Travel Day To Sam Houston Jones State Park - (Lake Charles, LA)

It was our fourth gorgeous day in a row.  And it was time to move on.  Considering our lazy pace, it will take us a while to get to central Florida by January.  :)

It took us until about 10:00 to kick it in gear, but we were ready to pull out of our site somewhere around 10:45.

The dump station was about a mile farther into the park, so with our slow drive back there, dumping, and the slow drive out, we didn't get on the road until 11:30.

On the way out, we avoided the little County Road 156 we came in on.  Better to take County Road 155 over to TX Hwy 777 to U.S. 190.  :)

We followed U.S. 190 into Louisiana to the town of DeRidder.  There, U.S. 190 joins up with U.S. 171 and they both head south toward Lake Charles.  U.S. 190 eventually heads off to the east and we continued on U.S. 171 to LA 378 (Sam Houston Jones Parkway) where we turned west and followed the signs to the park.

I have to say that U.S. 190 & U.S. 171 were a pleasure to drive.  They were nice roads with huge shoulders.  It was a bit tight going through downtown DeRidder, but other than that, we had a wonderfully easy 110-mile drive.

At the Sam Houston Jones State Park entrance station, Linda parked and went inside while I pulled over to a large parking spot on the right.  The nice, patient young lady gave us a list of sites available for a week, including their lengths.  We took our little list and drove the Jeep in to check them out.

There are two campground loops in the park - creatively named Camp Area 1 & Camp Area 2.  :)  There were no sites in Camp Area 1 which is more in the center of the park.  So, we were limited to about 10 sites in Camp Area 2.

Hmm.  The campground was paved, as were the sites, but there are a lot of sites crammed into a fairly small space - much different than from where we just came.

The sites are a bit of a mish-mash along four rows.  There are some sites with full hook-ups ($18) in the middle while all the others have water and 50-amp electric ($16).  Oh, Louisiana State Parks accept the federal America The Beautiful Senior Pass, so camping fees are half price for pass holders.  :)

One more thing.  There is a one-time $3 "walk-in fee", but that's better than the reservation fees and at least they don't charge it for every day you camp.  :)

Back to the camping loop.  There are two pull-throughs while all the others are back-ins of varying length.  They are all pretty darn close together for a state park setting.

Ultimately, we settled on Site 33 which sits in a corner and offers privacy in both the back and on the awning side.

It's the one site in the whole campground that probably worked best for us - got lucky again.  :)

Because this site is in the corner where the road turns, it was really easy to get backed in.  It looked like most of the other sites could have been a bit of a challenge.

We backed up all the way to where our wheels were at the very edge of the paved pad.  Good thing we can hang quite a bit of our rear off the pad.  :)

There isn't much room left at the front of the site, but we managed to squeeze both vehicles in.

In another stroke of luck, our satellite dish managed to find a hole through the trees and we got connected.

 

I was all ready to drag out the little TV dish and call Verizon to activate tethering.  But no need.  Cool.  :)

After getting settled, we took our bikes for a ride through the park noting the trailheads and getting our bearings.

This is the West Fork of the Calcasieu (KAL-kuh-shoo) River which forms the southern perimeter of the park.

There is a large day use area along the river and a boat launch.  As we continued to ride, we came upon Camp Area 1.

Now, even though the Camp Area 1 seems to have a better location in the center of the park, the roads and sites are all gravel and they only have 30-amp electric.  From what I had read, I thought Camp Area 1 would be better, but I think I prefer our site and Camp Area 2.

Now, with that said, there is quite a bit of road noise that can be heard from Camp Area 2, and I'm guessing much of that might be blocked out in Camp Area 1.  The location and quieter setting is probably the draw for Camp Area 1, but we didn't care for the sites.  Sheesh.  More RVing trade-offs.  :)  

Another caution:  Apparently there are "premium" sites that are $18 a night that DO NOT have full hook-ups.  The state park website seems to indicate full hook-ups are what makes them "premium", but apparently that is not always the case.

We continued our bike ride and one thing became clear quickly.  There are lots of deer and raccoons and they are not particularly shy.  :)

I think I'll get my fill of pictures of those while we're here.  :)

As we rode, we kept riding past a couple that looked like they were near our age.  They initiated the conversation.  It turns out they live about a mile from the park and they come here quite often to walk.

We chatted with Bubba & Tammy and picked their brains about the area a little bit.  They told us how the flooding from Hurricane Rita in September 2005 pushed the saltwater up into the park and harmed the natural environment.  They said it really hurt the fishing and killed some vegetation, but it also pushed more alligators into the park than there had been before.  We'll keep our eye out.  :)

Our volunteer "hosts" were very helpful, and we hope to see them again while we are here.  Ah, that's what we love about the southeast.  There's just a "welcoming" vibe and the people are not as hesitant about striking up a conversation.  :)

Well, that pretty much sums up the day.  We'll explore the park a little more over the next few days, and we hope to get to know some of the fascinating Louisiana culture as we travel.

We're going to try to avoid the "culture" tourist traps and get out and see the backcountry.  I'm looking forward to seeing what we find.  And I'll probably be posting a lot more words with pronunciations.  :) 

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Comments

[Heyduke]

Well I finally made it through your journal... gave me a real feel for the "lifestyle" that my wife and I are considering. Thanks you for sharing your insights and budgets with the masses of us RV dreamers out there. We hope to go fulltime in the next year or too... see you down the road!

[Andy (Jassson007) Grimes]

Hey Howard and Linda, glad to see you are just down the road from me now...lol! If you remember I came to meet you in Tickfaw when I was working there and now I am working here at home and just live about 2 miles from the park there in Moss Bluff. I hope we have a chance to meet up again. If you need anything feel free to shoot me an email. I hope to hear from you guys and we get a chance to visit.

[Donna]

PArk sounds really nice and that is a big tada for me when there is a lot of wildlife... Will be looking forward to your next post.

Have FUN & Travel Safely
Donna

[Phyllis and Leonard]

Gotta ask - is Andy who posted ahead of us, related to Justin who is married to Cassie?

Leonard is from that area and we have camped at Sam Houston Jones. We were in campground 1 and found it terribly tight to maneuver in. However, we loved it there. Next time we will request Campground 2. I don't remember that one time $3.00 charge or some sites not accepting the discount.

As far as the wildlife. Look out for those squirrels. I was feeding one breadcrumbs. It started by just watching me, then it came on to the mat, then it jumped up on the arm of the chair next to me. Scared the daylights out of me.

We will be back there in January for two weeks.

BTW, the Cassie mentioned earlier is our daughter.

[Joe Pitman]

Sherri and I were there in June this year and we enjoyed driving through the towns and seeing the old houses and reading the history of the area. We will be moving to Shreveport today and then on to Tyler on Sunday. Have fun and send pictures.

[Wanda Fry]

Howard,
Bob and I were at the Branson Rally. We've followed your blog since Bob met you at the Tampa RV show years back. We sold our class C and bought a class A from a dealer in AZ and drove it back to FL in April of this year. On our way back to FL (had to be back within 10 days) we stoped at the Lake Fausse Point SP not too far from you now. It's south of I-10 Henderson and east of St Martinville. Abourt 25 miles from I-10. It's very isolated it factor park. Free laundry. Heavily treed, so satellite won't pick up. And cell very limited. All that saying if you or anyone else wants privacy for a day or two this is the park. We ended up staying two nights.