March Trip reports

[MudQueen22]

For some reason, I was thinking you lived in Pearland. Austin is a long drive with a camper. (We love to take our camper to the hill country. We usually leave by 3am to beat the Houston traffic.)

I'm of two minds on how you should do it. Part of me wants to advise you to leave Pearland by 4:00 am and get through Beaumont and Orange before rush hour. I don't think you will have as much trouble in Orange in the morning as you will in the afternoon. Beaumont will be a booger-bear if you don't get there before the rush hour people leave for work, however.

The option to leave later in the evening would also work, but I'm not a fan of driving on I-10 and into Louisiana after dark. Louisiana likes to have a good time, and there is a whole lot of no-where between Orange and Lake Charles, and again between Lake Charles and Lafayette.

For us, we are staying overnight in Lafayette the first night so that we can get a head start over the Baton Rouge bridge.

If you can leave early enough to make it to Lafayette before dark, that would be a good plan. You would need to time it right.
There are some alternate routes, but I don't find the signage in my part of the state to be all that great. I would take them myself, but I would hate to tell you to take an alternate route and end up lost with a camper. Sometimes, it's better to be in heavy traffic and know where you are than to be moving along well but on the wrong road.

 

[tigger92662]

Same here, 2 weekends at home, then 3rd weekend we pull out for FW

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@team bradfield, which way are you head south through Illinois?

 

[team bradfield]

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@team bradfield, which way are you head south through Illinois?

I-39, I-74, I-57 to I-24, pick up I-75 at Chattanooga. We treat the drive down as part of our vacation, no hurry. We camp in Benton, IL, Cassville, GA, Ocala, FL then a short 75 mile drive to the Fort

 

[tigger92662]

I-39, I-74, I-57 to I-24, pick up I-75 at Chattanooga.

Just a heads up, trucker buddy of mine said 39 from about I88 down to Bloomington has some nasty potholes from the weather.
Might not be bad by the time you go, he says crews have been out patching.
Enjoy your trip

 

[team bradfield]

Just a heads up, trucker buddy of mine said 39 from about I88 down to Bloomington has some nasty potholes from the weather.
Might not be bad by the time you go, he says crews have been out patching.
Enjoy your trip

The rolling patching crews were out all week, I travel 39 to 88 2-3 times a week when I have to visit customers in the western burbs. Its bad all the way to I-80 actually. I can't comment on south of I-80 to I-55 as the DW was an operating engineer on the construction of that section in the 90's, operating a saw and compactor

I've posted on the Montana (RV) travel board, I-39 is the worst road in the country

 

[rideswithchrist]

Thanks @MudQueen22 ! I think we may try to pass through just into the evening, we don't like driving at night really and I can't imagine us getting up at 4AM. It may work out to sleep in and leave Pearland around 9am, hitting Beaumont before lunch though.
My parents are in Pearland, which is why we would possibly stop there the night before. Not sure yet though...honestly- if we are going to drive 3 hours, we might as well go 5.

 

[MudQueen22]

If you leave Pearland at 9, you could be in Beaumont by lunchtime and get out of Orange shortly thereafter. Honestly once you get to the Louisiana line, the highway opens up a lot.
If you want to stop at a restaurant in Beaumont, there is a Cracker Barrel at the Walden Road exit on your way into Beaumont. If you like fajitas, there is a Lupe Tortilla. You would need to take the College Street exit and make a u-turn. Both have some parking in the back. I've seen trucks and travel trailers in the back of Lupe Tortilla's parking lot.
If you're wanting to just have sandwiches from a cooler in your vehicle, there is a rest stop in Orange, but you would have to get into Louisiana and then turn around since its on the westbound side. I don't ever stop there since I live in Orange, but there are always lots of people there. They were building one on the Louisiana side that is eastbound, but I don't know if it's open yet or not. I will be driving through there tomorrow, and I'll reply back to this thread if it appears open.
If you get through Orange with your sanity, then you can likely make it to the Baton Rouge area by nightfall. (I-10 in Orange will either be wide open or at a stand still. May the odds be ever in your favor.) There is a KOA in Lafayette. We booked it for a future trip. There is also a KOA in Denham Springs, just east of Baton Rouge, should you be able to make it through Baton Rouge without pulling your hair out (I've never stayed there either, but it has been recommended by a few people). If it will be rush hour by the time you reach Baton Rouge, I would play safe and stay in either Lafayette or Breaux Bridge (Breaux Bridge was named for one of my ancestors, Pierre Firmin Breaux. He built a bridge there. I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the story. ).
Between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge is an 18 mile bridge over the Atchafalaya River Basin, aptly named the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. You'll want to stop and make the kids go to the restroom before reaching it. A good friend of mine learned that lesson the hard way.

