Out of Texas

Although there were some flashes of lightning and lots of rain, we managed to dodge most of it.

We moved on, staying on 82 the whole way which turned out to be a good choice as the road was well maintained and passed thru oil fields, cotton and wheat fields then into horse and cattle country. So much better than I-10 and almost as fast.

We got into Texarkana and found the Corps of Engineers (COE) campground at Clear Springs Lake which is about 10 minutes West of Texarkana. Our Senior Pass for National Parks gets us 50% off camping in COE parks so we payed $13 a night for a full hookup site close to the lake.

The heavy rains caused the lake to overflow

Tall trees and very peaceful campground.

It’s wonderfully quiet place with no road or any other kind of noise. It was almost too quiet.

We explored the city of Texarkana which derives it’s name from the 3 States that are either adjoining or close to here. Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Texas and Arkansas touch here and the city straddles the stateline so there’s a Texarkana Texas and a Texarkana Arkansas.

The stateline appropriately enough runs through the center of Stateline Avenue! Not only that, it run thru the center of the Post Office and the Federal Courthouse. It’s the only place in the US that has a Federal Building that crosses a Stateline.

Federal Courthouse and Post Office

Half and Half

Stuck in the middle

Other claims to fame for Texarkana (TX) is that it is the home of Ross Perot who ran for president a few years ago, he has had a big hand in preserving historic buildings in the city. They named the theater for him after he organized it’s refurbishment. It really is a nice theater built originally in the 1920’s and converted to a movie palace for many years it now showcases the Symphony Orchestra and live theater.

The Perot theater

If you are down this way you have to stop in Munster TX and visit the German Market. our new friends Deanna and Wayne told us about it when we stayed at the Elks Lodge in Wichita Falls. What a great place! They process all their own meat, have their own smoke house. The sausages and cheese are traditional German recepies. They even have a complete rack of real German beer. It's a shame we don't have a bigger fridge!

Fischers Market Munster TX

Oh, Yummy!

 

82 led us on again crossing the Mississippi at Greenville where we turned North onto 61 which is part of the “Great River Road” and follows the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico to it’s source. Unfortunately you can’t actually SEE the river from the road and when we tried to get closer onto rt 1 there was a low bridge blocking our way and we didn’t want to knock the roof off the rig!

The inevitable tourist shot

Our home for the next week is Graceland!!

We’re staying at the Graceland RV Park very handy for all of Memphis and with a weekly rate it’s $30 a night so quite affordable.