February 24, 2004
Texas – Eastern and Central
Eastern Texas is your expected oil rigs and natural gas pumps. We were still experiencing cold (38 degrees), wet weather so it looked even more dreary. While visiting Beaumont, TX we spent our time in museums. We enjoyed:
- the Fire Museum, (as CERT volunteers, we enjoy anything related to the Fire Department)
- the Texas Energy Museum, (with all of the oil wells in the area, you might as well learn all about them)
- and the McFadden House. (a beautiful home and carriage house from 1905)
These were all well-done, so we were surprised to be very disappointed with the Art Museum.
Here’s a picture of me in front of the Disney-donated fire hydrant at the Fire Museum:
I’m already struggling with my vegetarian diet that I try to maintain. I thought it was a fluke that I ordered Vegetable Soup in Louisiana and it came with chunks of beef. But then in Beaumont I ordered Spinach Enchiladas only to find chicken in it. Do they feel the need to ‘warn’ me that there are vegetables in the food? But the meat is a ‘given’?
In Central Texas we stopped in San Antonio and Austin. We enjoyed both of these cities. San Antonio has their beautiful little River Walk, and of course the Alamo.
The Alamo
Andy Washes the RV...while I watch!
Andy started a new hobby while we visited Groene, Texas – collecting pottery coffee mugs. This purchase would be the first of many beautiful hand-made coffee mugs.
Austin has a nice Riverwalk area along the Colorado River in downtown. The Congress Ave Bridge in Austin is well-known for their bats. Unfortunately we’re not here at the right time. You can expect to see them around mid-March or so. And the Capitol is worth a visit and has a beautiful dome.
Capitol of Texas
What we didn’t understand about Austin was that everyone used Highway 35, so it was congested and very slow moving, and there were all of these other roads they could use that were empty. Go figure. While in Austin we stayed at McKinney Falls SP and enjoyed biking and kayaking within the park and our closest neighbors were deers and birds.
Biking over the Falls
Our campsite was huge, too. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and so far we believe them.
This was the first area that we were able to use our road bikes. We did a bike ride from Bastrop State Park to Beuscher State Park – hilly, curvy, and lots of trees – everything FL riding isn’t. It was great!
Biking Bastrop to Beuscher
After leaving Austin, we stopped in Fredericksburg. This town offers a great micro-brewery and a great war museum – the Nimitz Museum – so give yourself several hours for the museum. We also drove out to the Enchanted Rock for some hiking. We combined several trails to make a loop trail that took us up and around the granite dome and past weather-formed mushroom formations. Supposedly rock climbers use this area, but we didn’t see anyone out today.
We’ve been really wanting to do some caving though since we’ve gotten into central Texas. So we scheduled a guided adventure tour at Sonora Caverns. We’ll be driving through the town of Sonora, TX on our way to Big Bend National Park.
RVing “Firsts”: RV repair – tire guard snapped (we assume it broke driving through Louisiana)
February 12, 2004
Louisiana – Mandeville and Lafayette
Fontainebleu SP in Mandeville, LA is beautiful. It sits on Lake Ponchartrain, but on the northern side (opposite New Orleans). It has lots of trees, wildlife, and water. It was the perfect spot for Nikki’s eternal resting place. Just don’t tell the Park Rangers – I don’t think they’d approve. I bought a beautiful wooden box with magnolias hand-painted on it by a local artist and we buried him under some big oaks near the lake. I think he would’ve liked this spot.
Nikki's Place
Here are some shots from around the park:
Andy on the Trail
Fontainebleu State Park
This tree was one of several in the “alley of the oaks”. I was amazed how the branches reached down to the ground like the fingers of an upturned palm. If you look closely, you’ll see Andy standing by the trunk (he’s in orange).
The Largest Oak
On the drive to Lafayette, LA on I-10 we had to drive over the 17.5 mile Bain Bridge – a long, low bridge that takes you over the bayou. We had hoped to do some outdoorsy stuff, but it rained the whole time we were there. We almost went kayaking anyway, but the Vermillion River was so polluted that Andy renamed it “Vermin River”. Let’s just say you could smell it before you saw it. We did get to enjoy ourselves at an indoor rock-climbing facility, though. You learn quickly how weak you are when you try this sport!
We visited St Johns Cathedral and saw a 500-year old oak tree that has a 210 foot span. It is suspected that one branch weighs 72 tons. And then we visited Jean Lafitte cultural Center (a National Historic Park) that teaches you about the Atchafalaya Swamp and the Acadian people.
Just for the record: Louisiana has the worst roads we have yet to drive on (and note that we are in California now). They are concrete, so the segments cause that constant thumping, but they are also filled with potholes and patches to make them worse.
Some more of our RVing “Firsts” – getting an oil change for the RV, getting the propane tank filled.
February 7, 2004
Alabama and Mississippi
Alabama – we stopped and had lunch outside of Mobile. That has to count for “visiting” the state, right?
{editor’s note: later we learned that RVers have different qualifications for what constitutes as a “visit” for the record. And, if you have a map of the states you can only put a state sticker on the map when those qualifications are met. So we had to decide on what our criteria would be – and we decided that we would have to spend the night in our RV to be classified as a “visit”. So, Alabama didn’t count…yet.}
We were a little nervous driving through the Mobile tunnel. This was our first tunnel in the RV. “Hazardous Materials” were not allowed to be transported through the tunnel, and considering we had a propane tank, we weren’t sure how we were classified.
Boondocking next to Treasure Bay's Pirate Ship
February 2, 2004
Northern Florida – Springs, Rivers, and Waterfalls
Suwanee Kayak Launch
So instead we visited the Stephen Foster Center (the man who wrote songs such as “Oh Susanna!” and “Way Down Upon the Suwanee River” to just name a few), and saw the “largest bell tower in the world”. We also went for a short hike to Big Shoals, which is a Class III rapids on the Suwanee.
Hike to Big Shoals
- Paddling Under a Tree Trunk
Diane at Falling Waters
Our last stop in Florida was Holt. Our target was to hike in Blackwater River State Park. We did do a short hike to Blackwater River. There would’ve been great hiking and biking in other areas if it wasn’t for hunting season, which appears they hunt something there all year long. So, for safety, we drove to Milton and biked a Rail-to-Trail there: Blackwater Heritage Trail. It was a nice, tree-lined path that dead-ended at the Whiting Field NAS. The campground we stayed at was close to Eglin Air Force Base, which had night-time target practices. Have you ever tried to go to sleep to machine-gun fire and bombing explosions? It was a pretty interesting stay, needless to say.
Diandy's RV Travels from 2004 