Exciting Week of Adventure from Colorado to the Sunshine State!
A Colorado to Florida car-camping road trip via the southern route
It’s been quite awhile since I posted, but I’m giving it another go now that I’ve got a couple big adventures on the horizon that I would like to document. I’m trying to make myself write everyday, but we’ll see how that goes.
Each day has a quick paragraph summary that precedes a much more detailed description of our days on the road. Click the “READ MORE ABOUT THE DAY HERE!” button if you want to get more info on favorite restaurants, campsites, things to watch out for, etc.
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My boyfriend David and I had decided a couple of months ago that we wanted to road trip to Florida to see where he grew up, and so he could show me around a new state. We finally put our very vague plans into action!
We finished up working at the ski shop on April 11 and immediately got to packing up everything we had brought to Colorado with us. He had come with a couple bags of stuff, planning on being a ski bum for a season; and I had come with pretty much everything I owned that would fit in my little CRV, planning on working as an outdoor educator at Keystone Science School for at least a year—unfortunately, that plan fell through due to COVID-19. Needless to stay, I had a LOT more stuff, and ended up shipping my two suitcases of winter clothes and all of my and his skis ahead of us. Both of us said our good byes and promptly left on the 14th of April.
Day 1: Wednesday, Colorado to New Mexico
Breckenridge, CO -> Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve -> Río de los Pinos campground in Carson National Forest, NM: approx. mile 0 to 330
Our first day on the road brought us about 330 miles from snowy Summit County, Colorado all the way to the northern New Mexico border. Buena Vista is a great place to stop for a couple of hours or a couple of days, as it is beautiful and great for all sorts of year round outdoor activities. Don’t even think about missing the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, as its one of those majestic destinations that inspires awe. Spring in CO is a great time to see all the myriad wild creatures that inhabit the land, so consider taking the chance to go on a safari of your own making. We used FreeCampsites.Net to find places to pitch a tent, but I’m sure you could do a similar trip by stopping at motels and hotels along the way.Our first day started at about 10am in Breckenridge, CO. We didn’t actually get on the road until closer to noon, though, because we had to go to UPS, pack all of his stuff into my already completely full car, eat brunch, go to REI and go food shopping. Right at the beginning, David and I decided to try to only speak Spanish for the whole trip, so that I’d be ready for southern FL and hanging out with his friends and family, who all speak Spanish. (We were only moderately successful, but the practice was really helpful.)
We headed West a little bit on I-70 to I-91 to Buena Vista for the better views as we drove down to Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve. (Already off to a late start, we also had a minor setback within the first 30 miles that involved a speeding ticket and having to pay it at the nearest town. Moral of the story: watch your speed in CO, because there are bored cops everywhere. The cop even told us some advice: if you start approaching a rural CO town and don’t see any speed limit signs, theres a good chance you should drop your speed to 35 or even 25.)
We stopped in Buena Vista only for gas because my Honda CRV has the tiniest gas tank in the world, but last time we were there we enjoyed sandwiches at Biggies and grabbed some gear from a pretty cool gear shop called Trailhead. There is some sweet, if absurdly windy, camping in the Arkansas River Valley just outside of town, and if you enjoy post-holing and snow camping in early April, the Brown Falls and Brown Lakes trails are beautiful. I’ve also heard there’s some great bouldering, climbing and rafting in the area, once the weather gets warmer.
At some point we got over to I-285 and wound our way through narrow roads in farm country. We passed the Colorado Gators Reptile Park once we were within 30 minutes of the Dunes, which sounds pretty cool but it looked pretty run down and like it might have been closed. We also passed a wildlife sanctuary right outside the bounds of the Dunes park, but didn’t stop to take a look.
As we approached the Dunes, we were in awe at the size and aesthetic of them, oohing and awing like in a sitcom. We got there just after 5pm and drove until we found a sign in a parking lot that simply said “Dunes”. There were a couple of deer with huge ears in the lot, and only a couple cars and RVs. In the summer the little creek we saw must get much bigger and be an attraction for swimming, because there were showers and changing rooms. We brought nothing but my DSLR camera and walked out onto the sand towards the dunes. We recommend that you bring water, glasses or a hat to protect from the horizontally flying sand, and a windbreaker! Once we got on top of the first, smallest dunes (the foothills basically), the wind was so strong I thought I was going to fly away, so we quickly turned around and headed back.
