Neals Lodge the frio river and a day trip to Garner State Park

Every year we have our annual family gathering at Neal's lodge on the Frio river. We normally stay in the cabins, but this time we have our camper.  :) Concan is approx 275 miles west of Houston.

Traveling The Long Road  - Heading west on I-10

One of the towns we pass through on the way to Neal's is Hondo. Should you find yourself here during lunch time, I'd recommend a little BBQ joint named Heavy's. Home of the best brisket that I have every tried. Yep, it really is amazing.

                   

A little about Neals. They are located in Concan Texas on the beautiful Frio river. They offer cabins, tent camping and RV sites. They also have a general store, tube rental, dance hall and a cafe. 

Neals

We were assigned one of the newer RV sites. Lucky #13. Great spot, it was level, long and wide enough for both the slid-out and awning to be extended. 

Our first trip with our new tow vehicle. It did fantastic! FX4 Ecoboost

A few pictures of the Frio early in the morning.

Get to the river early and claim your spot. It can get crowded. 

Should you want to do a little hiking. Garner State Park is only a short drive away.

Parking, Gift Store, Restaurant

Heading up one of the hiking trails.

The Starting point

View from Crystal Cave. Home of the dancing spiders.

View from Crystal Cave

The roof of the cave was a sold blanket of spiders and they were dancing in unison. WEIRD!!!

Crazy Dancing Spiders

Out of the cave and hiking to Painted Rock.

Entrance to Crystal Cave

The view from Painted Rock

View from Painted Rock

As always we had a fantastic time. Cheers!

Matagorda Bay Nature and RV Park

After a couple of weekend trips to Yogi Bear park we felt comfortable taking a longer trip. We decided on Matagorda TX, it's about 100 miles south of Houston. 

Heading south on TX 60 we encountered a strong headwind coming off the Gulf and our old Tahoe was having a hard time maintaining 60 mph. This was the trip where I knew we would needed a newer tow vehicle.

Matagorda Bay Nature and RV park

We had made reservations at the Matagorda Bay Nature and RV park. I have to say this is a fantastic place to stay. The staff were friendly and check in was a breeze. All the sites are level and paved. Most are back-in but they do have a few pull-through sites. Ours backed up to the Colorado river right before it enters the Gulf of Mexico. 

Dusk

The fishing pier behind our site. Beautiful at sunset. 

Pavilion

All of the RV sites have concrete picnic tables. They also have a large pavilion area with restrooms, grills and several covered tables. 

The beach is only a short walk away. 

Fishing Pier

Nice fishing pier.

Driftwood

Jetty

The rock jetty near the pier.

Dana

Someone was cold.

Yellow flowers

Yellow flowers on the the small sand dunes.

I found this neat old boat while walking along the beach.

Walking though the little sand dunes heading back to our site.

Behind the RV park where the Colorado river enters the Gulf of Mexico. 

Bring your binoculars and you may see the wild hogs on the far shore.

Matagorda Nature and RV park is Dachshund approved. 

Yogi Bear Jellystone RV Park Waller TX

Yogi Bear Jellystone park was the first place we camped after purchasing our travel trailer. We wanted to stay close to home until we felt comfortable setting up and getting all the bugs worked out. We have stayed here several times now, all in all not a bad place to stay.

View from RV site 20

They have two main sections for RV's. The older section is near the pond and the arts and crafts center. Lots of shade trees with a mix of pull-through and back-in sites. A few of the back in sites can be challenging due to all the trees and other vehicles. The newer section only has a few shade trees and is more of an open area.

Flowers on the far side of the pond

The view from the far side of the pound looking at the older RV area.

Cabins on the pound

Cabins are also available to rent as well as tent camping. Very nice view from the older RV section. 

The lazy river

They have a couple of water slides, several pools and a small lazy river. The snack bar at the the pool has something for everyone. Prices are very reasonable. I'd recommend the pizza, only 3 dollars a slice with up to 3 toppings. You can also get a large 10 topping pizza for 10 bucks. If pizza isn't what you're craving they have hamburgers, fries, rings, fried pickles and mushrooms, chicken tenders, corn dogs, ice cream and few other options. 

Miniature golf

Some of the other activities that they offer are volley ball, miniature golf, fishing, train rides an ice cream social and endless pancakes on Sunday morning.

Ranger Station / Gift shop

The Ranger Station is the gift shop / supply store. It's well stocked with snacks, beer, soda, t-shirts, sunscreen, fishing supplies and souvenirs. Prices are slightly higher than you would pay at your local store but that is to be expected. The only thing that was really out of line was the price of beer. It's about 2 to 3 times higher.

Yogi

Most of the employees were friendly with the exception of a few sour apples. The park was clean but a few of the areas could use some updating and repairs. Like I said, all in all not a bad place to stay. Until next time Yogi, Chow.

About Us

We're Scott and Dana Long and this blog was created to share some of our RV travels and adventures. 

Silverton Colorado

About our rig

We have a 2104s Forest River Rockwood mini lite. With all of our gear it weighs around 5k.

Our original tow vehicle was an older Tahoe Z71 but has since been upgraded to an ecoboost F150. Towing is now a breeze. 

A few specs on the mini lite

Exterior length is 21'8"
Exterior height is 9'5" with the roof mounted AC we need 11'9" of clearance
Exterior width is 8"0"

The fresh water capacity is 36 gal
The gray and black tanks are 30 gal each. 

I have to say we really love this little trailer. It has all the amenities of home. 

  

4 foot slide out dinette that converts into a bed.

Not a great picture but this is the kitchen and entertainment center.
2 burner gas stove and oven, double sink, microwave, flat screen tv / cd / dvd / Bluetooth stereo with outdoor speakers.

Refrigerator and freezer. Dual power it can run on electricity or propane. 

Queen short bed with storage above and below.

Small bathroom.

Main control panel for the electric awning, water heater, water pumps, exterior lights and slide out.  You can check the levels of the battery and holding tanks as well.