Road Trip 2015 - #5 Luling, Texas

September 9, 2015 - When we left Bolivar, we were looking to get somewhere close to San Antonio where we could do some exploring.  We hit up our Passport America app and found a nice little park sitting on the San Marcos river - Riverbend RV Park.  It had a horse training facility next door, but we never got up early enough to see them in action.

The idea was to visit the nearby historic town of Gonzales and the Spoetzl brewery, home of Shiner Boch.  We unloaded the scooter and went in search of adventure.  

We found it about 15 minutes later when Mother Nature decided to unleash a flood upon us.  We stopped under a motel portico dripping wet - the first time that we had been completely drenched while on the Ultra Classic.  At first the manager didn't want us to be there but eventually he brought us some nice warm towels (hoping that we'd dry off and go away I'm sure).  We were able to explore a bit of Gonzales but didn't make it to the brewery as a big black cloud hovered over the town of Shiner and we didn't expect that the motel manager wanted us to return again.  We u-turned in the middle of the highway and I bought a Shiner beer at a tavern back in Gonzales.   It's my new favorite beer!


Back at the park, we let the pups explore down at the river while David tried his hand at some fishing.  The current was quite swift!

A cool, little side treat was sitting at the entrance to the park - the oldest package liquor store in Texas - Huber Package Liquor.

After a couple of days in Luling, we decided it was a bit far to explore San Antonio from there.  For once, I had an idea of where we would go.  The Bandera Beverage Barn and RV Park, another Passport America find, had sounded enticing for a couple of weeks so we hopped over to the west side of San Antonio to check out this combination RV park and liquor store.  Hmmm...seems a trend is developing.

Road Trip 2015 - #4 Bolivar Peninsula

September 8, 2015 - We knew we wanted to go back to the beach before we drove west toward the desert.  Holly Beach was our initial destination but after checking some blog resources, we decided on Bolivar Peninsula just north of Galveston.  Bolivar consists of mostly vacation homes but it also has 20+ miles of unrestricted beach!  The dogs can play on it, you can camp on it and you can drive on it.  It was totally awesome. Because of the heat and some questionable weather, we fell back on our trusty Passport America app and found a nice, full hookup RV park just a hop, skip and jump from the beach.  Having a safe spot for the dogs which we explored on the scooter was just the ticket.  We stayed at the Bolivar Peninsula RV Park in Crystal Beach where we were greeted by a sweet dog - always a good sign - and a happy host.  We set up and immediately headed to the beach.

While the weather was iffy, we took our chances and made a run down to Jamaica Beach.  This was our scooter's first ferry ride!

Full disclosure - the only bad thing about Bolivar was the biting dragon flies.  They only were a problem at dusk and away from the beach, but they were awful when they did come out.  Some people may call these dreadful creatures mosquitos, but if they are they are the pterodactyl version.  They about carried us away.  Even the dogs were scared to come out of the camper after dark!

But the beach was still amazing!  Bayou played in the surf and Bleu puked up salt water...

The weather started getting ickier so after a couple of beautiful days (and terrifying nights), we started our westward journey...which included a ferry ride for the camper...another first!

Road Trip 2015 - #3 Eunice

September 3, 2015 - We land in Eunice to join our LiARs pals for our annual Labor Day homecoming.  Cards were played, beverages consumed, food inhaled and laughter happened frequently and with gusto.  We cheered on Lance in his elder-league football game, propositioned a 15-year old to drive the drunks home from Lakeview, and killed it dancing to Uptown Funk in the pool.  We posed with Kelly's (aka Rosie the Riverter) digital billboard in downtown Eunice...

After enjoying a quality and unforgettable four days with our awesome friends, we departed for next destination...knowing it would be on the Gulf Coast but not exactly sure where.

Road Trip 2015 - #2 Grand Isle State Park

August 31, 2015 - After leaving Pecan Island and as we began nearing Palmetto Island State Park - which I absolutely love and have dreamed of paddling - I posed a question to David.  What about Grand Isle?  We had never been, had heard good things and had three days before we needed to head toward Eunice for our annual Labor Day retreat.  He agreed and we headed toward one of the most southern points of Louisiana.  Hey, it was just another three hours on the road.  What a treat it turned out to be!

