Vivian's RV Vignettes

I’m sitting in my RV listening to rain drum on the roof… the first clue that I’m no longer in my “home spot” under a carport.

As a matter of fact, I am currently at Frog City RV Park in Duson, Louisiana, at the first overnight stop on a four-day trek to Tennessee. I broke up the trip into a leisurely stroll of smaller segments to limit my drive time on work-week days so that I can be more available to my clients. Fortunately, I only have about three hours of driving to do today before my next stop in Mississippi. I’d like to say that I can just wait until the weather clears to do my driving, but… the forecast and radar don’t look promising.

Checkout time here is at noon, and the storms are moving more or less the same direction I am. Ugh.

I actually left my home spot three weeks ago. I made a parting gift to the sheep of the rest of the petting zoo kibble I’d bought for them. (And I got a text a day or two later that another of the ewes had given birth to a new lamb… sorry I missed that!)

I hit the road three weeks early so that I could do a little local “sightseeing,” half at Lake Conroe and half at Galveston Island State Park. Along the way I took care of needed chores like refilling my propane tank (which I didn’t do all winter while I was parked) and getting an oil change, tire rotation, and emissions inspection for Penelope the RV. I also worked out a way to secure my bike as well as my kayak to the back of the RV so that I can bring all my “toys” along. I started out with the kayak on the RV and the bike on the back of my truck.

But thanks to a hitch splitter from my parents, I was able to get the bike on the back of the RV too, which is much more convenient when it comes time to unhitch the truck and drive somewhere. I’ll get a picture of that setup at some point when the rain stops.

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite Conroe pictures:

Easter sunrise. I always make a point of getting up early on Easter Sunday for my own private sunrise service. It was pretty cloudy this year, but some lovely gleams broke through.

And here’s a funny quirk of RV life. My kitchen paper towels hit a few too many bumps on the road and unrolled themselves in a fairly artistic pattern. (This is exactly how I found it!)

After Conroe, I spent over a week at Galveston Island State Park. It’s a really nice park; I just wish the weather had been a little nicer during my stay, since there were some gloomy windy days and a few big storms. But at least the weekend that I was there was absolutely perfect. My parents and Margaret came down from Houston for a Saturday cookout and beach stroll.

We found a coconut! It was covered in barnacles and looked like it had washed up from somewhere far away… which is probably true, since coconuts don’t grow in Texas. Gotta wonder just where it came from, somewhere on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico.

We had dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf next to the mooring of the Elissa, one of the oldest sailing ships still afloat today.

In between storms, I also managed to get in a little more kayaking and biking plus at least one good seaside seafood lunch.

So, it’s been a good trip so far despite the rain. I just hope it doesn’t chase me all the way to Tennessee!