The Journey Continues

We left the casino in Alabama and traveled to Sulfur, Louisiana for an overnight stop at the A1 Motel and RV Park.  With that name, you can imagine what I was picturing; a seedy, rundown, 12 room roadside no-tell motel and a scruffy, dusty, grimy RV park with 20 or so higgledy-piggeldy sites.  But, the location was good, about 250 miles from Bay St. Louis en route to Matagorda, Texas, so with some trepidation, we booked it.  Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about A1.  An energetic entrepreneur has built a lovely RV park with wide roads, concrete pads, fishing pond, swimming pool, hot tub, clubhouse and all the other amenities.  In addition there's a new, clean, tidy motel.  We had an long pull-thru site and it made for an easy overnight.  Lesson learned.

The next day we left Louisiana for Texas and arrived at Matagorda Nature Park Campground.  It's another nice park and is run by the Lower Colorado River Authority.  It sits at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Gulf of Mexico.  More info here Matagorda Bay Nature Park 

Chuck (dark RV on the left) parked at Matagorda Bay

Chuck again at left with company at Matagorda Bay

Boondockers (camping without hookups) on the beach at Matagorda Bay

Yesterday was rainy and cold so we went 20 miles to Bay City for a laundromat and groceries.  We've found that in this part of the country, big bridges link land masses and going off Matagorda Island is no different.  This mile-long span is just one of many we've crossed in the last few days.  I still get a little white-knuckled as we head over big water.

The town of Matagorda is interesting.  The only place for groceries is a convenience store/gas station.  The  2 or 3 local bars and liquor stores have signs welcoming Spring Breakers, but there is no evidence of them yet.  Run-down trailers, parked more or less permanently, sit next to lovely old Victorian homes and new McMansion construction.  It seems to be a fishing village trying to become a beach-side tourist destination.  Once again, the Navigator/Travel Maven found the best eating around at Spoonbills Restaruant.  We had an excellent meal prepared by a woman chef using local fish (black drum) in delicious ways.  From their website:

Chef Edie Pruitt is an honors graduate of the Culinary Arts program at The Art Institute of Houston.

Spoonbills Restaurant in Matagorda is her first step in pursuing her life-long dream of owning a restaurant.

Why Matagorda?     As a life-long weekend resident of Matagorda (her family has owned a beach house since 1959) she has watched as the town and island have grown from a sleepy backwater to one of the hottest properties on the Texas coast.  A restaurant that features fresh seasonal foods will be a first for Matagorda County.

Chef Edie is an avid fisherman and has spent many hours on Matagorda bays.  In fact, she holds the Texas state record for a Triple Tail that was caught in West Matagorda Bay.

We lucked out, the restaurant had been closed for the season and opened just the day before.  It was so good that we're going back tonight, camera and appetite in hand.

We'll have had 3 nights here when we leave tomorrow.  The weather looks a little better today so perhaps we'll ride our bikes to the beach and explore a bit more.  Tomorrow it's off to Port O'Connor, Texas for a WHOLE WEEK!  Yippee.  In the meantime, more photos from Matagorda...

Fishing pier and boondockers

Pelicans and cattle across the river on an island

Beanie and Nortie waiting to edit the blog