Day 159 - Saturday, April 18 - Lake Charles, LA to Byram, MS

 It was 290 miles from White Oak Park to Swinging Bridge RV Park. We left at 8:30 and arrived here at 4:00. We stopped once for fuel before we got on the Interstate. We stopped for a break after about 90 miles, and then for lunch at the Mississippi Welcome Center, about 210 miles. 

We filled the car up yesterday on our way back to the campground, from Lake Charles. At the exit we use we saw a new station that had truck pumps and diesel was "only" $4.89/gal. It was the only station around with diesel less than$5/gal. On the way here we saw diesel priced as high as $5.89/gal. In the last 50 miles before arriving at the campground we saw a station where it was $4.71/gal. It was the only other station we saw with diesel less than $5/gal. Fuel mileage calculated to be 7.6 mpg. That ignores that I ran the coach engine over 20 minutes once while parked at Lakewood, just to warm it up and pump the oil around. It also ignores that we ran the generator 1.7 hours out of this tank of fuel.

Traffic on I10 and I12 was heavy. Traffic around Baton Rouge was stop and go. Once we headed north on I55 traffic was light.

Our lunch stop was at the Atchafalaya Basin Welcome Center. It is an interesting area.

https://www.explorelouisiana.com/welcome-center/atchafalaya-welcome-center 

It was BUGGY driving in east Texas and Louisiana. After arriving at White Oak I washed the windshield and the front of the coach. Below is a photo of the windshield when we stopped for lunch.

A guy from Swinging Bridge RV park called me about 15 minutes before we arrived, to check on our arrival time. When we pulled in he was waiting for us and handed me these flowers, before guiding us to our site.

Parked at Swinging Bridge.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 158 - Friday, April 17 - Another Day in Paradise

After arriving yesterday we looked up some restaurants. We remembered eating at Tia Juanita's Fish Camp one other time we were in the area. The one we went to for lunch was not the one we remembered. It was a disappointment. We learned that Tia Juanita's is a chain and after arriving at the one in Lake Charles we remembered that the one we ate at previously was in Beaumont, TX. 

This one was marginal at best. Kathy was going to get fish tacos and I was going to get either a fish PoBoy or a fish basket, until I asked what type of fish it was. Here we are, on the Gulf, and all the fish in the place is swaii/catfish. Kathy ended up ordering shrimp tacos and I ordered a taco salad. The food was okay but I doubt we will go back to another Tia Juanita's. It was a lot different from the what we remembered about the one in Beaumont.

After lunch we drove over to a park beside Lake Charles.

This I10 bridge is MUCH MORE impressive when you drive over it on your way into Lake Charles. The longest span is 421' and the bottom of it is 135' above the water. The federal Department of Transportation says the bridge is "structurally deficient" but the Louisiana Department of Transportation says its OK. (Glad I didn't know that before driving the motorhome over it 😀)

We sat for awhile and enjoyed the great day.

Then back to the park. Kathy made Rice Krispy treats and we sat out on the patio and enjoyed them.

A Google aerial of the park. The RV park is the grassy area on the right.

At dusk we again walked over to the river and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Note the lady sitting on the dock with her dog.

One interesting note, last night it was later than this when were down there and there were still a bunch of empty boat trailer waiting for fishermen to come back in. Tonight, Friday night, there were no trailers down there. Don't fish bite on Friday evenings?

Playground equipment at the park.

Thank you Lord for a great day!

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 157 - Thursday, April 16 - Victoria, TX to Lake Charles, LA

 It was a beautiful morning in Victoria. We hated to leave. Maybe we should  consider spending a week here next winter/spring. 

We missed some things while in Victoria this trip. No deer and no alligator.

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/12/day-16-saturday-december-14-enjoying.html 

We left at 9 AM, hoping to get through Houston before lunch hour traffic. I don't think we have ever been through Houston at a time when there wasn't at least one section of bumper to bumper, stop and go, traffic. We made our normal stop at the rest area at mile marker 814 on I10, where we had lunch and took a break.