I'm not sure if you have your overnight stops planned out or not. We booked ours since we're going in July so we can guarantee we have a spot since I'm too posh to dry camp in the south.

 

[rideswithchrist]

Checked the weather for that week (I know, a bit early haha)
Looks like we will stay in the 70's. That is just A-Ok with me, but I know the kids will want to swim some, so I'll have to suck it up, or at least stay close to the pool without getting wet.

 

[2rad4u]

Our first 2 days are showing to be 79 and 81! I can't wait, especially since the weather here now is horrible (rain, rain and more rain).

 

[rideswithchrist]

Oh I remember that bridge that goes on forever! We crossed it in the wee hours one time and I told myself "never again" because I was very tired. We learned that we are ok sleeping at night and driving during the day. That is hte plan, to try and make it close to Baton Rouge so we can pop over to the Stennis Space Station on our way.
Since we have the popup, hubs wants to hotel stay (I would be fine with a KOA but I have been able to find some nice hotels with hot breakfasts for the same price as a KOA. )

How cool about your roots there. I love family stories like that! The kids and I trace our heritage back to John Howland (they boy who fell off the Mayflower) each Thanksgiving. Funny thing, we ran into a family at Coop that had the same ancestor, so we had a "very distant cousin" tea party one year.

I think leaving so we hit lunchtime sounds most logical! Thanks for all those tips. We are still debating on getting a new TOMTOM to replace our old one, or relying on Google Maps.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Great TR so far, Michelle!

I know that IL weather, @team bradfield. We left in the Motorhome one year at 30 below fort bound.

 

[team bradfield]

Great TR so far, Michelle!

I know that IL weather, @team bradfield. We left in the Motorhome one year at 30 below fort bound.

Yep, last year the Pearl was covered in Ice but the weather leading up to our departure was decent, 45 to 50. This year I'm wondering how things will shake out, we still have 1' of snow on the ground, I've kept the drive in front of Pearl clear, we may have to leave early if the weather looks bad for the 15th. Today its 30 and raining and of course its turning to Ice on the pavement, looks like I wont get a chance to de-winterize until our first night in southern IL or second day in GA.

 

[team bradfield]

this really helped the soggy mood today, just received in the mail, now its real!

 

[MudQueen22]

How cool about your roots there. I love family stories like that! The kids and I trace our heritage back to John Howland (they boy who fell off the Mayflower) each Thanksgiving. Funny thing, we ran into a family at Coop that had the same ancestor, so we had a "very distant cousin" tea party one year.

That's pretty cool!!!!

 

[MudQueen22]

Team Bradfield, the snow is pretty. I'm sure you don't think so since you see it all the time, but it's a rare treat for us.
I like the Dooney & Bourke magic band. I had no idea that was available!

 

[4077]

Okay, I'm gonna forget everything I just said. There's only so much room on the hard drive between my ears.

Erasing now....



Bama Ed

HAHA! Maybe my favorite gif type post so far with the great preceding comment!

 

[rideswithchrist]

Brrrr!!

We opened the popup to finish packing it yesterday and the A/C would not come on. Hubs had a bit o' a panic as
A) it will be 80 a few days there
B) it is not our popup

After a few hours of messing with things, one of the plungers on the converter was stuck, He pulled on it and the AC fired right up.
Today after church I'll be packing all the blankets and things in it and putting the curtains back on.

 

[team bradfield]

Team Bradfield, the snow is pretty. I'm sure you don't think so since you see it all the time, but it's a rare treat for us.
I like the Dooney & Bourke magic band. I had no idea that was available!

we've had over 5' of snow this winter, its time to move on... If D&B has anything, DW will sniff it out, she found it here:

https://www.shopdisney.com/walt-dis...edirectid=15510255875155469398810080302008005

 

[Teamubr]

If D&B has anything, DW will sniff it out, she found it here:

https://www.shopdisney.com/walt-dis...edirectid=15510255875155469398810080302008005

Are you married to my wife?

Actually for DW it is Coach, Kate Spade and D&B. I was able to avoid the purse that matches the MB since DW didn't like the "navigator" theme on the bag.

j

 

[4077]

Brrrr!!

We opened the popup to finish packing it yesterday and the A/C would not come on. Hubs had a bit o' a panic as
A) it will be 80 a few days there
B) it is not our popup

After a few hours of messing with things, one of the plungers on the converter was stuck, He pulled on it and the AC fired right up.
Today after church I'll be packing all the blankets and things in it and putting the curtains back on.

Although, at this time of year, I would almost welcome an uncomfortable warm.....