Dallas

Its much colder here!  Where is here?  Well we are in Arlington at the KOA in the center of town.  And it really is in the center of a very heavy business district.  Usually we can't find campgrounds in business districts, but this is an anomaly.

Getting here, was almost routine, as we were off all loaded and ready by 9:30, but not so fast.  We wanted to get some fuel before we left the Abilene area, since it is quite near the Fina refinery over by Big Spring.  The local price seems to be a bit better than anywhere else around.  Today it was $3.49 as compared to $3.64 in most of the other towns.

We only have an 80 gallon tank in the coach, and it needed 44 gallons.  I spotted what looked to be a nice big truck lane in a quick trip style  station, and back tracked an interchange to go use it.  Then after finding that it worked well, proceeded to realize that this same station was at almost every interchange around the North side of the town.  I felt kind of stupid to have backtracked to a specific station, but I saved 14 cents a gallon in the town of Abilene.

Next we went to Wal Mart, for a few more groceries and a medicine that we were out of.  I also purchased some diesel additive that increases the cetane rating of the fuel.  This stuff costs $7 a quart, and probably negates any savings from purchasing inexpensive fuel.  But, it increases mileage and makes the engine run soooo much nicer.

Well there went our early start, as it was 11 when we left town for real.  We only had 155 miles into the Dallas area from Abilene, so it didn't matter what time we left.  We stopped along the road in a Texas roadside park and made lunch.  It was still quite chilly, and we fired up the propane heater for a while as we ate.  It had been in the 40s as we drove but sunny and bright made up for it.

But while we were sitting stopped, the heater felt quite nice.  As we came into town the Dallas traffic is still the same zoo that it always is.  Other than Boston, I think this is one of the worst areas for traffic overload.

After stopping at the local Sam's Club to use the parking lot for a stopping place while I looked up the local KOA address and dialed up the address in the GPS, we made it here to the park.  This is the typical city park, where we wouldn't have more than 10 feet between rigs.  And for only a mere $40 a night after the discount for club membership, it is a real steal!  Not sure, but perhaps I was the stealee!

Retired Rod