Day 36--Big Thicket National Preserve

The predicted rains came earlier than expected and continued off and on all night. But thankfully they were finished by day break and we had no trouble breaking camp and getting on our way by 9:15. We dropped out of the hill country and by the time we got near Houston we were back at sea level and traveling across pretty boring, flat land. We also seemed to catch up to the rain. After being in the mid-sixties and mostly sunny we found ourselves back into wet pavement and low fifties by lunchtime. We ate in the truck and then went into a McDonald’s for coffee, a break and the Wi-Fi. We checked quickly to find that MSU had beaten Purdue on Sunday (hurray!!!), update the blog (with no pictures because it was VERY slow), and read email. We got back on the road and arrived at Village Creek State Park by about 4:00. The park is so far east it is nearly in Louisiana, very small and its trails are mostly flooded right now. There are only 3 or 4 sites taken in the electrical loop and no one in the tent sites. But it is in the middle of “Big Thicket” country, with the Big Thicket National Preserve just down the road. So we’ll spend most of tomorrow exploring and hiking there. I’m getting a kick out of hearing and reading about the Piney Woods in which we’re camping. One of my favorite books to read to my classes each year was A Week of Raccoons. In it the frustrated old man took his live-trapped raccoons on a long ride to be released in the Piney Woods. Now I know what that is!! You gotta love a place that calls its special places names like Big Thicket and Piney Woods!