ROAD CONDITIONS

As we near the end of our loop around the United States, and part of Canada, it's difficult to not compare the condition of the highways, as we travel from state to state. While traveling through many states, on both freeways and state highways, the roads don't even make an impression, because they aren't extraordinarily good, or bad. But there are a few states that do make an impression, and it's usually bad. But first, the good, then we'll get to the bad and ugly. When you drive into North Carolina on I95, you not only experience an extremely smooth road surface, but many of the interchanges are landscaped with acres of flowers. You can't judge an entire state by one interstate highway, but, I95 in North Carolina is #1 in my book. Now for the bad. I know it's not the U.S., but the roads in the Maritime Provinces of Canada are not very good. Sure, they're paved, but whenever we ventured off the main highways, we found ourselves on narrow, bumpy, pothole filled roads. Even though I tried several times, it was very difficult to do any sightseeing, while driving the motor home. While in New Bruneswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, we learned to take the jeep on our trips of exploration. Now the ugly. We just drove into Texas yesterday afternoon, and I was quickly reminded of how bad I10 is. Not only is it bumpy, due to decades old concrete pouring methods, but Texas has an archaic way of designing on/off ramps, which are usually part of the frontage roads. Once we left Louisiana and entered Texas, I was instantly thankful, that I went through the hassle of replacing the shocks on the motor home. The new Bilsteins make a huge difference, especially when it comes to limiting the front end from bouncing. We spent last night at an RV park next to the freeway, east of Beaumont, and will be driving to the Corpus Christi area today.