2017 Winter In Texas

[JEBar]

as has become our custom, we plan to return to Texas for the winter .... most of our time will be spent at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe and Colorado River CG's .... our preliminary preparations are well underway ... reservations made, our Sportchassis has been serviced, and a new front tire has been installed .... we are looking forward to getting back down there .... if we happen to be in an area near one of our members, we'd be delighted to link up .... we will taking and posting pictures along the way ....

our trip schedule :

1-12-17 ... Home to Heritage RV Park, Augusta, Ga .... http://www.heritagervpark.com/.... projected 282 miles / 4 hr 14 min

1-13-17 ... Augusta to Sherling Lake RV Park, Greenville, AL ....http://www.greenville-alabama.com/Defau ... rling+Lake .... projected 339 mi / 4 h 46 min

1-14-17 ... Greenville to Baton Rouge KOA, Denham Springs, LA ....http://koa.com/campgrounds/baton-rouge/ .... projected 314 mi / 4 h 26 min

1-15-17 ... Denham Springs to Thousand Trails Lake Conroe, Willis Tx .... https://www.thousandtrails.com/texas/la ... ng-resort/ .... 294 mi / projected 4 h 46 min

1-15-17 to 2-5-17 ... at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe Campground

2-5-17 ... Willis to Thousand Trails Colorado River Campground, Columbus, TX .... https://www.thousandtrails.com/texas/co ... ampground/ .... projected 117 mi / 1 h 45 min

2-5-17 to 2-20-17 ... at Thousand Trails Colorado River Campground .... at this point we will be the furthest west .... projected 1,349 miles / 19 h 57 min from home .... historically supplementary running around adds hundreds of additional miles

2-20-17 ... back to Thousand Trails Lake Conroe Campground .... projected 117 mi / 1 h 45 min

2-20-17 to 3-13-17 ... at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe Campground

3-13-17 ... Willis to ????

shown below, our rig as it sits in the back yard today ... that pictures shows one reason we are looking forward to being in Texas

[Henry88]

Wow, that's a big rig JEBar,

Craziest drivers I ever saw, down there by Laredo/Nuevo Laredo. I mean ANYTHING goes, many are outlaws few have licenses/citizenship, etc.

[Deadwood Dutch]

That is a beautiful rig that you have there and quite an itinerary. Thanks for all the links, looks like a lot of fun!

[JEBar]

Wow, that's a big rig JEBar,

the camper is a 2006 and the truck is a 2007 .... the camper has been in all of the lower 48 states and the truck has been to most of them .... as can be seen below, at one time it was even longer ... a few years back we towed a golf cart on a trailer behind our camper .... the reason we stopped doing so is the wide differences in towing laws of the various states .... since then we carry a 160 qt. Yeti cooler on a carrier on the back of our camper

[DWD445]

Pretty busy schedule there JEBar, got any range time in the plans??

[JEBar]

I do plan to take three (2 rifles, 1 shotgun) to a gunsmith in Texas .... my Henry 45-70, our oldest son's 12 ga Remington 11-87, and our youngest son's Ruger M77 30-06 .... all three will be going in for recoil pad upgrades and the addition of Mercury Recoil Suppressors .... doing so was a Christmas Present to our sons and to myself .... I've found one place to shoot near where we will be at Lake Conroe, Creekwood Shooting Sports ===> http://www.creekwoodshootingsports.com/ with pistol and trap ranges .... the problem is, for me, its pretty expensive .... I'd sure like to know of a place where I could fire our Henry 45-70

[Catherine]

Have fun and stay safe!

Cate

[dasmoeturhead]

Wow!, that's some rig you got there. We spent the winter down in Texas a couple of years ago. I actually bought my pickup down in McCallum Tx, South Padre Island, Corpus Christi. Bought my AR-15 down in Laredo. Big Bend and Terlinqua was awesome also. Sounds like your going to have fun, and be in some decent weather for the winter. I'd like to be down there also, but its not in the cards this winter . Safe travels.

[JEBar]

nice looking Landmark .... my second career was in RV Sales .... we didn't handle that line so while I've seen them I don't know much about them .... I have friends with Heartland campers, most seem to be happy with them .... we enjoy spending the winters in Texas .... we are members of Thousand Trails which makes it possible ===> https://www.thousandtrails.com/ .... our $600 a year dues provides us with 50 days in their parks ($12 a day) and when we go over 50, it cost us an additional $5 a day .... we can't stay home in NC and run our home for that .... if anyone is interested in looking into Thousand Trails, please send me a PM .... my only connection with them is that of a person who has been with them since 2002 .... they are a good outfit but as with any organization, some aspects favor their members, some don't ....

[Les]

JEBar, that is definitely the way to go camping! What a fantastic looking rig. I can imagine the look on any campsite owner's face over here if that ever pulled through the gates!