We saw more cows and horses then we could count, as well as some adorable donkeys (I didn’t know donkeys were that small!) and two bison on ranches throughout the day. After about 2pm we started seeing massive herds of deer, one family of antelope, a cottontail rabbit, a hawk and a turkey vulture (both of which I hadn’t seen since I got to Colorado in fall).
Sunset happened some time later as we were approaching the campsite we had picked out from FreeCampsites.Net. I have no idea when we crossed the border into New Mexico, but it certainly happened. The road to Río de los Pinos camping in Carlson National Forest (over 7,000 ft in altitude) was about 15 miles long and well-graded dirt after the first couple of miles. The road ran alongside cattle ranches, boulder-y terrain, rural homes and a creek that turned the land pretty marshy in some places. There is RV camping several miles before the tent camping areas, in a different park area.
We arrived at a large flat area with a rock fire circle right next to the river a little after dark, maybe 8:30pm. We quickly set up the tent (unfortunately, we couldn’t find my bag of stakes and had to get creative with some of the rocks from the fire circle) and got a pot of canned beef and vegetable stew going on my backpacking burner. We now know we should buy two cans of stew for dinner for the two of us. The stars would have been amazing, except I think there was some kind of moisture in the air blocking the view. The night was a little chilly at about 46 degrees when we arrived, but nothing we couldn’t handle with a 30 degree and 0 degree sleeping bag, a blanket, a couple of layers and sharing body heat.
Comments from David: David recommends having a roof rack and cargo box if you are moving across the country. Nothing went wrong, everything went smoothly. The road to the camp ground was probably fine for a rear wheel drive, but you should have higher clearance.
Day 2: Thursday, New Mexico
Carlson National Forest, NM -> Taos -> Santa Fe -> Red Cloud campground southwest of Vaughn, NM: approx. mile 330 to 600
Our second day brought us about 270 miles through the gorgeous high desert countryside of New Mexico. If you’re not scared of heights, don’t miss out on the Río Grande river gorge. Don’t feel bad if you don’t stop in Taos–it wasn’t that great. On the other hand, Santa Fe is definitely a must see, for the characteristic art, architecture, food, beauty and elegance of the desert.
We woke up nice and early to the rush of the river and the sun just starting to light the sky from behind the rocky outcroppings that surrounded our campsite. We then proceeded to stay nice and warm in our tent for another hour or so, before we got up and packed up the gear around 8am. We made quick PB&Js (actually, David had jelly and cheese on his like the monster he is) and walked around and picked up other people’s trash and the rocks we had moved around. The ride back along the dirt road was much quicker than on the way in, and we got to enjoy the prettiness of the surroundings, as well as the adorable newborn lambs and the herds of sheep and cows.
Once we got back on the highway, we enjoyed the high desert climactic region with lots of low-lying, pale blue-green shrubs of sage brush and Morman tea plants, dotted by the occasional dark green, taller junipers. The red dirt and interesting purple and red rock formations that make up the landscape along the road make for points of interest, when towns, houses and other man-made attractions were few and far between.
All of a sudden we both gasped when we came across a giant river gorge that we soon found out was the Río Grande, which we honestly had no idea we were going to cross paths with. We of course did a quick U-turn back over the bridge and parked at the rest area on the other side. I excitedly got out my camera to take pictures, taking extra care to not drop and break the telephoto lens like the last time I was on a huge bridge admiring the cliffs. Abstractly I knew that David suffers from vertigo, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until he reached the edge of the bridge and suddenly grabbed onto the fence for support and very quickly walked (read: ran) back to safety. I, who fear nothing except for screen doors, of course kept going to see the river and cliffs from different angles. I even got the telephoto lens out and snapped some shots of some great horned sheep picking their way across the cliffs.
Back at the rest area we talked with some vendors who were selling their handmade art. They told us of the effects of COVID-19 on their indigenous communities, and told us about how they make their art. One guy even told us his whole life story. It was very windy out, so we left after about 15 minutes of chatting.
Back on the road, we made our way to Taos. At some point we started seeing cacti dotting the landscape, only to increase in quantity the further South we went. Taos Pueblo, the indigenous community, was closed due to COVID-19, but we stopped in Taos for coffee at the Coffee Apothecary and food truck Mexican food from Mary Jane’s Home Cooking—neither of which were favorites in our books, but they were something to keep us going until our next stop in Santa Fe. Taos was kind of run-down looking, although some of the characteristic New Mexican architecture, with curving, flowing adobe buildings, was available for viewing.
