Most of the trailer had been packed the night before, which was clothing and dry goods. I started running the refrigerated goods out to the trailer about 8:00 AM. It was 31 degrees, with a real feel of 24. It felt like it. 

The plan was to leave about 10:00 AM so we could get there about 2:30 PM, and set up in the daylight with warmer temperatures. Since that night the temperature was predicted to get down to 29 degrees, turning on the water would be a no-go. However, after that one night below freezing, temperatures would be fine for the water connection.

Martin Dies, Jr. State Park is located about 9 miles east of Jasper, Texas. From our house it is about a four and a half hour drive. What you will discover once you get about 20 miles from the park, is that quite a few turns and stopping and starting will be required. Still worth the hassle.

We rolled into our site at about 3:30PM so the trip took a lot longer than expected. That was due to the craziness of the people on the road. I have never seen so many dangerous drivers during one trip. We had at least four people pull directly out in front of us. It was just insane! Just for comparison’s sake, the trip there took 5.5 hours, and the trip home took 4.25 hours. That tells you just how bad things were.

On the bright side, the trip there gave me quite a few opportunities to check my brake work from earlier in the year. Not exactly the way I like to test brakes but they worked great.

I was glad to finally be at the site, and so was Eva. The pad was perfectly level side to side, so that was great, and a rarity. It didn’t take long and we were hooked up. However, the water would remain off for the night. When I went inside the travel trailer I checked the thermostat, and it was reading at 49 degrees. So, we fired up the furnace and the fireplace, and it warmed up quickly. The outside temperature was around 56 degrees.

Tammy and I haven’t camped in Texas this late in the year. We have camped in horribly cold weather before though. When we lived in Wisconsin and the kids were young, there were multiple spring breaks to Florida where we left with snow on ground. Our first stop on the way to Florida was always a frigid one.

The trees at Martin Dies Jr State Park are a blend of pines with deciduous trees mixed in. What hasn’t fallen on the ground yet, ended up on top of our roof, and in a large quantity. In our site I would guess we were over ankle deep in leaves. 

I was also surprised at how many folks were here camping for the holiday. Every camping loop was full. I noticed online, that quite a few folks from the North Texas Campers Facebook page would be staying here. I was a bit surprised given the cold weather that was predicted, but happy that we were not alone in the campground. 

Eva and I took a nice walk before it got dark. It was pretty decent from a temperature standpoint. Once the sun set, it got cold really fast.

All in all, a very quiet first night with Eva settling back into camping mode. I was concerned that it might be a noisy night because the folks next to us had three dogs. They were outside in crates to start with, then they went inside. So, at least for the first night all was well.

The next morning, I realized pretty quickly I would need to make a shopping trip. So, we loaded up Eva and headed into Jasper, a short ten minute drive away. Given that it was a Saturday, the Walmart was insanely busy. I waited in line for ten minutes just for a checkout stand to open up. Then it was back to camp.

Eva and I took the Forest Trail later in the day. The entire loop that we take is probably a mile or so long. It winds from our loop through the wood and comes out by the entrance of the park.  From there it’s a walk on the road to the rangers’ station where the trail picks up again. We would walk this trail multiple times each day.

The night of the 30th was a another quiet one. Perhaps, this would be a great campground to escape from the fireworks.

New Years Eve was a beautiful day, with the temperature hitting 70 degrees. The three of us took about a two mile walk around the campground. We walked around the camping loops and Tammy made sure to document any campsites that looked like good options for the next trip here. Later in the day it was back to the Forest Trail with Eva. A tired German Shepherd is a happy German Shepherd.

That night it was the Packers versus the Vikings. What a game! I never expected the outcome, given how the Packers have played this year. It was a great way to end 2023; camping and a packers win! Now, if they can beat Da Bears in the next game, their playoff chances stay alive.

During the game we could hear fireworks in the distance but they didn’t bother Eva. They stopped about 12:30 AM. Surprisingly, the same people began to fire them off again about 5:00 AM. One camper in another loop told me that it sounded like Iraq near him. In our camper it wasn’t bad but it did wake Eve and Me up.

