OK, so it’s been awhile.  I know.  I thought I no longer needed the self-therapy of writing blog posts, but Karen has convinced me that my mental instability is in dire need of some serious assistance – she has informed me I am neither stable or a genius.  WTF.

We headed west (from Atlanta) to join up with friends, see some sights, and probably do some stupid stuff.  You wouldn’t expect less.  I mean, you could expect more, but if you did then you wouldn’t be reading this blog – you’d be reading someone else’s.  Kind of like a train wreck – you just can’t look away.

For our first night, we stopped at Roosevelt State Park, perhaps 30 minutes west of Meridien, MS, and only a mile or two off of I-20.  This place is great!  Aside from beautiful sites overlooking Shadow Lake, the sites are reasonably private, are on level (pretty level) pads, with full hookup sites offered to old-timers (like yours truly) for $16 per night.  There are hiking trails here that look great, although we are here strictly for an overnight stay, so no exploring – this time.  Here are a few shots from at or near our campsite – we’ll be back!

We’ve got a lot planned on this trip… heading first towards the Airstream park in Texas, then Waco, Austin, Marathon, Big Bend, and Marfa before heading into whatever state comes next after leaving Texas.  I think it’s Morocco – or Switzerland; I always get them confused.

Thought I didn’t know, did you?  Well, you’d be wrong.  Because I have me a good ole National Geographic Road Atlas.  I paid extra for the “Adventure Edition”, which means they only show you 30% of the states and 50% of the roads… that’s the “Adventure” part of it.  Sweet.

We’ll head into New Mexico and Arizona after we have trashed Texas – we’ve got some really cool stuff planned, but I shouldn’t tell you because if I did then I’d have to kill you.  Besides, it’s safer if you don’t know – you can’t be called in as a witness at our hearing. Our next stop is at the Texas Airstream park in Hillsboro, TX – we’ll let you know how that goes.

We ended up traveling the day across Interstate 20 through Mississippi, Louisiana, and into Texas.  Can I tell you about I-20?  Let me just say we almost always try to stay off the interstates as much as possible.

We traveled on I-20 through Jackson, MS and Shreveport, LA on our way.  Karen lost three fillings and I have been diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome.  This road and these cities are the worst!  We have traveled hundreds of miles on gravel roads in Alaska that are better than I-20 through these cities.  Avoid this road, at least through these cities.  In fact, avoid interstates at all – they add no value other than marginal convenience and perhaps a little speed.

We’ll report back soon as our travels unfurl.  Keep right except to pass!