Escaping Winter
After spending three months in the snow and wet cold in Indiana, we were finally ready to head back down to Texas for a six week trip. This time we split the drive over two nights so we could arrive back in Leander earlier in the day to set up the travel trailer in daylight. It had sat in the storage lot for three months and we were not certain what we would find when we got there. Texas had an unusual winter ice storm the week prior to us heading back down, so we were hoping for the best! Having success at the Hot Springs KOA cabin on our trip back home in December, we booked cabins at two KOA’s for the drive down. Our first stop was at the Springfield Route 66 KOA in Springfield, MO. The cabin was nice, but the campground as a whole was not as nice as we were used to for a KOA. We would use the cabins here again for a quick overnight, but not sure we would choose this park for an extended stay in the RV. From here we continued on our route through Oklahoma towards our next overnight stop at the Dallas Arlington KOA Holiday. We have never been to Oklahoma, so it was fun to check a new state off our list, even though it was just driving through. There were some road markers for some fun places to check out on a future trip. The Dallas KOA is in the middle of a suburban shopping area. This campground is a hidden gem tucked behind a row of strip malls. This cabin was our favorite of the three we have stayed in so far. The layout was perfect for our family and had a bath and a half! The dog was most comfortable in this cabin as well. The kids and Ryan got in some scooter time in this park. There are many large RV sites, several different cabin floor plans and even tent sites at this location. What a great place to enjoy the outdoors and also head out to the hustle and bustle of the city life. From Dallas it was just a couple hours south to Leander to get our travel trailer and start our next RV adventure!
When we arrived at the NW Austin KOA we had to wait for the staff to get back from lunch so we could get our travel trailer out of storage. This time we reserved a spot in the back of the park against the dog park. This was a gravel spot, but it was still level and nice and quiet. We got the trailer parked, took our time setting up the outside and were so happy to see everything on the inside was just as we had left it. We spent some time readjusting to tiny living in the RV, stocked up on groceries and let the kids play at the campground. Grayson was excited to take a trip to Torchy’s Tacos for their March taco of the month, The Roscoe. This taco has a chicken strip on top of a waffle with cheese and syrup. We picked up lunch at the Torchy’s in Cedar Creek and headed over to Brushy Creek Lake Park for a picnic and hike around the lake. The trails at the park connect to trails at a neighboring sports complex with baseball and soccer fields. This side of the park had an awesome playground that was covered with large sails to protect the kids from the hot Texas sun. It was a beautiful day and the temperatures were perfect for early Texas spring, but we could see how these sails would be a huge benefit in the Texas summer heat. The kids had a blast playing on the different playgrounds we encountered off the trail system and competing for who could get the most steps.
From Leander we headed to Columbus, Texas to the Colorado River RV Resort and Campground. This campground is part of the Thousand Trails system. At these parks, spots are first come first serve and not all spots have full hook-ups. After checking in, we drove to the farthest loop near the river to look for a spot. There were many spots open, however none in this area had full hook-ups. We drove back to the first loop to take a look and there was one last spot. This spot did not have sewer hook-ups but we knew we were on the waiting list, and the dump station was just across the street, so we decided this would be a great spacious spot along the trails to set up. It was very pretty and the other campers in this area were friendly. We got a call the next morning that a spot with full hook-ups had opened up back near the river, so we packed up and headed over to our new spot before heading out to explore Columbus, Texas. The new site was directly across from the newly remodeled bathhouse and one of the two playgrounds. It was nice to be able to see the playground from our site, so the kids could come and go on their own to play. The streets here were all gravel so the older two were able to ride their bikes some. The little one on training wheels was unsuccessful, and scooter rides were also a no go. Luckily, there was a huge concrete pad near the mini golf that had been left from an old tennis court. The kids had fun taking their bikes over to ride on the large concrete pad. Kinsey received golf clubs for Christmas and had fun taking those for a few games of mini golf. Due to Covid, most campgrounds with mini golf are not renting out clubs and balls, but they will let you play if you bring your own. We spent one afternoon exploring the city of Columbus. The downtown was pretty empty, but we did manage to sneak into a little art gallery at closing time to check out some art by a local artist. We then stopped at the local Walmart and HEB for some supplies and groceries. It’s pretty likely anyone reading this has been to a Walmart. Now take that Walmart store, and cut it down to about a third of its size. That’s the miniature Walmart we found in Columbus. That being said, it still managed to have just about everything you would find in a normal size Walmart, excluding fresh groceries. Luckily, Texas’ smallest HEB was sitting right next door! After having been to the huge warehouse sized HEB grocery store in Leander, the size of this HEB was comical as well. They had a great selection of produce, but were lacking in terms of snacks and other brands we like and find so easily in larger grocery stores. While at Walmart, we bought the kids some cheap fishing poles. We tried fishing in a little pond and in the Colorado River, but did not catch anything at either spot. The kids got in some good casting practice though!
