Buescher State Park: Let's go float some hope!

Buescher State Park

Friday, June 21, 2012

I woke up ready to go. Went and had a coffee and chatted with Rachel for a few minutes, before going upstairs to get a shower, shave, and wake N2S up. Rachel was watching something on the new 55” TV that replaced our old one that died while I was in Lockhart. They were coming to fix it, but called and talked us out of it. They said it would cost us $600 and could only be guaranteed for 30 days. I'm gong to give it to Jack. If he can fix it, he'll have a very nice television. I just couldn't risk sinking more money into it. The new bulb was over $100.

I had stopped to wake up N2S on my way to my shower, but he wasn't up yet when I finished. I went ahead and packed the stuff into the truck while he got ready. Then as soon as he came down, we headed over to Packrats. Everything was going smoothly there until we did the signal check on the trailer. The left turn signal was burned out. We took it out of the casing and it had blown and actually cracked the glass. We drove super slow to Pep Boys and got another. I knew we only needed that turning signal one time to get there, and we went so slow, that nobody stayed behind us. The new one worked fine, so we got on the road. We were still about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. I wanted to be on the road by 9:00am.

We made it all the way to Buc-ees with no problem, except that crazy I-35 traffic. N2S got a pulled pork sandwich for “breakfast”. I got some summer sausage. We also picked up some jerky for snacking on in the Colby T. On the way out, N2S got a pocket knife, which has come in handy about 5 times already on this trip. We also posed to have our pictures taken with the statue of Buc-ee.

I messed up in San Marcos and forgot that the turn off to Bastrop now exits to the right. We just went ahead to the Lockhart turn off, then cut through Maxwell to get back to the right road. It was smooth sialing then, but every once in a while, I had to pull over to let the traffic pass by. I don't like to let too many vehicles pile up behind me, and I just will not drive any faster.

Once at Buescher, which I have been spelling wrong for weeks, we were given the host site, #14. I was excited because it is the only one with a full hookup. When we got to it, I backed in for the first time since the Bastrop disaster. I had absolutely no problem. I trusted my mirrors the way I have been doing at Packrats. Unfortunately, we saw that the sewer whole was on the opposite side of the trailer and way too far for my hoses to reach. Oh well. We were expecting to use the dump anyway.

The trailer was really off level from side to side. I actually got to use my BAL leveler for the first time. It lifted the portside tire about 8 inches off the ground to perfectly level everything. The leveling doesn't have to be perfect, but the refrigerator works best when you are leveled well. Water also drains better in the sink.

As we were bringing in all our stuff, we kept seeing road runners. There seem to be about two mating pairs in the area. At least one of them has a thing for the trailer. He or she keeps banging it over and over, just like the cardinals were doing last weekend at Lockhart SP. We tried to get him on film, but he just runs away too fast.

Once we were all set up we went on in to Smithville. We toured the railroad museum, took our pictures in front of the giant gingerbread man, walked around downtown, and then went to the Dollar Store to look for a box fan and Styrofoam ice chest for the trailer. I wanted a more powerful fan that would keep everyone in the Colby T comfortable, not just the one it is pointed at. Even though I don't pay for the electricity, I don't feel like it should be wasted. With a fan running, the Colby T will stay between 75 and 78 degrees on the hottest of days while set on a medium setting. When we are not there, I keep all the blinds closed to help. We also went to a really nice grocery store called Brookshire Brothers for some ice and bottled water. I wanted to put the ice in the freezer and fill a huge jug I have with ice to put in the fridge to help it cool down faster.

We spent a while just cooling off from our travels in the Colby T. I got the ice put away and we finished all the rest of the set up of the galley. I need to say that this time, there is absolutely NO toilet smell even in the restroom. You can open up the toilet valve and the new stuff just comes up smelling like orange zest. Amazing!

We decided we were hungry, so we drove back to Bastrop to east BBQ'd mutton at Billy's. That stuff is soooo good. It is some of the best barbecue I have ever tasted. It beats all of Lockhart hands down! N2S attacked the plate of it so fast, I thought we would need to order more!

We stopped at Best Buy because I wanted to buy a signal booster for my cell phone. It costs about $200 and is supposed to give you a strong signal in areas where you have a weak one. I have trouble getting more that two bars in Bastrop and Smithville. At Buescher, I barely get service, just like Lockhart. I jut feel that I need to have a usable signal when out camping by myself.

After we ate, we went to Bastrop SP so N2S could see all the fire damage. In fact, we drove the state park road all the way back to Buescher. He was absolutely amazed by what he saw. He asked lots of questions, which thanks to my time with the rangers during my Bastrop trip, I was able to answer. He, like I, thought that there was a strange beauty to it all. He was disturbed, however, by the big white water tower that smiles over all the devastation. I have to agree. It seems out of place. Perhaps they should repaint it to be a frown.

Back at the trailer, we got the TV set up for N2S. Then I played with the signal booster. I was amazed that it took me from 1 bar of E to 4 bars of 3G. The only problem was that it only worked when I held it in my hand. I called the toll free number and the guy explained that the antenna had to be placed on a metal barrier or the device echoed the signal and caused some kind of interference. Evidently the Colby T is not “metal enough”. Somehow holding it in my hands disburses the signal through my body and makes it okay. Well, I am going to talk to Jack about it. If he has an idea, I will give it a try. Otherwise, the device is going back to Best Buy. I don't want to have to hold it in my hand to get service.

