamburger and a cuppa. Sitting having lunch in our air-conditioned RV and just watching the world go by through the windows was really restful, and start wondering what the different drivers in the vehicles passing by had on their minds.

    Where were they headed, what was their agenda for the day, so many heavy big rigs on the road (a big 10-4 there good buddy in their 18 wheelers). Were they married with families, where were they from, were they single maybe. We don't see that much big rig traffic in OZ on a Sunday, but here it just seemed like business as usual as they trundled on by to disperse their loads from coast to coast.

    The clear blue desert sky's were now starting to bundle up some cloud formations as we moved further east, just some light fluffy cumulus clouds, but none the less, cotton wool in the sky. Just an hour and half from Dallas now and once there we'll find an RV park close to the Dallas depot of El Monte RV so we can get some steering and aircon issues sorted first thing Monday morning.

    Arrived into the Dallas area around 4:30 and joined the peak hour traffic (thank god it was Sunday afternoon) but still pretty heavy and the motorways around the city centre had lanes as narrow as they are in Sydney. Our big RV just fit in the lanes and with the slack steering problem we are having made it a little tough to keep the thing in a straight line in the narrow lanes, but with the amazing negotiation skills of the driver it became a breeze.

    RV parks are scarce around the Dallas area unless you head out through the outskirts and into the country areas. The nearest park we could find was over 50k from the city centre, but just 28k from where we had to take the RV for the steering check.

    Upon arrival at the RV park the episode started that would have made a tremendous funniest home video. We selected a site to setup camp and plugged into the mains, set down the jacks and opened out the slides. We then noticed that the aircon units kept cutting in and out, so the first assumption was that the power outlet was tripping and resetting and we may have been on too low a power outlet for our RV. So in with the slides, up with the jacks and off to another site.

    Got to that site and the power outlet plug did not fit our van so off we went to another site to hookup only to find that sites power outlet wasn't working at all. Upon further investigation it was decided that our RV was the correct power for the first original site and we returned to there to hookup again.

    Once all re-connected our aircon problem retuned so as a last resort I decided to open the vehicle manual only to discover that we were not supposed to run both roof aircon at the same time, oops. Turned one off and then the cut-out problem ceased, amazing that, the wonders of technology. Why wasn't there an iPhone app to fix the problem, there is for everything else.

    OK, finally settled in, chairs out and open a beer, OH NO, the beers warm. Turns out the gas pilot light had gone out so when we were driving the fridge was not powered, b*****, no cold beer, arrghhh.

    That's it, so a semi cold beer, some dinner, and off to bed for an early start tomorrow.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 11

    Day 6, Dallas, Texas

    August 12, 2013 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    Day Six - An early start today to get the vehicle back in to the Dallas depot to see if anything can be done about the alignment to stop the shaking at certain speeds. Arrived and they treated us superbly, not necessarily with the answers we really wanted to hear, but at least very courteously.

    The vehicle was being taken immediately to the truck alignment place for them to start work and hopefully wouldn't need any parts, just an alignment. While we waited they drove us to somewhere to have some breakfast and then came back picked us up and took us to this incredible retailers outlet, the place was massive, everything big in Texas they say, no kidding.

    I got some Crocs, much to my daughters dismay, and the girls picked up some shoes and clothes at pretty good prices, although with our Aussie dollar exchange rate probably wasn't that cheap at all. I found a nice air conditioned food court to relax while the girls shopped.

    Time flew by as I waited for the call that the RV was ready but alas, it never came. By 11:30 I decided it was time for me to call them just to keep focus on our vehicle being finished and was told it was still at the wheel aligners and they would chase it up and get back to me, sure enough a call back straight away saying it would be about another hour or so. I kept a close eye on the time and did a fast calculation of circumstances.

    I called the depot and asked them to collect us and take us straight to the aligners for a quick getaway, and here was my thinking; the mechanics would finish the vehicle and move it outside, probably take another 15 minutes before completing the job sheet, 15 more before they called the depot to say it was ready, 5 for the depot to call us and say it was time to go, but then 10 more before the driver could get away to collect us from the shopping centre, 10 min to reach us and then another 10 to get to the aligners. Now by my calculation that would be an extra 1hr 5 mins before we got away.

