Starting our Trip to the Southwest
March 1: Summerville to Valdosta, GA
Packing the RV took longer than we expected, so we didn’t get on the road till noon. A few miles from home, heading north on Route 61, Jack mentioned that the RV felt like it was laboring and a few miles later he asked me to check on the car we were towing. I could hear a terrible squealing, and yelled at Jack to stop, but the road was too narrow with deep ditches on the side so we had to drive another mile before he could find a spot to at least partially pull off the road. It turned out that I left the car in first gear – engine off, so it was being dragged at 45 – 50 miles an hour in first gear! This was not a good thing. We unhooked the car and Jack took it for a test drive to see if there was any damage and miraculously, it seemed fine. So, we continued on our way, but it certainly put a damper on the start of our trip. Despite our late start, we drove about 250 miles southwest to Valdosta, Georgia and stayed the night in a forgettable local campground.
March 2: Valdosta, GA to Coffeeville, AL
We went to Wal-Mart to check on prices of deep-cycle batteries for the coach as they don’t seem to be holding a charge and get some miscellaneous RV supplies. Exciting, huh?
We had planned on dropping down to the Florida panhandle and visiting a beach or two, but the cool and rainy weather revised our plans. Instead, we’ll continue west on route 84 through southern Georgia and Alabama without any major stops until we get to Austin, Texas. Route 84 goes through small towns and rural areas, some towns were pretty, but most look poverty-stricken with shacks and mobile homes in poor condition. We spotted four black wild pigs along the road. In Alabama, miles of uprooted trees were alongside the road – apparently victims of last year’s hurricane season. 
After driving 300 miles, we started looking for a campground and the only one was a rural area operated by the Army Corps of Engineers on a river near the Alabama/Mississippi border. Surprisingly, the campground had electric and water hookups and offered a dump station and it was only $8! 
It was a picturesque area next to the Tombigbee River with a dam and locks downstream. We were able to get in a nice walk before it started raining. Boats that looked similar to tugboats plied up and down the river all night long and some decided it would be great fun to shine their spotlights on the campground as they passed. Even though we were in the boondocks, we were able to get the major network TV stations and the reception was good enough to actually watch a little TV. Crossed into central time zone today.
March 3: Coffeeville, AL to Leesville, LA
Woke up to a dreary rainy day, but hopefully we should drive out of it later today. Stopped at the guardhouse to ask about the boats and the woman there told us the barges are carrying coal to the Mississippi River. An hour after leaving Coffeeville, we crossed into Mississippi and found a Wal-Mart so we could buy some distilled water for the batteries. The RV center was supposed to have filled the batteries when they serviced the engine, but they were dry, so that explains why they wouldn’t keep a charge!
After lunch, we crossed into Louisiana from Natchez, MS and diverted to route 28 to drop south. Spent the night in Leesville in one of those campgrounds that look nice, but find out later they sit next to the railroad tracks. Listened to whistles and rumbling trains all night long.
March 4: Leesville, LA to Austin, TX
Shortly after leaving the campground, we entered Texas. We wanted to make Austin, so we thought we’d make up some time by taking the interstates – big mistake. The bypass around Houston to get us to the interstate took us too close to Houston and we hit heavy traffic with miles of lights and shopping malls – so much for a bypass! We finally made it to the Austin area around 5pm and stopped at a campground in Bastrop – a half hour outside Austin. We were too tired from driving in traffic all day to even go into Austin. The campground was fine, except a new overpass had just been built nearby and there was a lot of car and truck traffic noise.