We arrived at White Oaks at 3:30, 281 miles.

We sat for awhile and watched the boats coming in. It was pretty dark when we walked back to the coach. there were still 5 vehicles with empty trailers. Kathy said, "Why do we go all the way to south Texas when there are places this nice much closer. With no sewer connections, just a dump station, a long term stay would be a little different. We do stay at Soo Locks campground for a week at a time, they don't have sewer connections at the sites. I take showers in the clubhouse and Kathy takes quicker than normal showers. We can go a week without filling up our gray water tank. We can go longer without filling up the black water tank. 

I looked at some temperature data for this area. Nov 2025 one night 32 another one 38. Dec 2025 one night 28, one 30 and one 32. Five other nights the lows were in the 30's, but above freezing. Jan 2026 had nine nights with lows below freezing, the coldest was 23. Feb only had 2 nights below freezing. In Mar 2026 the coldest overnight low was 34, on the 17th.

Spending a week here during the last half of March, or in April, looks very doable. At $12/night they probably don't give discounts for weekly or monthly rates. The only negative we have found is that T Mobiles signal is terrible. You can text, and probably make calls, but there is no way you can stream anything. Kathy can't barely open Facebook. Some type of cell booster would be a benefit.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you  and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 156 - Wednesday, April 15 - Harlingen to Victoria

We left Lakewood at 10 AM and were set up at Victoria RV Park at 3 PM, 210 miles. We stopped at a rest area for lunch. I drove the coach and Kathy followed in the Flex.

Parked at Victoria RV Park. ($18/night for a full hook up)

One of the times we stayed here last year there was a 6' alligator in the creek on the right.

Looking back at the RV's from the other end of the grassy field. A nice sidewalk makes a one mile loop around the area.

Todays excitment was at the beginning of the day. Less than 5 miles from Lakewood Kathy called me and said something was dragging. I pulled off at the next exit and stopped to check.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled the hitch/ball from the coach and put it on the Flex, so that I could use the trailer to help a guy at the campground. I had problems locking and unlocking the pin that holds the hitch in the receiver. Apparently when I put it back on the coach I didn't push the hitch into the receiver far enough to get the locking pin in the hole. The hitch pulled out of the receiver and the trailer was being pulled down the road by the safety chains, with  the skid pad on the jack supporting the weight some of the time, thus the sparks.

I had hardly started running the jack down to raise the tongue up so that I could reinsert the hitch in the receiver when two Hispanic guys came around the corner of the coach. They were driving a pickup pulling a trailer full of round hay bales. They saw us stopped and stopped to help. They sent me to get the key for the pin while they jacked up  the tongue and got the hitch lined up. By  the time I got back with the key they were ready. One of them unlocked the pin and pulled it out. The two of them lined the hitch back up and shoved it in the receiver before sticking the pin back in and locking it in place. One of the guys was probably in his 50's and the other one was in his 30's. After thanking them they went back to their truck and headed down the road. 

This is a double PTL incident. If the safety chains had failed the trailer could have skidded into another vehicle and someone could have been injured. The second PTL is for two "angels" who showed up immediately and basically did all the work.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

I 

Day 155 - Tuesday, April 14 - Packing

 Not to much happening today. Kathy went to lunch with one of the few Winter Texan ladies still here. In the evening her and her husband stopped by to say goodbye for the season. They live near the MO/KS state line. I think they are heading north next week.

We both did some packing, getting ready to leave tomorrow. I dumped and flushed our waste tanks, and regened our water softener for the last time of the season. 

It was warm here today, almost as hot as it was back home in Centertown. It was funny looking at the weather app on my  phone about 3 PM. It said the temp here was 84, feels like 89 (normal here for this time of year). Then I checked Centertown, the temp was 91, feels like 93 (over 20 degrees hotter than normal).

