Galveston, Texas also Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park McCalla, AL Acadiana Park Nature Station Trail System, Lafayette, LA
November 19, 2024 - January 8, 2025
Start 35,119 End 37,890 2771 Miles Maverick Tow total: 193 + 2771 = 2964 miles Maverick drive total: Start 950 End 1396 446 Miles Click any of the images for a higher resolution picture Our first night was spent at the Bullit County Rest Area just south of Shepherdsville, Kentucky. That was fine but I had a lot of time and couldn't make good use of it. Second night at the Sunset RV Park near Cottondale, Alabama. In many places the roads and bridges are throw backs to the 1970s. There is some very old infrastructure here. Now here is a good use of time: First, at about 5 am I stopped at Buc-EE's and spent a good half hour just wandering about. Next, a stop at the Alabama Welcome Center for a dog walk ended up in a hour long nap. Next, on arrival in Cottondale, we set up and then were off to Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. This is a forge started in the early 1800s then put to hard use by the Confederates making iron for refining elsewhere. This was an impressive sight! And it included a two and a half mile walk. Can't beat that for an adventure.      Left early and drove to near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Stayed at a KOA in Scott, LA, just off the highway. Nothing to talk about but it did have full hookups. Visited Acadiana Park Nature Station and their Trail System. We had a nice three mile walk. While nice, it was the WORST marked trail system. Very easy to get lost on, as shown below. Also, there were things like a tire in the river while lots of employees were sitting around for two hours.    Having the toad is providing great benefits. In Galveston! Our first visit to our deck!  Took a beach walk and found a huge crane sitting next to and attached to one of many forty or fifty foot metal square poles. Can't wait to see what that is for!  Had a nice weekend on Galveston Island. Headed to Rosenberg.  There are a number of lake trails now. Each are a mile long. They provide a great walk. We also did Brazos Bend. Here is the 3.31 mile, three lake walk. Each lake is about a mile.:  Who would have guessed????  Toodles and Liam  What's a trip to Texas without some Brazo Bend State Park gators!  \ At Cullinen Park we saw feral hogs!!!!    And a Limpkin!  Worst traffic engineering I have ever seen. No coordiation. No loops, cameras or other means to stop wasting phase times. And really crappy installations. This is at Colony Park and Stewart in Galveston. I get it. "Island time and all!" But, dang, have some pride.  
 Trying to figure out what kind of animal I was looking at I realized ....  A concrete bunker at Brazos Bend State Park.  You are here!  An example of the rebuild on the Red Buckeye Trail after Hurricane Beryl.  Brazos Bend State Park ... wait ... huh? Oh for cripes sake!  But there are other places. This is Cullinan Park, which offers a nice view right off the Sugarland runway 17. The planes are at about three hundred feet as they fly overhead. The path is 1,000 feet off the threshold of the runway. It is that close. The address on the sign has all the maps for the Sugarland parks. 
 This is my morning reminder. Someone is waiting for their walk.  In the morning sun ....  Someone almost took a swim!   
 
 I've been in many a dangerous bank. 
Landon has a swingset!    A cake bought for a December 31 birthday didn't make it past December 27.   Daddy climbed a tree with Landon in the backpack.     Bald eagle over Lesa and Matt's house.  What a fort!   From Blossom Terrace to Brazos Bend State Park.  Another dangerous bank shot.  Back in Galveston before leaving for home. A major winter storm is moving through the mideast. I will be trailing that storm. Ever wonder where pelicans sleep? In a pond, off the Gulf. 
 A Great Blue Heron, Toodledip, Odo and I enjoy a Galveston sunrise.   In the OBX one cannot drive on the beach without four-wheel drive and only then after airing down to five pounds. Here in Galveston, a full sized garbage truck drives down the beach.  There are many areas that have very old structures. Here is the flow-over pond off the beach just south of Woody's. There is a structure that made sense to someone, some time ago.  Headed down to thirty-five degrees here in Galveston tonight. Eighty degrees as I write this. Wild swings in temperature. The house as it appers on January 4, 2025.  AND ... on East Silver Sands Road, evidence of a small feral hog. A hog or hogs tore up some ground, left tracks and pooped farther down the road.    While the drive back seemed normal, it really wasn't. It was cold. Did the first night at Texarcana RV Park and Resort which was very nice. Second was in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at a KOA. Went well below freezing, about 23 F. The forecast for my next stop in Carrollton, Kentucky was for 9 degrees. Phooey. I did the ten hours home without a problem. Granted, there were a few white out snow showers but no accumulation. Unpacked and winterized in 23 degree weather with single digits coming at night. An easy trip if you don't look back at the challenges. The Maverick outshined anything I espected of it. Here's my Android Auto setup:  Is he not the cutest???  For up-to-date park maps and information, check the |
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