Continuing on our return trip, we made it to Roosevelt State Park in Morton, MS. This park came with it’s own welcoming committee. These ducks were right at our door as we were trying to set-up. They also apparently thought they were invited dinner guests, as I saw them at one of the neighbors the next evening.
This park has a nice lake and the pool and waterslide looked nice as well. The rest of the park seems like it could use a little TLC. Walked into one of the bath houses, which had about 5 layers of peeling paint on the stall doors. There was standing water in the shower stalls and it probably hadn’t seen any renovation since the 70’s as the sink was still sporting Formica counters. Needless to say, I walked right back out and was again thankful Diablo is a self-contained unit.
We hiked a couple of the trails and got in about 3.5 miles. It’s good to get out and stretch the legs when we’re driving every other day.
Target Practice 
A Tower Must Be Climbed 
Helloooo, down there 
This one was fenced off.
Westward bound, our next stop was Tyler State Park in Tyler, TX. This was one of our favorite state parks on this trip. There are a number of multi-use trails for hiking and mountain biking. It also has a lake for both fishing and swimming. The shower rooms are private shower rooms, which were very clean when we checked them out.
Next time, the Lakeside Campground 
Our spot wasn’t too shabby
We hiked about 5 miles and we were really glad that the trails are heavily shaded with the big pines and other trees in the area. That was about all we managed to do for the day as Texas is known for being hot and humid in August. And boy, was it hot and humid. We returned from our hike looking as though, we had taken a dip in the lake. Hopefully, we’ll make it back one of these years in cooler weather.
The final stop on our nearly 2 month long journey was Copper Break State Park. This is a dark sky park, which yes, also means it’s out in the middle of nowhere. Finally, we were out of the high humidity, but temperatures where still over 100. Our camp host told us that the time we were there was the hottest it’s been all summer, lucky us. We somehow managed to hike 5 miles and knock out a couple of the trails in the park. There is also has a small lake for fishing and swimming and a small museum. We went and toured the museum, it was inside and air-conditioned. The museum gives a little history on “open range” ranching and how cattle were managed in Texas. It also explained why the longhorn breed of cattle is mainly found in Texas. We had clear skies both days and enjoyed our couple nights of star gazing.
At least we had a tree 
Not too many campers
The Rocky Ledges Trail
Got up early the next morning to start our long trek home. We were looking forward to enjoying the cool mountain air.
You might be wondering how many miles did we cover and didn’t we spend a lot on gas? Our trip was over 6,000 miles on Diablo alone. I took out our Disney expenses and figured out our “normal” trip expenses, because that mouse is pricey. The main bulk of our costs broke down as follows 20% camping fees, 31% food, and 26% gas.