{By Kelly}

We headed west towards Texas and the Riveted Roost took a beating along the bumpy roads of Louisiana. Apparently, something happened to the Airstream-to-truck wiring, prompting the truck to issue countless warnings that the trailer is disconnected from the truck. We could see in the rearview mirror that this wasn't true and upon inspection, we couldn't find any obvious issues. Nevertheless, the alarm would chime every other minute, causing Justin to nearly have a nervous breakdown. 

Despite the alarm, we continued on our path toward Round Top, TX, home of the Junk Gypsy World Headquarters. The Junk Gypsies share my affinity for Airstreams and I had to stop by their store on our way to Austin. I found some goodies, including a fun "Happy Camper" T-shirt, then we headed to lunch, where Justin could get a beer. 

After Round Top, we headed to McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, TX. Texas State Parks have a cool reservation system where they hold a site for you and you select amongst what's available when you arrive. We found a beauty in campsite #7. 

Once we got set up, Justin began looking into the annoying alarm that kept going off in the truck.

{Justin, here: I was mad as a hornet for the entire drive from Louisiana to Texas because of that alarm. About one time per minute for hours on end. I ended up disconnecting the power to the curbside brakes and that solved the problem. The brakes still aren't fixed, but it's a priority item on my list.}

After figuring out the issue with the trailer wiring, we took a walk to the falls and went for a swim in Onion Creek. That evening, we went into town for dinner, stopping at the famous Airstream food truck, Gourdough's for dessert. We split the Flying Pig doughnut, which had bacon and maple syrup icing. Oh Good Lawd, it was delicious! The dogs were rather pleased to share the bacon with us.

Learn more about McKinney Falls State Park here. 

Follow our adventures on Twitter @RivetedRoost, or find us on Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. We're posting lots of photos to our social media sites in real time, so follow along!
 
All photos © Kelly Beard, The Riveted Roost

After Falling Waters in the panhandle of Florida, we headed west on I-10 to Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles, LA. We stayed in site #C1003 where a cute little raccoon watched us from his perch in the tree above us. 

We rode our bikes around the park and took in the sunset before heading to bed. Only one night here and a long journey ahead! Learn more about Sam Houston Jones State Park. 

​Follow our adventures on Twitter @RivetedRoost, or find us on Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. We're posting lots of photos to our social media sites in real time, so follow along!
 
All photos © Kelly Beard, The Riveted Roost

{By Kelly}

Once we got our house in Stuart, FL on the market, we headed a couple hours north to my parents' house in Sebastian to get ready for our big voyage to Denver. We feverishly worked to get the Airstream ready for the long trip. ​Justin worked on the hubs and brakes as I cleaned and packed the trailer with all our belongings that would make the cross-country journey.

{Justin, here: I can't believe Kelly is still with me. Sometimes I can have an attitude problem. Prior to this trip, I'd never hooked up Riva's brakes. I know. I know. But, we had been pulling it in Florida where it's flat and she doesn't weigh more than 4,000 lbs. Up until now, brakes weren't required. Considering the trip we were preparing for, I figured it was high time I took care of the brakes.

I decided to take care of the brakes the afternoon before we left Sebastian. In a rain storm. There I was, sitting in Kelly's grandma's driveway fixing the damn brakes. Bottle jack, jack stands, grease, and electrical connectors. Not to mention, Tony (Kelly's dad) was my helper - at one point he cracked his head on the open rear window. I laughed, felt bad about it, but it has happened to me before so I felt his pain.

Back to the brakes. We go them working and I didn't feel good about the curbside. Either way we were going and it had to fly.}

Despite rainy weather, we got it all done and set out on our epic road trip. For the first time in more than a month (since we made the decision to move), we finally relaxed and took a deep breath. Getting in the truck and hitting the road was the easiest part. While we had our first few weeks of campgrounds planned out, we had no idea where we would end up or what we were getting into. However, there was no fear of the unknown... only excitement!

Our first stop was in Florida's panhandle, Falling Waters State Park in Chipley. We stayed in site 5 near the horseshoe pits. While we only stayed for one night, we enjoyed exploring the park. It was so peaceful and quiet. That's the beauty of mid-week camping!

We set on a hike to see the "falling waters" the park is named for, but alas, the levy was dry. A lack of rain in the area meant there was no waterfall to see. Despite that, we enjoyed the nicely kept nature trail and the dogs enjoyed a long walk.

If you go:
Falling Waters State Park
Located on one of the highest hills in Florida, the campground at Falling Waters State Park has the highest elevation in the state at 324 feet above sea level. Each of the 24 sites has a picnic table, water, electric service and a campfire ring. There is also a full facility bathhouse and a dump station. Reservations may be made up to 11 months in advance through ReserveAmerica.