Sea Rim, Days 2 and 3

When we arrived at the campground office at 8:25 a.m. on the next day, our campground lady had great news. We could stay at our current site for two more nights. I paid up, unhitched, and went on an 11 mile hike on the beach with Callie. When we came back, I wanted to do something special for supper. The campground lady recommended a place called Roadaire Roadhouse for really local shrimp and live music. About half-hour drive away, we managed to find the place. With temperatures in the 80’s, full sun and no parking in the shade, it was not a good place for Callie to stay in the truck. We went to plan B, which was a grocery store called Food Marketbasket (or something like that). 

I bought two pounds of gulf shrimp, fettuccine, garlic, jalapeno, tomatoes, and mushrooms and cooked up this dish in the Brew Hut, washed down with Shiner Juicy IPA.

That night the wind howled all night long, although there was no rain. On the next morning, the beach was gone. I mean it had literally disappeared under water. The strong offshore winds blew the waves right up to the grassy sand dunes. A woman riding an atv who helps maintain the beach told me that she would have needed a boat to do her job that morning.

Due to the inaccessibility of the beach, Callie and I walked the boardwalk and some of the day use area roads. One area was called the Blue Crab Day Use Loop. It lived up to its name, and gave Callie something to think about.

The high tides also washed up a dead alligator. This one was partly eaten by the time we arrived.

There were still plenty of live alligators moving about. In this photo, you can see the two bumps, which belong to the eyes of a large mama alligator. The one bump in the foreground of the photo is one of her babies.

Momma was not happy to see Callie and I standing on a picnic table taking pictures. As she moved towards us in a big hurry, I stopped taking photos and retreated to the parking lot.

That concludes our time at Sea Rim State Park. We continue west-bound on the gulf.

Sea Rim State Park

From Rutherford Beach, we drove west to Cameron, Louisiana. Our intent was to stay at the campground by the jetty to wash up, dump the Brew Hut’s tanks, and hook up to electric for a night. Instead, as we followed google’s directions from Cameron to the jetty, we ended up on a road with serious construction and low hanging electric wires.

A flagman informed me that I was on a restricted road and needed to turn around. He also said that the jetty campground had closed. Yeah, I could have called ahead, should have called ahead but didn’t call ahead. There wasn’t any easy place to turn around, so I executed one of those complicated turnarounds on a two lane, narrow shouldered road with a pickup truck and 16 foot trailer. I got back up to the main highway and crossed the channel on the Cameron Ferry.

I can’t imagine an easier ferry crossing with the Brew Hut. I paid the $1 fee, lined up behind the pickup truck on the right, and drove straight off the front on the other side. I then drove to Port Arthur, Texas. At Port Arthur, I turned south and drove to Sea Rim State Park (after calling ahead).

The daily entry at Sea Rim State Park was $10 and then $13 for partial hookups (electric, water, and dump station privileges). The lady at the front desk told me on the phone that there were three campsites left, and she would hold one of them for me if I arrived in the next two hours. There were still two spots left when I arrived. Site 6 looked too much like gator habitat to me. They do have gators in this park, and some of them are in the ponds around the campsites. I chose Site 15, which wasn’t the prettiest, but it was a nice big site with short grass all around. It was only available for one night, but the nice campground lady told me to check back at 8:30 a.m., and she might have a different site available for the next night.

While Rutherford Beach was very nice, the state park beach was amazing. More than five miles of beach to walk on, and leashed dogs were allowed on the beach. Callie and I had found our Texas happy spot.