Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Shady Oaks Cabins & RV Park — Fairfield, Texas
Temps: Hi 95F (35C) / Lo 68F (20C)
A second overnight in the Coach Care Houston parking lot; an 8-hour wait in the deep freeze — the customer service lounge, that is — and at 3:00p today the Phaeton was sprung from the service bay with the water pump that circulates the coolant replaced. That was the last — and most important — item that was on our work order. Our third trip to CCH — happy customers the third time around.
As soon as the toad is hooked up, we’re out of here.
Everyone Mui spoke with at Coach Care suggested we take the Hardy Toll Road to head north out of Houston. We took their advice and had a very easy time getting out of the city just as the rush hour traffic was picking up at 3:30p. When we connected to I-45N 22 miles (35 km) later, we found the interstate all but free of traffic. Yay!
We set out with one plan — to travel as far as Mui felt comfortable driving considering our late start from Houston. Turns out his comfort level was around 155 miles (248 km). He alerted me about an hour before he wanted to pull off the road, and I used my brand-shiny-new Allstays Camp & RV app to find us a place for the night (I also use the website to research campgrounds on the computer). Any other time, I would have just found us a parking lot somewhere, but it’s simply too hot to be sleeping without the A/C … and I refuse to run the generator once we go to bed.
And that’s how we came to be hooked up at an FHU site at Shady Oaks Cabins & RV Park in Fairfield, Texas. The place is nothing special to speak of. There are paved sites — not in great shape — under the trees for which the place must be named, with gravel sites along the perimeter. All are back-in. From the looks of it, we might be the only transients here. I called in advance to make a reservation, but as you can see from the photo below, it wasn’t really necessary.
We’re in site 34.
The website quotes a rate of $35/night; I’ll see what membership discounts they give when I stop by the office to pay for our stay. The rate is on the spendy side for this place … but we’re cool, we have running water, can refill the water tank and dump the black and grey tanks … in case our next campground doesn’t provide all the amenities. Yup; we’re going reservation-free for another night.
P.S. Mui tells me there is free wi-fi at a very reasonable speed … that’s a bonus considering we’ve been having problems with connecting more than one device to our mi-fi device these past few days.
We now have 844 miles (1,350 km) to cover in two days if we want to keep our weekend reservation at Trinidad Lake State Park starting Friday — we’ll see how it goes.
That's 422 miles each day. I'm afraid I couldn't do that. Glad you got out of the repair joint.
ReplyDelete;-) Thank goodness for long days. But if we decide it's too much, we'll just blow off the Friday nite rez ... will call the campground to make sure they don't give away our site, though ;-)
DeleteYou can drive it. It won't be fun, but you can do it.
ReplyDeleteYes, we can ... we've done that and more in the early days with the Phaeton ... and we probably will just to get the road portion of the trip behind us and have some fun for a few days.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are finally on the road. I think you will enjoy Trinidad Lake State Park. We were there in April , which was early in the season, and had a lovely time. If you decide not to have two very long driving days, you should be able to modify your reservation and delete Friday by calling the Colorado State Park reservation line. We were able to do that at another Colorado state park and just had to pay a small fee.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah. That's what we're thinking. We'll see how Thursday goes and make the call accordingly.
DeleteWe have stayed at campgrounds like the one you stayed in and then even added the word Resort at the end. Good grief.
ReplyDeleteGlad the repairs are done and y'all are on your way. Be safe.
400+ miles would be way too many for us, but at least you have a plan B.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered about sleeping with the generator on. It seems a little risky to me, but I know a lot of people do it.
What a relief to have the water pump fixed right. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing. :c)
ReplyDeleteHi guys! My name is Dan and Mui and I used to work together. We have been traveling vicariously through your blog and will soon join you on the road in our new Airstream. Hope to catch up with you soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Dan. See you somewhere down the road ;-)
DeleteGlad they got the pump fixed and that you found a place for the night. FHUs when you are tired is a definite blessing. 400+ miles sounds like PDD. I'm not sure I could do that one day but two in a row would be impossible. I'd give up the Friday night and tell em' I'll see you on Saturday. Me too on the no generator while I'm asleep. Hope you get out of that heat soon.
ReplyDeleteSomeone has to pick up the PDD slack, now that he's been driving shorter segments ;-)
Deleteahh. glad you are on your way. Those funky but tolerable campgrounds are often a life saver at the end of a long day, Especially when you need air conditioning! I use the AllStays app a LOT when we are on the road. It's a great tool. As you said, with a check of AllStays for locations, and another check of campground reviews online, you can usually manage to stay out of trouble, even without a reservation. We have managed 400 mile plus days several in a row, but we both drive. And it still isn't fun! Unless the destination makes it worth it.
ReplyDeleteI offered to drive a few times on the straight-as-arrow roads, but Mui kept declining. He was enjoying being behind the wheel after a long break in motorhome travels and didn't want to give up control ;-)
DeleteBe caredul and watch the weather as you get closer to Colorado. There are terrible severe storms all around and southeastern CO got hit hard, as did north of Denver huge hail and several tornadoes. Safe travels:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up. Didn't see anything for Trinidad when I checked yesterday ... will check again this morning.
DeleteI love my Allstays app! We also have Passport America and use their app too. Glad you got that leak fixed and can get out of that heat.
ReplyDelete