Matagorda Bay Nature Park August 10 - 14, then
Yegua Creek Park at Lake Somerville August 14-17
1. Planned distance: 361 miles then 136 miles then 236
2. Map time estimate: 6:03, 2:35, 3:56
3. Adjusted estimate: didn't calculate
4. Actual distance: forgot to check
5. Actual time: 7:32
6. On way out, slowdown on 380, then two Buc'ees stops and a Shell station refill. On way back, 10-15 minutes gas stop at Buffalo, TX.
7. Average mph trip: unknown
Our very weird route: South on I-45 to Buc'ees at Madison. Then 190 West, but first we shopped at a Shell station just north of the 290 intersection. 90 South to Navasoto; 6 to Hempstead; 159 to Bellville; 60 to Matagorda; 2031 to the park.
This was kind of an experiment, travel-wise, to see how we did with a 6-hour Google maps drive. Was this the longest we'd ever undertaken at once? Actually, no. When we returned from Sea Rim State Park we did a 5:56 hour Google drive in 6:40. So the lesson learned is that I should typically add about 30 minutes to every six hours estimated by Google Maps.
It turned out to be an okay trip, but I did mess up a little and force us to make an unplanned U-Turn. Here's what happened.
We departed at 9:18. It was sunny and hotter than heck.
We got through Dallas with remarkable speed. Not even a traffic backup! But after getting on I-45, going down the road going at Interstate highway speeds, we suddenly heard a whop-whop-whop coming from outside the driver's side of the vehicle. Ed stopped on the shoulder and found that the rubber seal around the windshield was loose. It appeared to have stretched, and was bulging out in two or three places. Thank heavens the ends were still attached.
It wasn't a super big emergency, but Ed got the idea of trying a little superglue on it. We'd been seeing signs for a Buc'ees coming up in ten minutes, so we went on to there. Parking in an empty area of the lot, we got out the ladder and tried to superglue the rubber seal. It didn't work very well.
But after we got back on the highway, the whopping noise did not resume. Maybe the superglue caught in a few places, or maybe the wind shifted.
Our planned mid-route gas stop was at Buc'ees in Madisonville, the location where we were going to leave I-45 and go off down back roads to avoid Houston. With all the Covid-19 in Harris County, I had no desire to go anywhere near it, and definitely not into Houston.
But when we got to the Buc'ees in Madisonville, it was about 1:30 in the afternoon and the place looked like Times Square on a New Years Eve. The double pump stations, for cars, were mostly full, and the bigger ones for RVs were full too--of cars. Ed circled the pumps and decided he didn't want to wait. Best I could figure, people stopped to get gas and then left their cars at the pump while they shopped and dined inside.
We should have waited it out. But instead we drove away, with me frantically searching for other gas stations in Madisonville that were big-rig friendly and on our route. All my search activity caused my navigation to crater, and if I hadn't written down the route beforehand we would have had to pull off the road and stop. Which would have been smarter, because I got us going down a county road to nowhere and we had to make a U-turn. Not easy.
But after that, things smoothed out and we had a decently boring drive. We barely squeezed in to the RV park before their five o'clock office closing time, but that didn't matter. Since our spot was reserved and paid for in advance, it would be held for us.
As you can see here, the park was crowded. But it was definitely not full--they should lower their rates. Everyone there was affluent enough to afford a higher rate, or at least rich enough to afford one of these big-box clones:
I took the dogs for a walk along the Colorado River. It's pretty much deserted on the opposite side, and really very nice down here.
You can't see the ocean from our campsite but it's not far away--you can tell by all the cool birds cruising up and down the river.
Brown Pelican
Laughing Gull
Caspian Tern
Our site was right at a fishing pier which was lighted at night. All night long, two green lights were shining on the water and fish were jumping up to snap at bugs. If you went out there and stared straight down, you could see fishy shapes--it was the coolest thing. The fishermen all cleared out at about 10:30 and I tried to get Ed to walk out and look, but he skipped it. (Big mistake, it turned out--on all the other nights of our stay, there were people fishing way into the night.)
There were, of course, tons of lights at the RV park. But when I walked down the sidewalk along the Colorado River to the South, and I held up my arms to cup around my face, I could see Scorpio. The whole shebang, tail and all. And even with scattered clouds, the Milky Way was visible. Awww.
Needless to say, bedtime was late that night.
No comments:
Post a Comment