Just a little ahead of myself..

[Wiarton William]

Yesterday was a thunderstorm day..No time to be in the bush playing..so I grabbed the Woodalls and finished off my notes for this winters perch of choice......I have called and requested brochures from three locations in Harlingen...I was unable to get thru to two more over in Mc Allen area (steady busy via land line and internet)..I have been to all three that I chose and Joyce likes all three so who knows..we may end up there..

I was checking the maps(its three months away and Im reading maps already,, does that seem illogical or what??) We have driven the Natchez Trace twice going N/B..this time we will go S/B..I seem to recall that the National/state parks along there are free??? we toured some of them as we made our way home... the brochure doesnt mention a price...I recall one area that was full of french folks from Quebec and someone had mentionned that they stay there for free for up to two weeks and then they have to move, is that right???..

When the weather cleared up a bit I found myself in camping mode.. I was out in the garage and have just about got the trailer set up to go....what am I thinking??? sometimes I am just too eager for my own good. The old postie is going to be upset again this year with all the brochures that he has to bring...I know he enjoys it really, most of the ones he can read are well read before I get them... I was wondering if anyone has any info on Tropic Winds in Harlingen.. we visited folks there and found it to be nice with spacious lots...anyone with realtime info on it??? Joyce loved the pool at Fun N Sun as it was really big,,,,,(cant understand it, she doesnt swim and is terrified of water over 4 ft because that depth is really close to her chin but she loves that pool??)

[OntMont]

If you can find the link to the RGV Chamber of Commerce, they will send you a multitude of campground brochures.

There are some unserviced campgrounds along the Natchez Trace that are free, and usually occupied. There are some State Parks and COE parks that are not far off the trace and NOT free.

The only place we have stayed in the RGV is Bentsen Palm Village, near Mission. It is nice and roomy, but on the expensive side for the RGV. It is very close to Bentsen State Park (no camping), so you can make use of the SP and stay in the full service BPV, if that is to your liking. (BPV may be booked up, but perhaps with fuel cost this year, you might have chance at a spot). If you do try to contact them make sure you get Bentsen Palm VILLAGE, there are couple of other parks with similar names.

Good luck!

[Waynem]

Do a GOOGLE search on

NATCHEZ TRACE CAMPGROUND

and see what you come up with.

Edited: Also try this NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY (U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

[Wiarton William]

Well its about time here.......we will be closing it all down as of tomorrow morning... the internet etc goes down at midnite....Will try to get online here when I can... everyone stay healthy and well.....see y'all in the spring.. Don, Joyce and Bear

[Waynem]

Hope we meet someday along the path of dreams.

[Wiarton William]

We made it...Gotto Fun N Sunon Thursday at 1500 hrs...fuel averaged at $3.00 US a gallon...and if I kept it under 60mph I got 12.1 mpg...if I got anxious mileage dropped to 11.0mpg...Oneofmy TV tires seemd to go square and created a thump at about 50mph...which was a drag especially on the Trace..... I need a genny, stying instate parks in the semi dark is ok but I would rather be more comfy...I missed the cut off to meet up with Bill and Ann.. sorry, the co pilot misreaed my instructions..Flying J were kind to us..two stateparks were great a friend in Kokomo IN took us in for the nite...in total approx $515.00 for fuel..no CG overnite fees but DW did take care of that at Cracker Barrel..we are settled in at site K134...............I am absolutley amazed that some folks have great powers of recall,,we had barely got on the site and the people started dropping by... they remebered our names, our dog and me.....I wonder what I did to deserve such a reception??? I see several Montanas in the park but have yet to meet anyone admitting to be in the MOC.. we have our CP and anyone wishing to give us a call PM me..The really odd thing about this trip...on the way down we only met two other RV's coming south...everyone else was going north(at least 20-30).we started to get paranoid.....willbeon againsoon...Don

[Bill and Ann]

Don: Wondered what happened to you. Glad you made the valley safely. We used our Gennys all the way down. Wouldn't be without them.