Back in Texas

We had a nice overnight stay in Duson, LA at Frog City RV Park. We really did enjoy this park and would certainly return for an even longer stay. Part of that enjoyment was the visits we had with our next door neighbors, a part-timing couple from PA and their 14-year-old dog.

Rolling out of the park just shy of 11:30 AM, we hopped on I-10 to continue our journey westward. We planned to make a pit stop at about 50 miles at a Love’s Travel Center; however, there was no convenient truck parking and we had a bit of a tight squeeze getting through the travel plaza pump area after deciding this was not a practical stop. Whew. We did it, though, with no harm/no foul. That’s the last time I try that, I tell ya. RV parking my ptooie.

I do dig my Pilot truck stops and hanging with the big dawgs. It’s easy. We’re courteous – pull forward to the line after fueling, don’t leave our rig unattended – and we’ve never had an issue; in fact, all drivers we have interacted with have been courteous and friendly, if not downright helpful.

Good thing I wasn’t desperate for a pit stop, as the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles was definitely kinda skeery. Well, not really. Well, maybe just a wee bit. Gee, that was steep. Dave did the sightseeing. I didn’t want to look down and I was focused on getting us up, over and down again safely. That sucker is steep! Did you know that the Department of Transportation has declared it structurally deficient? The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development says it’s fine and dandy. That’s according to Wikipedia.

A tad over 91 miles from our start, we rolled into the Texas Welcome Center. I think that’s a record for yours truly without a pit stop. The traffic on I-10 just whizzed (no pun intended), by while we took our stretch break.

Texas Welcome Center I-10 West

This wasn’t too far from Beaumont and Gulf Coast RV Resort, our home until Sunday.  This is a big place with paved roads and sites, Wi-Fi that is nonexistent (and we’re even in the first row by the office) and minimal TV stations, about 13 with really nothing to watch. Oh well. The park is well-lit and a combination of long-term workers, short-terms and overnighters. It is well maintained. The restrooms are clean, individual units with toilet and shower. There’s a free breakfast consisting of Texas waffles, biscuits and gravy, muffins, cereal, coffee, juice. Don’t know if we’ll make it for that, as it is served from 7 AM to 9 AM. There’s a pool, exercise room, playground and dog park.  Our site is concrete and plenty long with ample room between us and the site. We are on an end, so we do not have a neighbor site on our driver side.

We are in Site #77, convenient to restrooms and laundry. We also have a lovely power station in our site and a useless patio. Other than that, it’s cool. Well, only if the trains don’t blow their horns all night.

Guess the only thing I’d say on the down side is that the utilities are at the rear of the site. The pavement is only wide enough for the rig, so you step down into grass. There is a concrete patio with picnic table; however, it is at the front end of the site and essentially useless. Makes you wonder if whoever designed the place had ever set foot in an RV. All the sites are set up this way.

Maggie is feeling much, much better and is chillaxin’ here. She totally rearranged the daybed to suit her comfort.

We were walking Maggie in the doggie walk area earlier and about jumped out of our skins when the train blew its horn. Yes, the tracks are pretty dang close. I’ll let you know if this goes on all night.

Traffic was heavy coming through Beaumont, so I didn’t get to look around too much, but I did recognize some landmarks such as the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum and I certainly recognized names of the streets on freeway exits. We are on the western outskirts of town, and it’s nice not to be smack dab in the middle of things. We plan to go out tomorrow for a few provisions; not sure how much wandering around we’ll do. We’ll see. The washers and dryers in the laundry room are only a buck each, so I may do a load of laundry during our stay. Or not. Ha!

We’ve had a few strolls around the park, both before and after our dinner of burgers and steak fries here at home.

Again I am grateful for the 123.6 miles traveled safely and without incident today. It was in the low 90s here in Beaumont when we arrived but has cooled down nicely. Not a cloud in the sky all day.

We’re here for the weekend. Where are you spending your weekend?

Hope your Thursday was a good one. Stay safe out there, would ya?

Thanks for stopping by!