The pool was not open due to some construction in that area of the campground, so we took the kids down to Palacios over the weekend. We chose this location because it was straight south on the highway from Columbus, so we knew it would be an easy drive. They have never been swimming in salt water before, so that was a new experience for them. The water at Palacios Bay Beach was cold, but the kids were so excited to go swimming they went right in! This park was very cute and we would imagine a very busy place later into the spring and summer months. After spending a couple hours in the water, the kids were hungry and Ryan declared we needed to eat at a seafood restaurant right on the bay. We went up the road a bit to Danny’s Seafood House. We were planning to pick up food and take it to a park to eat, but they had a great set up for outside seating on the bay, so we decided to stay for our meal. It was incredibly windy, but the food was nothing short of amazing! We started the kids off with an appetizer of fried calamari. The kids loved it! Mera was slowly eating a piece with legs, after a few small bites in she said, “my food is starting to scare me!” She tried it, but enjoyed her chicken fingers and corn more. We also had catfish and jumbo fried shrimp. We probably ordered way too much food for a family of five, but after spending a few hours swimming and the food being so good, there wasn’t much left in the end. We realized as we were eating that it had been exactly a year since the Earth was shut down and this was our first experience eating at a restaurant since that time.
After our stay on the Colorado River, we decided to give the kids a few days off from school and check out a Jellystone campground. We stayed at the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas. The site we were assigned was a bit tight and not really long enough for our travel trailer. However, no one ever tried to pull in behind us, so everything worked out ok. This park was nice, but the extra amenities they claim to have were not really worth the extra cost. There were so many cars and trucks in and out of this campground all day, it made it unsafe for kids to ride bikes or scooter off on their own. They also rented out golf carts. Many families were letting their teens drive them, who clearly were not old enough to be driving a motor vehicle. They gave us an itinerary with activities for the weekend. The lady also said to check the app because the times for events would be more accurate on the app. Even with using the app, we showed up to many events to wait around with other families in the area for nothing. Movie night was canceled. Character sightings were canceled. And with each event, there wasn't enough staff to be found to answer questions or to tell all the people waiting that it had been canceled. The kids were more often than not disappointed with the activities here. Though the weather had taken a turn towards the chilly side upon our arrival, the kids did have a good time at the water park. They enjoyed the lazy river and a few of the smaller water slides. Overall, we were not very impressed with this Jellystone location. Though we think we would give them a second chance somewhere else.
After a quick weekend visiting Yogi Bear, we headed to Sam Houston National Forest. We reserved a spot at the Cagle Recreation Area on Lake Conroe, near New Waverly, Texas. This campground was gorgeous! Our site was huge and the kids had a ton of space to run around. The roads were paved so they were able to use their bikes and scooter around the loop. We even found a good spot to put up the hammock at this location, something that isn’t always allowed or easy to do. The trails here were nicely cleared and easy to follow. The kids and I tried to visit the ranger station to learn more about the area, but it was closed due to Covid. Unfortunately, the kids were not able to talk to a ranger or get stamps for this spot in their passports. However, we did learn some neat information about their trail markers. On our first hike, we noticed small rectangular pieces of aluminum tacked to the trees. We assumed they were markers of some kind, but didn’t know if it was specific to the trail or marking the trees for other reasons. They were working on controlled burns, so we didn’t know if the markings were related to that. Anyways, the rectangles are used throughout the forest to mark the trails. If the aluminum piece is straight, vertical, the trail goes straight. If the top of the aluminum is tipped to the right, the trail curves right. If the top tips to the left, the trail curves left. We thought this was interesting and now know to pay more attention to the markers that are used on other trail systems. The kids also attempted to fish off the side of the lake, again with no luck. However, the fishermen coming in off the lake had buckets full of fish! It’s clearly a good lake for fishing, if that’s your thing. State park campgrounds usually do not have laundry facilities, so we found a local laundromat to catch up on some laundry. We found a great little restaurant called Honey’s Biscuits for breakfast and coffee. The kids ate in the truck while Ryan and I took care of getting the laundry washed, dried and folded. Again, we were able to use multiple machines, so it took us no time at all to wash all the clothes and towels from the last week or more.
