Off to the Lost Pines with Nicky

Well here I am, on my third awesome trip in “Casa Jim”. This time, it is just me and Nicky, my dog. It is the farthest trip in the camper so far, and Nicky's first. I wanted some place with lots of trails for him, so we came to Bastrop State Park in the Lost Pines Forest.

Our trip went smoothly, something I really wanted after yesterday's fiasco of getting the air conditioner looked at at the dealer. I had gotten up at first light and run over to Dad's to mow his lawn. He and my sister, Patti, left on Sunday for a Caribbean cruise, and she could not get his ancient and recently unused mower to start. I threw my electric in the back of the truck, got it done, and was home by 7:30 am.

As I drove into the driveway, I noticed a puddle of water under the front corner of the camper. I felt all over the thing hoping for water coming from our gutters or something. It was obviously not coming from above. That made me a little paranoid, so I “popped” it up to see what was going on. Sure enough, there was a puddle of mystery water laying on the floor and draining out the back. I can not explain where it came from. I can not explain why it took 5 days of 100 degree Texas summer for it to start dripping. It did not appear to have dripped from the air conditioner, and I do not use the water system.

I decided to pull it over to Ancira. My salesman had told me after our last trip that I should get it looked at to ease my mind even though he was confident that the leak during the thunderstorms was condensation. I had noticed that the interior housing of the AC was hanging a little loose on one side. Anyway, they found the problem and took care of it. They also installed the defective furnace part that they had ordered for me the day I bought it. I was in no hurry for that, as we don't exactly use heat in Texas during the summer.

When I was driving out to pick it up (Ancira RV is in Boerne, TX) I noticed with amazement that, although my lanes heading out of town were bumper to bumper, there was not one single vehicle coming from the west. Then I saw the problem. One of those glass trucks that has sheets of window glass leaning on both sides of it was involved in a wreck. They had eastbound I10 closed down while a brigade of sheriffs and highway workers all scrambled to sweep up all the glass!

I decided to come back a different way. I took the Scenic Loop through Grey Forest and came home through Helotes. It was a really nice drive that only added about ten miles to my trip. I have to admit it was kind of curvy and bumpy, but it didn't bother me too much. I'm getting pretty used to driving with the camper. My buddy Jack Funkhouser rode with me on my first drive when I was taking it from the dealer to park out at his place. He gave me tips the whole way and really made me feel confident about towing. You might remember Jack from an earlier blog on this site called “Do You Have a Jack?” I tell you- I don't know what I would have done a lot of times when Jack had the answers to my problems. The man is amazing. He knows anything and everything about anything and everything.

So I threw Nick in the truck and headed out today at 11:00 am. I expected the trip to take about two and a half hours or so. There was a lot of traffic on 410 and I35, but not too much on the second half of the trip, once I got onto State Highway 21 to Bastrop. We actually made the trip in two hours and fifteen minutes. The camper towed better than ever. I think it is because I stowed everything, including the ice chest inside the camper this time.

We pulled into a really beautiful camping spot.. I backed in with no problem. I am amazed how easy it has been for me, ever since that man told me what he does when we were leaving Lost Maples.

I tied Nicky to the lantern pole and went about setting up the camper. That was when I had the first of two problems on this trip so far. I could not get the camper to come off of the hitch. I tried everything. I even thought I could just pull the hitch off the truck and then take it off the receiver. That didn't work. The camper just rolled forward the minute I took the pin out and pushed the hitch all the way up into the truck! I ended up doing what I always do when I have a problem I can't figure out. That's right. I called Jack. He told me I must have gotten the hitch “binded up”. He said to crank the camper all the way down so that the wheel was off the ground. He also suggested that I might need to realign the truck or the camper. I tried all of those things, and finally, I managed to get it off.

I was dying of thirst by then. I was pretty sure Nick needed a drink, too. I cranked the camper up enough to gain access to the water bottles and gave us each one before going on. Everything else went smoothly, except that one of the zippered panels was totally unzipped and the attachment to the ceiling was out of place. It must have happened when the AC was getting adjusted. Anyway, I cranked the ceiling back down a bit and did my best to get it all sorted out. Next time I have it at Ancira for warranty checkups, I will have them look at it.

Once the camper was completely ready, I untied Nick and brought him over. He took one look at the door and dug his nails in the ground. He was absolutely not going in. Now, Nicky has always had some interesting issues. For example, when he was younger, he refused to walk on the sidewalks that went over the bridge over the drainage ditch on Coral Springs. Instead, he would try and pull me out into the street whether or not there were cars coming. Also, at my parent's house, Nicky would not leave the dining room or den. They both have the same 1970s splotchy brown scuplted carpet. The Kitchen at one end has white tile. The hallway at the other has wood flooring. I don't know why he was afraid of them. I think it must be something visual.

