SW USA 2024: The Canadian Coddiwomplers*
*Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."
Prison and Seabrook
On our way to Seabrook, we went to prison. The Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville is a Harvest Host! They have 4 or 5 RV sites in their parking lot so we took advantage. It was an interesting stop. The museum had displays outlining the history of the Texas prison system and displays of historical prison accoutrement. Most of the stuff was pretty gruesome. There were also several accounts of famous people who had stayed in the Huntsville facility, including David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame.
The Huntsville area has a long history of prisons and one of the largest Texan prisons is there. The very first prison, the Texas State Penitentiary opened in 1849 in Huntsville and has been operating since then. It is known as the “Walls Unit” because of the 15 foot brick wall surrounding the prison yard. We gathered that most of the people in the area are employed in some way by the prison system.
The museum has nice grounds with an “End of Watch” memorial that marks the 150th anniversary of corrections in Texas and honours the people who have served in the system past and present. There are also trees planted around the grounds as memorials to staff who lost their lives in the line of duty.
The next morning we were wondering why there was a guard in the parking lot until we noticed several people in white one-piece suits working in the gardens and mowing the lawns.
From Huntsville we continued on our way to Seabrook following the GPS. Something went wrong once we got there, new highway construction that the GPS didn’t know about. We drove around quite a bit before we figured out that when we were on the new highway, the GPS thought we were on the previous road. We saw a lot of the area surrounding Seabrook until we figured out what was going on.
We finally made it to the Sea Side RV Park. It is a very nice place occupied mainly by permanent residents and construction workers. It is nowhere near the sea/gulf; but, our site was right next to the pool … that was closed because of a leak.
Have you been watching the Eugene Levy series called “The Reluctant Traveller”? We really like the show on Apple TV+. In the first season’s introduction he states many of the reasons he doesn’t like to travel, including, “If it’s too cold, I’m not comfortable. If it’s too hot, I’m not comfortable.” Well Eugene would not have been comfortable in Seabrook. When it wasn’t raining, the temperatures were like 89°F and the humidity levels were higher. We tried sitting outside. I think we lasted maybe 10 minutes. It was like walking into a moist wall when we opened the door. Thank goodness we had air conditioning. Later in our stay, the manager opened up the pool which was nice.
Our site
Unfortunately, I came down with my regular traveling ailment and the antibiotics made me tired and queasy. I guess it was a good place to stay inside and be sick. We did venture out to drive around the area, where we found an interesting coffee roaster and a number of pelicans that decorate the city.
There were many more pelicans and a tour map to locate them
There was no real public beach. There were many refineries all along the coast which didn’t make for much of a view and any land that wasn’t industrial was privately owned. Most of the buildings were built on stilts and cars were parked under the house. We assumed there is a lot of flooding in the area. We did find the bicycling trail which would have been fun if it wasn’t so hot and humid. Besides not feeling well, I found it hard to breathe in the humidity.
We went out for dinner one night to Tookies Seafood, a place recommended by the campground manager. Supposedly, we’d get some real Cajun food. We started with soup – I had Gumbo because I’ve never had Gumbo before while Jerry had a lovely lobster bisque followed by a delicious Louisiana Catfish. I ordered shrimp and grits because I’ve never had grits before. I asked our waiter, “What are grits?” (I was thinking of something like cream of wheat). He acted like I’d asked him what is a potato. He couldn’t tell me. I guess in the south everyone knows about grits. He had to go ask someone in the kitchen. It turns out they are made from cornmeal and this one was grilled/baked(?) in the shape of Texas. I liked the grits, the shrimp in gravy not so much. A woman stopped by our table and asked me if I was the woman who’d never had grits and did I enjoy them. She was the person who told our waiter what was in them.
A large cat lived next door to our campsite and we often saw it outside roaming around or sleeping in the shade. In bed one night we heard a loud call from a cat. I told Jerry the cat next door must have been left outside and we went back to sleep. In the morning, Jerry couldn’t find Misty to give her breakfast and he was worried. After looking everywhere for her, he went outside only to hear a feeble mewing from under the trailer. The little devil must have snuck out the door when Jerry was closing up for the night. She spent the entire night outside! We are so lucky she didn’t take off into the bushes behind our trailer. We now have to watch carefully that she doesn’t sneak out again.
In search of coffee roasters:
El Lago is just outside of Seabrook. We were driving around and Elizabeth spotted a coffee roaster coffee shop house. It was ramshackle and suspisciously run down. It doubled as an antique (junk) shop ... maybe? We were immediately greeted when we went into the shop (even though we wished we hadn't opened the door).
But they did roast coffee. The owner let me have a sample taste and a chat led to him taking me "out back" to see the operation. He was set up in an out building with a home made roaster that was built from a propane BBQ, a perforated drum, an adjustable speed heavy duty drill and a cooling colander ... it worked and what's more his coffee was good ... really. He roasted 20 pounds at a time and supplied some local stores. Honestly, it was really quite good. Ya just never know.
Since we went to Seabrook based on a YouTube video and encountered weather that was not comfortable, we’ve decided to make note of the time when people visit places. I think this couple must have been there in February.
Our plan had been to go to New Orleans after Seabrook. My niece lived there in the 80s and I’d asked her about what we should see and do. We’d found a campground not far from the French Quarter and we were very lucky to get a site because the Jazz Festival was happening. We were looking forward to hearing jazz*, taking a swamp tour, eating beignets and seeing a city I have wanted to visit for a long time. However, the hot humid weather was not something we could tolerate. We cancelled those plans and decided to head north to Oklahoma in search of cooler weather.
It took a few days to get to Oklahoma. We stopped overnight in a couple of very nice little parks along the way.
Take care all.
Love from,
Jerry, Elizabeth, Misty, FJ (Flat Jesus), the Guys, Miss Adventure Too and Clifford the Big Red Truck
*The festival would have been an open air, outdoors event with multiple shows occurring at the same time. It was held over two weekends with the Headliner being the Rolling Stones. It seems that many "jazz" festivals are using other genres for attraction. I don't think we would have faired well in the heat and humidity.
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