The state park was almost vacant when we arrived Monday afternoon.  I immediately found the beach...

...while David found the bay and caught us a couple of redfish for dinner!!  A local bartender gave us a grilling recipe for them which was really good.  We asked our neighbor camper Mr. Robert to join us for dinner and he reciprocated by bringing shrimp over the next night.  I decided to visit the bay as well...

The only thing that would've been better is if the dogs had not been restricted from the beach.  They would have had a blast chasing crabs.  Maybe it's better that they didn't get to do that.  They probably would have went after the dolphins as well!

After a couple beautiful sunsets, we left to join our friends in Eunice.

Road Trip 2015 - #1 Pecan Island

August 28, 2015 - Pecan Island

Our first stop was a much anticipated return trip to the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in South Louisiana.  Our friends Gene and Vicki accompanied us to Crawfish Haven RV park just outside of Pecan Island.  It was a bit of a hole-in-the-wall kinda place but as is the custom, the people were friendly and the location was convenient.

While the shrimping and crabbing were not as abundant as we hoped, we certainly captured enough of both to feed us well.

 On Sunday we went to the Gueydan Duck Festival, a hopping place for sure.  I ate my first BBQ duck-covered boiled quail egg while Gene ran into some old friends-of-friends.  After a quick side trip to their house, we ended up with a freezer full of frog legs and shrimp.  Winner! Winner!  Chicken Dinner!

The first three days went by very quick and we had to decide on our next destination.  Leaving Crawfish Haven, we fully planned on going to Palmetto Island State Park which was just a short hour away, but as we're wont to do, our plans went awry about halfway there.

Road Trip 2015 - Cabin Fever and Planning

The last couple of months have been an exercise in fortitude.  It's been awhile since we've been home for this long of a stretch - a whole two months! But we've enjoyed the opportunity to hang with our friends and ride the new-to-us scooter while getting the firewood racks filled up and completing honey-dos around the house. Our next excursion involves time in South Louisiana followed by a gaunt to the southwest US of A. While we did this same region last year, this year's loop will be farther from the border and for the most part in higher elevation.

We're excited that we have our Renogy solar panel which will help us reduce our reliance on the gennie when boondocking. Totally stoked about that. We've also replaced the most-used bulbs in the camper with LEDs which will help extend battery life. It looks like our first test of this system will be on the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston. Hopefully we can find an awesome place to camp on the beach. 

Of course, as with Road Trip 2014, nothing is set in stone except our first stop at Pecan Island, LA to do some shrimping and our last stop in Colorado to hang with our Bonanza buds.  We expect to boondock most of the way as our budget is more limited this time but we will surely utilize our renewed Passport America campground discount card when a great deal is available and recharging/dumping is needed.  

Bond Family Reunion - Oct 3 - Oct 10

For the first time this year, David elected to stay home while his mom, sister and I hit the road for the annual Bond Family Reunion.  We started in Jay, Florida where the reunion was then moved a couple of hours east to Ashford, Alabama.  After a couple days, we ended our visiting north in Georgetown, Georgia.  David's mom was elated to visit with her brother and sister and many cousins (some who are close to her age as she was the baby Bond girl.)

The original Bond Girls

Beatrice, Belma, Delitha, Estean, Nadine and Minnie Jo

Minnie Jo, Mary Ann and Kathy

Linda, Lisa, Jo and Jolene

Kathy, Jo, Ovie and Tammy

Amy, Shane, Tammy, Jeff, Bryan, Kathy, Pam & Leslie

Gene, Ruth, Kathy, Jo and Tammy

Ruth and Kathy

Mary, Linda, Donnie, Jolene, Jo, Carolyn, Betty and Jane

Kathy, Johnny and Mary

There were lots more people but I have orientation problems when uploading the additional pictures.  When fixed, I'll add.  It was a great family visiting trip.

One more out of state trip this year.  I'm headed back to Alabama.  We are Talladega bound!