    Hmmm, was I correct, sure enough the driver collected us straight away, we got to the aligners and the RV was sitting there waiting to go but they hadn't called the depot yet, am I good or what.

    Collected the RV and headed off for some quick phone issues to be sorted and then finally out of Dallas on the road by 4:00pm some 10 hours behind schedule. A quick discussion with the passengers and we decided we would drive through the night and catch up time to get back on schedule, agreed. Off we went and instead of Little Rock, Arkansas as our destination we dialled forward to Memphis Tennessee.

    The plan was that I would drive for a bit to get out of the big smoke and then Sue would jump in and get a feel for the vehicle while it was still daylight. Now, I am braver than most and prepared to try anything, but placing someone behind the wheel of a 34ft class A Motorhome for the first time in their life having driven nothing bigger than a Ford Fairlane was leaving me rather anxious. Remember this vehicle had some steering issues, which by the way had not been fixed by the wheel alignment, thus the lost day was just that, a needless lost day. Now back to the learner driver, nerves were good, effort was excellent but the over correction of steering was leaving me with heart palpitations. I was just settling when an overtaking manoeuvre was required, holy cow, that was it for me, find the next exit and let me out, lol. I think Sue got about 30 minutes behind the wheel, but I decided I was the worlds worst passenger and had to get back behind the wheel. All said though she did a pretty impressive job for a first timer.

    Now here I am at 10:30pm at Macca's for a late dinner some 50 miles outside of Memphis. We'll make our way in closer to Memphis and settle down for the night at a rest stop and then tomorrow we will be ready to visit the fabled Gracelands Mansion, so looking forward to that, so good night for now and check back tomorrow for some snaps of Gracelands.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 12

    Day 7, Gracelands, Memphis, Tennessee

    August 13, 2013 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Day Seven - doing the drive straight through to Memphis was an excellent plan as it had us at Graceland right on opening time ready for a great day.

    Having never really been an avid Elvis fan it still seemed wrong to not visit Graceland while in the area, and I must say it was a rather overwhelming experience. The mansion is still as it was when Elvis died back in 1977, and the upstairs area was closed to the public just as it was when Elvis was alive. It was always considered his private family area and no one was ever permitted upstairs other than direct family. So as a sign of respect these wishes are still observed till this day.

    We toured through the rest of the mansion and saw all the areas that were the day to day living spaces of Elvis and his entourage, things were alive 24 hours a day with people coming and going day and night and even the kitchen had full time staff preparing food throughout the day and night. The place has an Erie feeling about it, almost as if you could feel his presence their even today, it was Elvis through and through. His jungle room and tv rooms were just amazing with the furniture and fitment within them.

    Entering his trophy room was incredible, this room appears like it was done as a memorial to Elvis but in fact was already there when he was alive as a living memory of his experiences. The man was incredibly generous and on one wall in a display corridor were cheques written out to people that had been donated back many years later for the display after his passing. He would buy cars, houses, pay out debts etc. for completely unknown strangers just because they were in need, unbelievable.

    Stepping into his indoor handball court was the final culmination of his achievements. The walls were covered with just some of his gold and platinum album awards, floor to ceiling, and this room was so overwhelming as to his life and personal life of giving that I had to actually leave the room and step outside, really strange. Nothing has ever touched me like the visit to Graceland. It should be a must on everyone's agenda when visiting the area whether an Elvis fan or not. I can only imagine what it must do to those that were avid Elvis fans, and I now have an all new understanding of those mad Elvis fans that revisit every year on the anniversary of his death. This year is the 36th anniversary and the premises were setup for National Elvis week, a week long celebration of his life and achievements with live re-enactments of his Vegas concerts. If we had arrived here 3 days later the place would have been packed with worshippers.

    We went aboard the Lisa Marie, his private jet that is also parked on the premises, and it was one of only a couple of private jets owned by celebrities back in the '60's, completely decked out in the finest leather and all metal buckles and taps were covered in 24 carat gold.

    Well 4 hours was enough as we had to hit the road again and start making our way towards Atlanta. We headed off from Graceland and used a different navigation program on the iPhone as my iPad was playing up, talk about going round in circles.

