On March 10th, we left Traveler’s World RV Resort around 11 a.m. taking Avenue B to 536 (Roosevelt Ave) to 13 (SE Roosevelt Ave), then I10. Driving across TX seems to take forever and in some sections can be rather boring. This drive was no exception, made worse because of all the road construction!  It would be a 2 1/2 hour drive to our next destination, Stephen Austin State Park in San Felipe, TX for a two night stay. Timing was of concern as we had received an email from the State Park stating that they would not let anyone check in before 2 p.m.

When we neared the state park, Google showed exit 723 as closed so Rob took exit 720. That was a mistake! We ended up on TX 36 heading south. I called the campground to get directions – the guy there started to give me directions to turn around and go to Sealy but then changed his mind, telling us to continue on 36 South. then turn onto FM 1458 which would eventually get us to the State Park. Think it cost us close to an hour. No worries about being there earlier than the 2 p.m. check in time!

Wow, nice park! Our site #25 was a huge pull thru.

Each night we had a campfire.

On Friday, March 11th, we went to Tony’s Family Restaurant (we had been there before) for breakfast. We both had the 3 egg special ($6.95). Decent meal!

Unfortunately we had waited until the last minute to make reservations for the weekend after our stay at Stephen Austin State Park. What a surprise when I called to make a reservation  at Gulf Coast RV Park in Beaumont that they were totally booked. So then I called Hidden Lake RV Park and they were totally full as well. Oh, oh! We found another PA park, Rio RV Park in Wallisville, TX and luckily they had a site for the weekend. Woo hoo! Located right off I-10, it was easy to find.

Forgot that a gate code was provided on the confirmation email so it took us a few minutes to find it which was annoying to the driver waiting patiently behind us. Pulling in and parking in front of the office, we were surprised that the office was closed. Apparently, the office is closed on Saturdays but Wendy neglected to tell us that. She had told us our site #41 but there was no map anywhere. Fortunately Rob found one by searching on Google so we were finally able to make our way to our site. Site #41 was right on the bayou with a huge cement pad. We could see that they were working on adding other sites but based on what had been dug out, we couldn’t figure out where the sites were going to be. Across the way was some type of boat ramp which was busy the entire time we were there.

Several signs were posted on trees stating that the RV park was not responsible for the theft of any items which made us uncomfortable. Yes they had a massive gate but what would keep some of the boaters from tying up their boats and coming onshore. Rob felt so uncomfortable, he made the comment that the place had a bad vibe to it and he didn’t want to come back.

On Sunday, we took a ride to J. J. Mayes Trace Park (it has since been closed by the Army Corps of Engineers) which was a nice drive along the Trinity River. We stopped and walked one of the boardwalks. Except for seeing a couple of fishermen, not much of any particular interest.

On Monday, the day we were leaving, I rec’d a text at 8:15 a.m. from Wendy stating that they would be shutting off the water and electricity at 9 a.m. because of construction. Great! Since check in time at White Oaks wasn’t until 2:00 .m. and it was only 1 1/2 hour drive, we had planned on hanging at Rio until check out time at noon.

When we saw the small bulldozer and tractor arrive, we decided we should probably leave earlier rather than later. When Rob went outside one of the men (turned out to be the manager) came over to apologize for the inconvenience. Nice guy! During our conversation we learned the plans for the new sites and that nothing had ever been stolen (there were multiple cameras that send alerts to him if someone is detected on the property). When we told him about our surprise that the office was closed and Wendy had never mentioned it, he said he would add that info as well as a map to the reservation confirmation email. Based on all the info we were given, we decided we would definitely return at some point in the future.