With the weekend forecast calling for flooding and high winds, Koda and I decided to go to Galveston, TX. We made no plans. Just stocked the fridge and hit the road. We slept in the Jeep for the heck of it.
The ocean was too rough to risk taking Koda, although I know he was dying to jump into the water. The best isn’t as dirty or smelly as it was 15 years ago. Relaxing, even if it was a little boring. LOL
I took Monday off so Koda and I could see the total eclipse. I knew it would be cloudy so I had to do some digging to find the best spot. Perfect opportunity to finally do the easy Texas Hill Country Trail, since it is very close to the eclipse’s path of totality.
The trip was about 300 miles of mostly high speed highway, so it was easy to get there. Worth it, since since the weather in that area was expected to be clearer than the Plano, TX area. We got lucky. The clouds cleared up enough to get a great view, and thanks to my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I was able to zoom in to get some good shots (even if a little grainy).
The trip was mostly all highway miles, so we got there fairy fast. Left early Saturday, rested up that night, then left early Sunday to do the trail. The trail is 148 miles. It’s a mix of dirt roads, gravel roads, some easy few water crossings, and some pavement.
We went through several water crossings, but since there hasn’t been much rain, the water was maybe 1-2 inches deep. However I got to one water crossing that was a little scary. I couldn’t tell how deep it was. So I grabbed my CB antenna and started poking around. I was poking around the right edge of the pond, figuring it was where the road would have been if there was no water.
After a few minutes of poking around, a family in a Kia drove through the center, as if it was nothing. I was poking around the wrong area, where I found the depth to be 1-2 feet deep. Which was doable but a little sketchy. I swear I was going to do it. But I swallowed my pride and followed the Kia.
The entire trail goes through private property, but the county owns the roads, so while we can travel the route without any restrictions, there were no opportunities to cook or camp. Luckily the half way point is in Mason, TX.
I stopped for lunch at Cooper’s Original Pit Bar-B-Q. Perfect briskets, some tasty sausages, corn, mac n cheese, and some REAL CocaCola. 🙂
There were about a dozen ranches. I stopped to take pictures of some of the nice entrances.
Lots of historical markers, too many to photograph. The trail is rated 1.5-3 days. I was determined to do it in 1 day.
If you don’t have a mapping app, there are a number of them out there. I use Trails Offroad, since it can work entirely offline, and you can download all the trails in any of the states at the press of a button. My iPad Mini 6 only has 256G of space, and having all the states in the US took up maybe 10G of space. OnX, Gaia GPS, and others have more features, if you like complexity.
Overlander at large 