(1) Day 21 [17MAR16/THU] Pensacola FL to Austin TX... photos by Sharon w/Cannon...
*** CHANGE IN PLANS: had orriginally planned to take I10 across to Houston then jet up to Austin;
however, with all the rains of late, everything from Gulf Port, Mississippi to the Sabine River at
the Texas/Louisiana border (INCLUDING NAW-LENZ!) out into the Gulf of Mexico!!! So, needless to say,
I10 is closed at the TX/LA border, soooooo, will have to detour up north around all the flooded area
through Shreveport LA and then down to Chappell Hill...
*** CHANGE IN PLANS: turns out Pam and Tom are already at the farm house, and, Ron and Lynne live
near by, and Maryann and RL3 said they could make it to the farm for dinner (Chappell Hill is an
hour and a half from Houston whereas Austin is 3 hours), so, need to be there by 6pm for dinner,
and the new route is a 12 hour drive, so if we are rolling by 7am then with the time zone change
we should arrive in 12 hours by 6pm; anyway, that was the new plan. |
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... up early and rolling by 7am under an overcast sky... |
Pensacola/Exxon 6962mi 7am 70of [84]
247.9mi in 409miRTE 3:28:00hrs w/26.6avg mpg
10.715G 2.099/G $22.49
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... and into Alabama right away... |
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... ya stop on da red, ya go on da green don'cha git caught by Mr. Inbatween... |
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... rolling countryside with a LOT of churches... |
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... MISSISSIPPI state line... |
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(2) Day 21 [17MAR16/THU] Pensacola FL to Austin TX... photos by Sharon w/Cannon... |
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... this doesn't look much like a main thorough-fare... I'm not so sure Siri isn't lost... |
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... yup... purdy sure Siri is lost... |
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... feeling better now... this looks more like a main highway... |
... ineresting... sheriff in a van...
... O I C... he had bad boys doing highway cleanup community service... |
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... ever wonder where all those folks in Saratoga CA came from???... well... from Saratoga MS obviously... |
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... WHEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee... |
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... WOW!!!... it's really coming down over there... and look at that big circular cloud in the sky... shall we become storm chassers???... |
... need your RV worked on?... ol' man Pachett will fix ya right up...
... wanna go high?... 30 minutes for 30 dollas... |
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... hey... there's cars in dem der woods... |
... you remember Cato... da dude that would jump out of da closet and attack Inspector Kluseau...
... absolutely no idea what this wide load is... |
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(3) Day 21 [17MAR16/THU] Pensacola FL to Austin TX... photos by Sharon w/Cannon... |
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... anyone up for some catfish?... |
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... ERADICATED?... as in warshed out into the gulf??... as in gone???... |
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... Louisana state line... |
Tallulah LA/TA Travel Center 7266mi 12:00pm 73of [84]
304.5mi in 146miRTE 4:45:45hrs w/28.4avg mpg
10.347G 1.799/G $18.61
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... flooded... yup... there's been some rain in deeze here parts... |
(4) Day 21 [17MAR16/THU] Pensacola FL to Austin TX... photos by Sharon w/Cannon...
... stay on the road or tread water... |
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... all done?... I dunno... still looks purdy dark up ahead... |
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(5) Day 21 [17MAR16/THU] Pensacola FL to Austin TX... photos by Sharon w/Cannon... |
... this dude's a ways from home...
... can almost see Texas from here... |
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... I think EVERYBODY should have an alligator farm... Bert Wheeler (you know... Bert Wheeler of Houston, owned a chain of
Bert Wheeler Liquor stores) had a big place in Houston out at the end of Stellalink Road by where it ended at Main Street (at the
Main Street Drive-in Theater that we lived within walking didtance of, could sneak in through the chain link fence at the back of
the property and at intermission Don and I would stand in front of the "W" and "O" of the "WOMEN"'s room and watch some poor slob
wander thinking it was the mem's room... sorry... I digressed)... anyway Bert Wheeler had a 6ft redwood fence all around his property
with palm trees sticking out and he had alligators... so I heard from a reputable source... never saw them... maybe I was told that
just to keep me out... hmmmmmmm... if that's the case, then, WHAT did he have back there??? |
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??? TX/restaurant??? BLT+salad;burger+fries $17+6=$23.00 [86] |
Mount Enterprise TX/Shell 7493mi 4:00pm 65of [87]
531.1mi in 170miRTE 8:22:30hrs w/27.1avg mpg
9.045G 1.899/G $16.72
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... hey... what happened to our freeway?...
... nice stone house... |
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... found a horse of a different color... |
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... my grandfather liked Allis-Chalmers tractors, he had a big one and a really big one... |
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... my old gas station has seen better days... |
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... Houston?... left turn Clyde, really??... out here???... goin' from here I reckon you'll be on some back roads... |
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... WHEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... |
(6) Day 21 [17MAR16/THU] Pensacola FL to Austin TX... photos by Sharon w/Cannon...
... much more water around here and we might have had to detour through St Louis MO!!! |
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... 75mph on back road... gotta love it... been watching the clock and "texting" Pam w/progress reports for being on time for dinner... |
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... a "sucker hole" in the makin'... |
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... town square: Houston County Court House, Crockett, Texas... |
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... hey, we're in a Jeep... what's a rough road?... |
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... bumper sticker on a Cadillac: "IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN OIL WELL - GET ONE"... |
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(7) Day 21 [17MAR16/THU] Pensacola FL to Austin TX... photos by Sharon w/Cannon... |
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town square: Madison County Courthouse, Madisonville, Texas... |
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... downtown Navasota, Texas... we're getting there... |
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... Fluellen Rd??? a paved cow trail... Siri... YOU'VE LOST IT... |
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... still in the middle of nowhere, but, Chappell Hill is on a sign... |
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... downtown Chappell Hill and it's 6pm Texas time... |
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Soooo, what have the kids been up to? ... dinner's done and Tom takes a few inpromptu photos while Maryann discusses the fine points
of dog grooming... of particular interest to me was the discussion of toe nail trimming. |
In case you didn't notice it, in the photo of the approach to the house, on the LHS, you can see the front end of RL's Dodge Charger...
noooooo... it's not a Charger... it's a Challenger... he liked the Challenger's body style better - more like the traditional Charger...
sooooo, I had to look up the difference... WHAT HAPPENED to the Charger???... it's a 4-door family sedan!?!?!... and the Challenger is
the 2-door coupe you'd expect the Charger to be!!! And the Challenger's and the Charger's specs are pretty much the same, but, the
Challenger is 100lbs lighter than the Charger... hey... loose 7lbs - gain a pony... Oh well... live and learn... both have a supercharged
380cid V8 that produces over 700hp... HOLY KRAP RL... be careful playing with that mean sounding beast with all those ponies!
Now, here's a few photos to demonstrate what I was saying, 1st, a 69 Choge Darger... "Choge Darger"???... what?... you don't remember
the old TV commercial where this dude is sitting in his new Dodge Charger parked in the sand on the beach and this foxy young honey
in a bikini walks up and leans over on the top of the door and asks him "WHAT kind of a car is this?"... and he, all flustered,
replies "It's a Chodge Darger."
Next is the current Dodge Charger (puke) and the current Dodge Challenger... |