    The google maps application on the iPhone had me leaving motorways to go down another motorway, exiting, re-entering on the other side to re-join the original motorway we just exited, hilarious, not to mention frustrating. Anyway soon were well out of Memphis and through Birmingham to a lovely quiet RV park set in the middle of the Talladaga forest, just beautiful and the sounds of frogs and crickets was relaxing music to go to sleep by.

    So it's been a long couple of days with the drive though etc. so getting an early night to catch up on some sleep.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 13

    Day 8, Bass Lake, South Carolina

    August 14, 2013 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Day Eight - Left our cosy little spot in the middle of whoop whoop and continued on toward North Carolina. We weren't sure about timing and didn't want to get to North Carolina too late in the evening so decided that we would travel about 4 or 5 hours and then find a nice spot with say 2 hrs left for the final leg to NC tomorrow.
    Copped a fair bit of rain today so was not too suitable for sight seeing so the only stops we made were for some shopping in Atlanta so the girls could get some retail therapy, and the few meal stops. Took our time today after the night driving episode the other day and enjoyed the beautiful countryside of Georgia. It is almost like being in another world with all the fur tree forests that cover the undulating landscape. This is a really beautiful area of the US and such a contrast to the flat desert areas of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Dallas was really the end of the desert area where the greenery really started and as we moved east through Tennessee and Georgia into South Carolina the magnificent treed areas were so beautiful.
    So we sorted ourselves with a refuel, checked generator oil etc. and sought out a nice RV park again in the forests and found this amazing location at Bass Lake, South Carolina.
    The park didn't have a lot of RV's there and was really quiet with sprawling lawns and huge pine trees. Got ourselves a good spot and settled in after doing all our hook-up.
    Tomorrow will be the day that I catch up with an old mate from my Air Force days that I have not seen in over 40 years. Last year at our RAAF 40 year reunion the boys managed to get a Skype hook-up with Enzo in the United States, that's where he lives now in North Carolina. So in the morning it will be a quick unhook and off for the next 2 hours drive, so we thought. We checked out the google maps and turns out we stopped just 45 minutes short of his destination, just can't trust those google maps.
    Alright off for a bit of tv before hitting the sack and looking forward to tomorrow. Night for now.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 14

    Day 9, St Pauls, North Carolina

    August 15, 2013 in the United States ⋅ 18 °C

    Day Nine - Had a bit of a sleep in due to our morning session only being about 45 minutes to St Pauls. Along the way through South Carolina we kept seeing all these billboards talking about a place South Of The Border, almost seemed like it was talking about somewhere in Mexico with all the Mexican style paraphernalia on the billboards.

    Turns out it was a stop area just south of the North Carolina border and had a small theme park and tons of tourist style outlets in a total Mexican theme. She took some pics of the area and it was quite interesting so we stopped there for a while and did the tourist thing, shopped. Take a look at the pics.

    With that out of the way we moved on towards St Pauls and the reunion with my RAAF mate that I had not seen since 1973, wow, now that is some reunion.

    Enzo had this lovely country place surrounded by beautiful forests, such a gorgeous area. When we pulled into his driveway in the RV it took a minute or so and he came out the front door, looked just like he did back in the '70's, just a little older. It was so good seeing him as our mate-ship came to a very sudden end in 1973 after Enzo was involved in a car accident which left him seriously injured, he was in hospital for many months and discharged from the RAAF on medical grounds. I went on for the next 40 years not knowing what had happened to Enzo, and what state of health he was in. So therefore it was fantastic to see him well, and very successful in his chosen field.

    A very successful author, professor of history and English, with a Masters Degree and imminent submission of a paper for his Phd. World travelled and speaking 7 languages. Wow, now that is success.

    We headed off for lunch at a lovely local restaurant named the Cracker Barrel, and in somewhat southern hospitality we enjoyed a beautiful lunch and bounced around old memories of our RAAF apprentice days and some of the mischievous things we got up to that I had completely forgotten about.

