Last night after we left Houston, we started to make our way towards Austin, Texas. At the town of Bastrop, 35 miles east of Austin, we passed the midway point of Ventura, CA and Key West Florida. We are now officially closer to where we started back in July 2012 than Hemingway’s polydactyl cats.
We found a Cracker Barrel last night after our failed search for a Walmart where the GPS asked us to exit an off ramp that did not exist. It took us further down the freeway in the town of Beaumont, Texas. We don’t really have any plans of staying here long except to meet someone we have been friends with online who happens to live in this town.
From New Iberia, Avery Island is just a few short miles away. Since our only purpose to come down here is to see Avery Island, we headed straight there as we got ready in the morning.
When we were still in the panhandle of Florida, we decided that, for the first time, we will try to plan a route and itinerary back to California. We knew that if we didn’t at least try to have some ideas of where to go and how long to stay, we would certainly miss my commitment of being in California for a work meeting. Our original plan to be back to California for Ava’s 6th birthday in January was missed by a more than 2,600 miles on the opposite side of the country. We love having that kind of flexibility but sometimes you just have to answer when work calls.
Last night we tried to eat dinner at the buffet of Biloxi’s Boomtown casino but we were unable to get in there with the kids. Since it is just a casino and not a hotel, no one under 18 is allowed inside. We actually didn’t care that much about it. We were just trying to patronize it for allowing us to park overnight.
We made up some arbitrary rules awhile ago that in order for us to count a state as one that we have visited, we needed to tick off some boxes on a checklist that we will create. I am sure there are lots of other travelers who subject themselves to stricter requirements but the ones we decided for ourselves are pretty easy.
Before our 1pm checkout today we planned to meet Sean and Kristy down at a neat little planned community called Alys Beach. We drove through it on our way in and found the place fascinating. It is a planned community like Seaside except all of the structures were designed and built by the same company. It is dubbed by the planners as ‘Luxury Beach Living from the perspective of New Urbanism’.
Our short 2-night stay at Saint Joseph Peninsula came and gone way faster than we had hoped. This is definitely a spot I can see myself spending at least a week at next time we are in the area. With still a handful of places to see in the panhandle before crossing over into Alabama, we headed back towards the mainland and kept on moving westward.
We packed up and got ready to head out this morning after a couple of great days at Sunset Isles RV Park. The weather this morning has turned a bit and we are looking at gusty winds and drizzly skies. I’d say that it is cold but I am sure it will be met by sneers and jeers from our friends in sub zero temperatures in the north.
Our week at Fort De Soto is up today but we have no intentions of leaving just yet. The nice thing about staying at a state or county park is that your day entrance fee is usually included and you don’t have to leave until the day use area closes.
This is the second time in the keys that the morning when we leave a campground Ava finds a friend to play with who has just moved in next door. Our last morning at Long Key was exactly the same with Ava finally playing in the water at our beachfront site. This time, she is playing with a girl named Savannah who showed up last night with her parents that happens to be right next to us.
The site we got at Anastasia State Park was beautiful. We would have stayed here longer if it wasn’t for our reservations tomorrow at Fort Wilderness and if Anastasia wasn’t already booked solid. We decided that we would head down to Orlando later this evening and boondock somewhere so we can try to get an early checkin at Fort Wilderness.
