Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Walmart - 05/12/15 - Hope, AR

Tuesday – May 12, 2015
Walmart
Hope, Arkansas

Thunderstorms, with lightening, arrived at the Lake City State Park in Colorado, City at 3:30 a.m. The rain had finally stopped upon our departure at 9:55 a.m. There was one section of Texas Road FM 2836 that had flooded over, however, the clearance on our Ford E150 Cargo Van and Casita Trailer were high enough to easily clear the flooded area of the road.

The rainstorm had caused a couple of accidents on Interstate 20 between Colorado City and Abilene, Texas. One of them involved a jackknifed semi-truck that had run off of the Interstate into the ditch, and another accident involved two pickup trucks.

We experienced frequent rain showers throughout our travels today. This is a new experience for us! Since we left home in October 2014, we have experienced only about three days of rain, while riding out the winter in southwestern Arizona.

As we traveled on Interstate 20 through Sweetwater, Texas we spotted a billboard promoting the towns rattlesnake roundup held each year in March. I looked at Sharon and mentioned my desire to attend this festivity. I cannot repeat her comments here, but suffice it to say, this is one event Sharon will, sadly, not attend!

We had originally planned to spend the night at the Rocky Point COE Campground near Texarkana, Texas. This is one of our favorite COE campgrounds in Texas. But, as we are known to do, we changed our plans on the fly. We decided we wanted to get closer to Memphis, Tennessee before packing it in for the night, so we opted to settle down for the night at a Walmart, somewhere in western Arkansas.

"Navigator Sharon" located a Walmart in Hope, Arkansas – the birthplace of President William Jefferson Clinton – on our Android smartphone app: Allstays Camp & RV.

This Walmart has several parking spaces set aside in their large parking lot for semi-trucks and RV’s. They have height barriers to prevent the semi-trucks and large RV’s from entering the general parking area.

All of the parking spaces designated for the semi-trucks and large RV’s were occupied. Fortunately, our trailer and tow vehicle have a low profile and can easily fit under the height barriers. We found a remote area of the parking lot, behind another low profile camper, and settled in to spend a restful night.

Campground: Walmart Parking Lot – Hope, Arkansas
Camping Fee: Free
Campsite: Just pick a parking space! (in a remote area of the parking lot of course)

Total miles traveled today: 481
Route Traveled:
North on Texas FM 2836
East on Interstate 20
North on Interstate 635
East on Interstate 30 to the Walmart in Hope, Arkansas (Exit 30)

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

No comments:

Post a Comment