[JEBar]

1-12-17 ... anyone who has followed our travels has, no doubt, heard me mention that once our plans are absolute and final, they remain subject to change at any second .... finished packing this morning, locked up the house, got in the truck, turned the key and it sounded like the batteries were down .... the truck has built in battery 1.2V battery maintainer which has been plugged in for weeks .... decided to hookup our 12A battery charger .... the truck's battery bank is buried under the cab so I looked for a place to hook it up under the hood .... found one that made sense to me .. .. charger seemed to be working .... tried to crank the truck, battery still too weak .... mistakenly knocked one of the charger connections loose and reconnected it .... turned key, dash went totally dead .... figured I must have blown a fuse .... checked all 3 of the truck's fuse boxes ... all fuses were good .. .. called Sportchassis and was patched in to speak with one of their Techs who works on them .... learned of a 4th fuse bank. buried under the cab on top of the batteries .... who knew :sack: .... called our local independent mechanic who came right over .... he isolated the bad fuse .... thankfully the first auto parts I went to had them in stock (yes, we now have a spare) .... replaced the fuse and all's good .... too late to head out today, all reservations changed again .... hope to get on the road in the morning ..

[JEBar]

JEBar, that is definitely the way to go camping! What a fantastic looking rig. I can imagine the look on any campsite owner's face over here if that ever pulled through the gates!

across the country rigs like ours aren't uncommon .... from the reading I've done, campers in Europe are usually much more compact .... the camper itself is 36' long .... many motorhomes 5th wheels are 40' to 50' long .... the Sportchassis has the same wheel base as a standard long bed dually .... the thing that makes it look so big is its height .... the positive thing about the height is, its easy to find in the parking lot when you come out of the door of Walmart .. .. the reason for the truck is ride ... with the cab, seats, and suspension all air assisted, traveling across country doesn't subject you to the jolts from rough roads .... its window sticker is about twice that of a well equipped one ton dually but it will outlast a bunch of them .... it didn't come with a manual, it came with a library .... as but one example, outside of standard service, the first mention of anything needing to be done to the motor is at a half million miles to change the bearing on the bottom of the pistons .... we've had it for 10 years and it has served us well .... when we no longer need it, we will put it up for sale and somebody will get a really good truck

[CT_Shooter]

Subject to change is a common plan in my world, too. Happy trails, JEBar!

[JEBar]

last summer when we got ready to leave South Dakota the camper's battery died .... at 5AM a couple of days later we had to make an emergency evacuation to avoid rising flood waters .. .. without a good camper battery we would not have been able to hookup the camper .... our daughter told us that the battery going bad when it did was a sign .... she now says blowing that fuse this morning was a sign that we weren't supposed to leave today .... don't know is she's right but we plan to leave tomorrow ..

[CT_Shooter]

... she now says blowing that fuse this morning was a sign that we weren't supposed to leave today .... don't know is she's right but we plan to leave tomorrow .

If everything for everyone was some kind of a cosmic warning sign, no one would ever want to get out of bed in the morning to see them. But, if you need to use that spare you bought today, well then maybe that IS a sign of a real problem. Good luck and all green lights ahead.

[JEBar]

I hope that this time tomorrow I'll be checking in on the forum from Augusta, Georgia ...

[dasmoeturhead]

Keep us posted.

[JEBar]

If everything for everyone was some kind of a cosmic warning sign, no one would ever want to get out of bed in the morning to see them.

understood ... the real reason we didn't leave today is pretty simple .... by the time the repairs were complete, we couldn't have reached our destination before dark .... while we can do so and sadly will probably have to do so again, we make every effort when going to an area with which we aren't familiar to not have to drive through congested areas, park our camper, and then setup after dark ....

[JEBar]

1-13-17 .... we have arrived and are setup in Heritage RV Park in Augusta, Ga .... I-95 south of where it crosses into SC from NC hasn't improved .... it appears SC's Transportation folks are still dedicated to repairing low spots in the concrete sections with speed bumps .... in addition, they owe an apology to folks who have to travel several sections of I-20 .... absolutely terrible .... due to bridge repair on I-95 just south of the the Latta Flying J exit, we chose to take a detour .... in doing so we probably did save some time over trying to get through a 10+ mile backup and we got to see some different country .... we filled the truck for the first time in over 800 miles at that Flying J .... averaged 9.9 mpg which is about normal .... thankfully the drive went well, camper and truck seemed to perform as normal

[BigAl52]

Wish I was there with you. I like to go to Corpus and Port Aransas. Ive also been to Kemah and stayed right on the gulf. I have a favorite place to eat close to Kemah called the top water grill. Wish I was there now as its a hell of alot warmer than it is here. Al