Wow, what a long day.
Thunderstorms kept us awake most of the night. Rain, wind, thunder and lightening all conspired against us. Lucky for us we got much of the preparation out of the way ahead of time. Good thing we hooked up the Jeep yesterday or we would have been wallowing in mud.
We finally got going around 7:30. After taking a quick side-trip to Johnson City for fuel, we turned south and headed for I-10. Generally, our route took us south to San Antonio, east to Houston and north to Livingston. Although we tried to skirt around San Antonio and Houston, we still ran into some traffic. It was unavoidable, but not bad by Los Angeles standards. Most of the rest of the trip, all 320 miles of it, was uneventful. The weather was perfect. All day we were right on the edge of a storm system that was moving away from us. From all the standing water around, it must have been a soaker. As luck would have it, there was a Flying J less than 20 miles from Livingston, so we tanked the coach before stopping.
This part of Texas is very different from the hill country. The terrain is flat and covered with dense piney woods. The oak trees are clearly a different variety. It looks and feels like the South. In fact, Livingston is dangerously close to the Texas/Louisiana border. After living in Florida for two years, we were well prepared for the humidity.
The park we pulled into is owned by Escapees, one of the travel clubs we belong to. In fact, their headquarters is located here along with all their member services, which includes our mail service. The place is bigger than we expected and is a mix of club buildings, permanent sites, temporary sites and amenities. This time of year, the park is almost empty so we had our pick of the sites. We selected one with a clear southern exposure (good for satellite TV) and close to the internet Wi-Fi transmitter. Having high-speed internet at the coach is certainly a luxury.
After a quick dinner of leftovers, we scouted out town and stopped at Walmart for a few things. Around 9:00, we fell into bed, exhausted from the day’s activities.