Oct. Trip to The Gulf, Louisiana and Texas

[AZstavman]

I'll be heading from Arizona to Texas and Louisiana mainly the Gulf Coast Area in early October for 6 weeks or more
Class C RV with a Toad.
I10 to San Antonio, then I37 to Corpus Christi

Malaquite Campground on South Padre island and Magnolia Beach near Port Lavaca are two gems we plan on staying at for a week + each

Looking for some suggestions of fantastic places to stay boondocking or full hookups, near lakes or gulf water
Fishing , sightseeing, fresh food, eating, Rock hounding , and dog friendly, are places were looking to check out in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf area. We are seafood junkies so good Seafood Markets like Paul's Seafood in Corpus would be fantastic too.
Ive been there 2x before but looking for suggestions from real people not just Google...lol

Appreciate the help. My girl has never been down there. She is Jamaican so I'm excited to show her the area.

Chris
Annette
Stevie and Tigger..... The Dogs

[MrMark52]

What is your planned route? I10 or I20 (likely not I30, but . . . )? If I20, where do you plan to turn to head south?

[AZstavman]

Good call...didn't think about that

I10 to San Antonio, then I37 to Corpus Christi

[Rob_M]

We boondock on the well manicured and very wide beach at Port Aransas quite often. Some decent restaurants in Port-A. If you have 4wd you can drive down to the National Seashore National Park, about 60 miles of beach with one way in and very little activity, 24 or so miles down in the park is Big Shell beach, good for finding shells etc. Be aware there is little to no cell service and the sand is not manicured. Sometimes tides can make it impassable if there are storms at sea . Ask at the ranger station before deciding to venture too far down.

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by AZstavman

Good call...didn't think about that

I10 to San Antonio, then I37 to Corpus Christi

Watch your fuel coming across Texas. Going from El Paso to Ft. Stockton is close to 300 miles. Then Ft. Stockton to San Antonio is around 340 miles.
Around Senora is the last fuel stop going west to Ft. Stockton, so that will be your first fuel stop heading East from there toward San Antonio.

We are Thousand Trails members, so we stay at Medina Lakes TT Park, NW of San Antonio when in the area. A little way up I-10 from there is a campground called "Top of the Hill". We have never stayed there but it right off of I-10.
https://www.topofthehillrvresort.com/

But there are other parks in the area.

In Ft. Stockton we have always stopped at Hilltop RV Park. It is nothing to write home about, but it is always clean with hot showers.
https://ftstocktontexasrvpark.com/

[Rob_M]

I would drop sown off 10 and see Ft Davis, Marfa, Big Bend State Park, Terlingua ghost town, Big Bend National Park. Then up to Marathon and East on 90 towards Del Rio and stop off and see the Judge Roy Bean museum in Langtree. Stop at the overlook just past the Pecos River bridge. Then on through Del Rio towards your coastal destinations. You will cross Lake Amistad.

There is a place you can stop over night and try to see the “Marfa lights”. We have not been to Marfa or Ft Davis yet.

[Wayne M]

All the suggestions are good but 6 weeks is a short time that passes quickly.

Since you will be in Corpus and are going to Louisiana, take Hwy 35 for a more peaceful and more scenic ride than freeways. When you get to Freeport/Surfside Beach take the Blue Water Hwy (257) up through Galveston. RV sites in Galveston are higher than on the mainland. On up the hwy pass wherel we lives is a nice FHU rv park called Galveston Bay RV Resort & Marina. Dickinson, TX, and about 10-15 bucks cheaper overnight

From there to LA there are two campgrounds I'm familiar with. Frog City and KOA Scott, LA. Guess it depends on where you want to go in LA.

If you do decide to stay at any of the places in Texas, Galveston or Dickinson, holler at me and I'll send you on your way to LA without going freeway through Houston.

[AZstavman]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

All the suggestions are good but 6 weeks is a short time that passes quickly.

Since you will be in Corpus and are going to Louisiana, take Hwy 35 for a more peaceful and more scenic ride than freeways. When you get to Freeport/Surfside Beach take the Blue Water Hwy (257) up through Galveston. RV sites in Galveston are higher than on the mainland. On up the hwy pass wherel we lives is a nice FHU rv park called Galveston Bay RV Resort & Marina. Dickinson, TX, and about 10-15 bucks cheaper overnight

From there to LA there are two campgrounds I'm familiar with. Frog City and KOA Scott, LA. Guess it depends on where you want to go in LA.

If you do decide to stay at any of the places in Texas, Galveston or Dickinson, holler at me and I'll send you on your way to LA without going freeway through Houston.

Great info... looking at those now

[SergioP]

Originally Posted by Rob_M

I would drop sown off 10 and see Ft Davis, Marfa, Big Bend State Park, Terlingua ghost town, Big Bend National Park. Then up to Marathon and East on 90 towards Del Rio and stop off and see the Judge Roy Bean museum in Langtree. Stop at the overlook just past the Pecos River bridge. Then on through Del Rio towards your coastal destinations. You will cross Lake Amistad.

There is a place you can stop over night and try to see the “Marfa lights”. We have not been to Marfa or Ft Davis yet.

We have been to all these places, very worthwhile to see. Lots of different terrain. Mountain forests, desert, the Rio Grand, the River Road FM 170 from Presidio to Lajitas/Terlingua is beautiful 70 mile road with lots of places to stop and see. It’s a different world down by Big Bend.