For us this was a major improvement over staying home and putting up with the fireworks in the neighborhood. I heard from three friends in the neighborhood that the fireworks were terrible and went until 1:30 AM. I am so glad we made the decision to go camping.

Perhaps for the other camper it was the angle he was on, or just the fact that it was so early in the morning, that made it seem loud. However, they didn’t last long but it spelled the end of sleeping for Eva and me. So, it was January 1st, 2024. This would be our last full day at Martin Dies Jr.

Our last day was full of walks and just general relaxing. I knew the next day would be a different story. We would need to break camp, go to the dump station, then make our drive home. When we got home, I would need to winterize the trailer again, before the predicted rain hit. It would be a hectic day.

My recommendation on this as a quiet park for the new year holiday is that it might work for a dog that is somewhat afraid of fireworks. If just the sound of popping in the distance upsets your pooch, then this park won’t work. Even I would like to find a quieter park for firework holidays. The real challenge is finding one where the temperatures are above freezing. There are secluded parks heading north but I don’t want freezing temperatures.

So, if anyone knows of a real quiet state park south of the Dallas area, send me a message! I am always up for visiting a new state park.

From all of us, Happy 2024!

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So we are heading to a Texas State Park, Martin Dies Jr, and we are hoping for a quiet evening on the 31st.

The Travel Trailer has already been winterized so I guess we will see what the weather will be like. If it appears that we can use the water lines with no issue, then we will. If it looks like we are going to dip below freezing, then we will do the trip without water. Bottled water will be just fine.

I have both LP tanks full, and we have a fireplace in addition to heat strips in the AC in the bedroom. This should help on drawing down the propane. 

The plan is to pack easy to make meals, and go from there. Stay tuned for how this plays out! I’ll also need to buy some antifreeze for when we get back home.

In the meantime, everyone have a safe and happy New Years 2024!

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This park was named after Martin Dies Jr. The third Martin Dies in a family of three generations that bore that name. The first, a US Congressman. Then his son followed in his footsteps. Lastly, the Martin Dies for which the park is named, was a Texas state senator, and later a Chief Justice in the Texas court of appeals. So there is a legacy of public service by the Dies family.

Martin Dies Jr helped break ground for the park in 1964, so it’s a bit newer than many of the state parks we have visited. The check in process took all of two minutes, and then it was off to our site, 309.

My only criticism of the park is that the roadways to the site in our loop are a bit narrow. They also weave in and out among the trees. The sites are paved, and in our loop the pavement looked new. They are also lacking a sign to direct you to the opposite side of our loop, which would have been nice. If you miss that turn, (which really just looks like another camping spot), you will need to go to a camping loop further down the road to turn around. We overshot the turn by a trailer length, so we just backed up and then made the turn.

Our site was not level, and I noticed that quite a few are not. Therefore, you will need to make some adjustments to level your trailer. Beyond that, the sites are beautiful. Towering pine trees that are about 80 years old will probably drop more than a few pinecones on your site, along with a pretty deep bed of pine needles. Be a little careful on the pine needles, they do get slippery.

The cellular coverage in the park is quite good but don’t expect satellite TV or even air TV for that matter. We were able to get three air channels, and that was all; CBS, Fox, and a channel called Dabl. So if TV is your way to relax at night, I don’t think you will be happy with that limited lineup. However, I’m sure you would rather sit outside, grill some food and enjoy the relaxing sounds of nature anyway. Eva absolutely loved it here and spent a lot of time on her coolaroo enjoying the weather. She, however, did not like all the squirrels.

The quiet of the park is a refreshing change. At our site, alligators disrupted the quiet with their calls, then leapt into the water with a loud splash. Unfortunately, I was never able to get a picture of any. The staff asks that you make sure you stay at least 30 feet away from any alligators, and that you stay out of the water. Thirty feet distance seems even a little too close for my comfort. Since we were close to the water, I always looked out the window before Eva and I would exit on our early morning walks.

From the Table to the trailer. A large well maintained site.

That’s right, they have alligators. So this isn’t a place where you can leave you kids wandering by the water; or leave you dog unattended outside (you should never do that anyway).

