Tours

On the way to Wonderland

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After a very stormy night in Decatur, TX, I moved back onto Highway 287 towards Amarillo, where I would spend the next 4 ½ hours. There is only one question: is there anything better?

Most places on this highway are not. After all, you can learn that Sonic is one of the most popular fast food chains in the American South. Apart from these, the small towns usually consist only of one or two motels and at least one petrol station – that’s all. However, the highway itself is well maintained, the landscape is very green and the driving speed is consistently high. Texas is then somehow very German, just in warmer.

On the way I stopped at a Loves for refuelling. Here I realised that neither my credit card nor my debit card will help me at the pay machine as my German zip code is not used in America and other ones like 90210 did not work… So into the shop, where I have then grossly misjudged how much fits into my rented Ford Focus (and how cheap the prices for fuel in Texas actually are). Nevertheless, since they will only charge the actual amount, that was not a big deal.

After a freshly prepared sub, the highway waited. In Claude, I changed the direction towards my first stop of the day: the Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

Click here for the next report of the Texas Round-Up Tour

Texas Round-Up Day 1

What a Hazard

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I should have known it better. When I got an e-mail by American Airlines regarding some possible tornadoes over Texas on the night before my departure, I should have checked immediately if my flight was cancelled or not. On the next day at work, it hit me like a stroke as my flight from Charlotte to Dallas was indeed cancelled.

Luckily, the rebooking was easy and straight forward. Instead of an evening flight, my departure was now set in the afternoon. Conveniently, the airport Akron-North Canton is located nearby our development centre at the other side of the interstate. To my luck, my luggage was still in the condo. So, I drove back to the condo and said goodbye to the wife of my Croatian colleague, as well as my own colleague and his wife, as their flight was in the afternoon. The planned dinner was cancelled, but I’m sure we’ll see us in Croatia soon.

Back at work, it was time to say goodbye to each of my American colleagues. A short time later I was already at the airport. After check-in and security, I sat at the bar of the Great Lakes Brewing Company and waited for boarding. The beer of the Cleveland micro brewery is absolutely recommended, especially the Double IPA tastes fantastic. Here I had only the normal IPA, which is also damn good.

Another beer later, the plane was ready and it went on the relatively short distance in the direction of Charlotte. Although I only had one hour transfer time, I managed to catch my flight to Dallas without any issues. The airport in Charlotte is a great one.

Arriving at Dallas Fort Worth airport it did not take long until I had my luggage in hand. With a shuttle bus we went to the Rental Car Center, where I picked up my car at Budget. Although I had already completed everything on the German website, we went through the whole process again, whereupon the car was about 80€ more expensive than originally thought. Sure, I’ve had to rent the car a few hours earlier; but I did not really understand it in retrospect (especially since the actual rental period has not changed). The advertised price for the one-way fairy was now $ 50 cheaper, but overall I found it all quite strange. Nonetheless, there was no real alternative to Budget as the one-way fee was the only one well below $ 500 and a multi-flight tour would have been more expensive.

Since I did not have an American Sim, the navigation was always with offline maps from Google Maps. This works fine, especially since I was in a traffic jam only once or twice during the entire tour. I recommend to turn off the use of toll roads when doing a similar trip. The Express Lanes and Turn Pikes are certainly very handy if you want to get from A to B quickly, but if you are travelling at the same speed on the mostly parallel Interstate, you can also save some money. Interestingly enough at my whole tour, only the toll roads at Fort Worth would have been used if the feature would have been activated.

Originally, I wanted to begin my tour at the theme park Six Flags Over Texas, as it was already open on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The amusement parks in San Antonio, however, only on the weekend. After booking the flight, I realised that some other destinations would not be open on the planned day, so I had to reschedule a bit. Instead starting of by Dallas, my tour should begin in Amarillo just 360 miles down the road. Therefore, I spent my night in Decatur, which was about an hour from the airport. On the way, the storm started, so the way was pretty well lit due to the whole lightning happening in the distance.

The Best Western Decatur Inn was the only Best Western on the tour and also the only motel I did not really need to leave the highway for, as the driveway to the hotel was right on it. It was my first contact with a typical American motel and my first impression was so far positive. The room was well equipped, the bed comfortable and the car parked just outside the door. Even through the world has gone down during the night and the television has reproduced the thunderstorm warnings in a continuous loop, the stay really good.

Best Western Decatur Inn

The breakfast the next morning then introduced me to the unsatisfying world of the American continental breakfast: Homemade waffles, some cereals, some pastries and lousy coffee all served on cardboard dishes garnished with some plastic cutlery for the environmentally conscious target group. I can’t image any places in Europe offering such wasteful breakfast, not even the really cheap hotels do that. However, the Best Western tended to offer the best breakfast on the tour, but overall the breakfast in each hotel was crappy.

