We woke up in Winnie Texas and had a slow morning. Breakfast, scooter rides, and some cleaning up before we hit the road again. This was our last day in Texas and as we were driving towards Louisiana I reflected with Jen that we hadn’t had any BBQ. I was a little bummed about that, but we’ll make more of a point to eat more regional meals. I had a destination in mind that I had found on iOverlander, Lake Martin. Before we got there we did need to refill the propane tank so we stopped at a propane supplier and had to fill up our tiny tank. (1 gallon was $3.25)
After that we made a quick stop at Walmart for a couple days worth of dinners and one of those regional meals (Subway) 😉
Lake Martin was only 15 minutes away from Walmart and the drive there was by some really pretty houses and lots of HUGE yards. We all agreed that we didn’t expect so much grass and I was also surprised with how much water, both observations show how naive regarding the southeast which were excited to learn more about, but doubtful that we’ll find our next home here.
We pulled into the parking area where iOverlander specified and was a little bummed. It wasn’t a large area and there were several cars parked there. The description mentioned the trail around the lake which was a draw for walkers and fishermen alike and we saw a group taking photos near the lake as well. We booted up and set out on the path along with Molly on her leash to explore the lake. Right in the water beside the van was this little guy:
He looks to be around a foot and a half long, which was the smallest we saw on our short walk. We saw one that might have been around 5 or 6 feet long and several in the 2-3 foot range. We were happy to see only alligators and not any snakes.
Once we were back at the van, Jen and I discussed the pros and cons of staying at this spot. It came down to the fact that I wasn’t comfortable leaving Molly on the lead outside the van which is her usual spot whenever we’re posted up in a location that she can’t roam free. So we looked on our mapping apps again and Jen spotted another spot not too much further towards New Orleans and off we set. It was about 40 minutes to get to Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge (had to copy and paste that one from Maps). That’s where we settled in for the night, along a gravel road in a grassy pull off with trees and animal noises surrounding us.