We’re on the road

We’ve been busy this week, our last couple of days at Livingston were busy sorting things out and getting ready to move.

We left on Wednesday, here we are all hitched up and ready to roll.

Our first overnight stop was at the Stephen F Austin State Park, http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/stephen_f_austin_and_san_felipe/ in San Felipe, Texas. The park ranger who booked us in was really nice and directed us to our site, the sites are set in a loop one on each side and all the utilities are on the road side. Our site was a large pull through, with our own picnic table and grill set among all the trees.

The trees are all covered in Spanish moss and most have huge vines coiled around the trunks.

We took a walk through the trees along the Sycamore trail and down to the Brazos river it’s very wide and fast flowing I definitely wouldn’t want to swim in there.

We also visited the San Felipe de Austin state historic site http://www.visitsanfelipedeaustin.com/index.aspx?page=17.

In a nutshell, San Felipe was once the colonial capital of Texas and was burned by the townspeople as they fled Santa Ana after the attack on the Alamo.

The site is usually unmanned, but we were very lucky as there was a representative from the Texas State Historical Society on site and she gave us a guided tour. We were shown the well containing handmade bricks, allowed to look inside the JJ Josey General Store which is closed as it’s currently unsafe

We were shown the inside of the replica of Stephen F Austin’s log cabin she was very enthusiastic and very interesting. I must get a book on Texas history.

There’s a nice picnic area by the river, there’s a lot of Texas history here and while there’s not a lot to see it’s well worth a visit, I hope we get to come back one day.

Have fun, we are!

‘Driving The Ghost Road’

It was late, it was dark and the headlights barely penetrated the stygian blackness created by the canopy of foliage hanging low overhead, on either side of us the dense forest of the Thicket pressed close, dark and mysterious. We felt but couldn’t see eyes watching as we bumped slowly along the one lane dirt road, peering through the blackness, wondering what lay ahead. A shimmering light hovered and wavered on the road before us……………………..


Oh c’mon. sure we were out driving ‘The Ghost Road’ looking for ghosts, but in the middle of the night, I don’t think so, I like to be tucked up fast asleep then and let the ‘ghosts’ have the Thicket to themselves.

Today has been gloriously sunny and much warmer than recent days, so our trip down Bragg Road, known locally as ‘The Ghost Road http://www.bigthicketdirectory.com/ghostroad.html was sunny and warm with a bright blue sky overhead. Yes it is a one lane dirt road, and yes the Thicket does press close and mysterious and no I wouldn’t like to walk it, not even in daylight and you definitely won’t get me up there after dark!

Leaving Livingston we took 146 south before taking 105 to Saratoga where we joined FM 787 to find the road. Bragg Road, ‘The Ghost Road’ starts on a sharp curve and cuts a straight swathe through the Thicket. The information board at this end of the road not only has bullet holes but also has spray painted on it in big letters NO LIGHT!

Bragg Road, came into being as a rail road track for the Santa Fe railroad and was used for logging, it is cut straight through the Thicket and runs for 8 miles. I don’t know when exactly the tales of mysterious lights started but depending on who you speak to or what you read, the lights are either a railroad man who was decapitated and is swinging his light looking for his head, aliens or more prosaically marsh gas. I have no idea which is true and have no inclination to find out!

Imagine driving through here in the dead of night, or even on a sunny day when the Thicket has all its foliage.

We enjoyed our drive and then came back to sit in the sun before joining friends for drinks. After that well dinner and more relaxing, it’s tough, but someone has to do it.

Have fun, we are!

Martin Dies Jr State Park & Woodville Heritage Center

After yesterday, which was a bit of a washout, when we didn’t go anywhere and spent the day working out mileages between prospective rv park locations, we woke to a lovely sunny morning.

We decided to head off to Martin Dies Jr State Park, http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/martin_dies_jr/ and took route 190 East to Woodville and then across the B A Steinhagen Lake. It’s an interesting drive across the lake, a little like driving along an embankment with a bridge in one section. Spooky cypress trees dot sections of the lake.

Martin Dies Jr State Park is directly across the bridge, the Nature Center was open and the ranger provided us with a trail map and a park map and then pointed us in the direction of the Island trail. The entrance fee was $3.00 each.

We walked across the bridge and took the left fork of the trail, the forest is full of beech, magnolia and pine and there was a real carpet of leaves underfoot, the return section of the trail has views through the trees across the lake and at one point we could see some white pelicans feeding on some sort of weed out in the lake.

The island trail is 0.8 miles from start to finish.

From there we took the observation bridge over to the Woodland Trail which is just over a mile and a half long and followed that back to the park road. On this trail we saw also some stands of palmetto. It seemed to us to be a very similar habitat to that of the Big Thicket, but then this was probably once part of the Big Thicket. On our way back to the car we saw a big white heron standing silently among the cypress trees of the Neches river waiting to pounce on a passing fish.

These forests must smell wonderful when all the magnolia trees are in bloom.

We left the state park and drove back to Woodville to visit the Heritage Village, http://www.heritage-village.org/ most of the buildings in the village are original, although not necessarily in their original location and it is home to the famous Pickett House restaurant, which serves food boarding house style, fried chicken, chicken & dumplings amongst other things.

The Heritage Village is interesting and we enjoyed our visit, although I have to say I’m really glad my dentists surgery is nothing like this one!

I was interested to see the wanted poster for The Wild Bunch, I didn’t realise Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid got to Texas

After a couple of interesting hours around the Heritage Village, the Tolar Kitchen and Main street are shown below

we drove back and had dinner in Pueblo Vieja which was very nice before coming back and collapsing!

