Maybe you saw that movie “A Walk in the Woods” where Robert Redford and Nick Nolte played two middle-age guys on a camping trip along the Appalachian Trail. In the book of the same name, the characters were 44 years old; in the film the actors looked 64+.
What is it that drives older guys to go off on these adventures? The movies “Sideways,” “Easy Rider,” “Deliverance” and “Land Ho” come to mind.
Then there’s me and my high school and college buddy Jay Rowen of Palm Desert, Calif. — both of us well beyond middle age — and our car-tent-camping trips. Ten of them over 10 years, camping in 17 states. Our “adventures” have included flooded tents; tents ripped down by wind and rain; alligators; and troublesome raccoons.
National Geographic Traveler says, “The simple freedom of being in a tent makes for a multi-sensory journey of its own: rain pattering on the roof, the view out the flap, the woodsy smoke of a campfire.”
I’d add: Rain coming through the roof seams and the campfire smoke blowing in. The air mattress leaking air. Bugs in the tent.
A few months ago we went on the road again. This time it was Texas. A rental car, two tents, a charcoal grill, a table lantern, two collapsible chairs and mosquito spray.
Why Texas?
Remember the lyrics, “The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas”? For five weeks Perry Como’s version topped the Hit Parade of 1942.
That’s back when people were enamored of the Lone Star State, before the snickering over former Texas Gov. Rick Perry saying that “running for the presidency is not an IQ test.”
I wanted to tent-camp in Texas because I’d read of its odd town names — Gun Sight, Gun Barrel City, Point Blank, Cut and Shoot, Muleshoe — and its 900 ghost towns.
Texans’ love of guns also fascinates — lots of men tuck one in their belt under a shirt. They can tuck in their shirts Jan. 1 when the state’s open carry law goes into effect.
So here’s my camping report if the spirit moves your family (or you old guys) to pack tents in the trunk and explore South Texas.
Don’t go in summer. It’s blistering hot. Better to go in October, November, March or April.
Austin is the perfect place to start because it’s the capital, a college town, an exciting music town, and a river runs through it. Plus, it has great air connections from Honolulu.
There’s no tent camping in the city (lots of RV parks, of course; we always avoid those), but if you drive 20 miles round trip, there are tent sites at McKinney Falls State Park. However, because there’s so much to do here, you’re better off in a clean Motel 6 for $60 a night.
First thing on a car-camping trip is stopping at Dollar General and Walmart for tents, inflatable mattresses, sheets and pillows, and cooking gear. If you’re going in the fall, it’s best to bring a tent with you. Walmart runs low as the camping season wilts.
In Austin, visit the beautiful Capitol building and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, and watch the evening bat flight from a boat under the Congress Avenue bridge. One million take off together! And have a barbecue dinner at Stiles Switch at 6610 N. Lamar Blvd.
Just south of Austin is New Braunfels, noted for long tubing rides with rapids on the Guadalupe and Comal rivers. Riverside tent camping costs only $25 at Huaco Springs. Stop at historic Gruene en route. German immigrants founded it in 1840, but by 1950 it was a ghost town. Now it’s been revived as a major tourist draw with shops, restaurants and wine tastings.
Next, make a two-day stop in San Antonio. There’s no public tent camping in the city, so we used the Alamo River commercial campground in south-side Von Ormy. It’s riverside and woodsy.
In San Antonio you’ve got the famous River Walk, the Alamo and the DraftHouse Cinema, which serves food and alcohol during the movie! There’s also a former Catholic convent on South Alamo Street that’s become the Liberty Bar.
Next stop should definitely be Choke Canyon State Park, the most gorgeous of all we saw. Isolated campsites overlook lakes created by a dam. The canyon offers dramatic sunrises and lots of alligators. There’s no town nearby, so plan on hiking, reading and bringing your own food.
