From Florida to Texas (Gulf of Mexico) (10 -15th March)
Florida greeted us with nice weather and free orange juice
to sample at the welcome center in Jacksonville.
The weather kept the logo – sunshine state. As we headed
west we checked different places on the beach but all of them were booked out….
They all looked so amazing…. But I guess that is the problem as we don’t want
to plan in advance and go with the flow. So we decided to keep going as far as
we can and just stay overnight. Steffi found a website where you can find free
campsites. http://freecampsites.net/
So we found a little spot on a little village boat ramp in
Caryville, Fl. The city looked like a forgotten place but on the boat ramp
several guys, some with their kids where having a chat (looked like a social
meeting place for the people in the area). Even the sheriff patrolled the road
for us J so
even Robert who was not very confident in the beginning felt save. The only
downside… we got eaten up by some strange flies … they still itched today…
Next day we wanted to go as far west as possible, but rain
was forecasted going west, so we decided to stay in Pensacola and enjoyed a
nice afternoon. We had called a National forest on an island a natural seashore
called gulf Islands (like the Outer Banks in NC) in the Santa Rosa area. http://www.nps.gov/guis/learn/index.htm
The problem was that their computer system was down but
after talking to them 3 times Charley said to come in and they would find a
spot for us for 1 night as several persons left … On our way there we were
surprised about this hidden gem.
Once we got on the island on a toll bridge it
looked like a luxury weekend place for rich people and we wondered how there
can be a National park here. After a
couple of miles down the island by the sudden all construction stopped and we
already saw the gate entrance. Things changed now and we were amazed by the
sand dunes and white sand, so white you could not see the difference from the
water dust and the sand. But no sight of a Campground…. Another 2 miles hidden
by dunes and low wood, we got to the campsite. We got their by 3.30h and the
park ranger was puzzled as we did not have a reservation and told us to go
directly to Charley who was a Camping host. Then our adventure started as nor
Charley nor one of the other campsite host were at their spot… the office was
closed even though it was not 4pm… so what should we do? After several intents
to find a camping host, we found Charley but turned out that it was a different
Charley. It didn’t matter Charley assigned us a nice camp site after some
discussions and we could enjoy a
beautiful afternoon on the beach!!
Pensacola and Fort Pickens (FL)
After skipping Alabama ( sorry ) we went straight for the
classic New Orleans. We found a better parking lot next to the French Quarters which
they called a 5 star camp ground. The only thing 5 star about it was the price.
They took almost 90$ from us for the night next to the interstate. At least we
could walk to the French Quarters and
enjoyed some Gumbo and live music on Bourbon Street. One thing is for sure, you
will meet a lot of interesting people there J.
New Orleans and Lousiana impressions
Next day it was time to hit Texas so we went for 2 days to
the Sea rim state park.
Of course we are still chasing better weather but were
still not successful. The park was nice but the weather wasn’t and the Mosquitoes
started a war on us. They were very aggressive so 2 days was more then we could
take. The sunny site was when we saw our first Alligator in the wild. Well, he
blocked our path so we had to turn around. We did not have the balls to step
over him J
the other highlight was when we met Patti and Wayne. They had a nice 45 foot RV
with a garage and a Harley inside. We had a great night and were happy to find
our bed which was only 30 meter away J
Sea Rim State park, TX
The next day we slept
in to recover and packed our stuff dumped black water and Steffi took over the
steering wheel for the first time….. Talking about bad luck…. 2 minutes later
the check engine light went on and the truck had a dead accelerator. Restarting
the truck fixed the problem temporally so we went to the next available Dodge dealer.
They checked the error codes and it looks like a major issue. Since we were
able to drive the truck as usual we decided to see if the problem happens again
before bleeding for the repair…. We
passed Houston and went towards Austin but we lost a lot of time with the truck
so we stayed the night at a RV park in Columbus. We were invited to party with
some Vietnam Veterans that met again after 38 years. It was very interesting and
we had a good time. It was a real Redneck experience. Next day we took it easy, did necessary bill
payments online and took off towards Austin. Steffi took the steering wheel and
our problem was back ( I hope it has nothing to do with her driving J )
but its Sunday so we didn’t find a place to get it fixed so we drove to the McKinney
State falls park.
We put the bikes together and enjoyed a nice afternoon. It
could have been a little warmer but who cares. The park was fully booked but we
got lucky as someone canceled and we grabbed the spot. We can already feel that
Mexico is not far because a lot of Mexicans enjoyed the park. Tomorrow we are
going to look for a dealership that can help with our truck problem…..
McKinney Falls Austin, TX
"If it can go wrong, it will go wrong."
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