I finally picked him up and forced him in. It wasn't easy. He had his paws stretched out like a cartoon cat trying to stop me. When he was in, he just stood by the door wanting to go out again. I decided we would spend some time in the camper until he settled down. That never happened. He passed on his favorite treat (rawhide rolled around a liver insert). He wouldn't even go to the back where his water was. When I brought the water closer, he ignored it. His only plan was to get out the dang door.

I finally couldn't stand it anymore, so I put his leash on him, gathered up our hiking paraphernalia, and took him for about a three mile hike on one of the trails. I had to cut it short, because the heat was really getting to Nicky. He overheats easily, even with frequent water breaks. He always has. As soon as we had found our first geocache, we came back to the camper. I let him lead the way. He led me straight to the door, and once it was open, he jumped right in and went to his water bowl. Then he lay down by the door with a loud hrrrumph and took a nap.

I took a nap for a while, too. Then we spent the rest of the evening taking short little walks of about thirty minutes every hour or so. He seems to be totally adjusted to the camper now. I am hoping that we both get a nice relaxing sleep. We are going to bed early, so that we can get up at dawn and hike a little farther before it heats up. The humidity is so bad here, that that plan may not work. I'll let you know.
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Well we both slept well last night. I never heard a peep out of Nick. We got up at about 6:30 and hit the trail by 7:00. It was nice and cool, but the humidity was just as bad as yesterday. I was completely soaked by the time we got back to the camper. I actually had to wring my shirt out and set it on the truck tailgate to dry. I don't carry a lot of clothes with me, and I want to have at least one clean shirt left for tomorrow's drive home. A note to all you people who like to hang your laundry out on the line- that fresh sunshiny smell you all yap about doesn't mean it is clean! I wore that shirt until it was soaked with sweat twice on this trip. When I brought it in from drying, it smelled fresh and clean. The sun lies.

Anyway, our morning hike was still enjoyable, if it was a bit drippy. We stopped a lot for nice cold drinks of water. I carry a small insulated lunch box with four cold bottles of water in it every time we leave the camper. It gets stuffed down in my knapsack with Nick's collapsible bowl and the poop pickup bags. If you read my Lost Maples blog, you know that sometimes that is not enough water. Nick and I aren't hiking nearly that long.

The trail we were following ended at the Scenic Lookout. We grabbed a geocache there, and then hiked back to camp following the camp road. It was all downhill. I knew I was exhausted when we reached the lookout. I just hadn't realized how high we had climbed.

We got back to the camper and Nicky laid down in his cool spot. I stripped, toweled off, put on my comfy “in the camper” clothes. We had breakfast. Nicky had his dog food. I had natural peanut butter on stale whole wheat bread. I always seem to get stale bread from WalMart. I'm just saying! All I brought for me to eat is peanut butter, crackers, bread, apple sauce (natural unsweetened), and chocolate soy milk pudding cups. I don't like to cook when I am camping, and I'm trying to stick with my vegan diet. I don't know why, since I still seem to eat enough vegan crap to gain weight!

After breakfast, I spent an hour or so getting photos off of the Flip video camera. That wore me out almost as much as the hiking, so I hopped on my bunk and took a nice dream-filled nap. I love those. I had dreams about my mom, an aunt of mine, and a place that sells frozen drinks shaped like a giant paper cup. That one was really weird. I remember asking the guy what the best drink was that did not have mango in it (I'm allergic). It was one called the Nabaja. He gave it to me and also handed me some kind of game board paper and a stack of cards. It was some kind of promotion or something. It confused me and I started to fall or something. I realized I was coming out of the dream, and somehow or another, I willed myself to stay there while I drank that great frozen drink as I coasted down some hilly city street. It wasn't alcoholic. It just tasted like frozen peach pie filling.

After nap time, I dressed in dry clothes, loaded up the knapsack, and headed off on another hike with Nicky. We grabbed a couple more geocaches, but after about two miles in the woods, I could tell Nick was over heating. We took another water break and then I let him lead the way. He headed back the way we came. I don't know if he was confused, or recognized that he needed to get home to the air conditioning. We stopped once at the scout/large group camping site. We had water and rested in the shade for at least half an hour. Then we hiked the last half mile or so to the camper.

Once again, I had to wring out my clothes. Nick got in his cool spot for a nap, and I laid on my bunk listening to Carol Burnett read her book “This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection” to me.