Santa Fe was the hidden gem of the trip so far. After Taos, we weren’t expecting very much, so when we pulled into town we were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the downtown area. There were wide open parks and plazas, the characteristic NM buildings, and plenty of food options for tourists. The art and jewelry galleries were plenty, most of it with native influence, and all of it absolutely enticing, if not horrifyingly expensive. We planned the next couple of days of our trip over beers at Draft Station (a microbrewery), pork buns and boba at Dumpling Tea, and somewhat mediocre ice cream at Ecco Espresso and Gelato.
We drove around for a bit trying to find Pecos National Historic Park, but it was closed, and the Pecos State Park was big but didn’t have any visitors center to stop at for information, so we quickly continued driving the next 2.5 hours to our campsite in the Red Cloud campground southwest of Vaughn.
There was a beautiful cloudy sunset over the rolling, grassy hills on the way to the campsite. The many well graded, wide dirt roads were indiscernible from each other in the dark, and the Smokey the Bear sign scared the shit out of us, like some specter appearing from the murky depths of the desert. The higher up you get, the taller the plants, until you reach a pine forest. The cows run wild, all over the road, with the calves chasing each other and mooing at the cars. We also think we saw a UFO! There was a very low flying, steady set of white and red lights that went by us faster than our 20mph, that David said was too steady to be a drone and too low to be a plane. The campsite itself was quietly populated by several groups in campers, some with fires. There were toilets, bear-proof trashcans, fire pits, picnic tables and gravel pads for tents. It was pretty warm, at 58 degrees. After setting up the tent in very densely packed dirt, we ate some canned chicken dumpling stew while waving off bugs, beetles and spiders that were attracted to our lights.
All in all, today we covered some ground but really didn’t do very much.
Comments from David: Campsite was clean, well equipped, organized. Waking up to cows was fun. Talking to the hunters that were here for turkey season was cool. Beef stew from the night before was better than the chicken dumpling soup. Challah bread was delicious. The drive wasn’t bad, it was pretty straight. The high desert was beautiful but the scenery was pretty bland outside of that. When we arrived at the campsite it was a fun to see all the baby cows, but being on the look-out for an angry mama was a little scary because we didn’t want to get rammed. It was interesting to see bugs and spiders again after 6-8 months at high altitude. If you have an EV we wouldn’t recommend taking the backroads because there are no charging stations whatsoever. David enjoyed speaking with the indigenous folk at the rest stop at the river gorge. Taos was very bland. The biggest attraction of Taos was the native village that was unfortunately closed due to COVID. Taos food critics have really low bars when it comes to giving awards; the food truck had cafeteria Mexican food.
Day 3: Friday, New Mexico to Texas
Red Cloud campground -> Roswell, NM to Carlsbad Caverns National Park -> Madera Canyon trail campground in Lawerence E. Wood Picnic Area, TX: approx. mile 600 to 1000
Our 3rd day was about 400 miles of driving through cactus-ey rural roads in New Mexico to somewhere just over the border in Texas. Roswell, New Mexico is a strange city, stock full of aliens and extraterrestrial references–we thought it was a weird place that we wouldn’t necessarily recommend. Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a must see for people who like deserts, plants, rocks, indigenous history, caverns and more.
We woke up to the loud mooing of cows, the caws of some high desert bird, and the bright sun around 9:45am, quickly shucking our layers because the temperature was comfortable. We scarfed a quick mandarin orange and cliff bar because I hate oatmeal, and we wanted to start the day. The drive back on the dirt roads was quicker with me at the wheel, with David worrying that I was going to pop a tire.
The almost two hour journey to Roswell along narrow backcountry roads was relaxing, with David sleeping at weird angles with his mouth gaping open. The vegetation started off with high desert pines, tapering slowly into junipers, then low shrubland with occasional cacti, to full blown yellow fruiting cactus fields, to almost barren earth. In the distance, we approached a slowly growing patch of green that developed into agricultural land and feed lots with densely packed cows that were in unfortunate contrast to the wild roaming cows of the night before. I didn’t wake David up until our first stop. The only critters I really saw were small family groups of antelope.
