Texas Gulf Coast

Bosun wrote:
When you get to south La., find your way to New Iberia and check out the Tobacco plant.

I think you meant to say the Tabasco (hot sauce) Plant.

When you get to south La., find your way to New Iberia and check out the Tobacco plant. From there make those left turns as mentioned and go to Cameron, La where you will take a short ferry across the river, keeping west bound on the coast hwy 82 you will cross into TX at Port Arthur. From Port Arthur you can work you way over to Winnie, TX and head over to High Island, TX and run the coast over to the Galveston Ferry.

A little side trip would be to head south from Port Arthur to Sabine Pass, turn west on the coast hwy to Sea Rim State park. Winter is a good time to visit this area as the mosquitoes can be ferocious with a south wind pushing them out of the marsh towards the beach when it’s warm. Unfortunately the road further west has been shut down for many years so you must return to Port Arthur to get to Galveston.

Have a good trip.

Patrick
Semper Paratus

Craig95005 wrote:
After Christmas we'll be in Fredericksburg TX and would like to go from there down into southern Louisiana, exploring some of the coastal towns along the Gulf Coast. Certainly Galveston; how about Corpus Christi, Port Arthur, others - are they worth seeing this time of year? Any route suggestions? Thanks.

More to see in Corpus Christi & Galveston than Port Arthur. I have not been to the area where Hurricane Harvey actually made landfall (Corpus Christi, Rockport and Port Aransas) since the storm. People who live there or have visited would have to comment.

If your jump off point is Fredericksburg, I would head first to the southernmost point on the Texas Gulf Coast you wish to visit and work your way up along the coast toward Louisiana. That way you may be able to avoid the denser parts of the huge Houston area by hugging the coast. Go through Galveston, approaching it by coming up SH 35, then divert through Lake Jackson to reach Galveston Island. Toll to cross San Luis Pass onto Galveston Island. To stay on the coast past Galveston & to avoid Houston, you will need to take the free Bolivar Ferry, which allows RV's, but you may have to valve in your LPG bottles before driving onto the boat. To reach Louisiana, you will have to return to I-10 from the coast at High Island, since erosion of the beach highway to Sabine Pass/Port Arthur has had it closed for several years now.

You may want to loop around San Antonio (Kerrville/Bandera/Hondo) to reach the coast from Fredericksburg, that is if you want to avoid driving through large urban areas with your rig. The route, especially through Bandera, is more scenic.

As others have said, reservations will assure you have a place to stay. Less winter Texans the further up the coast you go, though.

Rockport is open for business, but call ahead and make reservations! Winter Texans arrive daily. There is still allot of debris piles and damaged buildings being demolished, and two hotel still closed.

I believe the Corpus Cristi is in good condition now. Double check on the local

We especially liked the Rockport area.

It is nice to get off the beaten path. Last time we were down that way & headed west we left New Orleans & basically kept making left turns staying next to, or as close as possible to the coast all the way to Galvaston. Sure beats using the interstate.

Check first with the locals- there have been reports on here that several of these cities are still a mess from the Hurricane