Now I am going to eat some pudding and try to get more pictures off the Flip videos. After that, we will have dinner. After that, at about 7:00 PM, we will take another mini-hike on the trails.
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Well, the mini-hike was very nice. We followed the short Carrizo Interpretige Trail. It was pretty cool. They have little signs with paintings that you look on the map to read about something. It only took about thirty minutes to do the whole thing. We added a short hike down the road to the tent camper's campsites, then followed the trail back to the restroom area of the Copperas Creek Campground, where we are staying. We took some time to explore the old CCC building that is there. It is pretty cool. Too bad we don't have something like the CCC to help out our young men of today who are having trouble getting work.

When we got back to the camper, I was soaked again. The humidity is just that bad. The actual walk felt cool to me. I stripped and gave myself a bath with anti-bacterial baby wipes. I can't leave Nicky alone to go to the showers, and, besides, I don't usually use them on camping trips. In fact, this trip, I never even went to the public restroom in the campsite. Can you say, “Pee-bottle”? With that and my little camp toilet, I was able to do all my business without stressing Nick out and leaving him alone. That might be too much information for some of you sillier people, but tough cookies! I was always the kid who asked the docents how the old timey people used the bathroom in those pre-plumbing houses.

I spent a while on the Internet with my Blackberry finding information about hitch issues. I am a little nervous about hitching up tomorrow, but have a plan, if I need it. I'm sure Jack won't mind driving two hours to Bastrop to rescue me! No, actually, I will ask one of my fellow campers. There are only about six of us left in the campsite. Three of us are in pop up campers. Besides, I think I got enough information to explain why I had problems unhitching, and should be able to hitch without a snag. (Note added later: Yeah, right! Idiot!)

The rest of the evening was spent finishing the last of my Flip video photos. I ended up with 89 from this trip. I know that when people look at them, they will say it's just a bunch of trees. I can't help it. I love forests and don't get to spend much time in them.

Now I am enjoying the last of my bottle of Shiraz before watching some of What's Up Doc? on my iPod touch. After that, I'll take Nick out for one more potty time. Then it's time to hop in my bunk and read my book, Smokin' Seventeen, for awhile. We are going to get up early tomorrow, pack up, and hitch up before it gets hot. It will be hard enough to do with the humidity level here. I will be soaked once again, but the AC in the truck will dry me off by the time I hit San Antonio.
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Well, The morning seemed to go pretty well, at first. We woke up at 6:00 without the alarm and started packing up the interior of the camper. Then I tied Nick to the lantern post again and started the take down process. Everything went smoothly until it was time to put the camper on the hitch. I couldn't stop it from rolling, and it ended up going all the way to the license plate. I put the chucks back in place and spent the next thirty minutes getting the truck lined up perfectly under the hitch receiver. Then, when I dropped the camper on the danged hitch ball, I had the reverse of the problem I had when I got to camp. I could not get the latch to close! It took about twenty minutes of jumping on the back of the truck, pulling forward, backing up, and praying for a little help before it finally went in place. By that time, I was exhausted and soaking wet.

I finished hooking up the electricity, tested the signals, and put Nicky in the truck. I drove over to the dumpster and got rid of our trash. Then I gave both of us a good drink of water, took off my soaked T-shirt, toweled off, put a new shirt on, and hit the road for home.

I called just as we arrived at the house, and Rachel took Nicky out of the truck so I could see to back into the driveway. Once again, backing up went great. Then I unpacked everything and went in the house.

I was so drained. My arms were tired from the hitching fiasco, and I was soaked again from the exertion of unpacking in the sun. At least the humidity was better at home. I felt really weak, but wanted a shave and shower before resting.

Before going upstairs, I weighed myself. I lost 5+ pounds on this trip. I am sure most of it was water loss, which was not a good thing. Don't tell Rachel, but after my shower, I came to realize that I had done it again! My body was screaming out for potassium. After all, all I ate while camping was peanut butter and whole wheat bread. I never even thought to take the potassium supplements that I bought after the Lost Maples incident. I didn't realize I had a problem until I was here at the house.

I popped some of the supplements, ate some raisins, and drank a lot of water. After about an hour of laying on the couch, I started feeling better. My heart rate went back to normal, and I don't feel so dadgum fatigued. I wish I would learn from my mistakes!

I'm not taking a trip next week because of the 4th of July holiday. The parks get crowded then. I don't like crowds. Instead, I will wait awhile before heading out to South Llano River State Park. Maybe someone will go with me. I think I need other humans to keep an eye on me in case I forget to take care of myself again! Want to go?