Roswell was a shock to the system, with alien imagery from top to bottom, bullet holes in glass storefront windows, and eight flashing cop cars from the state, county and city surrounding a bank. We were getting super weird vibes from people, from the lady at the visitor’s center who looked shocked at being asked for advice from tourists, to the young, male host at Peppers Grill and Bar who looked at me and said “Ma’am” very softly and didn’t ask me if I needed anything, or if I had a reservation, or if I wanted to be seated, or how many in were my party; we decided that either all of them were extraterrestrials or they thought we were extraterrestrials and were just trying to play it cool. We visited the UFO Museum, which was pretty tacky and low budget, but had a lot of eye-witness information about the Roswell flying saucer incident in 1941. We also (finally) grabbed some coffees at Stellar Coffee (which I thought was in reference to how amazing their coffee was, but soon realized was yet another reference to space), and the cold brew was amazing! We also decided to find some sweets, and right as we were looking at a map, I looked up and saw sweet baby j’s bakery right in front of us—some sort of divine sign from the universe that we had to stop there. We shared a yummy Nutella cupcake that was basically a hard hazelnut egg on chocolate frosting on chocolate cake filled with fudge, and so rich I was glad we had only bought one to share. We think that fudge must be really popular in NM because we saw fudge everywhere (even at gas stations!)—unfortunately we left the state without seeking any out when we were feeling cravings for sweets. The military university, government buildings and other official looking places had beautiful architecture, but the rest of the town reminded me of California ag towns with strip malls and chain stores. The parks were lovely, though, with green grass and trees for shade.
The road out of Roswell was very unattractive, through flat, dead land with nothing much to break the nothingness. Google maps had us cut away from 285 through some strange little middle of nowhere towns, until we found ourselves suddenly among much more interesting terrain with rock formations and multiple types of cactus, native succulents, and acacia relatives. We had decided to check out Carlsbad Caverns park in case there was anything interesting to see, even though the visitors center and the caverns themselves were closed for the day. We are very happy to say that we were not disappointed in our detour, and if we had had a couple of hours to spare, I would have happily explored the park and the road looping through it for some time—I hope to come back there some time when they’re actually open.
We stopped at the first roadside “exhibit” within the park which had a couple of signs informing us vaguely about the park and desert. We could see a little trail leading up through the rocky cliff, and hopped out to check it out. David asked me to tell him more about snakes and the plants in the area, as well as how to find water if one were lost in the desert. At the top of the rocks, we enjoyed the variety of plant life and the view, before making our way carefully back down to the car. The second exhibit was far more interesting, and in line with what I study in my free time. We followed a series of curated signs detailing the ethnobotanical uses of local plants—it was weird though because half of the signs weren’t in front of any plants, and some of those plants we had seen the first time we got out of the car, but weren’t anywhere in the area where the signs were at the second exhibit. Cholla, Texas walnut, cats claw, yucca and ocotillo were some of the plants shown. We enjoyed the prettiness of the little river valley and the set of cavelike structures that were along the path, then we had to cut our adventure short because we knew we had several hours left to drive before we would get to our next camp.
We saw our last of I-285 this day, as we stopped our journey South and started making our way East. On the backroads drive to the campsite there were hecka signs indicating that the roads might flood and ice over, as well as a bunch of birds on the road that took off as we passed. The clouds caused night to come early. We pulled into the dark campsite right off the highway and passed the first couple of picnic sites until we found one that was set farther back. David helped me set up the tent in the very dense, rocky ground, then immediately curled up and tried to close his eyes because he had a stomachache from eating too much candy. I was freezing and I knew that I had to eat dinner otherwise I’d be even colder all night: so I set up the stove and ate a whole can of beef and veggie stew. The very dark night was a little eerie because I could here every movement of leaf and branch around me, but I couldn’t see anything past my little circle of red light. I also had my first opportunity to dig a hole to see a man about a horse, if you get my drift; the ground was nice and soft where I dug under an oak tree.
We really failed ourselves today, mostly speaking in English the whole time.
Comments from David: He fell asleep for most of the ride. Roswell was weird vibes: the town seems like it hasn’t been renovated since the 70s, the museum was tacky, and the town really banks really really hard on the whole alien thing, the bullet holes in the office building were… interesting, really eerie with Breaking Bad vibes. The outskirts of Roswell moving towards the Guadalupe Mountains were not an attraction. Once we got into the mountains, it was really nice. The sunset was beautiful. He was surprised and thought it was going to be all flat, desert, but it was very mountainous and hilly. The roads were in very good condition. The campsite was very nicely located, clean. Walnut Canyon in Carlsbad Caverns National Park was very informative about local plant life; he’d definitely go back.
Day 4: Saturday, Texas
Madera Canyon campground, TX -> Sonora Caverns -> Fredericksburg -> Hilton Garden Inn, Austin, TX; approx. mile 1000 to 1450
Our 4th day found is driving almost 450 miles through the wildflower studded state of Texas. You’re a fool if you don’t stop at the Sonora Caverns to check out the impressive underground system of living caves. Fredericksburg is worth more than a short stop, with regular events, live music and delicious food to keep any tourist or local occupied for some time.
