Our next state to explore was Texas. We got to spend about two weeks exploring the national parks and some cool cities throughout the state. Now that we’ve had a little time under our belts, we have started to get our daily routines down. Setting up camp now takes about 10 minutes and take down is only 15. We’ve gotten more efficient with grocery shopping, cooking, and dishes since our trip started as well.

Big Bend

Big Bend is a national park in southern Texas that has the Rio Grande River as the southern boarder and Mexico just beyond. Unlike the other national parks we have been to, we had to reserve dispersed backcountry campsites instead of just driving around and camping wherever there was a pull out. The rangers at the visitor center were so helpful and scheduled us campsites for the next three days. We got campsites along the Rio Grande River but were warned that the gnats were pretty bad. We didn’t think much about it since gnats are just annoying but don’t bite. This national park is HUGE. It took about three hours of off road driving to get to the first campsite along the river. When we pulled up we realized the rangers were not exaggerating about the gnats. Within five minutes of having the car in parked, the entire hood was covered in the small black bugs. We tried to get out and set up but were instantly attacked. Although they didn’t bite, they flew into our ears, noses and clothes. Within 10 minutes we were back in the car and trying to figure out what to do. The bugs were small enough that they would be able to get through our mesh tent windows so we were hesitant to set up the tent. Since all campsites were reservation only, we couldn’t just move to another camp spot, so we tried to drive far enough to get into cell service and look up what spots were available, but after an hour of driving and the sun setting we realized we were just going to have to make it work. We turned around and pulled up back up to the campsite about two hours after the sun went down. Luckily the gnats were not as bad in the dark so we set up the tent and went straight to bed. As soon as the sun rose, we were up and packing up camp. We decided we needed to go back to the visitor center and change our next two nights of campsites to ones away from the river.

The next couple of nights were much less eventful with way less bugs. Over the next two days we did the Ross Maxwell scenic drive and saw the Mule Ears. We also did the Santa Elena Canyon hike which goes back into a canyon that follows the Rio Grande. We were enjoying the park so much that we added another two nights onto our trip. We explored the Mariscal Mines and attempted to do the Black Gap Jeep Trail. This Jeep trail was no joke and we didn’t want to put our little home at risk, so we only made it about 75% of the way. On another day we visited Terlingua Ghost Town about 25 minutes outside of the park. We walked around the abandoned old ruins, shopped int eh trading post and grabbed a coffee at a small cafe. Our last day in the park, we decided to just relax at the camp spot and spent it reading books, playing games, and ended the day with a downloaded movie. Before settling in to watch a movie, Jack took his UV light out and walked around the campsite looking for scorpions. He found one about 15 feet from our campsite and it was crazy cool to see!

Big Bend was an amazing National Park and we felt so grateful to spend a full week exploring the area and taking in the scenery.

Corpus Christi and Port Aransas

Since Big Bend is super far from everything, we drove to 8 and a half hours to Corpus Christi and spent one night in town. We got into Corpus Christi pretty late so we just went out for dinner before calling it a night. The next day we went to explore some of the towns along the Gulf Coast and grabbed lunch in Port Aransas. This small little beach community was having a Mardi Gras parade so we decided to get a hotel and enjoy the festivities. This second night wasn’t planned but ended up being one of our favorite nights so far. Port Aransas is a cute little beach community filled with fun bars and great restaurants. We watched the parade, walked around town and got amazing BBQ at a local restaurant.

Padre Island National Seashore

After Port Aransas, the weather started to warm up, so we went to Padre Island National Seashore, where they had dispersed free camping along a 60 mile Gulf Coast beach. We were so excited that we were able to camp on a beach but not in a crowded campground. We spent four nights on the beach and did morning walks along the beach with coffee, got in the water, played board games and read books. It was an amazing, and relaxing camping experience. During our walks and drives along the beach we saw so many washed up jelly fish. We mainly saw Cabbage Head and Portuguese Man of War jelly fish. Both of these are supposed to have a gnarly sting so we only got in the water twice and didn’t go out past our knees. Every morning, we were greeted by dozens of Ghost crabs who burrowed into the sand at night. Overall, Padre Island was one of our favorite spots due the location and amount of privacy between campers.

Pedernales Falls State Park

After Padre Island we stopped by Pedernales Falls state park where we planned to spend two nights. When we got there we realized it was a compact campground with little privacy between each site. We really didn’t love this kind of camping so we decided to just spend one night. Although the campground wasn’t the type of camping we were used to, we used the night to reorganize and clean the car. The next day we hiked to the falls and wow, what a sight. Although the river wasn’t flowing enough to create actual waterfalls over the rocks, there were beautiful clear blue pools between the smooth rocks. We were able to walk out onto the rocks and spent a couple of hours hiking and exploring all the pools.

Austin

Our next stop was Austin, a city we have both always wanted to visit. We met up with Jack’s cousin and spent the evening exploring all of the cool different areas of the city. We walked around 6th street and Rainy street. Rainy street was awesome! It is about a block of old homes that have been transformed into small bars and was our favorite part of the city. The next day we rented E-Bikes and road all around the city. We biked along the river and Lady Bird Lake, then went into the downtown and finished our ride on South Congress Ave.

Overall we loved Austin. It’s a city with cute coffee shops, fun bars and outdoor activities along the river.

Sam Huston National Forest

Our last night in Texas we stayed in Sam Huston National Forest. This forest was beautiful and filled with dispersed camping opportunities for free. Since we had service, we spent the evening planning our next adventure in Louisiana.