Thursday, March 31, 2016

Start: Natchitoches, LA
Finish: Cagle Campground (USFS), S of Huntsville, TX

It rained pretty steady through the night so a night in a motel was enjoyed. Natcitoches is the eastern end of the El Camino Real de los Tejas NHT. A couple of plaques I saw today explained the importance of this route. For this part of the trip we followed TX 21 which is the historic route for the NHT. It was pretty with Spring green and lots of roadside flowers - still too fast for our comfort.

San Augutine Mission plaque


Plaque along Highway TX 21


At our first stop in San Augustine, TX a woman explained the origin of the two towns: Natchitoches and Nacogdoches . She told story of 2 Caddo Indian brothers who were sent to settle 2 towns by the father and told what to name them.

We drove into Nacgdoches and stopped at their visitor center for the passport stamp and for directions to the Stone Fort on the Stephen F Austin University campus. While there we saw a display that showed the Nine Flags Over Nacogdoches; Spain (1519-1685, 1690-1821), France (1685-1690), Magee's Republican Army (1812), Long Expedition (1819), Mexico (1821-1836), Fredonia (1826-1827), Republic of Texas (1836-1845, State 1845-Present), United States of America (1845-1861, 1865-Present) and finally Confederate States of America (1861-1865). Whew - glad I never had to study local history as a student in this town.

Stone Fort




Our last stop along the trail today was at Tejas Mission State Park. Within the park is a reconstructed mission which was established here in 1690. The building was constructed by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) in the 1930s. Also in the park is a portion of the original trace of El Camino Real (King's Highway) de los Tejas. This is the only place along the NHT where we saw the original trace.

Tejas Mission SP




Once we left this park we made our way south towards Houston for our weekend event. We stopped south of Huntsville at an excellent USFS campground - full hookups were $28 or $19 with senior pass and showers on site for no cost. Along I-35, just south of Huntsville, is a statue of Sam Houston - as they say - everything is bigger in Texas!

Sam Houston statue




Wildlife Sightings
Northern Mockingbird
Great-tailed Grackle
American Crow
Great-blue Heron
Northern Cardinal
Double-crested Cormorant
Turkey Vulture
Woodpecker