Fuel is available in Marfa, Presidio, BBNP, Alpine, Ft. Davis. If you take US 90 from Van Horn you can stop in Valentine at the Prada store for a foto op. Then on to Marfa about 30 miles later. From there south to Presidio to the river road. We filled up in Marfa, 55 gallon E450 tank and drove to Presidio, the River Road, Lajitas, Terlingua, up 118 to Alpine on one tank with fuel to spare. Gas was cheapest in Alpine of all those towns. This was back in March this year.

US 90 to the Pecos river is an easy relaxing drive. Judge Roy Bean museum is very interesting. US 90 passes thru Uvalde the in Hondo you can take TX 173 SE crossing I-35 to I-37 bypassing San Antonio, although SA has the Alamo and river walk to see.

Port Aransas allows overnight camping on the beach, requires a $12 annual parking fee available at supermarkets or convenience stores.

Heading east on I-10 after Houston/Galveston you could head south/east? In Winnie on TX73 to Port Arthur to 82 into Louisiana to take the highway along the coast thru Cameron. You end up where my wife grew up, Abbeville, in the heart of Cajun country. Eat at Shucks or Dupuy’s, both are right near the church by the Vermillion river bridge. From there head east to US 90 to New Orleans. Grand Isle is a nice detour before New Orleans, although it might still be under repairs from the hurricane last year.

Well all that should easily fill 6 weeks of travel.

[AZstavman]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

All the suggestions are good but 6 weeks is a short time that passes quickly.

Since you will be in Corpus and are going to Louisiana, take Hwy 35 for a more peaceful and more scenic ride than freeways. When you get to Freeport/Surfside Beach take the Blue Water Hwy (257) up through Galveston. RV sites in Galveston are higher than on the mainland. On up the hwy pass wherel we lives is a nice FHU rv park called Galveston Bay RV Resort & Marina. Dickinson, TX, and about 10-15 bucks cheaper overnight

From there to LA there are two campgrounds I'm familiar with. Frog City and KOA Scott, LA. Guess it depends on where you want to go in LA.

If you do decide to stay at any of the places in Texas, Galveston or Dickinson, holler at me and I'll send you on your way to LA without going freeway through Houston.

The Galveston Bay RV looks fantastic.....love the water edge sites, bet fishing is good

And love a way outa there to bypass Houston, I'll for sure be going that way.

May stay here instead of Spoonbill RV on South Point on Easy side of Galveston Bay

Great Find...thanks...and the weekly or Month Rates are great

[Isaac-1]

For general route coming up the Texas coast, I would suggest going through Galveston (45 mph speed limit for much of the length of the island), then take the ferry across to the Bolivar peninsula (there is free/cheap beach boondock camping near crystal beach (I think they have a cheap permit during prime season that can be bought at local gas stations, etc), across to High Island and up to I-10 at Winnie, then take I-10 across into Louisiana, be aware that most (all) highways south of I-10 in western Louisiana are going to be in poor condition, unless that section of road has recently repaved. I am not sure what exactly your interests are, but we often enjoy going to Palmetto Island State park in south Louisiana, though weather may still be hot and muggy there in early October, there are lots of good hole in the wall cajun seafood places in south Louisiana like Suire's Grocery & Restaurant located south of Kaplan, LA There are also more upscale places, like Cafe Jefferson at Rip Van Winkle gardens https://ripvanwinklegardens.com/dine


Just be aware October is still hurricane season, so keep an eye on the tropical weather forecast and be prepared to make a run for it to Arkansas along with a million or so of your new driving buddies. Also when it comes to weather, it is generally still fairly hot at the beginning of October with daytime highs in the upper 90's and night time lows in the upper 70's often with 50-80% humidity. On average we get our first coolfront of the year where I live about 80 miles inland in western Louisiana around the second week of October most years, this brings night time lows in the 50's for a couple of nights before warmer weather returns, very occasionally we will have our first freeze of the year before Halloween, though most years it is around New Years.


p.s. be aware there are a lot of new RV parks going in on the Bolivar Peninsula, we counted 3-4 that were either newly opened or under construction driving down to Galveston in December.

[Wayne M]

Originally Posted by AZstavman

The Galveston Bay RV looks fantastic.....love the water edge sites, bet fishing is good

And love a way outa there to bypass Houston, I'll for sure be going that way.

May stay here instead of Spoonbill RV on South Point on Easy side of Galveston Bay

Great Find...thanks...and the weekly or Month Rates are great

Be sure to query on "Galveston Bay RV Resort & Marina," as there are a lot of CG's with the words Galveston Bay in their title.

p.s., the area around Lafayette, LA is famous for Cajun cooking. The KOA I mentioned has Billy' Boudain and Cracklin' store with some good eats. The KOA is 7 miles from Lafayette and Frog City is 12. Lafayette has lots of food places and some casinos.

[AZstavman]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

Be sure to query on "Galveston Bay RV Resort & Marina," as there are a lot of CG's with the words Galveston Bay in their title.

p.s., the area around Lafayette, LA is famous for Cajun cooking. The KOA I mentioned has Billy' Boudain and Cracklin' store with some good eats. The KOA is 7 miles from Lafayette and Frog City is 12. Lafayette has lots of food places and some casinos.

Your link too me right to the correct Resort

I'll look at the Koa and Frog City more as well

Thanks again for the great spots

[Isaac-1]

Don't get too caught up on those high volume tourist trap cajun dining options, there are a lot of better options out there.