On Wednesday, April 3 we left Austin for what we hope will
be our longest trip yet – a whole month.
Can we really do this? Can we
manage dogs and meals and stops and sleeping and cleaning and driving and
coping and all the things that come with RV living and being on the road? Since this is the entire reason we bought the
damn thing, I sure hope so.
Our first stop was arguably one of our most important of the day –
Buc-ee’s in Katy, Texas. I can’t tell
you how much I love me some Buc-ee’s. I
love the chopped beef sandwiches, I love the cheesy merchandise, I love the
dozens and dozens of gas pumps, I love the ridiculously clean bathrooms, I love
the fountain drinks with the chewy ice, I love the endless rows of snacks and
candy. Buc-ee’s is my happy place.
Dave and I went inside without dogs which is a rare treat
but I didn’t let it worry me because I wanted to get my Buc-ee’s on without
distractions. Besides, we’re practicing more and
more leaving them alone so everyone gets used to periods of separation. Otherwise, as Dave reminded me, we’re going to spend
the year seeing RV parks all over the country and not much else. We bought our delicious chopped beef
sandwiches (no, not smoked sausage, not pulled pork, not sliced beef – CHOPPED
BEEF) along with Buc-ees homemade potato chips and ate lunch in the RV.
Belle even got out of her crate (what?!) and showed interest
in what was going on. Well, for a few
minutes anyway.
After lunch, everyone was crated and harnessed and we made
it to Port Arthur, Texas. Do you know
what’s in Port Arthur, Texas besides Sea Rim State Park where we were staying
for the night? Oil refineries. And more oil refineries.
Our original plan was to head along the coast going east so
we could finally escape the stupidly cold weather we’d been enduring for weeks. But once we got there, it was cloudy, cold
and drizzling. Well crap.
Belle’s crate is her safe zone but it also takes up way too
much space in the RV so I made her a new safe zone underneath the collapsed
dinette. This way she can feel snug but
we get more floor space. It was a win-win.
You may recall that when we went to Galveston, we were
warned by park rangers about alligators and I was on high alert. We were warned about them again in Port
Arthur and this time we were cavalier and unconcerned. And then we saw an alligator on our walk to
the beach.
Texas beaches are hardly the Caribbean but we have three
dogs who have been cooped up in a moving RV for six hours and they couldn’t
care one iota about what the beaches looked like. There were so many cool smells! And sand pipers! And dead fish!
And boy howdy was it freaking chilly and overcast. My plan to slather on sunblock and soak up
the rays with a good book was out the window.
But we had lots of fun walking around and then back to the
RV to hunker down in the chilly wind and rain.
Mallory called me from Colorado and we ended up chatting for 45 minutes.
It’s the little things that can bring so
much joy.
We had a terrific storm that night (of course I was on duty)
and I didn’t get much sleep so I was up early and ready to head to our next
stop – New Orleans. The weather was terrible the entire day. I mean really terrible. Rain, rain, rain and more rain. It was relentless.
I checked the radar for New Orleans to see what we might be
driving into. Maybe I shouldn’t have.
In addition to the terrible weather, we had long stretches
with awful traffic for various reasons.
One of the slowdowns, I kid you not, was drivers rubbernecking an actual
plane crash on the side of the road.
Hours went by. More
rain. More traffic. It was a very long and very difficult
day. I finally started playing a game
with the raindrops on the window where I would pretend they were all in a race
to make it to the upper left side of the window. I’d pick a drop or two, cheer them on and
watch them work their hardest to make it to the finish line first.
Yeah. That drive to
New Orleans was a day long slog. And you
know how you’re ready to finally be someplace after a terrible drive and you’re
really eager to get out of the car and the dogs are getting restless and google
maps says you only have like 9 more minutes and then you tell your partner to
turn into a scary dilapidated neighborhood that’s so bad it looks like a movie
set with tiny streets that are barely even wide enough for an RV because you
put the actual address in the search instead of the name of the park and it’s
taking you to some mailing address and when you finally put in the name of the
park you have 24 more miles to go?
That’s the kind of day I had on Thursday.
After some tears (from me) and reassessment of what’s
important and how we’re on an adventure and no one is hurt and everyone is just
fine (from Dave), we arrived at St. Bernard State Park. Even though it was soaked with rain it had an
eerie beauty to it. The sounds were muffled
from all the moisture and the colors were vibrant and I felt very peaceful
there.
Maiya was so happy to be out of her harness that she plunked
down on the rug and promptly fell asleep.
Dave and I had a beer, toasted our gumption to continue
despite any setbacks and slept like babies, ready to start fresh on
Friday. Some days are definitely better
than others but overall this is exactly where I need to be.
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