The big state of Texas and into Louisiana

From Carlsbad Caverns we headed east into the middle of Texas.   We apologize ahead of time to those of you who love Texas, if we offend you, but we really didn’t like Texas.  With the exception of the coastal/bayou region in the southeastern part, we will avoid it on our future trips.   We spent only one night in Lake Colorado City State Park in Colorado City, Texas.    Our GPS told us one way to go and Jean’s I-phone told us to go a different, shorter route.    If you remember our “dirt road incident” on the first day of our trip, in Florida, you’ll understand why we learned to regret that we had forgotten that lesson!  Once again, we ended up on a dirt road with nowhere to turn around, and by the time we got to the correct – paved- road and the campground, the dust was literally a ¼ thick coating on the truck and the trailer.    It even got inside the trailer and caused us to do some serious cleaning before we could stay in it!   Ugh.  

sparse, scrubby landscape at Lake Colorado City State Park campground - looking out of our front door

The next campground was an Army Corps of Engineer (ACE) campground on a reservoir – Lakeside Campground at Horde’s Creek Lake near Coleman.   As is typical for an ACE campground, it was a really pretty place and for only $8.00 a night with electricity, we decided to stay for 4 nights.   This one seems to not be funded as well as others we have been to and the locals were even mowing the campsites they were staying in for the weekend!   We didn’t mind the taller grasses and we loved the many deer we saw.  What we didn’t like was all the spiders there…. they were all sizes and shapes, and were everywhere!   We drove the 8 miles into Coleman to grocery shop and do our laundry.  What a joke!   The people were really nice but there was only one small grocery store, the only laundromat in town had mostly broken machines and it cost twice as much there as anywhere else we have been.  Trying to find a place to treat ourselves to “lunch in town” was also a joke.   There was a pizza place and two rundown little restaurants, with no obvious signs and with paint peeling off the outside walls.   The only way we could tell they were eating places was by all of the cars parked outside.     We were hungry and saw that even the town police were eating there, so we decided to brave it and go inside.    Amazing…. the paint was faded and peeling inside as well, the paint was worn off of the concrete floor, and there was dirt along the floorboards.   The food was actually good and we didn’t get sick afterwards, but we do wonder if the board of health does inspections in this town.    The cellular service throughout most of Texas was spotty and we had no service at all at this campground nor for many, many miles on either side of it.    Much to our surprise, we later found out that emails that are sent when there is no cell reception do not go through yet are not marked as “not received” so the sender nor the intended receiver know about it.   We missed a notice that our house insurance payment did not go through and almost had our policy cancelled the day before Hurricane Matthew was to hit Florida!

A few of the many deer at Lakeside Campground

the view from our front door at Lakeside Campground  -  Jean's painting area is on the table and Jerome is walking Carly

Carly on her leash

We headed south toward Houston in hopes of meeting up with a friend of ours, Holly, who went to nursing school with Jean and we hadn’t seen in over 30 years, and a childhood friend of Jean’s, Chip, who she hadn’t seen in over 45 years.    We stayed 2 nights in McKinney State Park in Austin and were pleasantly surprised.  For being so close to town it was lush and quiet with two nice waterfalls.  It was a refreshing break from the flat, scrubby landscape we had been traveling through.    In fact, the stretch from Coleman south to Austin had the biggest windmill farms we have ever seen.  We drove for 50 miles with windmills on either side of us for as far as we could see.   The locals told us the people that own the land make $650/month per windmill!  No wonder Texas has so many rich people!

the view from our windshield - windmills on both sides of the road for as far as the eye can see

Jerome - our campsite at McKinney Falls State Park

McKinney Middle Falls

Sadly, we weren’t able to meet up with Holly, so we continued on to Anahuac, just southeast of Houston.   The area around Anahuac is a lot like the Florida Everglades, where Jean grew up.  Here we were lucky enough to find a campsite for 2 nights at Anahuac RV Park.  It was just a place in a bare field where a lot of the oil field workers live in their RVs, but it had a nice laundry house.   Also, it was close to where Jean’s friend, Chip, lived and Lagow Ranch where he took us for a “Bird Nerd Tour.”   It was a fun-filled visit with a lot of “catching-up” for Jean and Chip and she thoroughly enjoyed being around her friend who had made such an impact on some of her best childhood memories.   While we were there, he took us to AL-T’s, a great restaurant in nearby Winnie, where we had really good “Cajun food.” 

American coot - Lagow Ranch, Anahuac, Texas

purple gallinule - Lagow Ranch, Anahuac, Texas

Blue heron on the hunt - Lagow Ranch, Anahuac, Texas

Blue-grey gnatcatcher getting ready to grab a bug - Lagow Ranch, Anahuac, Texas

gator in one of the many ponds - Lagow Ranch, Anahuac, Texas

On the way through Louisiana, I-10 was closed just west of Lafayette, due to a gas well fire.    Our detour south towards Abbeville turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  If it hadn’t been for this detour, we would never have known about Palmetto Island State Park.  This campground has been one of our favorites on this trip.  We extended our stay here to 5 nights and we will definitely return to camp here again.   It’s just beautiful and in the heart of the bayou with lots of thick, lush, green foliage.   It had book exchanges, free laundry facilities, free WiFi, and great showers in the pristine bathrooms.   We rode our bikes, kayaked in the bayou, and had a wonderfully relaxing time.

Kayaking in the bayou at Palmetto Island State Park

a juvenile green heron trying to hide from us while we were kayaking by it

Our last “destination stop” will be New Orleans, then we will set our sights on the Florida panhandle and home.   The next time you hear from us, we will either be home or very nearby….. ‘until then, may you stay safe and well,     Jerome & Jean

( ... just another reminder to click on the pictures to make them larger )