A taste of Texas, or about 200 miles

Dave and I recently met up with some of our family in Port Lavaca, Texas. It’s about 200 miles west of the Louisiana state line. We had a wonderful time just relaxing and enjoying spending time together and it was especially wonderful as my mom had flown in from Minnesota. I usually don’t post about people we meet along the way, but when it comes to family, I can’t resist. I loved that of us 3 siblings, we all had different RV’s and were able to rent a cabin for our Mom. It was pretty amazing to see us all lined up and have her right in the mix with us.

The trip over to Port Lavaca had us going through the Atchafalaya Basin and to Iowa, Louisiana. Atchafalaya is the largest wetland and swamp in the US. When you see pictures in movies of the big moss-covered cyprus trees, this is most likely where they were taken. By the way, Iowa is pronounced I-O-Way. Not the traditional state name and Atchafalaya is pronounced uh-cha-fa-lie-uh. Since we were just passing through on I-10, I didn’t get any good photos, although after reading about it, I’d really like to go back and take a tour someday.

Atchafalaya Basin – Wikipedia

Dave and I had visited my folks in Mission, Texas in the past although we flew down there rather than pull the camper. What I remember is dry and windy from that stay. This trip over to Port Lavaca was also dry and windy. And I mean WINDY! We actually ended up staying an extra day just to make sure we weren’t blown all over the road on our way back to Biloxi. I have no doubt that we have not even seen a pin spot on the map of Texas overall and I am going to make the assumption not all of it is dry and windy. But, sheesh!, that wind!

We did a little sightseeing in Palacios, Texas. It’s a small fishing village right on the gulf. They have a monument to all gulf fisherman that is surrounded by pieces of blue sea glass. I don’t think it was real sea glass and even though I was tempted to grab a couple of pieces, I left them to rest where they were. The village itself was mostly closed down for the season, but we did find an excellent Mexican restaurant with great margaritas.

What I found most interesting is the number of different shorelines we have seen along the gulf. Here in Biloxi, we have sugar white sand along the sound. In Port Lavaca, it’s more of a shelly and rocky beach. The shells are small and mostly broken up, but I shared my love of looking for sea glass with the family and we had quite the finds on our trip out to Magnolia beach.

We spent an afternoon out on my brother’s boat and while we caught no fish, we did catch sight of some dolphins eating in the bay, including one young one. And the birds! It was quite a sight to see all the birds lined up on a small sandbar and when they took off, it sort of takes your breath away to see all that grace in flight.

So, to sum up Texas, I can’t. We have seen so little of it, including the shoreline, that this is definitely a trip back at some point to really explore the state. I think a full winter is required in this state and just moving around every few weeks to get a better taste of what there is to experience might not even be enough to find the pretty.

For now, we are back in Biloxi, enjoying our last few weeks on this section of the gulf. We’ve made some improvements to Homer and have some maintenance to complete before we head to Tennessee to spend more time with family and attend the Grand Ole Opry. I’m planning a quick run over to New Orleans on the hunt for a pelican suncatcher to honor a promise I made to Dave’s mom. My brother and sister-in-law are headed over to spend a week with us and see our idea of coastal living. I have a feeling this next 3 weeks is going to go really fast, and I don’t know that I’m ready to leave Mississippi just yet. Thank goodness, we can always come back.

See ya on the road,

Dave and Theresa

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