On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

02-11-2005 Movin' On to Jasper, TX

We left at 11:15 and stopped just south of here on I-45 at a rest area to use a nice level place to check the truck and trailer hitch position. Bob adjusted the Hensley Hitch tension bars to change the bounce in our ride a bit after adding the air lifts during our stay in Elgin. We were off again quickly and navigated our way smoothly through the Huntsville truck route. We were soon barreling east on Hwy 190 through the Sam Houston National forest with bits of sunshine peeking through every once in a while. We crossed Lake Livingston (not far from our Texas domicile address on Rainbow Drive!) and saw a new RV Park; North Shore. We may try to make it there since it is only a bit beyond Madisonville the next time we leave Elgin and head east or south.

We were held up by road work as a flagman had traffic backed up for a few miles while they re-striped the road. But soon we passed Woodville, Texas, and about half way to Jasper from there we pulled on to State Road 48 into Martin Dies, Jr. State Park (the Gateway to The Big Thicket.) There are almost 300 camp sites here; 114 with water and electrical hookups. At the Park office we paid for two nights ($32.00, includes $2.00/person/day for park entrance fee--Come on and get with it Texas!) The park store sells Mayhaw Jelly, made in Jasper. It seems like Ronnie at Indian Springs near here, last year pointed out a Mayhaw bush and said they made jelly out of the berries.

We picked slot #34 in the Hen House Unit of the park. This site was supposedly a pull-thru but it had trees and a sharp turn so we barely pulled through and then had to back in from the other side. Low marks go to the Park for no sign showing which direction to go through the circle drive in order to have your utilities on the correct side. We had to do a bat-turn and come around the other way. Once we chose site #34 we called the office on the cell phone (yes, we have coverage here in no-man's land) to tell confirm that this site was available before we went through the unhitching process. You learn as you go. By 3:00 p.m. we were all set up.

A couple in a weekend warrior SURV with a big black dog pulled into the slot right behind us just minutes after we arrived. That dog's bark sounded like a little Foo-Foo dog (as my Dad calls them). I found out the next morning that they have a little Terrier AND a black lab. We left in a hurry heading east towards Jasper (a Texas Main Street City according to our brochure) to find food. We ate at Elijah’s Cafe. I swear it was a Cotton Patch Restaurant a while back when we ate here in Jasper on one of our Casita trips. Anyway I was in a late afternoon slump by 4:00. My breakfast taco was a long time ago so I ordered Granny Fay's Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with sugar snap peas and devoured every bit of it:-)

Across the street we spied a used book store and stopped in to re-stock our on-board library. We each found a few tomes to our liking. Next stop was Wal-Mart. The frig is kind of barren at home. We got back to the Park just before dark and took a spin around the camping area and fishing pier on the opposite side of Gum Slough (so named for the Blackgum trees) from our campsite on B.A. Steinhagen Reservoir.

Back home we stashed the groceries and read the Houston Chronicle. Moving two days in a row has wiped me out. Something is in the air in this area that is driving my contacts and sinuses crazy. I think this happened last year when we were near here. It only seemed to last 24 hours or so last time, like an acute attack. There is no road noise here; we're in the middle of an East Texas swamp, complete with alligators as noted on the sign at the entrance to the park.