Return to Sam Houston Jones St Pk, TX

We have returned to an old friend of a state park in Sam Houston Jones in Louisiana. We had a nice couple of days here on our trip West. Tonight it is just a break in heading home. The last time, we were probably ahead of the curve representing the flight of most snow birds. This time we are smack-dab on the curve of the returnees. We got here around 2:30 on a Sunday, but were surprised by the large number of campers already here and arriving in a near-continuous stream. We were lucky to get in without reservations. Evidently, the $9 reservation fee mentioned on the first stop was working in our favor.

One of the things we should have remembered from the first stop is that the power boxes on the sites around the outside of the camping area are really too far from the parking spots for the standard RV power cord. This time however, a kind neighbor offered to loan us his 25 foot 30 amp extension cord. We were really grateful for his kindness and assured him that we would use only four feet or so of the total available length.

This park is especially memorable in that it is by far the most inexpensive campgrounds with full services that we have yet experienced. We get water and electricity with excellent WiFi and good restroom facilities. Recommended again.

Today we have a few pictures from the ferry crossing leaving Galveston.



Tomorrow we head to our first camping experience in Mississippi probably near Hattiesburg if all goes well. We will let you know how it goes.

Sam Houston Jones State Park, Louisiana

We awoke to a little early morning fog at sunrise which yielded up some pretty fine photos – again with the Canon s90 at hand. They should be at the end of the Tickfaw album, just preceding this post.

Morty put another free day in the bank with one more consecutive driving day of 170 miles. We were just able to stay in Louisiana with its low prices at the westernmost state park known as Sam Houston Jones. This park is just North of Lake Charles. The prices here are the same as before, but we noticed a new schedule of transaction charges: $3 for walk-in; $5 for using the web site, and $9 for using ReserveAmerica. No wonder I’ve been leery of using the third party site. Can you imagine my reaction if I were charged an extra $9 for making my $8 site rental. Ouch!

Fortunately, reservations are hardly necessary, the park is only about 15% full tonight, though some late arrivals are inevitable. I am getting to like our noon arrivals more and more. The routine of driving for three hours before lunch is working well for us, because first, we can stop for a McDonalds breakfast, when we arrive, we have a larger selection of sites, then we have lunch in the park followed by bike-borne explorations. Then we are soon tired and ready for appetizers and dinner, an early bedding, and ready for an early start all over again -- maybe too Spartan for most, but a good routine for us. Mentioning McDonalds, we are obliged to report that some are doing away with the $0.50 senior coffee because of the expanded breakfast $1 value menu -- we win, we lose this time all in the same place.

As we drove, the skies clouded over, looking quite wintry by Ohio standards, but the temperatures climbed into the 70’s. Today’s wildlife list is fairly short: deer, ibis and duck. We are in Calcasieu Parish on the Calcasieu River, and again, most of the heat-loving critters are on sabbatical. A quartet of yearling deer came up to Morty just as were about to unpack the bikes. Lynne remarked that they looked very thin, so I spread out a little birdseed on the picnic bench, and one came over and licked most of it up. A second had less courage and could only manage a bite while the last two looked on in disgust -- quite a demonstration of peer pressure.

Tomorrow we enter Lone Star where the weather will dictate how far south our path takes us. Tonight I’m struggling with a marginal cell phone connection, so there’s no telling when we’ll get this post up.

Louisiana Rental

Tickfaw State Park in Louisiana is 174 miles down the road from Spanish Fort -- the perfect distance for Morty's new travel plan except for not camping in Mississippi even though we completely crossed over it [albeit the short way]. That's okay, Morty, we'll get back to do some Camping there before not too long.

Today, MLK's birthday celebration is just a little more joyous for us because we are also mindful of the Louisiana Purchase giving us this great land -- some government plans have proven wise and good. We however will just be renting a bit of the bayou for the day. Actually, Louisiana State Parks may be an RVer's Nirvana. Tickfaw is near perfection. Some highlights: paved sites, water and 50 amp power, free Wifi [not that I've gotten a good connection with it -- the cell phone tethering with Sprint is working fine], 50% senior discount with the National Parks Senior Pass card, plastic payments accepted, great boardwalks to the river and through the cypress forests, adequate and convenient trash collection, good bathouses, no weird regulations, and it is all available for $8 per night with a $3 transaction fee. Now that's some good campin'. Plus we have perfect weather: sky severe clear, temperatures in the mid 60s. We will probably want to angle in another stay in Louisiana tomorrow night regardless of the distance covered.



We drove for the morning, and set up camp just about noon. Lynne made some sandwiches and then we set out exploring on the bikes. We explored the roads of the park and hiked the boardwalks and stopped in the Nature Center. Lynne spotted our first armadillo, but then we saw a couple more, one meandering along the road foraging for food very nonchalantly. Must be a fairly common site in these parts. We were also impressed by the geckos and the cypress knees and trees. The park ranger told us we might see the turkey flock making its way back to the roosting area in the late afternoon, but no luck. We sat out on the recliners for our late afternoon sip of wine and watched the locals walking by in their winter wraps. We of course were in shorts, tees and sandals -- so glad to have left behind the snow and real cold. Skyward a flock of about 50 vultures circled lazily overhead drifting with the breeze slowly westward. Something we will be joining in tomorrow morning -- except for the lazily part.