Throwback time-Our REALLY BIG Family Road Trip in 1998!

Bayou near Lake Charles LA

Way back when, with our first RV (that is if you don't count the cab high canopy on our Datsun King Cab pickup which Lanie and I used as sleeping quarters during our honeymoon trip to Lake Powell in Utah even further "back when")... anyhow, we had a Palomino Pop-up Tent Trailer in 1998, and it was our RV that summer when we decided to take the "Great Family History Trip" going  South and East 2/3 of the way across the Country and then back.

Our daughters, Sara and Emily, were in high school and middle school respectively.  They had no choice but to ride along with us, but they coped well, fueled with books, games, promises of all day adventures at amusement parks, etc... They had a fairly comfortable ride, a Ford Windstar Mini-Van that we'd purchased a few years before with bucket seats front AND back....

We planned to travel through a good part of the West, South and Midwest,  most particularly visiting places where Lanie's Dad's ancestors came from, primarily Louisiana and Mississippi, and my Mom and her ancestors were from, Kansas and Oklahoma, and, later, New Mexico.

We set off in mid-June of that year, and I took a small notebook with me, logging daily details of our long trip; this was back when I could still write, or rather print, pretty much legibly.  Copies of a few pages from that hand-written log are included in these recollections. For the rest, I'm in the process of typing my log entries into a Word document.  My handwritten log (3 weeks worth) was quite long, so I've only included shorter excerpts from each day  "On The Road"; all the original log entries noted in Italics here...the other stuff, in parenthesis and non-italics, are my current day observations looking back on it now!

 So here's an abbreviated look at that 20th century trek, in two parts.

 

Copy of Travel Log, First Day, not an auspicious start!

Saturday, 6/20  From Medford to Bakersfield

This will probably end up as one of the longest travel days of the trip…. 13 hours, including stops, and over 600 miles put on the odometer.  Beautiful weather all the way down from Medford.  Great shots of Mt. Shasta and scenic views of a completely full Lake Shasta……..

Sunday 6/21… From Bakersfield to Flagstaff, Arizona

From one “armpit” to another, the first part of our trip (Bakersfield to Barstow) was less than memorable – Actually the climb up to Tehachapi (at 4,000 ft) was nice; but going on from there to Barstow (across the Mojave Desert).. well, there ain’t much there…..

We hit Barstow in the late morning and it was quite a sight… dozens of tour buses coming and going from Vegas to Lake Havasu.  Most of the buses seemed to gather at the “busiest McDonalds on the face of the Earth”…

When we finally got out of Armpit #2 (Barstow), the rest of our day’s trip was much better.

(With apologies to anyone who is actually from Bakersfield or Barstow, each has some redeeming features; Bakersfield was home to the Hag (Merle Haggard), Buck Owens, and Wynn Stewart, all architects of the Bakersfield Sound in Country Music. Barstow is a relatively short express route away from Vegas; plus it has the World's busiest dang McDonalds... Still, neither town makes my favorite's list.)

 Monday, June 22.. From Flagstaff to Roswell, NM

Turns out Flagstaff, which is, indeed, very nice, was the highlight of Northern Arizona.

Had Lunch in Gallup (NM)… then crested the Continental Divide not far down I40 (old Rte 66) from there  … Took a very nice cutoff rd to bypass Albuuerque, then another state highway crossing the Rio Grande river and heading to Mountainair -  Mountainair is where Mom lived for a time growing up….

Tuesday, June 23^rd… From Roswell to Carlsbad Caverns

Very short travel day, which left more time for touring Carlsbad Caverns – Spectacular walk descending to 750 ft depth and the gigantic Great Room…

The Great Room, Carlsbad Caverns

Wed, June 24^th … From Carlsbad Caverns to Austin, TX

Another long travel day into Texas.  The first 200 miles or so in West Texas were pretty forgettable.... Near Sonora, we stopped at a very nice rest area, the highlight of the Texas trip so far, and from there we moved steadily into the Hill Country west of Austin.  Took Hwy 290 off I10 east into Fredericksburg, which is a beautiful town with apparently a large German population…. Very neat and tidy town – Postcard Perfect!....

Thur, June 25… From Austin to Port Arthur, TX  (visited Lanie’s Great Aunt, Helen here)

Daughters Emily and Sara posing for the requisite photo-op on entering Louisiana

Friday, June 26… From Port Arthur to Lake Charles, LA

Interesting day….  Decided to go out to what they call the Gulf Route into Lake Charles – As soon as we hit the Gulf road we ran into a heavy downpour, strong winds & thunder and lightning bursting right on top of us – Drove about 10-15 miles with the very choppy gulf waters about 20 feet off to our right in this tropical storm, then turned inland….

The storm let up as we approached Lake Charles and we decided to head out to Sam Houston Jones State Park to camp….   Later, Elaine’s cousin, Billy Jones and wife Peggy, came for a short visit at our campsite -  Peggy told us there was a four foot alligator in the bayou behind our trailer, but we haven’t seen it yet….  (Billy and Peggy called everything "critters", from tiniest mammals to the much bigger critters, like this park alligator)

Billy and Lanie, Cajun blood runs through them

Saturday, June 27th - From Lake Charles to Jackson, Mississippi.
... Decided to head North & East to Mississippi, leaving the trailer still set up at Sam Houston (Jones) Park. We headed out about mid-day driving thru Cajun country in Evangeline Parish.... The small towns we drove thru all seemed to have at least 1 or 2 local Cajun restaurants advertising fried catfish, Boudin & the like, & usually a beat-up old roadhouse dance/music hall, or two.

Slim's Club, Kinder, LA

.... We stopped at the border in Vidalia, LA for a late lunch/early dinner…. Elaine’s Mom, Mavis, had recommended the restaurant for its fish dishes, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have even entered.  From the outside it looked like a beat-up old roadhouse…. Inside, though, the waitresses were nice and the food was great. We all ordered fish dishes   ( Of Course!)….

….After dinner, we drove up to the top of the dike bordering the mighty Mississippi (River)… The river here was still green and probably a half mile wide.

Drove East on Hwy 84 into the Mississippi countryside thru Natchez to Brookhaven and as far East as Monticello....

"Snowball" Stop in Mississipi, refreshing andtidote for Southern summer mugginess

…. We were pleasantly surprised by this part of Mississippi, mostly rolling countryside with green pastures & pine forests, a lot like Oregon actually.

(To be continued)