Outrunning a hurricane

From Ft Stockton, we continued east to Canyon Lake just north of San Antonio, where we tucked into a beautiful Army Corps of Engineering campground. I’ve stayed in a few ACoE campgrounds and really like them. Some of them honor the NPS Senior pass with a 50% discount, but this one did not happen to. However, the week I was there, they were running a special, so I got a $15/night rate.

The next morning, I moved on toward Houston and ended up back in the same RV Park I stayed in last year when I visited Cindy in SugarLand. It rained lightly off and on all afternoon and evening, but there were enough breaks that Hanna and I got our walks in.

I knew I had enough leeway to spend two nights in another camp before my reservation in Gulf State Park, so I decided to drive to Fountainebleau State Park on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain the next day. It was ~350 miles from my SugarLand camp, so I got an early start. It was raining as I pulled out. Throughout the morning, not only did the rain continue, it increased. At some points, I had my wipers on the fastest rate, and traffic was slowed to 35mph on the freeway, where the speed limit was 65-70mph. My Nuvi gps routed me to the San Houston Tollway, but it was too congested and rainy to find my way off and deal with my navigation system, so I just sucked it up and paid the tolls ($15.75). I finally saw an option for getting off the toll road and took a city highway over to I-12.

It was a relief to get out of Houston and Beaumont traffic, but the rain was still pouring down and I soldiered on. About 20 miles west of Baton Rouge, I came to a dead stop. Traffic was backed up for 12 miles due to a semi truck accident blocking the lanes, as well as torrential rain still coming down. By this time, I was also getting into rush hour. As I crawled along at 3-5 mph I called the state park at Lake Pontchartrain to ensure I could get into a space after hours, and was assured there were plenty of sites open and also how to get through the gate if it was closed.

After a two hour delay, I finally got through Baton Rouge, and started coming out of the rain, and I arrived at the campground at about 7:15, just as the last light was fading. Finding a site in the dark and setting up camp is not a lot of fun, but I managed. I sure was glad to know I had a “zero day” ahead of me!

The next day, as I listened to the weather reports, I realized Hurricane Imelda was hitting Houston and that’s what I drove through the previous morning. They got between 2-3 feet of rainfall and devastating floods over the next couple days. I sure am glad I left when I did!

Hanna and I relaxed in the campground, taking walks around the loops and driving down to the lake front.

We packed up Thursday and drove on to Gulf Shores, where we pulled into Gulf State Park. I’ll be here through the weekend, spending time with Wendy & Denny and their friends.