2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 147

Day 147, Saturday, March 14, 2026 - Village Creek State Park, Lumberton, TX, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 5,685 Miles for the Trip.

55°F overnight, 61°F for my morning walk, 70°F at noon, and the high for the day was 76°F.

I checked the internet speed for AT&T & Verizon. AT&T shows 61.93Mbps down & 3.64Mbps up while Verizon is at 53.62Mbps down & .39Mbps up. As usual, when I have AT&T available I use it.

After breakfast I headed to the Fast Laundromat. $3.75 to wash in a 3X front loader & $.25 per 6 minutes to dry. Not too busy, a couple of folding tables & carts, and a well worn bathroom. 

Back at the trailer I read some more, then headed for a shower. 2 stalls, 1 disabled. Both have the 3" solid ball type shower head that produces a large, fine spray. The showerhead aims at the drying area and soaks most of the floor. A bench in the drying area & 1 hook. No shower curtain and no soap dish. Plenty of adjustable hot, soft water. Overall, a C.

Back at the trailer it was more sitting outside reading until dinner. Had a visitor:

Dinner was a pork chop & creamed spinach. The pork chops were from Walmart, and I should have known better - the toughest ones I've had in a long time.

After putting the clothes away I sat outside and read. 

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 146

Day 146, Friday, March 13, 2026 - Village Creek State Park, Lumberton, TX, - 241.3 Miles, 5,685 Miles for the Trip.

44°F overnight, 68°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day was 74°F.

Well, I survived driving through Houston. I've seen photos of "the largest number of lanes in the US" at Katy, just before Houston, and while I drove through it I only counted 7 on my side of I 10. Fairly heavy traffic at noon, but only one actual stop in lane. Lots of slow downs.

I arrived at the park around 2:30, signed in and found site 20. A back in, water & electric site on asphalt with a tent pad, grill/fire ring with benches, general purpose hook, and a picnic table. $20.00 per night including a $4.00 per night individual person charge. I'm here for 3 nights. The park is within horn distance of a railroad with lots of crossings, so lots of tooting. Otherwise, other than the typical kid noise, the park is quiet. Bathrooms are a short walk away.

Site 20

By the way, it was interesting making the reservation for this park. There is also a Village Creek State Park in Wynne, Arkansas. I've stayed there a bunch of times and when I looked it up to make the reservation for the one here in Texas my browser sent me there. I didn't pay attention, and made the reservation there. The problem is it is 700 miles from Palmetto State Park where I was last night to Village Creek State Park in Arkansas, far more than I'm willing to drive in a day. Eventually, I figured out what I did & fixed it well before the trip.

After setting up I headed to Walmart which is a little over 6 miles from the campground. Still lots of traffic, but I did manage to buy everything I needed plus lots of stuff I probably didn't really need. There is an advantage of traveling in a small trailer with a relatively small refrigerator - you do have to limit yourself. In any case I was back at the trailer at 4:30 and tossed a Better Goods Mushroom & Truffle pizza in the oven. I really like this pizza. The first one I had was a Safeway brand made in Italy but Walmart has copied it well, The only problem is the truffle part is mostly oil which makes it a bit too greasy for me. My solution is to blot the thing with a paper towel before cooking. 

Dinner was half of the pizza (although I cooked the whole thing). It made it back from Walmart still half frozen so I cooked it for a little less time than normal.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 145

Day 145, Thursday, March 12, 2026 - Palmetto State Park, Gonzales, TX, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 5,443.7 Miles for the Trip.

50°F overnight, 50°F for my morning walk, 57°F at noon, and the high for the day was 65°F.

While it stayed warm for most of the night, by 6:00AM it was down to 50°F. It didn't warm up all that much throughout the day. After breakfast I spent some time on the internet reading. AT&T shows 53.05Mbps down & 2.69Mbps up, but often hangs up for longer than the speed indicates when opening a page. The Starlink Mini probably would not be any better since there is heavy tree cover in all directions from my site. Verizon is working with my phone for internet radio, but I didn't fire up the modem to check it.

I'm told this is Texas weather. 82°F yesterday but it doesn't feel like it is going to break 60°F today (it did - the high was 65°F). My weather app says 88°F for Sunday, although I'll be long gone by then.

I headed for the showers. 2 in the men's bathroom, one disabled equipped. I used the standard one. A bench and 4 hooks in the drying area, separated from the shower by a shower curtain. The drying room floor is 1/2" higher than the shower floor but some water gets under the shower curtain wetting the first foot of the floor. A 1" high pressure, low volume shower head with dual handles for the water. You only need the hot one since the fine spray cools off by the time it hits you. I never opened the cold water handle. A soap dish in the shower. Not the cleanest I've been in, but overall not too bad - a B that would do better with a standard shower head.

More outside reading trying to stay in the sun.

Dinner was an Amy's Enchilada with Spanish Rice & Beans Bowl.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 144

Day 144, Wednesday, March 11, 2026 - Palmetto State Park, Gonzales, TX - 0187.4 Miles, 5,443.7 Miles for the Trip.

51°F overnight, 80°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day was 82°F. Still 80°F at 6:00.

A rather exciting night. First a tornado watch, then a tornado warning, then watching a lot of red on my radar app heading right at us. It slide by just to the west but dumped nickel sized hail, shut down my Starlink Mini, and heavy rain off & on until 11:00. I thought the wind knocked over the Mini tripod, but it was still standing in the morning. I guess the heavy rain shut it down. 

I met the campground owners on the way out and gave them the check for the two days & bag of pecans. Again greeted by name and welcomed back for next year.

I had a choice of taking I 10 through San Antonio or a bunch of state & farm roads that added about 45 minutes to the trip. I opted for the later, and drove through downtown Fredericksburg, an interesting town. 

I arrived at Palmetto State Park around 2:00. I'm in site 4, a back in water & electric site on asphalt with a fire ring, charcoal grill, hook & picnic table. I'm here for 2 nights at $21.00 per night including a $3.00 per night entry fee.

Site 4

After setting up I fired up the AC since it was 80°F in the trailer, got out my camp chair and sat outside and read. I finished Spoils of the Dead by Dana Stabenow and started Stephen King & Pete3r Straub's The Talisman. Since it is a 1984 copyright, I probably already read it, but it isn't in my database of read books so it was before 2000 which means I probably won't remember any of it.

Dinner was a chicken burger & a salad.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 143

Day 143, Tuesday, March 10, 2026 - Pecan Valley RV Park & Farm, Junction, TX , Day 2 - 0 Miles, 5,256.3 Miles for the Trip.

63°F overnight, 66°F for my morning walk, 72°F at noon, and the high for the day was 83°F.

A very warm night; the electric heater never came on. Heavy clouds this morning, breaking up to partly cloudy by noon. During my walk I saw the park's herd of deer as well as chickens & goats. 

After breakfast I sat outside and read. I finished The Camp Bird Cafe by Chinle Miller. The writing is as bad as ever; no idea why I keep reading the series other than they are free from Amazon Prime. Anyhow, I started Spoils of the Dead by Dana Stabenow. Not one of the Shugak series, but about Alaska.

Around 1:00 the inside temperature hit 79°F so I closed up the windows, shut off the MAXX fan and fired up the AC set at 76°F. Quite a bit of wind, but still comfortable sitting outside. My weather app just let me know we are under a tornado watch until 10:00.

While sitting outside and on a walk I took a few photos of the livestock:

North Llano River

Still 83°F at 5:00.

Dinner was a Scott & Jon's Shrimp Alfredo Bowl.

Until Next Time -