Tomorrows drive to Victoria is only a little over 200 miles. Lord willing it will be good travel day.

God is good. I pray that He bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 151-154 - Friday - Monday, April 10-13

 WOW! I've been slacking off on posting. Actually there hasn't been much to post. People keep slowly dribbling out of the campground and heading north. 

As of today there are only two RV's, a 5th wheel & our motorhome, up front. Both of us will be leaving in the next week. There are 30+ park model units in the front. Permanent residents live in five of them. Only two Winter Texan couples (one from Kansas and the other from Michigan's UP) remain in the others.

I don't think there are any Winter Texans remaining in RV's or park models in the back. About 13 of the units are occupied by full time residents.

I can't remember us doing anything significant Friday or Saturday. Sunday we went to the Cowboy Church service, campground Sunday services are discontinued for the summer. We were surprised to see maybe 150-175 in attendance. With all the Winter Texas leaving we expected 100-125, at most. There were still 15 cars/trucks in the overflow parking lot. After church we drove on over to Donna and bought a bag of grapefruit at the Flea Market. On the way home we stopped at Nancy's restaurant for lunch. 

Today I loaded my motorcycle, and some other stuff, on the trailer. I also cleaned up our patio area. I still have some rearranging to do before we leave Wednesday AM, but not much. Kathy bought some groceries in the morning and then we used our last Golden Corral gift certificate for lunch, thanks Kelsey.

Current plans are to spend Wednesday night in Victoria, TX at a nice little town park where we have stayed multiple times ($18/night for a full hook up). Thursday and Friday nights we have reservations for a small county park on the Calcasieu River, near Lake Charles, LA; we have stayed there a couple of times ($12/night for water, electricity and a dump station). Friday night we have a reservation at the Swinging Bridge RV Park near Jackson, MS ($60/night). Sunday I will head on to Lakeshore Custom RV for some coach repairs, in Iuka, MS. Kathy may head home from Jackson on Sunday.

We have received a little more rain here over the past several days. The grass/weeds have greened up a lot. The Falcon Reservoir is the closest Rio Grande reservoir to us, it is about 130 miles up river from us. It is less than 20% full. It is considered full when the water level is 301' above sea level. The current water level is 257' above sea level, 44' below full. The last time it was full was March 2011. It has been below the 20% level for more than 3 years.

The Amistad Reservoir is the next reservoir upstream on the Rio Grande. It is about 275 miles from the Falcon Reservoir. The Amistad is a little better off, it is 30% full. The water level is 70' below the full level. It's going to take a lot of rain, over a huge area, to fill these reservoirs back up.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 149 & 150 - Wednesday & Thursday, April 8 & 9 - Not Much Action

 Not much going on here, other than watching the place slowly empty. The campground map shows about 300 sites on the property. Realistically there are maybe 175 sites that could be occupied before residents really started raising a ruckus. I doubt that we have ever seen more than 100 occupied. There are about 25 sites occupied during the entire year, mostly Winter Texans who have chosen to stay here full time rather than wherever they used to live in the north. We are down to less than 40 occupied sites. 

Yesterday we went out to Cheddar's for supper, with two other couples. One of them, along with two other couples, headed north today.

Today Kathy went grocery shopping. I rode my bike a couple of laps around the campground and walked another couple of laps. I also visited with Dennis a little. We went to a different Mexican restaurant for lunch. Mine was fine, Kathy didn't care for the way hers was seasoned.

It was cloudy and the high was in the low 80's. We are still hoping to get some more rain over the next couple of days.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

PS. This morning I read a "yellow journalism" piece put out by the Associated Press. The fodder used as a basis for the article was the high cost of electricity in West Virginia. I did a little research and added some actual data about US retail electricity prices. If you are interested it's at:

https://bertspoliticalviews.blogspot.com/2026/04/who-can-we-trust-today.html