Leaving Texas, into Louisiana and Mississippi

Moving right along. After Aransas Pass, we made at stop at Speedco in Baytown (Houston) for an oil change in the RV and into Louisiana. We noticed some of the bayous in Texas as we had seen in Louisiana last time. (From Wikipedia: A bayou (/ˈbaɪ.oʊ/ or /ˈbaɪjuː/) is a Franco-English term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying area, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland.)  Only in the south, it’s a bayou and not a marsh or stream or river or wetland. And, they are named, just like the rivers are.  The water in the rivers we’ve crossed is real dirty-looking.

The route we took is definitely an industrial area of Texas and into Louisiana. There are manufacturing plants and gas plants, etc. Lots of jobs in this area. Forest Hill, LA is the “nursery capital of Louisiana”. We passed 20 plant nurseries within a stretch of about 10 miles, and that’s just what was along the highway. Last weekend they had the 30th annual Nursery Festival.
We spent a night at Alvin, TX Walmart. Note to self – not again. The roads in are not easy for a big rig (steep) and the building is right beside the train tracks.  Last night at Coushatta Casino near Kinder, LA. We parked along a road with some trucks. We had parked at the way end of a parking lot but the security asked us to move near the trucks. They also have an RV park, but we don’t need the electricity or water right now, weather is nice (and we’re cheap!)  Tonight we’re at Natchez, MS Walmart with a few other rigs. We could have stayed free at the Natchez Visitor Center, but it’s far from level.

We stopped at the Vidalia Information Center which is right on the banks of the Mississippi River. They didn’t have much for brochures on the area, but they have a nice riverwalk about 1 mile or so. So we went to the Natchez Visitor Center across the river in Mississippi. They’ve got a big building with information and the National Park Service has an office there too, so we got info for the Natchez Trace which we want to drive.