If not for the billboards, it would not be as much fun…Deep South and Texas
As the passenger I get to spend a lot of time looking out the window, the billboards, wow, I can only chuckle at times and wonder what they say about our society;) If aliens were to come to Earth and just read them…now, that would be a story worth listening to:) maybe they have, I want to believe;)
We had a gray day leaving Tennessee, by the time we arrived in Oak Mountain State Park in Alabama the clouds followed us with drizzle as well. We opted for a few days here. The sites were a bit wonky but it turns out we were alone on either side for our stay and we had full hook ups as well. It was chilly! This was a Groot and Gamora approved park. Full of paths and soft leaves to dig in and very little traffic, Gamora is not fond of cars, Groot doesn’t like strange humans;)
We had a cold night, frost everywhere in the morning. We had to refill our propane tank at the local TSC store, seemed to have the best prices, but a grumpy staff, guy a head of us called the clerk a “horse’s pattootie”…hahahaha! Had me thinking of Colonel Potter, Sherman T, in M.A.S.H 😉
Felt like the cold and rain were once again following us! We wanted, needed some sunshine! We headed out clear and cold towards Mississippi, our next stop, Yogi on the Lake, a RV park in Pelahatchie. We had sun, glorious sun and not so many crazy billboards;)
This is a lovely one night stop unless you are into closed water parks, or open water parks for that matter. We were the only trailer backed up onto the lake, for a few dollars more we had a premium view, a few trailers were scattered further in. Pelahatchie Lake looks like a reservoir, the RV park on one side and cottages and homes on the other. It was the first time we’ve been able to open our door! We were in for another cold night according to our weather app, that is why we opted for power over a Harvest Host location. Keeping Beezil’s electric blanket and the fireplace on high!
I knew as soon as I woke up I had to go outside. I sat at the picnic table drinking my coffee and watched Mother Nature’s light show unfold:) Spectacular mists and fog rising from the lake surface. It was nice to see life, Canada Geese and Mallards, a Great Blue Heron and Egrets fishing on the shoreline. It finally felt that we were leaving that cold zone. It seems like months since we left Perth, it is a mere 10 days. Wish we did not have to hurry along as we are…The staff was friendly there, the large statues of Yogi and Booboo a bit weird but hey, this is America;) I didn’t opt for the photo with them;)
Our next jump was under 4 hours, our limit for the old cat Beezil. I found a campground in the Kisatchie National Forest North of Minden, Alabama that came with rave reviews. The Beaverdam Campground. I prepaid my $15 a night, yes, $15, now THIS is affordable camping and our GPS’s, both of them, did take us an odd route through some very small back roads but we arrived in one piece and were astounded by how lovely it was. Take State Route #159 North from Minden and turn left onto the Caney Lake Road, it will avoid the back road we came in on, follow the campground signs:) We could see Caney Lake out our back window. The camp host stopped by and chatted for a while, he’s been there 5 years, I can see why:)
I have never seen so many different mushrooms in all one place! These are all a few hundred feet from the trailer. This was another Groot and Gamora approved park, it was warm enough to leave the door open! un milagro!
This must be a healthy forest to have such wonderful assortment of fungi! Check out this article by the forest service: Interesting facts on Mushrooms and a fabulous page by Paul Stamets “Fungi Perfecti” and a Ted Talk: Six ways mushrooms can save the world.
I didn’t want to leave but time to move on. Make note that Minden is a dry Parish, yes Parish, not county. Religion at work here, but nearby Dixie Inn is not, a town made up of liquor stores I might add;) We did some grocery shopping, alligator nuggets anyone? Ate lunch out at a Sam’s crawfish-seafood shack, we had the grilled shrimp and passed on the deep-fried chicken livers and gizzards…nothing wasted here!
Love looking at local grocery stores for what’s cookin’;)
I wasn’t looking forward to our next stop, it was going to land us in Dallas/Fort Worth. Mike had found a county park with decent reviews so we sadly left the Kisatchie Forest behind and continued West on the I 20. Just about the worst bit of freeway we have hit so far, like riding a bronco going through Shreveport, yeehaw, even the cats looked green and were complaining the whole bouncy way through. Generally we find the freeways through cities to be the worst but this one took the grand prize! It was also a banner day for billboards! The 1-855-for-truth guys had all kinds of competition here!
Between Dallas and Fort Worth, Loyd Park Campground at Joe Pool Lake turned out to be better than I anticipated. It was not picture worthy but a good one night stop. The next morning we headed West to Lake Colorado City State Park, a few miles South of the I 20, now this was better! We were greeted by a beautiful young tabby girl, the camp hosts cat perhaps, we never saw the host. Groot was appalled at the competition, but Gamora was unfazed by the young lady;) We and the camp hosts were the only ones there when we arrived. This is a reservoir as well, 51% full it said at the campground office. Been very very dry.
This was a two-day stay for us, we were planning our next few jumps. Wonderful bird life and bunnies galore. Dragonflies were the cat’s favourite, games of chase and pounce;) There was even a fishing dock to wander around on. We had lunch in town at Mary’s Cafe, I felt brave enough to do a burger, nothing with white sauce on it thanks…0_0….this is another little town that looks prosperity has passed it by. It had a sad air to it, the refueling spot up on the highway had us standing and waiting at the counter for 5 minutes why they gossiped about a friend’s personal problems…not what one might call polite. We’ve found so far Texan drivers to rival Southern Californians in their rudeness on the freeway. Kind of odd, but this is another big “it’s all about me” state, bigger, bolder, brasher hyper individualistic perhaps? Sad after finding the other Southern states were extremely kind and civilized. Maybe it is just the transient working population. RV parks that include the bare minimum line the freeway. Cheap housing, not much personal pride at most of these stops:(
But a good spot to end for today. Tomorrow is sand dunes and then mountains! Stay tuned amigos, hope you don’t run into any old horse’s patooties;)
Common Buckeye, not so common looking!
We have found the same thing about the south and, after living in San Antonio, Texas for 8 years, I would say your assessment is spot on. Beautiful images. Especially loved seeing all the different types of mushrooms!