Leg 5 - Mount Pleasant to Austin, TX

This is our site at McKinney Falls State Park

We left Mount Pleasant this morning at 9:50 a.m. under cloudy skies and a temperature of 68F (20C). Along the way we had both sun and cloud but by the time we reached Dallas it was sunny and hot and we had to turn on the air conditioner. I had the window open some of the time but it was quite windy today. We were battling headwinds all the way. Luckily we only had to go around the Dallas bypass this time and only about ¼ of the way as we were coming in on I-30 and leaving on I-35E so from the time we got on the bypass to the time we got off on 35E it took about 30 minutes. We saw lots of construction all along our route.

Something of note is that we saw our first palm tree in Waco, Texas. It was one of those little squat ones but a palm tree all the same. With the weather and the humidity, it now feels like we’re in the tropics.

Our plan today was to stop at Austin at a state park called McKinney Falls and stay for a week. We arrived at the park around 3:00 p.m. however they could only give us one night as they are full for the weekend so our plan is to find another park in the area and come back on Sunday. By the time we got set up it was nearing dark so we didn’t get to see much of the park but we did see quite a few deer. It’s nice to stay in a state park for a change. The sites are larger and there’s more nature around. Of course we have to have our creature comforts so the internet satellite got set up. As we’re only staying for one night, we didn’t bother with TV.

It was a horrendous drive today, lots of traffic and big cities. Gordon is very tired so he’s off to bed early. I’m tired too but not the same kind of tired so my plan is to try to watch Gray’s Anatomy. Although we can’t get it with the aerial, I can get it on my little 3 inch portable. Just hope the batteries hold up!