RoadNotes: Critters from Alabama to Texas

We just thought we were done with Eastbank COE Campground in Bainbridge, GA. It seems as though we picked up a little gift while we were there.

We call them sugar ants ‘cause they’re so small, like a grain of sugar. There were hundreds of them. So we’ll spend the next few weeks trying to get rid of all them. Next time I’ll believe RVParkReviews.com. Several reviewers mentioned ant invasions, so we brought along Boric Acid, But it rained and washed it all away after we surrounded the tires with it.

Also this guy was parked right behind us. Each time we would step out of Big Guy, our eyeballs were clicking right and left trying to figure where it was this time.

Several more critters we saw around the motorhome.

Service COE Campground just outside of Coffeeville, AL is one of our favorites. This makes the 3rd or 4th time we’ve stayed here. But this time we spent 2 days. It’s right on the Tom Bigbee waterway and features lots of barge traffic.

This guy’s headed north….

And this guy’s headed south….

In the mornings it was nice to sit under the shade tree and contemplate nature and its wonders.

The sunsets were pleasant to observe as well.

We almost had another hitchhiker from this park. As we were getting Sunny, the Explorer, ready to go we found this guy had attached himself to one of the fenders.

Don’t know what it is, but I’m not gonna touch it.

Now we have a conundrum. We’ve really liked the low cost COE parks and being able to use our Geezer Pass. But we’re in a part of the country now, where they are not convenient to our route. It’s still way to hot for dry camping, electricity for the air conditioner is a must.

Getting ready to leave Mississippi and cross over to Louisiana.

So we’re gonna have to suck it up and stay at a commercial campground. But wait, EJ finds one that belongs to Passport America. But even with the discount, one night costs more than 2 nights at a Corp of Engineers campground. But it’s on the Mississippi River! So we splurge.

The view from the campground.

More critters. Along the River Walk, we see a sparrow a harassing a hawk.

These last few weeks eastern Texas has been inundated. Our next stop at Mill Creek COE Campground shows evidence of all the rain. A good portion of the waterfront sites are partially underwater and have closed off for use. Even our site, which is not considered waterfront, shows water not that far away from Big Guy. We’ll definetly keep an eye on that.

The campground is located next to the Rayburn Reservoir, the fishing center for this part of Texas. And there are boats, barking dogs and squally kids everywhere. I guess it’s a good thing it’s too hot and humid to spend any time out doors. When we’re here we stay inside where it’s cool, dry and quiet.

Looking for the next place to stay, we find 3 Passport America campgrounds in Gatesville, TX. We call and call and call, but cannot ever get anyone to answer the phone. So we leave messages that we are on the way and hope they have space for us.

One the way, our road turns into a construction zone and this sign confronts us. If we have to detour, it’ll be miles and miles out of the way.

We mull this over for a few minutes and decide they must be talking about the center lanes of the road. The shoulders are still open so we continue on driving an 8 foot wide RV on a 7.5 feet wide shoulder. It was tight. Fortunately, it only lasted 4 miles.

We arrive in Gatesville and still had recieved no return call confirming a space for us. So we picked Texas Station #2 only to find it had a gate you needed a security code for. EJ called 3 times, no answer, so we parked in front of the gate, figuring we’d either really piss some one off, or management would get the message.

Soon we recieved a phone call, arranged for payment for the night and they gave us the access code. I love it when a plan comes together!