Westward to White Sands, NM

Stayed home most of March and April to take care of the business. This means I'm off track for my 2-year-see-all-47-lower-48-parks plan. Time to get back on the road!

April 14 - 15 Montgomery to Natchitoches, LA (484 mi)

I decided to head to Natchitoches first to see my good friend Corey James at Bayou Advanced Weapon Systems.

I stopped halfway at the Bay Hideaway RV Park in Bay St. Louis MS to keep my drive time manageable. Great little park with lots of shade trees and all the services you need. Everyone there was very friendly. Smith and Wesson were on Guard Duty 24x7.

BAWS (Corey) builds some of the finest big-bore custom rifles in the industry and develops high-quality ammunition for extreme long range shooters. His Carbon Fiber ELR Predator X Gen-II is amazing and has barrel-swap technology that let's you use one chassis for 6.5, .338 .416 and more. Unloaded, this thing comes in under 12 pounds and the folding stock lets you haul it in a backpack if you're hill hunting.

Apr 16-21: Texan RV Park and National RV Training Academy (212 mi)

Oh yeah. I completed the RV Fundamentals Training at the NRVTA. I know how to diagnose and do most repairs on RV electrical (DC and AC), converters, inverters, propane and propane systems, water systems (fresh, grey and black), air conditioners, water heaters, furnaces. Gladys is no longer a mystery to me!

I can't say enough good things about the folks at the NRVTA. Todd Henson and his whole team are top notch educators. They're all master RV technicians and really know their stuff. I've been through a lot of schooling in my life (college, military training, technical classes, etc) and Todd's team is by far the BEST at communicating complex concepts in a way that's easy to quickly pick up, understand and use effectively. We covered a lot of ground in one week and I am already putting much of it to use. If you're an RV owner, I highly recommend this class.

NRVTA also Advanced RV Service Technician, which covers all of the areas I covered in the fundamentals course at a much deeper level, as well as Master RV Technician and RV Inspector. And they offer specialized classes on Generators and Solar.

I'm definitely coming back!

Vicky's BBQ

So Rick and I headed out for local BBQ and did we find a great place! Vicky's BBQ in Gun Barrel City TX. You can tell how overwhelming the menu can be - Rick scratched his head for 20 minutes trying to decide! That smoked, bacon wrapped, stuffed jalapeno was the bee's knees!!

Apr 22-25 Tulsa OK (297 mi)

The plan called for a detour north to Tulsa, OK to visit Brian (BDaddy) and Sarah (Ambrosia) Hicks. I met them on a cruise in February and we became quick friends. I stayed at the Expo Square RV Park which is adjacent to Expo Square, home of the Golden Driller. Expo Square is like a huge civic center. They have horse shows, gun shows, dog shows, etc. The day I showed up the RV Park was PACKED. The following day, totally empty as the horse show hand just ended.

Stopped at the welcome center just after getting to OK. Turns out Sasquatch is a thing here - I still haven't figured that out. Also caught an amazing sunset halfway to Tulsa - the picture doesn't do it justice.

Took the Hicks out to the gun range to try on a few pistols. Turns out BDaddy is dead-eye Dick with a Canik chambered in 9mm. Oh, and Sarah made me get a mani-pedi too.

Next up... on to Whites City NM.