Leaving Texas-Finally

After three dreadful nights in the Camping World parking lot, just off I-10, we finally left.  I am tired of writing about warranty issues with Pancho.  The short story is that after a heated conversation with the Camping World manager, the two most critical failures are repaired.  The other two remain unresolved, awaiting another, hopefully better, service stop.

Katy, Texas is a fast growing suburb with horrible traffic.  Make a mistake on a route, discover it is one way-the wrong way-to your destination and go 6-8 miles out of your way.  Large housing tracks with huge houses feature one way in and out.  Plus, it was hot and muggy.  Now truthfully the locals thought the weather wasn't bad, they said it gets much worse.  We Westerners are SPOILED for sure.

While in Texas, we decided to suck it up and continue on to the Texas "Cajun Triangle, Port Arthur, Orange and Beaumont" which borders Loisianna.

The attraction for BD was Pearl's home, Port Arthur.  We stayed in a really interesting, industrially new and clean RV park.  Ninety-five percent of the campers had new 5th wheels and trucks and were never there.  Turns out that they are working on major expansion of refineries and construction of LNG plants (now for export).  The park was quiet (a treat after the endless I-10 traffic) and pleasant and permitted easy access to the local sights.

If you want to know what the end stage of your cheap gas looks like....

Port Arthur Refinery

  LNG plants are under construction.

LNG Plants close to the gulf

Barge traffic on the inter-coastal waterway

Although the industrial activity in Port Arthur is impressive in its magnitude and economic importance, the original reason for the trip was to see Janis Joplin's birthplace.   Downtown Port Arthur is very depressed, likely a combination of hurricane damage and the usual central city blight but there is a very nice, local museum.  It features the usual area history from Indian time to explorers and now the petrochemical industry, but the big attraction is the section on local music talent.   The list of famous entertainers and songwriters from this area is extensive.

Johnnie Allan	Marcia Ball	Benny Barnes	Becky Barksdale
Archie Bell	Rod Bernard	"Jivin' Gene" Bourgeois	Zachary Breaux
Lonnie Brooks	Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown	Cliff Bruner	Tracy Byrd
Bobby Charles	Clifton Chenier	Mark Chesnutt	Harry Choates
Jimmy Clanton	The Clique	"Cookie and the Cupcakes"	Dale and Grace
Arleigh Elton Duff "Arlie"	Ted Dunbar	Frankie Ford	John Fred
Larry Graham	Bill Hall	Lee Hazlewood	Clarence "Frogman" Henry
T. K. Hulin	"Ivory" Joe Hunter	Harry Haag James	George Jones
Janis Joplin	Robert Troy Kimball	Boogie Kings	Jerry Lacroix "Count Jackson"
Tommy McLain	Bob Mcdill	Huey P. Meaux "The Crazy Cajun"	Tiny Moore
Aubrey Wilson Mullican "Moon"	Barbara Lynn Ozen	Phil Phillips	Johnny Preston
J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson	Tex Ritter	Bill Rogers	Brian Schnexnayder
Percy Sledge	Floyd Soileau	Jo-El Sonnier	Billie Jo Spears
Warren Storm	Issac Payton Sweat	B. J. Thomas	Wayne Toups
Clay Walker	Joe "Country" Washburn	Glenn Wells	Tony Joe White
Edgar Holland Winter	John Dawson Winter, III "Johnny"	Jimmy Wyble	James Harold Young "Big Sambo"
ZZ Top	Johnny Rivers	UGK

The big name is Janis.  Her death at 27 from an overdose of nearly pure heroin is a sad story for sure.

 In case you don't remember the song,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qev-i9-VKlY

Much more to my liking is Bobby McGee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7hk-hI0JKw

Two days ago we hit the road and headed north for Arkansas, a new state for all of us.  After much agonizing we decided to abandon the plan to see the coasts of VA, NC, SC, GA and Fl.  So much time was spent in Texas waiting for repairs that we faced the likelihood of more bugs and humidity.  The trip north in Eastern Texas and into Arkansas was pleasant, many trees but heavy rain.  While cheap gas is great, especially traveling in a 10mpg motorhome, looking at its production is not too scenic.  The view in our Lake Catherine State park campground is much more to my liking and the 57 degree morning invigorated us all.

Pancho hanging out at Lake Catherine State Park

The first area of exploration will be Hot Springs.  It is the site of a National Park.  There are currently no plans to undertake a Clinton pilgrimage-sorry Democratic friends.