Days #102-104 of Our Epic Trip

2-11-2024
H: 75°F L: 51°F
Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, TX

Today is a travel day. We drove south to Brazos Bend State Park. We have been told that it is the alligator park. As in, hold-on-tight-to-small-children-and-pets-while-walking-on-the-trails type of alligator territory.

We took a toll road on our way south out of Houston and I’m pretty sure we’re going to get a citation for not having the proper electronic pass. Houston, your toll roads are confusing!

We have also noted that southern people seem to be a little crazy about Buc-ee’s. 50+ gas pumps, giant convenience store with clothing and home decor, and a bunch of unhealthy food. We don’t get it. Apparently, people are excited about their clean bathrooms which we appreciate but, we’d rather see clean bathrooms just be the standard at all public places.

We arrived at the campground and we saw four foot alligators before we even got to our campsite! Up until now, having traveled along the gulf coast from Florida to Texas without one sighting of an alligator, we were starting to think they were a myth. But they do exist!!

Unfortunately, our excitement was dampened by a camper malfunction – our slide out wouldn’t move. Luckily, Daniel is a genius and he is able to fix just about anything. At our last campsite, he built a small shelf for one of the kitchen cabinets and the wiring inside the cabinet was disturbed. He found one of the wires unplugged. Simple fix!

Once we got set up, we drove around the campground. Daniel talked to the camp hosts who suggested a particular lake to see large alligators. We didn’t have any luck seeing the alligators but we did notice springtime flowers everywhere.

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2-12-2024
H: 59°F L: 44°F
Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, TX

We stayed at the campground and did some hiking. We started at the visitor center where they had some rescued hatchling alligators and we got to touch one. These hatchlings were rescued from an abandoned nest and will be released when they are a year old. We then walked 6 miles with the boys and saw many alligators, including a mom with hatchlings, a turtle, wild boars, and many birds. We watched a man’s hat blow off and land right by an alligator near a bench. The man very bravely went to pick it up. If it had been me, I would have gotten a long stick to retrieve my hat.

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2-13-2024
H: 66°F L:36°F
Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, TX

We went to Galveston, TX today. It’s Fat Tuesday and we’ve been told it’s a big deal on the island. A parade was scheduled for the evening but we left before the parade.

Interesting fact: Galveston is the birthplace of Juneteenth – a celebration of June 19, 1865 – which was the day slavery was abolished in Texas, freeing one of the last groups of slaves in the United States.

We stopped at the beach on our way to Galveston and the boys had a ball running off leash. The boys get so excited about our adventures that they act like hooligans before we get them out of the car. In the video below, Daniel tried to get them to calm down.

We saw some cool stuff on the Strand in Galveston: a cute dog rocking an outfit in a stroller and a shark made entirely out of plastic garbage collected from the ocean and beaches.

We also heard from a follower of our website who has been inspired to eat more whole food, plant-based. Yay! Daniel is happy to offer advice or answer questions for anyone interested in better health through healthier food choices.

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Stats

Expenses:

• Tow vehicle fuel: $0
• Campsite: $72.51
• Camping memberships: $11.19
• Food: $0

Miles driven: 268.4 (121.5 kWh)

Number of people asking about the Tesla pulling the camper: 2

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