It worked out pretty well with no major hassles while traveling through town.
I didn't mention it, but at the last stop we developed a small hole in our "good" sewer hose, the one we use all the time to drain our waste tanks. We discarded it into the trash bin and started using our cheaper "back-up" hose today to empty the tanks. Just as we finished emptying the tanks the hose end broke off and it too found it's way into a trash bin.
Now we're kind of stuck. No sewer hose to empty our tanks.
It was a pretty uneventful 179-mile drive across Louisiana to another "overnight visit" with a Walmart in Jennings, LA.
Our only choices for eating dinner out within walking distance, because proper etiquette says you don't unhitch your trailer and leave it unattended while at Walmart, was either the Walmart deli inside or Burger King next door.
We opted for Burger King, mainly because we've eaten plenty of Walmart chicken tenders over the last 5-years while on the road and I don't remember eating at a Burger King even once. We're both McDonald's fans when it comes to fast food burger joints.
I got a chuckle out of the fact that this particular Walmart has signs at every entrance stating "No Trucks" and "No Overnight Parking". I called before arriving at the store and was informed that overnight parking was in fact allowed. After arriving I entered the store and double checked with the Customer Service Desk personnel just to be sure.
They also go one extra step to make sure there are no truckers spending the night here by erecting overhead gates with a 12-foot clearance to keep the truckers out. THE POD is only 10'6" tall so we fit under just fine.
Then later in the evening we began seeing 18-wheelers sharing the parking lot with us? We watched as they came in the rear entrance where the store takes deliveries and then circled around the back of the store to find their way into the front parking lot.
I guess where there's a will, there's a way!
While in the store we checked out their options for purchasing a new sewer hose. They only had the "cheap" hoses in stock, so I scheduled three more Walmart visits along our route tomorrow. Hopefully one of those stores should have the "good" hoses in stock.
There were times when I slowed to 45MPH to keep from tearing up ROVER and THE POD's suspension. There are potholes and just plain worn out asphalt everywhere.
They appear to be currently working to expand the roadway from two-lane to three or four-lane, but I seem to remember they were already doing that back in January of 2020 when we traveled this section before.
If you're going to travel through the area, do yourself a favor, and head 20-miles north and take US-190 and SR-12 to avoid Interstate-10 when crossing the Texas/Louisiana border.
The very first Walmart we stopped at today had the "good" sewer hoses, but not in the length we desire. They only had the 15-foot long hoses and even when they are compressed down they just don't fit well into our 8½-foot wide bumper storage compartment. We bought one anyway to have in case of emergency, but we'll order the correct 10-foot size on Amazon and have it delivered to the location we're stopping at early next week.
We should be good until then and won't have to open the Walmart hose, that way we can then return it unused to get our $70 refunded to our card.
Our destination today is the Double Lake Recreation Area on the eastern edge of the Sam Houston National Forest.
This is our second visit to this particular National Forest. Last time in January of 2022 we were on the western edge of the forest at the Cagle Recreation Area, which is about 30-miles west of here. Both of these Recreation Areas are about 55-miles north of Houston, TX.
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