    After lunch Enzo took us on a tour of his area and the hamlet of St Pauls and district. Seeing the different areas of North Carolina and hearing the history behind the area was amazing. Enzo being a historian had some amazing information about the region from back in the pre-civil war years and then the demise of the area and loss of jobs when the tobacco industry wound up due to tobacco no longer being a viable labour reliant crop after the introduction of higher technology processes. The area became very much a retirement area with virtually no work and many people moved off to other areas.

    We finished our day with the completion of the assembly of Enzo's new garden shed. He had been putting this together over a couple of weeks but many things were too difficult to complete with just one set of hands, so we knuckled down and got the roof on and finished off all the assembly of the shed. Karen came home with a smile on her face once she saw the completed shed and now stuff could be relocated from the house to the shed.

    A quick spruce up and off to an hilarious evening at the local Outback Restaurant which is amazingly a massive hit with the locals being in love of all things Australian.

    Our waitress Millie was just ecstatic that she was getting to look after a table of real Aussies, she said she had never got to serve Aussie cuisine to Aussie's. Enzo and I gave her a real hard time with some ridiculous Aussie humour and she lapped it up as she was the centre of attention from all the other staff having Aussies on her table.

    Well a great day and so great knowing that Enzo is well and has succeeded so well in life and loves with a passion what he does, to some degree I'm a little envious.

    Off to bed for a driving stint to the nations capital tomorrow, Washington DC.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 15

    Day 10, Washington DC, Maryland

    August 16, 2013 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Day Ten - So after a an early farewell and a pact that it wasn't going to be another 40 years until our next reunion we headed off from St Pauls toward the capital Washington DC.

    The drive was pretty good with just a couple of light showers and the road traffic was good until we got closer to DC and then the dreaded traffic started. Many people had warned us that the DC traffic even on the motorways was pretty crook but didn't imagine just how bad.

    Nearly an hour outside of the CBD and it started, slow bumper to bumper traffic that stopped and started with no real reason for it, stopped and crawling for miles to suddenly open up and doing 50 mph again and then suddenly to a stop again.

    Well we finally got there around 4:30 and made our way into the Cherry Hill campground about 16 miles on the north side of DC. This was amazing park, with 2 pools, outdoor theatre, cinema room, cafe's, putt putt golf etc. the list went on, a really well put together park.

    After getting ourselves all hooked up we headed off on the bus which came right into the campground to catch the train into town. After a quick 20 minute train trip into the subway we disembarked at Archives Central right in the heart of the city and just near the small Chinatown they had there.

    Now with all the travel apps you can download from the apple store we put together a self guided walking trip around DC. Heading off we first visited that most famous address of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House.

    Well we sent a text message to my mate Barack to catch up but he was disappointed that he couldn't catch up with us due to business of national importance, but took a rain check for next time.

    Continuing on we visited the Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Capitol Hill, etc. until eventually we figured we could eat the crutch out of a rag doll so it was time to eat.

    At Bec's insistence we went to a Subway style eatery named Chipotle, based on all spicy Mexican food and I must say it was quite enjoyable even though I didn't put enough sauces on mine which made it a bit dry.

    Now silly old me did not tie my shoe laces tight enough for such a long walk and subsequently agitated an old motorcycle injury in my foot and soon walking became quite difficult, so mummy Bec decided it was time to head back to the train and head back to Cherry Hill.

    Off we went and got home for a restful sleep. Tomorrow would be our final leg for Bec getting her back to her home in Youngstown, and back to the duties of a scholarship student athlete.

    Good night for now and speak again soon.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 16

    Day 11, Youngstown, Ohio

    August 17, 2013 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Day Eleven - We planned to get out of Washington early to beat the traffic but when we slept in it became a non option.

    It seemed a much smarter idea to leave it a little later to get out after the peak hour rush. Only one problem, the peak hour never ends in Washington.

    This was going to be Bec's last day with us once we got back to Youngstown. Once there she would be on campus and moving into her new apartment with her room mate Shannon. Took a rest stop and looked for an RV park in or near Youngstown to settle ourselves down for a few days, absolutely nothing closer than 24miles (40k) which was a bummer.

    Oh well it was that or sleep in a Walmart carpark but they normally only allow single night stopovers. So we headed out to Country Acres campground and we were very pleasantly surprised. It had tons of things to do on the lake and even activities for kids and adults, a great place.