From here we had reservations to stay at Lake Tawakoni RV Campground in Point, Texas. This campground is part of the Thousand Trails system. We talked to a nice couple at the Colorado River campground who use the Thousand Trails campgrounds to travel the United States full time in their RV. They spoke very highly of the Lake Tawakoni campground, so we were hoping to have a great week and leave our travel trailer in storage at this location before heading back to Indiana. Then we arrived… As you may already know, these campgrounds are first come first served, so you have to drive around to choose your site, as nothing is assigned. Right out of the gate it was one pot hole after the next on this road that had been poorly fixed with uneven amounts of gravel. While driving to the loop to find a site, we bounced past the RV storage lot, which was basically an abandoned parking lot of RVs left to their uncertain doom. Maybe two of them parked in there were actually functioning, with inflated tires. I knew right then and there that leaving our rig in this location for a period of time was not going to be an option. Then we made it up to the loop only to find the sites along the lake with water up to the electric boxes and the sites on the inside of the loop full of puddles. It was so wet! We knew this location was going to be a disaster with three kids and a dog. So we continued around the loop and back out to the king of potholes road to check out other areas of the park. We passed a driving range that had grass about a foot tall, and no nets to catch any balls that could potentially be hit to the road as trucks and RVs bounce by. The last thing someone towing an RV over a pothole filled road is flying golf balls. We drove around a bit more and eventually settled on a spot, but decided before we even parked that we were staying for just the night and heading out of there in the morning. This was the dirtiest, most uncared for campground we have seen on our travels so far. This is spring, mind you. The piles of leaves on the sites for the previous fall were just crawling with critters. I set a bag down on the picnic table with some snacks for the kids and it instantly had spiders crawling all over it. Every campground we had been to was using leaf blowers on a daily basis to clear the leaves and brush, to keep the areas clean for campers. We took a short walk with the kids near the lake and the grass was full of duck poop! The pool was covered in leaves and bugs. Just an overall run down and disgusting campground. We spent that evening after the kids went to bed looking for another location to stay for the week before we headed home. At this point we had made our way up to north east Texas. We decided to bring the trailer all the way home, so the kids could have their bikes and we could continue searching for a new fifth wheel trailer. We were going to head north into Arkansas in the morning.
We booked a few days in Little Rock, Arkansas at the Little Rock North KOA Journey. The kids had asked us to try to get back to the Hot Springs KOA. Unfortunately, they were booked solid and that would have been a little more out of the way. The KOA Journey locations are most often right off the highway so you can pull in for your stay and get right back on the road easily. We were pleasantly surprised with the beauty of Little Rock. Near the campground was the Big Dam Bridge. The Big Dam Bridge is the longest pedestrian and bicycle bridge in North America. And it was built specifically for pedestrian traffic to connect the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock and their trail systems. The bridge is 4,226 feet over the Murray Lock and Dam in the Arkansas River. On our way back over the bridge, there was a barge coming through the lock. What a cool thing to see! Grayson’s favorite thing at every Children's Museum is playing in the water stations with the locks and dams. He loved being able to experience this for real! And the sun had started to go down, so I was excited to get some sunset pictures as we walked back over the bridge. While in Little Rock we took the opportunity to visit Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. With all that has been going on in our country right now, we thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to learn about civil rights. We were able to explore the stories, people and places that made up the moments of Central High’s desegregation by the Little Rock Nine and learn how the sacrifice and struggle over a half century ago have provided opportunities and opened doors to those seeking equality - and education - around the world. Unfortunately, we have learned that these doors are not opening far enough, and much more work needs to be done. But that’s a discussion for another place. Central High is still a functional high school, so the tours are currently closed due to Covid. However, the campus grounds are gorgeous and we were able to see some preserved buildings that were critical to that period in time.
From Little Rock we moved on to Memphis, Tennessee to start our final trek back home. We stayed at the Memphis KOA Journey in Marion, Arkansas. This was an easy stop for the night right off of I-55. Being that close to Memphis we knew we had to get some BBQ while on this short stop. We unhitched the trailer to get fuel and pick up dinner at Central BBQ. The location Google sent us to was different from our last pass through Memphis, but the food was just as amazing as we remembered. It was also fun to drive over the Mississippi River and back. We highly recommend these KOA’s right off the highway for quick stops.
From Memphis we continued north to a private campground in Whittington, Illinois. Whittington Woods Campground was just off I-57 making a great overnight stop. We tried to get a spot in the state park on Rend Lake, but all sites were booked. This campground was gorgeous and we would definitely stay here again, for a longer period of time. Pheasant Hollow Winery was just up the road. We took advantage of some tastings and bought a few bottles to bring back home. Their website said they were going to have food trucks on site that evening. There was not any food available, so the kids were bummed they had to wait for us to finish our wine and wait longer for dinner. The silver lining here was the delicious pizza from Joe’s Pizza of Benton. Overall an awesome location for camping, trails at the nearby state park and some great local eats! From here we had a morning drive back to Indiana to unpack and clean out the travel trailer.