We’d never dream of driving some of these distances at home for just a couple of short walks and a walk around a Heritage Village, but apart from passing through a few small towns these roads are soooo much quieter than at home.

Have fun, we are!

Was I ahead of myself?

I forgot to change the time zone on Blogger from GMT to Central time, so I think I've been posting a day ahead of myself, I think.........

Today has been a busy doing nothing day, refilling the propane, visiting, Lowes, the post office and Wally's World for about the 3 millionth time, doing laundry, sitting in the sun drinking coffee and eating muffins.

Yes today has been really, really tough.

Have fun, we are!

Big Thicket

This morning was sunny with clear blue skies, but cold! We decided to take a trip to Big Thicket.

Big Thicket was once an impenetrable forest, a place to be avoided; while the Indians hunted there it was uninhabited until settlers started farming the perimeter in the 1820’s. Big Thicket is now only a fraction of its original size with the Preserve covering 97,500 acres, split into separate sections.

We had a nice drive and arrived at the visitor center around 11:00ish. We weren’t sure if or where we’d be able to hike as everywhere around here is so wet, with standing water in lots of places, but after the orientation video the ranger suggested the Kirby Nature trail.

It’s a nice trail not particularly long or arduous and leads you through different sections of the park, signs tell you not to get off the trail and I can quite see why it would be so easy to get lost if you did. I mean one section of trees looks pretty much like another to me.

See what I mean, turn around twice and you’re lost!

Although it was windy high up in the trees, it was quite sheltered on the trail and the sun was warm apart from the birds it was so quiet I thought it was a little spooky, I wouldn't like to be in here in the dark.



The cypress slough was very weird, with the cypress knees, part of the tree, but other than that don’t ask as I have no idea, sticking up out of the water. We sat for a while looking around, but we were too early in the year for wild flowers and didn’t see any animals either, although a couple of hikers reported seeing a cougar cross Village Creek.


We heard lots of birds but couldn’t actually see them – forgot the binoculars. No-one else had signed in on the trail before or after us so we had it entirely to ourselves and we faithfully reported that we’d not seen any hogs either. I have to say I’m quite glad about that.


We drove home through the back roads across The Big Sandy, which was a nice drive along quiet two lane roads.

We had a little tussle with propane changeover when we got back, but I’m happy to say we won and it is now working again so we’ll be nice and toasty tonight as it is forecast to get down to 29F. Thankfully the forecast also says it’s going to warm up after this.

Have fun, we are!

Polk County Museum, Alligators & Snow!

A visit to the Polk County Museum was recommended to us, so we decided that as today, was chilly, very chilly – we thought we’d left all this cold behind us at home – that is what we’d do. First we stopped the Jonas Davis cabin on W Church Street.
Jonas Davis was a member of the Pakana Muscogie tribe which was originally from this area and was a descendent of President Andrew Jackson’s noted spy. The silver award he is wearing in the picture below bears the inscription ‘Andrew Jackson, President, U. S. of America to John Blount, His Faithful Guide in the Seminole War’.

The award remained in his possession until his death.

Right behind the cabin was Locomotive number 5, it was built in Philadelphia in 1911, used to transport lumber in Florida in the 1920’s it was then purchased for use in the Texas logging industry between Angelina and Polk County Mill towns on the Houston, East and West Texas railway tracks. The locomotive contributed to the development of the areas timber industry.

We didn’t realise that Polk County was named after the 11th President James K Polk who served from 1844 – 1849 and died of cholera 3 months after leaving office.

Museum exhibits show the history of Polk County and Livingston.

A 19th century Wedding dress, obviously this bride didn’t eat donuts!

A nice line in sun bonnets, although today rain bonnets would’ve been much more appropriate!

While we were visiting the museum, the very nice lady told us that alligators abound in the creeks, river and Lake Livingston and that wild hogs, bobcats and a few black bear live in the forests.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Museum and won’t hesitate to return when we’re next in the area.

Mind you when we got back to the Cougar, big fat silver dollar sized flakes of snow fell from the sky for a while so maybe its polar bears we should be watching out for not black bears!

It is still raining and a whole lot chillier than we expected Texas to be at this time of the year and from what I’m hearing it is a whole lot chillier than Texans expect Texas to be as well!

Still tomorrow is another day and the forecast is sunshine, hurray!

Have fun, we are!

We're on the road

It’s been a while since I posted, but you have no idea how busy you get being retired, how we ever found time to go to work is mystifying.

After lots of expected hanging around, we’re finally on the road, we have our Big Black Texas Truck, BT for short, and our Cougar fifth wheel, so meet BT and the Cougar.


As you can see the truck is huge and being somewhat vertically challenged I really need those running boards, especially as Mike has said that one day he may even let me drive it on the road he just didn’t say which year that would be!

The fifth wheel is lovely and we are very pleased with it and the service we got from Tony and the team at Genuine RV Stores in Nacogdoches www.genuinerv.com but, as with most things it’s not built for small people so I now have a small step and I can almost reach some of the high cupboards.

We’re currently at the Rainbows End, Escapees park in Livingston, Texas where plan to stay for the next couple of weeks while we familiarise ourselves with both BT and the Cougar.

Barely a day goes by without a trip to Walmart for one of those little things you always have at home, but as home is about 6,000 miles away we can’t just pop back for something. I wonder if Walmart give frequent flyer miles?

After we leave here the plan is to head to Big Bend National Park via Bandera the Cowboy Capital of the World, well at least that is the plan today who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Have fun, we are!