Webpage version: Gulf Coast Overland Trip Report
A few weeks ago Laud from Texas Overland posted up to see if anyone from the group would be interested in camping and doing a little bit of Hill Country exploring before the Texas Avid Outdoors Fall Expo. After receiving a good amount of positive feedback it was decided that on Friday, October 14 we would all meet at Oxford Ranch Campground in Llano, Texas to set up camp for the night and that Saturday morning the group would start exploring the beautiful scenery of the Mason, Texas area.
Day 1 (Navasota, Texas —> Llano, Texas)
Leaving Navasota, Texas around noon on Friday. Michael (Frontier Pro-4x), Matthew (Tacoma) and I (F-150 Supercrew) from Houston Overland set off to Llano, Texas. Being the “overlanders” that we are we couldn’t just take the highway to Oxford Ranch Campground so instead we took a series of mostly dirt and gravel county roads that led us through Sandy Creek and eventually into Llano, Texas where we were to set up camp for the night.
Day 2 (Llano, Texas —> Spicewood, Texas)
Day 2 began with us breaking camp at 10 AM and heading towards Saturday’s destination of Pace Bend Travis County Park. Our route to Pace Bend would include over 150 miles of scenic Texas Hill Country roads and trails. The highlights of this particular route were the James River Crossing, and the majestic rolling hills throughout the area. Around 5 PM we arrived at Pace Bend to meet up with our fellow “overlanders” that would also be attending the Texas Avid Outdoors Fall Expo the next day. After setting up camp and cooking dinner a community campfire was started, and at this campfire conversation and laughter lasted well into the night.
Day 3 (Spicewood, Texas —> Austin, Texas)
After Matthew cooked a breakfast of tacos with his “world famous bacon” we broke camp around 9:30 AM and set off towards the Texas Avid Outdoors Fall Expo in Austin, Texas. Upon arriving at the Expo we were directed towards the grass parking area as the “overlanders” were to be one of the Expo’s exhibits. At the Expo there were quite a few vendors including Blueline Expedition Outfitters from Houston and Bison Coolers from Fort Worth selling various outdoor and “overlanding” equipment.Throughout the day we met many of our fellow outdoorsmen (some of which were good friends already) however knowing that I had a long drive ahead of me back to Baton Rouge the next day I had to head out from the expo back to Houston around 3:30 PM a few hours before the end of the expo. Other than a bit of usual Austin area traffic I was able to make relatively good time getting back home where I officially ended my weekend’s trip around 7:00 PM that night.
As I am writing this trip report I am still ridiculously tired from the weekend’s adventures but I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
-Andrew
A few weeks ago Laud from Texas Overland posted up to see if anyone from the group would be interested in camping and doing a little bit of Hill Country exploring before the Texas Avid Outdoors Fall Expo. After receiving a good amount of positive feedback it was decided that on Friday, October 14 we would all meet at Oxford Ranch Campground in Llano, Texas to set up camp for the night and that Saturday morning the group would start exploring the beautiful scenery of the Mason, Texas area.
Day 1 (Navasota, Texas —> Llano, Texas)
Leaving Navasota, Texas around noon on Friday. Michael (Frontier Pro-4x), Matthew (Tacoma) and I (F-150 Supercrew) from Houston Overland set off to Llano, Texas. Being the “overlanders” that we are we couldn’t just take the highway to Oxford Ranch Campground so instead we took a series of mostly dirt and gravel county roads that led us through Sandy Creek and eventually into Llano, Texas where we were to set up camp for the night.
Day 2 (Llano, Texas —> Spicewood, Texas)
Day 2 began with us breaking camp at 10 AM and heading towards Saturday’s destination of Pace Bend Travis County Park. Our route to Pace Bend would include over 150 miles of scenic Texas Hill Country roads and trails. The highlights of this particular route were the James River Crossing, and the majestic rolling hills throughout the area. Around 5 PM we arrived at Pace Bend to meet up with our fellow “overlanders” that would also be attending the Texas Avid Outdoors Fall Expo the next day. After setting up camp and cooking dinner a community campfire was started, and at this campfire conversation and laughter lasted well into the night.
Day 3 (Spicewood, Texas —> Austin, Texas)
After Matthew cooked a breakfast of tacos with his “world famous bacon” we broke camp around 9:30 AM and set off towards the Texas Avid Outdoors Fall Expo in Austin, Texas. Upon arriving at the Expo we were directed towards the grass parking area as the “overlanders” were to be one of the Expo’s exhibits. At the Expo there were quite a few vendors including Blueline Expedition Outfitters from Houston and Bison Coolers from Fort Worth selling various outdoor and “overlanding” equipment.Throughout the day we met many of our fellow outdoorsmen (some of which were good friends already) however knowing that I had a long drive ahead of me back to Baton Rouge the next day I had to head out from the expo back to Houston around 3:30 PM a few hours before the end of the expo. Other than a bit of usual Austin area traffic I was able to make relatively good time getting back home where I officially ended my weekend’s trip around 7:00 PM that night.
As I am writing this trip report I am still ridiculously tired from the weekend’s adventures but I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
-Andrew
