Goodbye Louisiana, Hello Texas

Left River View Campground about 7:45 a.m.  Yesterday we scouted out a place to fill up the motorhome and a route to that place so that is where we headed.  We were able to get gas at a Shell station on Route 425 which is the highway we wanted to take to I-20W.  US Route 425 was a four-lane divided highway and we enjoyed the scenery of small towns and cotton and soy bean fields.  It was sad to see the main streets of most of the small towns fill with old empty storefronts.  I could imagine fifty years ago, these stores would be filled with people doing their weekly shopping and visiting with neighbors.  I have memories of those times on the streets of small rural towns.

Today we drove  through Shreveport, Louisiana.  I-20 west roads were terrible.  They are the worse so far on this trip.  Besides terrible roads, Shreveport seems to be the Las Vegas of Louisiana.  I don't know how many casinos we saw downtown and along the river but we saw Sam's Town and The Horseshoe which I know that we have seen in Las Vegas.  There were several others, as well.  I think the city should take some of the money they are making from the casinos and repair their roads.

We stopped at the Texas Welcome Center for a good paper map of Texas and what other brochures and pamphlets we  could find that related to the places we planned to travel to.  

We were very surprised to find a small café at the rest area.  Since it was noon, we decided to get a sandwich and eat in the motorhome.

Carol ordered the shrimp, fried green tomato, and bacon po'boy.  The sandwich also had slaw on it along with their special sauce.  I am not quite as adventuresome so I got the BLT on a croissant.  Both were delicious.

It began to rain as we were leaving the rest area...again!  A few miles down the road, traffic came to a halt and then inched it's way west until we could see that the cause for the delay was an accident.  These two cars were on the left side of the road.

This car as already being towed away and we were very sad to see that a motorhome with a toad was also involved.

The truck was involved as well.

We are hoping that since we didn't see or hear an ambulance, injuries were minor.

This is our spot (#22) for the next five nights and four days.  We are camped at Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park, Terrill, Texas.  We have a nice concrete pad and don't feel too close to other RVs.  The showers are wonderful and the staff very nice. The only negative is that fact that the county or state has scraped the road to the park down to the bare ground so it can be completely repaved.  It has been raining so we drove very, very slowly for about a mile on gravel and mud.  Of course, the car and motorhome picked up that mud.  Carol has a really hard time with a dirty car but it would do no good to wash it because it would just get dirty every time we traveled on the road.  The park has a no car/RV washing policy so both will have to stay muddy for awhile!

It was a nice evening so we sat outside for awhile and the Texas sky treated us with this beautiful sunset.  The top picture was taken toward the west and the bottom one toward the east.

It will be good to be in one place for a few days.  Tomorrow we are going to the First Monday Market in Canton, Texas or as it is better known as "The Largest Flea Market in the US."  I hope our feet are up to the challenge of a flea market that big!