From Florida to Texas (Gulf of Mexico)  (10 -15^th 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/

 

RV camping can be pretty expensive. We thought 50 USD/ night is already expensive, but we were offered already 65 USD/ night in a private park in Savannah…. So we decided to mix private RVs or good locations and pay some premium, but on regular days use State Park or National Parks (if available – those are sold out quite a bit as we learn now….) or if we are just looking for a place to sleep look for some free campgrounds.

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.

http://www.nps.gov/guis/planyourvisit/campground-openings-in-florida-and-mississippi-districts.htm

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) 

 

 

Next day we woke up in a foggy atmosphere and headed west to Louisiana.

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.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/sea-rim

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.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/mckinney-falls

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