This is the river that runs behind our site, very desirable for alligators for sure.

This State Park may be one of Texas best kept secrets as we camped almost alone in our loop. There were 26 available sites in our loop. Including the two host campers, there were only six trailers in the loop. Not only is it very quiet here, but it’s very dark at night. So, if you go out at night with your pet, you better take a flashlight.

Our almost empty loop.

On our third day there I asked one of the Park Rangers, if it was always this empty for camping. The answer I got should be encouraging to most campers. “During the week there are not many campers. On weekends the park can be full until the heat of the summer comes, then it is pretty empty even on the weekends”.

The Park has put a lot of work into their publications such as the park map, and trail map. They also have a handout that you can take on your trail hike. It lists points of interest that are marked along the trail.

The posted Trail Map – but you will get a paper copy when you check-in.

The park has 6 walking trails, three that are easy, two that are moderate, and one that is considered challenging. Eva and I constantly walked the Forest Trail. It is only a 1 mile trail, and we would walk it in 26 minutes although they say it takes 45. I wanted to do the challenging trail, but due to changing weather forecasts (that I will talk about in a minute) we never got the chance.

Eva on the Forest Trail

You can also rent Kayaks here in the park, although personally I wasn’t up for paddling in with the gators. I saw many folks doing it though, so I’m sure it’s safe…unless you capsize.

As far as my previous travel trailer repairs, everything held up well. The pantry and end table modifications proved to be very strong. The sink replacement was fine with the exception of having to tighten the hot water line just a bit more.

Now as you might remember from my last post, we have been watching the weather pretty closely. Before we left it looked like our entire week there would be dry. A few days into our stay things began to change. The projection was that we were going to get severe weather events on Thursday night into Friday. Our planned departure day was Friday.

On Wednesday morning I looked at the weather forecast and realized, we could probably leave on Thursday morning but would drive through severe weather on the way home. So there were really two choices:

1. Leave Wednesday and avoid the severe weather threat, or
2. Stay until Saturday and hope for the best.

It seemed the reasonable thing to do was to leave on Wednesday. I was pretty conflicted about it, but the weather right now is unpredictable. If it had only been a few days of rain, that would have been fine. However, a possibility of hail and tornados could put a damper on camping.

I highly recommend this state park. I can’t think of a single reason not to go here. The park Rangers and Staff are very nice. The facilities are clean and well maintained. The camping sites are large, and our loop was very quiet.

I’m going to make a reservation here for late October or early November, and then follow through on my promise to Eva that we would take the difficult “Slough” trail. A tired German shepherd is a happy German shepherd.

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Mother Neff State Park was to be our destination in early March. However, the weather forecast was so bleak that we decided to cancel. I don’t mind a few days of rain at a campground, but when the whole week looks like it will be a flood zone; well that’s another story altogether.

In particular those of you that camp with dogs understand there is nothing fun about the in and out of a travel trailer in a muddy environment. Even if you are staying at a private campground with paved sites; you are still going to venture into wet grass and worse.

Eva is a bit of a baby when it comes to getting wet in the rain. She needs a bit of coaxing to do her business. I can deal with this much easier at home. So, while I am disappointed that we didn’t get to Mother Neff, I realize with a weeks worth of rain, I probably didn’t miss much.

So today we are leaving for Martin Dies Jr. State Park. About a 4 hour drive for us towards Jasper Texas. We have never camped in this location before, so I am curious to see what the park is like.

We loaded the trailer yesterday. I hope to be on the road early enough today to roll in before the office closes. I’m looking forward to checking out how well my pantry and end table repair stands up to the travel. If you want to read about that topic click here. I repaired the sink along with the other fixes and water-tested the new connections a few months ago. The sinks drain properly and no leaks, so I feel good about the plumbing.

Interestingly enough, last week Jasper Texas looked like no rain was in the forecast. Now, it appears that Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday may have a good chance of rain. Thursday sounds like it may be severe weather, so we may need to reevaluate our stay as that storm approaches.

I’ll update everyone on the park when we get back!

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