NOLA To Big Thicket National Preserve

I made myself oatmeal with berries and granola for breakfast. I would be leaving New Orleans this morning. I had planned to visit NOLA for a couple days and ended up spending a week. I felt like I didn’t scratch the surface. There is so much history and culture tied up in this river delta city. There was a strong force keeping me here but I knew I needed to get back on the road. I hope I have a chance to visit again and see even more.

I had a 4-5 hour drive ahead of me with no idea where I was going to stay. I stopped at a rest stop along the way and contacted Red Cloud RV Park near Silsbee, TX. They did have tent sides and I reserved one night.

I wanted to hike Big Thicket National Preserve located in southeastern Texas that. I knew the preserve has an unusual diversity of ecosystems and habitats, with four major ecological zones present within its boundaries. These include, Hardwood Forests, Piney Woods, Swamps and Sandhills.

I made it to the site around 5:30 pm and met the owner. I had been told that it was $20 per night and that they only took cash. The owner told me it was actually $12 per night and they would be raising prices sometime soon. The monthly RV site with electrical, water and internet was $485 per month.

I set up my campsite as quickly as possible and applied insect repellent multiple times. Although the mosquitoes were persistent, they weren't as bad as those in the Everglades. Since I was the only person camping, I had the pavilion to myself. I didn't encounter many other individuals and assumed they were avoiding the mosquitoes.

After dinner, I found my way to the Clubhouse. This was a very nice space, with a bar, tables, couch and large TV. I wanted to use the Internet but the signal was too weak and I switched to my phone which was only slightly better.

The laundry room was inside behind the party room area. A woman came in and we chatted for about an hour. She told me she always makes friends very easily and that she’ll talk to anyone. She is a local grade school teacher. She and her husband sold there home and moved into an RV with their twins. They are setting aside money to buy another house in a few years.

She had a lot of sad stories to tell about kids in the local schools. She spoke a lot about abuse at home. She told me about some kids with parents that were addicted and the kids sometimes came to school high. It seemed that even after writing many reports the school district did very little to intervene. It was one story after another.

Around 11:30 pm I returned to the tent. I saw a white truck pull into the campground with yellow flashers. It was moving very slowly and a nozzle was pointing out of the truck bed at 45 degrees. There was fog coming out the nozzle. I knew this from my childhood in Pennsylvania as a mosquitoe sprayer. Behind the campground was a honky-tonk bar with flood lights illuminating everything close by. The cloud could be seen drifting in that direction.

The truck made the rounds of the campground, meandering down every side street. I stood and watched for 15 minutes, the time it took for the cloud to engulf the entire campground. I wondered to myself how that impacts the health of everything in its path.

I tried to read, but the driving and sitting in front of the computer had taken a toll and I quickly drifted off.

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Silsbee to Austin TX

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NOLA/WWII Museum/Downtown