12/27/21 – With a twinge of regret I broke camp and continued the journey, North today but ultimately Westward towards “home”. I had booked an overnight at Myrtles Plantation a Harvest Host location located in Northern Louisiana. A historic Antebellum plantation with a storied past that began in 1796 “…when General David Bradford, also known as “Whiskey Dave” of the Whiskey Rebellion, fled the United States to avoid arrest and imprisonment. Bradford arrived at Bayou Sara, then a Spanish Colony, and obtained a land grant of 650 acres from the Baron de Corondelet to begin a new life.”
You can stay in the restored mansion, dine at the restaurant and enjoy the lovely grounds. Checking in with the staff I was disappointed to find that the restaurant was closed for the holidays so PB&J for dinner!
B&B prices range from $165-$525 a night. Naturally, I was thrilled to stay and enjoy the same property as a free HH guest, I parked in the rear RV/Bus parking area and found myself just steps away from the lovely pond area.
The grounds were very pretty and while I was exploring I met a very nice family from Colorado travelling with their daughters and two new Bernedoodle puppies. I absolutely fell in love with the pups! One actually fell asleep on my lap while I was visiting with them. Try as I might they would not allow me to keep her…
Not being troubled by any of the ghostly residents of the plantation I had a quiet nights sleep and hit the road early for the long 375 mile drive to my next stop in Texas. My Thousand Trails membership has zones and I had selected the Southeast as my zone meaning that Texas would be my last chance to stay for free with TT.
I always like to be near water of some kind and had booked my first Texas stop at Lake Tawakoni in Point TX. After a full day of driving I arrived and selected a nice spot overlooking the lake. Low season is really paying off as there is no way I would get such a prime spot during the busy season!
Lake Tawakoni was pretty and the next morning I took the Kayak out to explore and had a very pleasant paddle. The other nice thing about this park was its size, clearly the largest TT park I have visited, I was able to get some more miles on the bike while exploring the shoreline.
For some reason I had only booked 2 nights here (a decision I would soon regret). All too soon it was time to move on and make further progress getting across Texas. My next stop would be my last TT park this time just outside of Bridegport TX at the Bay Landing RV park. A short 140 miles later I arrived and checked in. Once again I was able to snag a sweet waterfront spot, this time on Lake Bridgeport Keeping the Texas theme alive this too was a very large park, even the road from the ranger station to the campground was over a mile long.
While checking in the Ranger advised that we were due for a cold spell and that I should be sure and disconnect the water overnight so as to not freeze the lines. 🥶. Uh, what?
Worried that I am not well prepared for freezing temperatures, heck my recent insulation job has not been tested below about 40 degrees at this point I decided more preparation was in order. After settling in to my spot I used the remainder of my Refletix insulation to wrap all the exposed water lines I could reach and then headed into town to see about getting some RV tank anti-freeze to keep my tanks from turning into ice cubes.
Knowing that as they so famously say in Game of Thrones; “Winter is Coming” I also wanted to pick up a small portable propane heater as a spare just in case my built in heater needed some help. I was able to find anti-freeze at Wal Mart, I actually got the last gallon they had on the shelf. This would be a theme for future shopping adventures…
I had my eye on the Mr. Heater “indoor safe” propane heater. These are very popular and if used properly are safe to use indoors in an RV or tent and are fueled by the little green 1lb propane tanks.
I should have known that the locals had gotten the word on the weather a bit earlier than I had, the heater section at Wal Mart was completely wiped out. I tried Home Depot, Lowes and Tractor Supply and after much running around was able to find the propane cylinders at Lowes and the heater itself at Tractor Supply. I was now prepared for the coming Arctic freeze!
Overnight the temperature dropped down to 19 and using only the built in heater I was quite comfortable and able to maintain mid 60’s inside. I did find that the bathroom ceiling fan was allowing a lot of cold air in even with the hatch closed. To be fair the wind was blowing directly into the roof cover and forcing the chilly air into the RV. I fashioned a cover out by wrapping a beach towel in Refletix and stuffing it up into the opening and then sealing that in with a garbage bag using blue painters tape. This stopped the cold air and really made a difference in how often the heater came on to maintain temperature.
I stayed 5 nights total here and really enjoyed the park, It was too cold and windy to get the kayak out on the lake but I was able to hike and ride all over the park. I’m happy to report that even with temperatures in the mid teens my preparations worked very well and Mr. Heater is still in his box. 😜
I would still need one more stop to get out of Texas and again I used a Harvest Host stop to break up the trip. Reddy Winery in Brownfield would be my last stop before heading on to Roswell, NM. The drive was 280 miles and it felt much longer, so much nothingness, just flat scrub and oil wells to break up the scenery. It was also SUPER windy all day, so much so that with the headwind I was only getting 6-7 MPG. I was very happy to arrive and find that the tasting room was still open and I was able to get a nice bottle of their red mix and also a nice sheltered spot up against the side of the winery out of the wind for the night.
I had the entire place to myself and had a nice quiet last night in Texas. I was up early and ready to hit the road, only a short 130 miles or so to Roswell, NM for some UFO spotting!
Hey Its Gregg! 