Sunday, March 17, 2013 St. Patrick’s Day Going West on I-30

This morning at 8:35am we left the Downtown Riverside Park, in North Little Rock, getting on I-30 and traveling through Arkansas and then into Texas.  We were in need of a few things from Walmart so when we spotted one in Arkadelphia, Ar. we decided to stop.  When we got to the parking lot we found entryways with 12 feet6inches height barriers.  We may have been able to get in but we didn’t want to chance it.  Luckily there was a parking lot across the road that we were able to park but we didn’t get any cases of water that would have been gotten if we had been parked closer to the store.  Tom did find wiper blades for the motorhome.  The blades that Tom had bought at Camping World on Friday did not fit and will need to be returned to Camping World at some point.  There are only 2 rest areas on I-30 in Texas, the first just as we entered the state and the second one at mile post 143 that was filled to the brim with vehicles.  In this case, we stopped for lunch in Sulfur Springs and found Juan Padre Restaurant with a large gravel parking lot across the street for parking the motorhome.  Traveling through southwestern Arkansas and the northeastern Texas areas we were seeing redbud and Bradford pear trees in bloom and other trees with leaves developing.  The weather has been really nice with temperatures in the 70’s.  We have hung up our heavier coats and gone from long sleeved to short sleeved shirts.  We traveled 377 miles today a little farther than we like but we also wanted to be west of Dallas/Fort Worth so we didn’t have to face that first thing in the morning, a Monday morning.  We are stopped for the night just a few miles west of Fort Worth as I-30 runs into I-20 at Cowtown RV Park-a Passport America Park that does not honor the discount since the occupancy rate is high at this time.  Tomorrow we will continue our travels through Texas on I-20.    And that is how we spent St. Patrick’s Day- driving west from Arkansas into Texas and eating Mexican food for lunch!!