    Youngstown is an old wealth town from the last century and the mid 1900's that went into decline with the closing down of the steel industry back in the 80's with much of the population moving out into the outer lying hamlets (suburbs) where all the growth had been with shopping centre's and other industries. To this day the centre of Youngstown looks like a ghost town, but the University is slowly buying up a lot of the city area due to its expansion into greater technology industries. As the new gas industries explode in the area Youngstown will be reborn so a lot of opportunity exists here for those entrepreneurial spirits willing to take a chance.

    After dropping Bec off at campus we headed to our park and settled in with the van. Bec's coach Nick and his wife came out to collect us and we went to a lovely Italian restaurant in the local township of Ravenna. Was a lovely night and great to catch up again. Dropped us back and we got an early night as tomorrow we needed to head to the airport and pickup a cheap hire car for the 4 days we were going to be in the area.

    So good night and see you all tomorrow.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 17

    Day 12, Youngstown, Ohio

    August 18, 2013 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Day Twelve - This morning was a sleep in day as we only needed to head into town by midday to collect a Budget hire car to get around for a few days so we could just leave the RV hooked up in the campground, much simpler that way than moving a 34ft Bus around the centre of a large city and university.

    We had Shannon's offer to come out and collect us to head back in to the airport which was the only place available to collect a hire car in the weekend, but with the distance they had to travel to get us I decided to make another plan of attack.

    What we chose to do was head into the airport in the RV to collect the car, take the RV back out to the campground and do a re-hookup and then head into town to help Bec with settling into her new apartment. Worked beautifully but meant we didn't get there till after 2:00pm, not to worry, got the shopping done and then met Shannon's parents at the apartment as well. They had come up from Pittsburgh to help the girls get settled and were a lovely couple that bend over backwards for the girls.

    Off to Target, a little bit different to the Targets we have in Australia, these stores are massive and carry a lot more variety. Collected all the things she needed for the apartment and then proceeded to head back there and assemble the bedroom items she chose to add to her room. Most main furniture items are provided on campus but some additional storage never goes astray.

    The car we got by the way was a Dodge Challenger, a mid size car but very nice to drive and quite a sporty looking thing, handles well too.

    Our day was pretty well taken up with helping Bec get settled and also to take a bit of a look around to see what sort of vehicle we may be able to pick up for her later on as a car really is a bit of a necessity due to most of the shops and resources being out of the centre areas now and out in the suburbs.

    By the time we got all that done it was pushing 9:00pm and I was ready for the sack, said our farewells and headed back out to the campsite. Into bed and tomorrow is another day.    Read more

  • Stafford Family TravelsUSA Road Trip 2013
    Day 18

    Day 13, Youngstown Ohio

    August 19, 2013 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Day Thirteen - A relaxing morning got us into YSU campus around 11:15am after we did a little shopping for some basic household toolkits the girls could use to do stuff around their apartment, also helped me in finishing off the assembly of some bedroom shelves and things with a real hammer and screwdriver. Putting shelves together with Phillips head star head screws and a flathead screwdriver, not to mention attempting to hammer in little tacks for the backboard with the back end of the same flathead screwdriver was just doing my head in yesterday. Therefore the tools were more for me today, not the girls. Hahaha.

    Oh dear now it seemed there was some more shopping needed to complete the bathroom requirements, mmmmm funny thing that. Ok, this time off to Walmart, man they are damn big shopping centres with nothing unavailable, a sort of combination of a Target, Bunnings, and Masters all in one, not to mention the Woolies supermarket for foodstuffs as well.

    Now back to the apartments to assemble the last few additions to the furniture list. With that our of the way it was time for a relaxing stroll around one of their major shopping malls while the girls had their nails done. OMG, these things are built for women only. Other than a couple of menswear stores there was nothing but clothes, shoes, beauty and hair, and food, not a damn thing that would be of any interest to a bloke, crikey, what's the world coming to?

    All I could do was find a coffee shop, a Gloria Jeans to get a good cup of coffee, the Americans have no idea how to make a good cup of coffee, and blow me down, it was nothing like a GJ's back home. The coffee was atrocious and all I ordered was an ordinary cappuccino.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English