Click here for the next report of the Texas Round-Up Tour

Texas Round-Up Day 0

A park full of bees

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Parc du Bocasse

The last stop on my journey through France lies directly on the route to the ferry port of Dieppe and thus directly on my way back to England. In the small village Le Bocasse you will find the amusement park Parc du Bocasse. As so often in France, the amusement park has developed from a small restaurant. As early as 1967 the gastronome Jacques Chabaille put up some playground equipment, which was then supported by some bigger rides and the park’s first roller coaster in the 80s. When Max Chabaille took over the amusement park, not only the park grew, but also the target group of the park. In 2015, the park expanded its grounds, so that a new themed area including an entrance area could be created.

And through the elegant wooden gate we enter the amusement park. Right at the beginning of our tour of the Parc du Bocasse, we immediately notice the new orientation of the park, which is really worth seeing. Instead of alot of smaller additions, the park went bigger and more substantial. Not only do the rides here look excellent, they are also much larger than in the rest of the park.

Splash-o-Saure

The first one is the log flume Splash-o-Saure by the French manufacturer Soquet, which is more reminiscent of the ride Mami Wata from the Austrian amusement park Fantasiana Erlebnispark Strasswalchen and could therefore have come straight from Hafema.

After leaving the station, you quickly reach the first lift, which takes you up a few metres. When you arrive at the top you are turned around on a turntable in the direction of the descent, but you leave it backwards. Well moistened, you now bob along the canal for a few bends until you reach the central tower of the ride. In here you will find the vertical lift of the ride, which will take you up to the starting point of the big drop. Without any great skirmishes you go down immediately, whereupon a quite decent shower is waiting for you. After another bend you reach the station of the ride again. With a bit of bad luck you can get drenched by another boat – very similar to the old log flume Wildwasserbahn II of Heide Park. You leave the ride via a footbridge past the run-out section.

The Splash-o-Saure is a really good log flume. It is really nice to see more and more new rides from Soquet in the recent years. But before I get all sentimental, let’s take a look at an older ride from the same manufacturer, which is located on the other side of the park, which is divided by a road.

Train de la Mine

The Parc du Bocasse also has a classic Train de la Mine. The variant here, however, has a very remarkable helix right at the start of the ride, which makes the ride stand out a bit. The course is then skilfully and fluently initiated by a beautiful steep curve. On the following hill we change the direction of the ride for a short while, whereupon we enter another downhill helix. After two full turns we leave this helix again and immediately dedicate ourselves to a little bunny hop. After a tight turn below the first helix we immediately approach the terrain and follow the course of a small hollow. After a straight line and a left bend we reach the final curve of the ride, whereupon we immediately find ourselves in the station of the roller coaster.

The Train de la Mine is a very nice family roller coaster, but it lacks the more daring moments of other Soquet roller coasters. Nevertheless, the ride is a lot of fun and has an optical highlight and a really nice start due to its high-mounted helix.

Electro Spin and Flash Tower

As the French round boat slide rafting Colorad’Eau next door was unfortunately not in operation at the time of the visit, we will now turn our attention to the rides next to it. They are all made in Italy, and this also applies to almost the entire area of the park. The more exciting rides Electro Spin and Flash Tower are from Zamperla, other rides are mostly from SBF Visa.

Speedy Gonzales

In fact, the Parc du Bocasse offers an exceptionally large collection of smaller children’s rides. These are now gradually being integrated into the park’s theme-based activities, and some of them are certainly worth seeing. The small roller coaster Speedy Gonzales, which has a very compact layout in the shape of an eight, is still completely without design.

Pirate’s Plunder

In the back corner of the Parc du Bocasse amusement park, we then come across other fairly large rides, such as a Rockin’ Tug and a boat swing. There is also a simulator, as well as an interactive theatre by Alterface. Instead of the well-known western shooting, we go on a treasure hunt with a Jack Sparrow blend and get rid of skeletons. Terrific fun!

Apiland

But the biggest surprise of the amusement park awaits us in a small hall marked Apiland. What looks like a museum about bees from the outside, turns out to be a lovely dark ride inside, which just doesn’t want to end. The ride is simply outstanding for a theme park of this size.

Jurassic Twister

On the way to the exit we take the roller coaster Jurassic Twister with us, which rides like any other Zamperla spinning coaster. Shortly afterwards I’m sitting in my car again and leave the Parc du Bocasse in a very good mood. French family parks simply have what it takes 😉.

Pictures Parc du Bocasse

Conclusion Tron-Tron-Trône

A little later I am already on the ferry to England, whereupon my journey through France comes to an end. It was nice; but it was not cheap either. However, the French amusement park landscape is definitely always worth a visit. With a few exceptions, the parks are all great, the public is usually very pleasant and the rest of the country is also very relaxed; you just shouldn’t be so fooled by French people abroad. In any case, come and visit them, it’s worth it.

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Parc du Bocasse / Tron-Tron-Trône Day 9