It was finally cool enough to go for a hike. We ended up walking the park road that loops around the park.

(The road runner is banging on us again!) [Got his picture this time! He ran across the site to the table. Then he took off towards the bathhouse.] The walk took us over two hours, with stops at the lake and trips around all the areas off the loop (camping areas, picnic areas, etc.) We were pretty hot and tired when we got back to the Colby T. We watched TV while I processed the days photos. Then we called it a night at about 10:30.

Saturday, June 22, 2012

We slept cool and comfortable until about 9:00am. Then we got up, put the dinette back up and had breakfast. N2S had pancake wrapped sausages on a stick. I ate the leftover mutton.

N2S said he wanted to find some geocaches, so got the GPS out and tried to use my phone to find some caches to go after. I couldn't get enough signal to do it (I had already re-packed the device up and did not want to open it back up). We decided to go ahead and get on the road. We figured we could sit at the park in Smithville, where we at least had 2-3 bars of 3G, so that is exactly what we did. We loaded up 4 different caches to find, but decided we would go to the Central Texas Automotive Museum first. We drove about 15 miles to get there, only to learn that they had moved to Dick's Classic Garage in San Marcos, which we went to with Storm on the way back from Austin in January. N2S was disappointed, but I thought it was hilarious. We had been discussing it on the way to Lockhart, and doubting it could be as good as Dick's.

From there, we went on in to Bastrop. We decided to go and get some cheap fishing poles to keep in the Colby T from WalMart. We ended up with two small ones, about three feet long. We got a small lightweight tackle box and a small collection of tackle.

We decided to eat lunch in Bastrop. Both of us agreed that we were totally BBQ'd out. Instead, we ate at the Texas Grille, which turned out to be a very good choice. N2S had a great burger, and I had a wonderful plate of baked catfish.

From there, we went to get the geocaches in the Smithville area. Then we stopped to gas up for the return trip tomorrow. We both loaded up with cold bottles of stuff to drink. Then we drove around Smithville some more, because we realized we had not seen the house that Hope Floats was filmed in yet. We saw lots of pretty homes and an old brick schoolhouse that we had missed.

Back at the Colby T, we got the fishing poles set up, then headed off to the lake. We didn't catch a single fish. In fact, we didn't get a single bite. We did rescue a couple of cicadas that fell into the lake. After about two and a half hours, we gave up and came back to the Colby T.

Fortunately, we weren't planning on eating anything we caught. Instead, I fixed N2S some Asian noodles in the microwave and I had two small cans of canned chicken. We rounded that out with
Buc-ee's jerky and Little Debbie brownies(N2S).

Since then, I have been writing all this out while we watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Not really interested, but it is the channel with the best reception right now.

Sunday, June 23, 2012

Okay... N2S and I finished out lastnight playing Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. I won Scrabble and he won TP. By the time we finished with that, it was time for bed. I decided to walk over to the bath house and clean up a bit before bed. I couldn't believe how loud the screeching of all the insects was. You could barely hear it in the Colby T. Once the door opened, it was like being in a city with fire alarms. I don't know how the couple in the tent could sleep with that.

On the way to the bathhouse, I walked into a spiderweb with a huge spider in it. I saw it dangling of a thread from my head at about chest level. It took a few screamy seconds to get it off of me. The bathhouse was really hot. It was still in the high eighties, even this late at night. Fortunately, it was really clean, too. I don't think anyone was using it, except maybe the couple in the tent.

Back in the trailer, I went straight to sleep. We both woke up at around 7:00am. I got coffee and hot chocolate going. Then I started cleaning and getting ready for departure. I wanted to beat the heat, since it was already showing 79 degrees out there in the morning. On TV they were giving a heat and bad air advisory. N2S sat at the dinette out of the way and let me sweep and mop. Then we got everything put away and hitched up. After a quick visit to the dumping station, we were on the road.

Our ride home was uneventful, except for a stop at Buc-ees for lunch and nearly dying when swerving to miss a tire that was in the middle of the highway. An eighteen-wheeler passed me, got in front of me, then swerved hard to the right. I don't know if he had a blow out, or if he was trying to miss the tire also. Anyway, I had to do a really quick swerve and stop combination that was a little scary. I should have stopped and checked the trailer afterward, but we didn't stop.

When we got to Packrats, I backed in extra tight to the fence. We plan to park my Silverado there during the remodeling to give the workers more room. Rachel is parking her car at a friend's house while she is gone. Anyway, we did all our normal things, then I went in to open up the fridge so it could dry and air out. I nearly banged my head on the television. It was hanging about 6 inches off of its shelf. The cabinet door was wide open.

Oh well. We got home to an almost empty downstairs. There is a stack of boxes about 8' feet long and 6' wide waiting for me to take them to Goodwill. There is another stack of about 5 of those 55 gallon trash bags waiting to go to the landfill. Rachel was pretty busy while we were gone! Oh well, she gets to leave for almost four weeks while I take over.

Looks like I won't get away for awhile. Even though we have the weekends to get away, there are the dogs to contend with. I might have to bite the bullet and board them for some of this process. We'll see. Anyway, until then...

Click here to see all of the pictures of this trip.