There’s no tenting, not even at RV parks, in McAllen on the Texas border with Reynosa, Mexico. We stayed at the Aloha Inn — $60 a night — owned by the Patel family from India. We walked into Mexico. There are no controls at all going that way, but have your passport and plenty of patience when you return through U.S. Immigration. It’s a mistake to go by car. The line returning was about 100 vehicles long. And avoid going at night. An occasional drug-gang shootout isn’t unheard of.
Next stop, Brownsville on the border with Matamoros, Mexico: steel fences and border patrol agents. Brownsville Museum and Stillman House complex. More Spanish spoken than English. Again, no tent camping, so we used the $35 Stagecoach Motel near the visitors center.
From that border town we headed up the Gulf Coast to the barrier islands with a must-stop tour of King’s Ranch in Kingsville, Texas. Cattle, horses and rattlesnakes galore! Try to get Pat Allison as your guide, and buy a lollipop with a scorpion embedded inside.
Camping on the dunes
Our next campground was at Mustang Island State Park, on the sand dunes. The park offers the comfort of toilets and hot showers. If you get too hot, there’s swimming, and the location is perfect for hops into Corpus Christi to see the Texas State Aquarium, where you can pet sharks and stingrays, and the state Museum of Science and History.
Head north on the island park road and you’re in Port Aransas, a funky tourist town loaded with bars (Bron’s has mixed drinks to go) and restaurants, and a free car ferry to the mainland. Up the road is Fulton, another touristy spot with even more restaurants and bars. Our best eats there were at Captain Benny’s. You can bring your own seafood catch and they’ll cook it — $9.95 per two fish fillets fried or blackened. The house seafood platter is only $16.95. BYOB. The Sugar Shack is the bar you want to drink in, especially on a Friday night. Tent camping is available at nearby Goose Island State Park.
Then it’s on to historic Goliad and the state park of the same name. Its main attractions are two old sites from the Tex-Mex wars: Presidio La Bahia and the Espiritu Santo Mission. The best restaurant in town is the Emporium. On Saturdays there’s a farmers market.
Our final camp-out was at Palmetto State Park, which sits on both a river and a lake. It offers tubing, paddle boats and woodsy hiking but also some cottonmouth snakes. A nearby attraction is the old wildcatter town of Luling and its exceptional Oil Museum. It should not be missed.
Two things I must add:
Why is it that state parks on the mainland are so much better maintained and regulated than parks in Hawaii? I get the feeling Hawaii really doesn’t want to encourage camping. We sell hotels.
And then there’s the stunningly low cost of food and gasoline. Gas in Texas was never more than $2 a gallon. We shopped mostly at the H-E-B chain for our camp food. Milk cost $2.50 a gallon; navel oranges, 88 cents a pound. Lettuce was $1.20 a head. Mangoes were $2 a pound.
I probably could live there were it not for the gun thing, the summer heat and the growing illegal-immigration problem.
And you know that popular phrase, “Don’t mess with Texas”? They claim it’s only about littering.
Nah, it’s much more than that.
IF YOU GO …
Texas camping trip
>> Getting there: American Airlines has favorable connections to Austin via Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth. A red-eye flight via Phoenix puts you into Austin at about 1 p.m.
>> A good camping route: Either clockwise or counterclockwise out of Austin to take in the lower Gulf Coast, the Mexican border towns, San Antonio and New Braunfels. Plan on a full day of Austin sightseeing, and two days to explore San Antonio. Tubing at New Braunfels is two and four hours.
>> Weather: Summer is stifling hot, and the rivers and lakes are jammed with families and college students. Especially avoid tubing in summer. South Texas remains very warm through October.
Tips
>> Bring your passport if you plan to enter Mexico. It’s not asked for going in, but you’ll have a hard time coming back without it.
>> The barrier islands tend to have lots of mosquitoes if there is little wind. Bring spray.
>> Some Spanish helps in McAllen and Brownsville at small taquerias and cold-drink shops.
>> Golden Age Park Cards are not valid at Texas State Parks unless you are a resident.
