Texas to Mississippi: Rolling (Eating) With The Lowry's

March 21-31, 2017



We left Port Aransas TX the same way we arrived, with a short ferry ride. An early uneventful departure made for an early arrival at Brazos Bend State Park near Needville TX.




Curt and Glenda arrived about an hour after we did. Let the fun times begin. Aside from going to get the truck fueled up and a few groceries we spent our 3 days in the park. We've been to Brazos Bend before but this time, unlike our last two stays, the weather was perfect. We spent our days walking the trails, eating well, sitting around campfires getting caught up and enjoying the park.

Brazos Bend SP has a large alligator population, many of their trails are along side of the small lakes they inhabit which makes walking these trails heart stopping at times.

We had a great time at Brazos Bend and look forward to a return visit in the future.





Our next stop was Palmetto Island State Park near Abbeville LA. This was a new park to us, we've driven through before but have never stayed. The main goal here was for the rest of the group to get their crawfish and oyster fix in.

While Palmetto Island SP is lacking in trails they have lots of roads and we spent every morning getting our steps in and then found something fun to do afterwards.

Curt & Glenda have visited the area before but never toured the Tabasco Museum so off we went. Their store had many samples to try including raspberry chipolte tabasco ice cream which was much better than the jalepeno tabasco ice cream.

Jungle Island Gardens is part of the McIlhenny (founders of Tabasco) estate, there are abundant plant and wildlife exhibits.

We found a local Crawfish Etouffee Festival in Eunice LA where we got to sample many different Etouffee's and the boys got in some more crawfish. Dave didn't bring his camera and I didn't do a good job with my I-phone so no pictures of the great Etouffee's we tasted.

We were entertained by a great Zydeco band

We got to sit with some of the local beauty queens.










We made it to two local famous eateries.

Dave & Curt enjoying oysters at Shucks.

Crawfish for the three of them at Richards.

 Our next stop was at Buccaneer State Park in Waveland MS, a place all of us had been to before. The boys were still in search of seafood.

Our days were filled with getting our daily walks in, getting supplies, the boys having crawfish for lunch and dinners out. Waveland MS has been devastated by  hurricanes in the past but keeps coming back strong. While many homes are still missing just as many and more have been rebuilt, our daily walks took us along Beach Rd where the affects can be seen still. A new pier has been built with lots of fishing stations on it.

Looking for Geocaches

A beautiful place for our daily walks.

Still eating crawfish, by the time we left Waveland they had quite the dent in the crawfish population. 

Just down Beach Rd in Bay St Louis there is a restaurant called 200 Main St. Oysters and beer is half price 4-6 Monday thru Friday, guess who indulged. 

 

Check out Curt's blog for his recount of the same time period. We've been having a good time traveling with them, we still have 9 more days with them as we head to Gulf Shores AL where we'll meet up with some of our Alaska caravan friends. 

Until next time...

Winding Down Our Stay In Port Aransas TX

March 1-20, 2017

March started much like the January and February did with Dave fishing most days, between getting my daily steps in, prepping the rv for travel and enjoying the company of some girlfriends my days passed by quickly.

In 2014 while at Gulf Waters Beachfront RV Resort we were fortunate to meet Ron & Rose from Australia who were touring the US in their rv at the time. Since then they have sold their rv and we enjoy following their Aussie adventures on Facebook. We received word they were back in the US traveling with a friend in her motorhome, we were glad to hear they were making a repeat visit to Gulf Waters. Thanks Ron, Rose & Ceil for taking the time to visit the gang at GW.




One of the last activities we participated in at Gulf Waters was a park wide pub crawl. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and we had to hold the event in the community center. Each of the 8 teams provided 100 people with a drink and appetizer. Our team went with a Mardi Gras theme and featured Peach Moonshine and pulled pork sliders. Thanks to DuWayne & Jackie, Pat & Rena and Dave & I we had (as far as we are concerned) the best food and drink.

 

Thanks to these two wonderful ladies for a fun filled winter, I'm sure going to miss seeing them daily. Thanks for some great memories ladies...love you two.

 

The boys, Dave will miss fishing with Pat and trying to keep DuWayne out of trouble. 

Feeling no pain, we sure did have a good time.











Before we knew it March 18th rolled around and our friends Curt and Glenda of Camp Lowry: That's How We Roll we will be traveling with them for 3 weeks as we go along the Gulf Coast. But before we took off we spent a few days sharing our lives here at Gulf Waters.

Dave & Curt fished, Glenda and I walked. We enjoyed a fish fry and Glenda and I got to take a horseback ride on the beach but alas neither one of us used our phone to get any pictures.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye.

Safe travels, we'll miss you, thanks for a fun winter...see you down the road.








Until next time...

Slow Start To 2017

January-February 2017

Our time is winding down but we're still hanging out on the TX Gulf Coast. Our days start with walking either in the park or along the beach, weather and wind permitting. We try to get at least 6-7 miles of steps in every day. Dave has been enjoying the surf fishing, our freezer is well stocked and happy hours have frequently featured fresh fried fish. I've been enjoying time with good friends, sitting by the beach or spending the afternoon on the patio reading. We've established a doctor here and had checkups this winter. With a few adjustments we are good to go. In the last few weeks we've both been feeling the itch to get the wheels moving but we haven't succumbed to it since we are awaiting the arrival of some good friends whom we'll be traveling with across the Gulf to AL.

Here's some highlights from the last few months.




Beautiful sunrises...

Full moons...

Visits with Ingrid & Al of Live Laugh RV while they were staying nearby. We always enjoy our visits with them, lots of fun and laughter when we are together. They are back in AZ now and we won't see them again until the fall when we are back in AZ.  Just a few shots of the wildlife we saw while out walking Goose Island with them.

A fortuitous phone call to our friends Dick & Pat had them stopping by on their way back to GA. Dick is retired military so they stayed at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station Fancamp. What a nice rv park they have, sites with lots of space and views of the Corpus Christi Bay and just a short drive from our place.

One of Dave's coworkers from his IBM days came to escape the cold and snow of VT. Terry and Jackie enjoyed a few days on the beach and we were even able to have a fire on the beach one evening.






We currently have, as neighbors, our friends Ron & Rose from Australia and their friend Ciel whose motorhome they are all traveling in. Our first meetup with Ron and Rose was in the fall of 2014 when they were here at Gulf Waters staying in the site next to us.





We've been eating well, through lots of walking we are losing weight though.

Oysters were a good price at $48 for 110pds.

White Gulf Shrimp buy 20pds and it's $3.50/pd

Some BBQ...

  
       Eating well...

        Dave has been enjoying his fishing...

We've enjoyed catching up with some of our friends at Gulf Waters...

It's been a fun winter and we've enjoyed living on island time, especially after our crazy summer last year. Two weeks till takeoff, time to get ready to travel. Before we know it we'll be on our way back to some of our favorite state parks and  exploring a few new ones. Lots more friends to catch up with before we head to Lake Shelbyville, IL for the summer.







Until next time...