2019 - Texas & Natchez Trace Parkway

[longhorn1]

We traveled to the San Antonio and Galveston Island area. This was our fifth trip to Galveston. The ranger in Galveston confirmed that the beach side campground would close for the next 3 years. In 2008 Hurricane Ike destroyed 70 campsites and Texas Parks just received the funds for a complete makeover.

We also took the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula and travel through Beaumont, TX before cutting up through Louisiana, mostly on back country highways. We visited Natchez, MS and camped along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The parkway traverses through Mississippi into Tennessee, terminating just southwest of Nashville, TN. It is 444 miles from start to finish. We just didn't have enough time to make the whole run. A future trip for sure.

Please enjoy our trip report.

Texas & Natchez Trace Parkway

 

[Foy]

Nice! Love me some Natchez Trace Parkway.

If you did the short drive-up to the Little Mountain Overlook at Jeff Busby Park and noticed a ginormous hole in ground immediately to the south and east, you may blame me for contributing to its creation. The hole is the Red Hills Mine, where a series of several thick beds of lignite coal are mined and sent by conveyor belts into an on-site electric power generation plant. From early 1979 to mid-1981 I was employed as an exploration geologist and with my one-rig drilling crew took core samples in several hundred locations within the boundaries of what eventually became the mine. It was the "Choctaw Prospect" to our Phillips Coal Company clients and was christened "Red Hills Mine" by the company which bought the leases/mining rights from Phillips.

Foy

 

[takesiteasy]

Sounds like a good trip- history and relaxing, a good combination. Thanks for the report!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

John, thanks for sharing! That’s quite a trip!

 

[longhorn1]

Nice! Love me some Natchez Trace Parkway.

If you did the short drive-up to the Little Mountain Overlook at Jeff Busby Park and noticed a ginormous hole in ground immediately to the south and east, you may blame me for contributing to its creation. The hole is the Red Hills Mine, where a series of several thick beds of lignite coal are mined and sent by conveyor belts into an on-site electric power generation plant. From early 1979 to mid-1981 I was employed as an exploration geologist and with my one-rig drilling crew took core samples in several hundred locations within the boundaries of what eventually became the mine. It was the "Choctaw Prospect" to our Phillips Coal Company clients and was christened "Red Hills Mine" by the company which bought the leases/mining rights from Phillips.

Foy

We had planned on driving the whole thing, but bit off more than we could handle in a day. We maybe did 60-80 miles +/-.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

JD thanks for the trip. Looked like a nice getaway from the winter at your home area.
Lots of beautiful areas.Too bad about the "fishing no catching". Such is the fly fisher's life.
Nice to just spend time in the water.
Appreciate the time you took to put together the report.
Frank

 

[Foy]

We had planned on driving the whole thing, but bit off more than we could handle in a day. We maybe did 60-80 miles +/-.

Ah! When all else fails, read the instructions, Foy!

Where you wrote having started in Natchez, I had "Jackson" in my feeble mind. Jeff Busby park is around that far northeast of JACKSON, MS, much farther from Natchez.

Still like the NTP. It's a truly hidden gem.

Foy

 

[searching for nowhere]

Thanks for sharing. I enjoy hearing/seeing about places I have never been.

 

[ski3pin]

John, we so enjoy your stories and travels, You have so much fun combining travel, camping, and family visits. Keep it up!