After spending the entire summer last year above 5000 feet in the cooler elevations, this trip through the South is a lesson in how to camp in heat and humidity. We haven’t mastered it yet, but we’re getting better.
While we do have AC, neither of us prefer it to a good cool breeze through open windows in the evening time. However, while the daytime is roughly 90 degrees with 70 percent humidity, the nights are 70 degrees with 90 percent humidity. How is that even possible? Our hatches have rain sensors so they automatically close in the night due to high humidity, trapping us in our own sweat. We now know to disable the sensors, but a good nighttime thunderstorm is bound to be in our future – lol.

We made our way to Tyler State Park in Tyler, TX. It seems that once you get to western Fort Worth area, Texas becomes a lush landscape with trees, grass and vegetation everywhere. Our campsite was in a forest with a huge lake nearby.

The reason for the stop in Tyler was to visit with my Aunt and cousins. David, myself, Aunt Mary and Dean are pictured here, and we all had a great time catching up. I was the youngest of eight in my generation, while David was the eldest. Aunt Mary, at 92 is as sharp as every and a pleasure to talk with for hours. Dean and my older brother were about the same age and they were thick as thieves back in the days when the family got together while we were growing up. Hopefully, we can pull together a family reunion for all this coming year.

We all went out to dinner and a Christian biker group eating at the same restaurant offered to bless our rig for us. The even gave us a sticker for our sticker collection in our utility box.

We left Tyler and made our way to North Toledo Bend State Park on the Louisiana side of the Sabine River that divides Texas and Louisiana. The campground was again next to the water, where the trees grow out into the water.

We had a nice hike along a trail with longleaf pines that reached for the sky, with hundreds of fingernail-sized frogs hopping all around our feet.

We even had a nice armadillo visit us in the evening time. I went out to get a picture of him, but was amazed at how quick they can scurry away. I was hoping he would roll into a ball.

We crossed Louisiana and the mighty Mississippi River into the state of Mississippi.

Just across the border was a BBQ place where we stopped for lunch. The chicken and brisket were great. It’s hard to pass a well painted longhorn steer.

We camped at Natchez State Park for the night and will start the Natchez Trace Trail tomorrow. We had a nice spot next to another huge lake. We need a boat. However, the time in the campground was good because we blew a water pump, but luckily had a spare and installed it. All better for now.

Natchez is the most southern point of this trip. Tomorrow we begin to head north for the next couple of weeks until we hit Nova Scotia.