Our home base is Deep East Texas. We have to drive more than four hundred miles to get out of the state. Annoying. We have done this before in cars and vans, but the RV is a new experience. I'm constantly worrying about whether or not I hooked everything up right, and if our tow car is ok. The Dogebago, is a "gasser", so it is not as smooth and quiet as the "diesel pushers" which pass us. Fine, those nice RVs don't get the fist pumps, honks and waves like the Dogebago. I thought we would get a few, but was not expecting the reaction. When we stopped at Buc-ees, the cell phones came out so people could get pictures of the Doge Shibu. Route 66 to California is the plan.

Last night we learned a lot about camping in an RV. The Sweetwater Lake RV park was not exactly what we expected. The kids said the camp host looked like a "byeah" from Grand Theft Auto. Huh? I looked it up, they were right. Unlike the useless GTA randos our host was very nice and showed us how to hook everything up. The police were at the park checking out an abandoned car. After meeting the host and seeing the police, my boys decided it would be smart to look up Sweetwater crime statistics. Mistake one. Our host said the car had been there a week, nothing to worry about. The owner had dropped his only key-fab in the fire and left the car. Parts had started disappearing and now the car was on jacks. We did a short hike up a dam to see a lake. It was not far, but up very steep, loose gravel. It did not look treacherous when we set off. Mistake two. Our host said a man recently tumbled down the dam injuring himself. Also, climbing it is illegal. 

Sweetwater is peppered with hundreds of giant lumbering windmills. These were the same windmills that iced up and failed in the recent Texas freeze. We did our first black and grey water dump, which was oddly satisfying. Back on the road was a little slow. It takes us a while to get our butts moving in the morning. My youngest son is geeked up with anticipation and can't sleep, my oldest college age son only sleeps. 

See ya down the road DogeArmy.

The Dogebago is getting equipped for the trek from Texas to SoCal. Graphics are ordered. We hope to be setting out on the journey next week. More to come.