Eastern Texas Trip – Day 4

April 10, 2025 – Conway Camper Repair

We spent most of the day in the town of Conway, Arkansas at the Moix RV Supercenter service garage. We took the bedding out and emptied the closet that the service technician would need to access. We stuffed everything in the cab of the truck. They started working on the camper at about 9:00 am. We had time to kill and luckily, we discovered that Conway has a bike trail. We parked at a trail head near the RV place and started out. The trail was nice and followed a small creek (could have been a drainage ditch), unfortunately it ended about 2.5 miles at a large construction project. We road back to the truck, and seeing as we hadn’t heard anything from the RV people, we decided to ride the other half of the trail. It wasn’t a long trail but we road it a couple times because there isn’t much else to do in .Conway, Arkansas.

After our ride we checked on the camper. The technician had found and repaired one leak, YAY, unfortunately, there seems to be another leak at a location that isn’t accessible especially since time was limited and we had to get on the road. We’re hoping the one repair will allow us to have enough glycol to heat some water for this trip. It cost $650 and still leaks. ☹️ While investigating the leak Andy noticed that the drivers side tire on the camper was worn to the threads at one spot. The service guy said it was probably worn that way because of a bent axle. The tire was unsafe to drive on so before leaving Conway we had it replaced. Finally on the road to Waco, Texas at 3:00. Maybe our 2018 NuCamp Tab 400 camper is getting too old for long road trips.

We entered Texas at about 8:00 pm. Observations about the drive from Michigan to Texas.

-              It’s rather underwhelming. A few pretty spots in the Ozarks, but not as pretty as the Smokies or the Blue Ridge mountains. Driving through Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan are all more interesting and more beautiful.

-              Many parts of the US are now the same. Same chain restaurants and big box stores. We call them the “Hall Road” of whatever town we’re in. Hall Road in Shelby Township is the road with the Home Depot, Target and Panera. While this sameness is sad, it’s also kind of comforting. Especially when you’ve been on the road and want something familiar, like a taco from Taco Bell.

We made one quick stop at the Clinton Birthplace in Hope, Arkansas. It was closed, but it was a good place for little pizzas in the camper for dinner.

We arrived at the Midway Campground in Waco, Texas late, at about 11:30.  Unfortunately, the campground gates are locked from 10:00 pm - 6:00 am. 10:00 is crazy early to lock up for the night, especially since they didn’t provide a code for late arrivals (some campgrounds do) There was a parking lot before the gates, so we parked there for the night and at 6:00 am we moved to the campsite (and went back to bed). Not the best, but it worked.