Well with all the great advice from everyone I made it through New Mexico and Texas, really enjoyed the past few weeks and now will be heading into Arkansas, Missouri and eventually back to Wisconsin....
We traveled for a month in Arkansas last fall. Stayed only in state parks and they are great. Did not have any problems with steep grades that we could not handle with a '99 F150 and heavy HW camper. Beautiful state. I wish Louisiana had a park system like they do.