David slept in for over an hour, while I woke up to him grabbing ahold of me and saying “Car!” quite loudly as a car drove by on the road next to the campsite, then promptly starting to snore again, while I struggled to figure out why I had been so rudely awakened. It was just after 8am, everything was a little damp, and I was feeling chilled, so I decided to make myself some tea and eat a donut, while quietly enjoying the morning fog. I watched some birders park in the picnic site beside us, then walk around with cameras. The cliffs behind the site were beautiful as the low clouds shifted around them. The grounds were situated in oak woodlands, and each site had a very long concrete table and benches, a grill, a large concrete circle which I couldn’t figure out a use for, and a trashcan that had a heavy metal lid but no other animal-proofing. It was probably around 30 or so degrees, so by the time I decided it was past time to shake David awake, my feet and fingers were practically frozen solid.
The drive back to I-10 was beautiful in some ways, but also reminded me of some sort of purgatory, or end of the world scene: the rocky hills floated up out of the mist, dotted with Joshua trees, cacti and shrubs, the road stretched off straight into the distance with not a single other car at 9:30am. I-10, on the other hand, was pretty busy, absolutely covered in wildflowers of every color, and the mist had burned off, but the skies were still overcast and stayed that way all day, occasionally dropping a splash or two of rain onto the road. We saw very little by way of towns, excepting for the very occasional gas station or rest stop; one of the rest stops we stopped to pee at had very nice landscaping, a playground for kids, and beautiful, clean bathrooms. Hours and hours passed with me at the wheel and David napping next to me until he deigned to wake up and ask me if I wanted to stop for lunch.
The closest town was Sonora, and as we approached the outskirts we saw signs for Sonora Caverns, and decided to take the exit and see what there was to see. Yet again, we were happy with the results of our random adventures: at the end of the wildflower studded road there was a ranch that gives tours of these gorgeous living caves with many different types of underground formations created by the movement of water and minerals over the course of 150 million years. The tour guide, Tai’s (aka Abigail), was a lot of fun, and I had quite a rapport with her by the end of the tour. At the very deepest part of the caves, we all sat down on some benches and she turned off all of the lights: apparently it would only take two weeks for a person to go blind in the absolute blackness. This was probably the most impressive cave system I’ve ever seen. The farm also had some resident male peacocks who wander freely, and an albino peacock in an enclosure with some other birds. The visitor center had lots of rocks and fossils for sale, and if you felt so inclined you could buy a bag of rocks to sift through with hand sifters to mimic searching for precious metals and rocks in running water.
In Sonora, we ate some good old-fashioned barbecue at Pit Stop BBQ. I thought the pulled pork sandwich was tasty, but the coleslaw and creamed corn used some sort of cream that was overpowering in its flavor (which reminded me strangely of Gogurts).
We decided to just go straight to Austin instead of hitting San Antonio, and ended up passing through an old German town called Fredericksburg, which was really adorable and absolutely popping with people in the streets and all the parking completely full. So we did a quick 180 and found a spot to park while we walked around. Hardly anybody had masks on. Apparently the town is very popular, especially on weekends, with lots of events and live music. We stopped at a wine garden called Pontotoc Vineyard Weingarten. The Temparillo red wine was alright, but we both enjoyed David’s Sangria, which was basically a tasty fruit punch. The homemade picnic plate was pretty good; fresh bread with a cheese and pepper spread, pecans covered in spices and honey, salami, olives, and a sea salt brownie filled us up pleasantly. The town was a very clear mix of German and Texan influence, with food options ranging between the two, architecture indicative of both, and a clear mix of cultures and ethnicities crowding the sidewalks.
The 1.5 hour drive to the Hilton Garden Inn at the Austin Airport was uneventful, with the dark, cloudy day turning into a dark, cloudy evening without much of a change. The hotel had a nice lobby with lots of couches and tables, and the room had a lot of space; the bathroom didn’t have very good circulation to dry the laundry I did in the shower, though.
Comments from David: The Caverns were fun and interesting; he thought he’d be claustrophobic, but the caves weren’t that tight, and he didn’t have to crouch too much; he still has a lot of questions about caves; the tour guide was very young and entertaining, and did her job well even though she was pretty new there. The drive from the Caverns to Austin was fun and interesting; he was happy to stay at a hotel finally and shower and sleep on a bed.
Day 5: Sunday, Texas
Hilton Garden Inn, TX -> Zilker Metropolitan Park -> Lake Travis -> High Island Beach, TX; approx. mile 1450 to 1750
The 5th day was a shorter journey of about 300 miles, most of which was spent exploring the bravely blue city of Austin, Texas. If you like big cities, this is a great place to spend at least a day in, with beautiful parks, attractions for hipsters, and a metropolitan downtown area. I would avoid beach camping in southern Texas: the mosquitos will eat you and haunt your dreams.
I was up early, so I went downstairs to break my fast with a muffin and a coffee (the $5 breakfast box was very unenticing, and the hotel restaurant was still closed due to COVID-19) while I did some work on my computer. The hotel internet was a bit slow but eventually loaded everything I needed it to load. When David came down over an hour later, he got some recommendations from the concierge about things to do in Austin.
Driving through the city to our first destination, I couldn’t help but see the disparities between the well-to-do and the not-so-well-to-do, with the wealthy in mansions towering over homeless encampments, gorgeous landscaping hidden behind walls covered in graffiti, etc. I’m not a huge fan of cities in general, so that definitely clouds my judgement, but I can say that once we made it out of the city proper, I really loved the hilly, wooded neighborhoods with gorgeous houses.
Zilker Metropolitan Park is an absolutely massive expanse of city park, mostly made up of flat grassy areas dotted with trees, but surrounded by native-looking woods and cut-through by the spring-fed Barton Creek that feeds into the Colorado River and is home to an endangered species of salamander. We parked for free near the Barton Springs Pool, which is a section of the creek that has been partially converted into a ginormous public pool with lifeguards and admissions; admissions was free at the time we entered, although masks were required. The water was approximately 70 degrees, which would have been quite nice if it was less cloudy out. After cutting through the pool to the other side, we wandered through the woods towards the Zilker Botanical Gardens, which unfortunately required buying $16 tickets online for entry, every hour on the hour—I was too hungry to wait for a turn in the gardens, so we didn’t have a chance to explore. We aimlessly made our way back to the car, noticing that all the other parking areas were pay parking, circling through the other side of the park until we finally found it again.
The next stop at Hula Hut for lunch on Lake Travis was probably 40 minutes away and well worth it, as the drive was gorgeous and the food was the best we’d had so far on the trip. I enjoyed the pork tacos, although I thought the pineapple was NOT a good addition, and David had some delicious mahi mahi tacos. The outdoor seating was right on top of the water with a great view, and first come first serve. Then we moved on to The Oasis another 30 minutes or so away, but over the same lake. I think that the name does the place justice, as it is an anomaly in the center of a metropolitan area: as you approach, the architecture of the buildings catches your eye but doesn’t detract from multitude of sculptures, fountains, art pieces, and other strange artifacts that create a maze through the inside and outside of the surrounding shops. The Oasis itself is a sprawling four story bar and grill that sits on top of the cliffs with an almost 180 degree view of the lake, forested hills, and gorgeous homes along the ridges to either side. The massive restaurant was pretty busy, although it seemed as though two of the stories weren’t being actively used. As we had just eaten and had a beer, David and I indulged our sweet tooths at the Antisocial Ice Cream shop nearby, enjoying our sweets tucked away on some benches with an unbeatable view.
After picking up a couple more gallons of water and some gas for the car, we continued almost 4 hours East past Houston to the campground we had picked out. Google maps had us changing from country roads to big highways the whole way. Our original intended campsite was Fort Anahuac Park, which turned out to be an RV park between the bay and a baseball/soccer field—upon further inspection, tent camping was not allowed, so we scrambled to find a new camping spot. Along the coast were beaches that had free camping on the beach, which we thought was great.
The entrance to the High Island Beach camping area that we choose led to the absolutely massacred site of an old coastal highway; the only things indicating that it had once been a road were the massive chunks of asphalt strewn about like so much confetti at a child’s birthday party. The wet ground, still muddy from high tide, combined with the debris of the highway made for a bit of a slow, bumpy ride that had us backing up more than once and moving asphalt chunks around. We settled on a flat bit of drier sand at a point on the “road” that was clearly a turn-around spot for many previous campers.
Unfortunately, as we had just barely moved off the “road,” we were passed several times throughout the night and morning by people who had more clearance and better tires, but other than that the only sounds were the waves and the birds. On the other side of a little, raised berm at the edge of our campsite was a stagnant wetland with pools of water where someone had commented on FreeCampsites.Net that an alligator had given her dogs a scare. I haven’t seen so many mosquitos ever in my life, so be warned that they are out and hungry! We set up the tent by tying off all the stake out points and guylines to big chunks of asphalt because the loose shells and thick sand of the beach weren’t dense enough to hold the stakes.
Comments from David: The hotel was really nice, the cheapest available. He loved the freedom of being able to walk around maskless in Texas. The park was nice, green, open, and well kept. The public pool was part of the river and really cool. He liked to get to know Austin a little, liked the layout of the city, the hills, the suburbs; he could see himself living there. He liked the scenic drive around the lake. The Oasis looked like a knock off Italian Riviera; crystal blue views of the lake that looked like a great place to wakeboard. The drive to the beach was pretty long, and ended in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t like the beach with the old road, but thought that the history behind it was interesting. He hadn’t expected mosquitoes on the beach, so he was annoyed and unprepared, but he thought it was one of the most comfortable nights, sleeping on the sand.
Day 6: Monday, Texas to Louisiana to Florida
High Island Beach, TX -> New Orleans, LA -> Destin, FL; approx. mile 1750 to 2375
If you do find yourself needing to drive through Louisiana, don’t go the coastal route, because its quite monotonous and sad, due to aftermath of hurricanes. New Orleans is definitely a good place to spend a couple of days if you like cities, history or partying. If you end up driving through Mississippi or Alabama, you’ll have to let me know if there are interesting places to stop, since we just drove through them entirely in one night.
I woke up to the very bright sunlight coming through the white walls of the tent and the calls of the sea birds. There were still a few mosquitos buzzing around the inside of the tent and the space between the rain fly and the bug net. While we were getting out of the tent to face the day, David brought to my attention a strange rash that had developed my elbow—we think I must have bumped into some poison ivy when we were in Austin, because we can’t think of anything else that I could have touched (I was wearing a jacket when we were attacked by the mosquitos, so if they had eaten me alive, they wouldn’t have only eaten a single elbow). Thankfully, the mosquitos were long gone in the light of day, and the only people around were a couple of fishermen. David had promised we’d jump into the ocean, but he took one look at the murky water and said no thanks.
We decided to take I-82, the coastal route from Texas, through Louisiana, to New Orleans, instead of continuing on I-10, which probably added an hour or more to the trip and was unexciting and not very pretty. I was excited to see my first (and only) alligator of the trip though, with the ridge of its nose and back just above the surface of the pool of water on the edge of the road. The wetlands along either side of the road most of the way through LA were monotonous and unchanging, with tall grasses and some wildflowers, only broken by more water reflecting the gray skies back at us. At one point, our path took us to the edge of an inlet that had a car ferry to bring us all to the other side of the water; they were efficient and we only had to wait maybe 5 minutes before they left. I’m not sure what the rest of LA is like, but the coastal, southern region has layers of scars from year after year of hurricanes and corrosive sea air: we saw homes and commercial buildings in every state of disrepair, decay and destruction that you can imagine—no roof, no floors, no walls, rust, rot, missing bricks, missing stairs, and on and on. The only things that seemed to be in a good state were the churches and the schools.
While David slept through the journey–which had well-kept roads until we hit some county line where they clearly hadn’t upkept the roads in a long time, nor had they done a good job with the patchwork they had clearly done over the years (I’m talking huge potholes, patchy patches that were raised or had dips, cracks, the line between the two lanes was super deep, etc)–I was looking forward to New Orleans, which is one of those cities that I’ve been really excited about visiting for a very long time. We decided to stop for gas and lunch in the first real town we came across, Abbeville, where we got delicious tacos al pastor at the colorful Jalisco Mexican Restaurant (I probably should have named this post something like “Mexican Food Tour of the American South,” since all we’ve eaten so far is Mexican haha).
New Orleans on a Monday was more than I could have hoped for. In the French Quarter, there were street musicians on every corner, colorful tourists and eccentric locals on every street, hundreds of signs indicating places to get traditional New Orleans things such as beignets, pralines, po’ boy sandwiches, Hurricane cocktails, daiquiris, mardi gras costumes and more, all sorts of exotic plants hanging off of rainbow colored buildings with intricate metal railings. Juxtaposed across the richly vibrant façade of the city were the unfortunate smells, wasted partiers, puddles of urine, bags of trash outside of store fronts, and the sad, empty clubs that were blasting music even during the early evening before dark, begging for wayward souls to wander in. The French Quarter and Bourbon Street felt like places that you would want to watch out for pickpockets, and where you wouldn’t want to get caught alone at 4am. We got some intense pick-me-up cold brews from Vacherie before heading over to the vastly different Garden District where beautifully restored 19th century mansions stand proud. The cemetery we parked next to had closed at 3pm, but we could still see the towering monuments to the ancient dead over the cracked whitewashed walls. The shady oak trees lining the streets had to have been hundreds of years old, with their root systems roiling along the cobblestone sidewalks and ferns and mosses climbing along their branches.
We had to rush back to Jackson Square for a $35 Ghost City adults-only Killers and Thrillers tour at 8pm. All over the city are Premium Parking lots where you can pay to leave your car in a well-lit place with cameras; we parked in one by the Shops at Jax Brewery, which luckily had pretty nice public restrooms inside. We walked along the pretty riverwalk towards the square and saw a paddle steamer on the Mississippi River that was moving surprisingly quickly for such a large boat. We grabbed some fries and water from Cafe Pontalba on the corner to tide over my rumbling tummy while we were occupied with the 1.5 hour tour. There were about 20 people in our tour, and our guide was a self-proclaimed goth with a shock of purple and blue hair to rival my own (we of course complimented each others’ hair); she was very peppy and excited, talking a mile a minute about all the weirdos who join her night tours (ie: drunk people, people who jack off, people who pee right next to her on the buildings, etc). She took us all around the French Quarter talking about grisly modern murders, horrifically abusive slave owners that made other slave owners seem almost mild in comparison, ghost stories, and spooky legends of the neighborhood; she was well worth the money! By the end of the tour I was grumpy, hangry and itchy from the poison ivy rash which was steadily getting more and more inflamed (poor David had to put up with me, RIP), so we decided to grab some pizza and I bought myself a Hurricane slushy for the road from SLUSH Frozen Cocktails. It is in fact legal to drink openly on New Orleans streets, as long as your container isn’t made of glass; we also learned that there are drive-through bars, so apparently anything goes in the Big Easy. We stopped at a Walgreens for some Benadryl pills and Hydrocortisone cream, and tried several gas stations before we found one with an available bathroom—another sign of anti-homeless architecture in the city, like the bars on the park benches.
We had been planning on camping in a state park in Mississippi, but David didn’t want to spend any time in MI or Alabama and was in a hurry to get home, so while I passed-out from exhaustion and Benadryl for the itchiness, David drove until we arrived in Destin, Florida at about 4am. Like the fantastic boyfriend he is, he made the game-time decision to not make me nap on the cold, rainy beach, and got us a room in a cheap motel, Days Inn, where I dragged myself onto the bed and knocked out again.
Comments from David: He wanted to take a dip in the ocean but the water was very murky—he feels bad for TX if all the beaches are like that. He thought it was sad to see the remains and the aftermath of the hurricanes in LA that had desolated the southern parishes that didn’t have the funds to rebuild–especially in direct contrast to Florida, which was able to rebuild and restore. He thought that taking the ferry was interesting, especially since the bridge was clearly broken from a hurricane. He thinks that Florida is way prettier than LA, even though they have very similar ecosystems and terrain. He didn’t like New Orleans, even though the culture and history was interesting; he’d rather go back to FL than live there; but he does think that the attractions were interesting for tourists. The drive to Destin through MI and AL was long in the middle of the night, and since Kirsten was mostly asleep, he just focused on consuming energy drinks. He was super excited to cross the border, and loved the sense of being in a familiar place again.
If you got this far, thank you so much for checking out my post! Go ahead and subscribe at the bottom of the page if you want to be notified about future adventures. Also, if you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you: leave a reply below 🙂
-K
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Kirsten is an enthusiastic, bilingual naturalist with 11+ years of experience as a non-formal environmental educator, 6+ years as an outdoor recreation guide, 6+ years as a content writer, and 13+ years as an eco-friendly horticulturist and landscaper. She has designed and maintained 2 websites dedicated to public-facing environmental and outdoor education information for community consumption. Successfully taught 5 online, multi-week zoom workshop series to 5-10 regular participants on an international scale.
2 Comments
Thomas
Very cool. Thanks for sharing! I remember going through the great sand dunes and over that scary gorge as a little kid. And pronghorns! Did you see any of the Pueblo ruins? There might have been a picture or two in there but I couldn’t tell.
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Yeah it was a sweet trip! The ruins were all closed due to COVID-19