We hit the road Monday morning a little later than I intended. By the time we had the trailer hitched up and rolled out on to the highway, it was 9:40am. Our route took us from Aransas Pass up TX35 to Angleton where we hit TX288 north to Houston. This was a familiar route as we came this way in 2015. There was plenty of water along the way in the creeks and lakes, but the fields weren’t flooded like they were in 2015.

We made a stop in a Walmart parking lot in Bay City before we reached TX288. I walked over to Subway and bought a sandwich for lunch while Donna made a salad for herself back in the coach.

TX288 took us to I-610 – a loop around Houston that ostensibly avoids the traffic crossing the city. In fact, I-610 is just as congested as any other portion of interstate through a large city. There were construction zones and sections of rough pavement. Once we hit I-10 east and headed away from Houston, the pavement was rough for several miles. Eventually the road surface improved and the traffic thinned out.

We drove through a swarm of bugs – there were so many of them hitting the windshield, it sounded like large raindrops were falling. I don’t know what kind of insect they were, but they were all over the front of the coach.

We made our second stop at the Pilot/Flying J travel center in Baytown and topped up the tank with $203 worth of diesel fuel. Donna found a free overnight boondocking spot at a county park in Winnie, Texas. This park is where they hold the Texas Rice Festival and they have dozens of RV sites with 20 amp electrical outlets. The electricity was turned off so we didn’t bother with the RV sites and parked on level pavement outside of the livestock area. The place was deserted when we arrived a little before 4pm.

In many of the photos, our coach looks like a low rider. That’s because I dump the air from the suspension, lowering the coach before I put the jacks down. The ride height going down the road is four or five inches higher.

We took a walk to town a few blocks away. By the time we were heading out, several people had come to the park. A couple of families were having a picnic dinner near the children’s play area and several other people were walking laps of the park for exercise.

A block away from the park we saw a sign that said “The Secret Garden” and another sign that said,

“The kiss of sun for pardon

The song of birds for mirth

One is nearer god’s heart in a garden

Than anywhere on earth”

We couldn’t figure out what it was all about. It looked to be someone’s backyard garden.

When we came back to the coach, Donna heated up a cowboy casserole she had made the day before with leftover cornbread, chicken and vegetables that was very tasty. We ate outside and after dinner, I lit up a cigar. Jamie and Francisco gifted me with a bundle of four cigars they bought at the Texas Sand Fest. Although I said I wouldn’t make a habit of cigar smoking, it’s quickly becoming a habit. Two other smaller rigs pulled into the park and spent the night. It was mostly quiet and I wouldn’t hesitate to spend a night there again.

Donna walked over to Burrito Express in the morning and picked up two breakfast burritos that were excellent and very filling. We got back on the road at 9am. The wind was blowing from the southeast, but it wasn’t too bad. I wanted to follow a route down through McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge and Sea Rim State Park, but Nally – our Rand McNally RV specific GPS wouldn’t route us that way, even when I put way points in. I took that to mean the road wasn’t suitable – maybe a low overpass or weight limited bridges. So we headed east on TX73 through Port Arthur and Bridge City.

There are huge refineries there and waterways from the Gulf through Sabine Lake for ships to offload at the refineries. To cross these waterways, the road had high – I mean very high – and steep bridges. These bridges allow clearance for the tankers to come through. I was happy to have mostly a tailwind over these high bridges – a strong crosswind would not have been fun.

When we got back on I-10 about five miles from the Louisiana border, we hit what has to be the worst stretch of Interstate pavement anywhere. It was ridiculous. After we crossed the Sabine River and entered Louisiana, the road surface improved. Although Donna and I both have been to New Orleans several times, this was our first trip to the state in our motorhome. We left the Interstate near Crowley (The Rice Capital of America) and took a series of county roads – narrow and often rough – to our final destination at Betty’s RV Park.

We booked a week at Betty’s based on a recommendation from our friends John and Sharon Hinton. Our friends Brett and Cheri also stayed here. John send us a message a while back telling me the park might be tight for a rig our size. I looked at it on Google earth and saw what he meant.

We were feeling some trepidation as we rolled through the narrow streets of Abbeville and saw narrow driveways on several properties. When we pulled off of State Street at the park entrance, we were relieved to see that parking would be a piece of cake. Betty had a spot picked out for our trailer and it was easily accessible. After dropping the trailer, I made a loop of the small park out onto the street again and re-entered to back into site #4.

The park is small – maybe a few acres with 17 sites. The attraction here is Betty, the owner, and her daily happy hour potluck gathering. Everyone meets at a covered patio area at 4:30pm to share hors d’oeuvres and stories over their beverage of choice.

I’m not the most gregarious person, but in a park this small, getting together with neighbors is inevitable and Betty makes it fun. We’ll be here for a week and plan to explore the area.

We’re at an elevation of 30 feet above sea level. The weather is warm – highs around 80 and very humid. Looks like thundershowers may arrive by the weekend. I hope there isn’t too much rain as we want to attend the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival!