The Blitz West, Part 2: Multi-Day Texas Trip

Catch up on the dramatic stories of our blitz west here:

Rainstorms and Floods
Evacuated From Our Campground

Floods weren't the only weather-related issue that was threatening our blitz west. Once we settled into our new State Park in Louisiana, we started closely watching the situation in our next location, Texas. The famed Texas Freeze of 2021 is unfortunately becoming a more frequent occurrence, and 2023 was bringing more winter weather, icy roads, and power outages to the state.

This was a big reason for us choosing to stay behind in the Louisiana mud. We figured it was the lesser of the evils. By the time we finished our Louisiana reservation and were ready to head west, the weather had improved in Texas. Although many people were still without power, the temperatures had risen to a balmy 60-70 degree average.

I-10 runs through one of the widest sections of Texas and clocks at 877.5 miles. Blitz or no blitz, we knew we'd be spending a lot of time driving through the state. We figured the best way to tackle this state was to do a couple of drive days, then take a break, and then do some more. We were still recovering, plus Lily can't handle too many drive days in a row. We also work, which means most of our travel days need to happen on weekends or very light weekdays (without a lot of calls/meetings).

We began with two back-to-back drive days to make a sizeable dent in our distance. Because of our displacement from Tickfaw to Fairview, we started about 40 miles east of where we initially thought we'd be. This had us eyeing Houston as our first destination, and we chose to spend our first night just east of the city in Winnie. Our friend Jessica had told us there is a county park there that allows free overnights for up to three nights. All you need to do is call the town, register for a permit, and then you have a free dry camping spot right off the interstate. You can choose to park on the grass or in the arena parking lot. After all the mud we had endured, we opted for pavement. We arrived just before sundown and settled into a corner of the parking lot. There was some noise until about 11:30pm, but from then until about 8:45am, everything was quiet and we got a good night's rest. The next morning, a set-up crew arrived for an event that was happening in the arena, and in true Texas fashion, they brought the country music! We didn't mind. We were already up anyway, and in some way, it felt like a little gesture welcoming us to the state.

The second drive day would be relatively short, but we had to get through Houston, which hopefully wouldn't be bad on a Sunday. The big problem, which we started noticing right away, was I-10, a road of bumps, narrow lanes, and construction. Lots of jersey barriers and potholes. It's not a pleasant drive, but it also wasn't as bad as some RVers make it out to be. They probably haven't driven in New England. One thing we do, though, is keep it slow. The speed limit can get up to 75mph on some parts of the interstate in Texas, so we just stay in the right lane and go between 60-65. Some of the drivers aren't thrilled with this, but we just let them pass us. At the end of the day, Texas is an RV-friendly state, so most people understand that we need to drive a certain way when we're towing.

We needed a place to hang our hats for a few days so that we could do work. I snatched the last site at Lockhart State Park. A little further off I-10 than we would've liked, but it had everything we needed and we loved it. Our site had full hookups, was paved and had a pergola over our picnic table. It had a giant field behind us for our Starlink, and we overlooked the golf course to the front. We had walking trails right on the other end of the campground, which helped us resume our exercise routine after our week of being sick. The day use area of the park offered lots of activities, including basketball, a playground, and a pool. The park is also up the street from civilization, making it a convenient place to resupply.

The best part about a shorter drive day was that we had plenty of time to clean the trailer after we set it up. Between the sand from our coastal stays, the mud from Louisiana, and us being sick, the place was becoming quite the disaster. It's the RVing trade-off: We get to go to a bunch of cool places, but the outdoor life often means we track the outdoors in with us. We immediately got to work sweeping, vacuuming, and swiffering, and also washed and rinsed our entryway rug, which was caked in mud. As a final touch, we put up new curtains over our ramp door, which made the space feel light and airy. A job well done, so we could breathe a little easier during our week of work.

We initially thought about going into Austin one of the days, but they were still suffering from power outages from the ice storm, and we weren't entirely recovered yet. So instead, we just stayed around Lockhart, enjoying our time of stillness before hitting the road again. We were making really good time on our blitz across the country, and so we decided to get off I-10 for a bit. Anthony had a birthday coming up, so we owed it to ourselves to do something a little more off the beaten path. We were in for an adventure!