Circle Trip Stop 1: South Llano State Park

2:30 PM, Thursday, June 27, 2013

 Well I am finally on my mini vacation in the Colby T. This is the first of five stops at Texas state parks. I am traveling in a 615 mile circle and spending two nights at each park. I am excited, as this will be my longest time away in my camper.

I wasn't sure if this trip would even happen. I made all my plans, but Rachel decided to finally get a medical test done. She had been told to do it back in January, but felt like it was a waste of time. But, she kept letting it needle her at the back of her mind and finally decided to get it done. If it was positive, good- she could start treatment. If it was negative, good- we could stop worrying about it. One of the reasons she didn't want to do it was the cost. Can you imagine that? We don't exactly live under a bridge. We have insurance. Oh well... Anyhow, we went yesterday to get the results. All is well, and I headed out as planned.

This is my first time at South Llano River SP. I wanted to come before, but it was booked. I see why now. It is beautiful. The river is just a small meandering one, but the area around it is lush and nice. I am here for the trails, of which there are many.

I got here today around 11:00 AM. I had to back into my site, which I feel like I did pretty well. I have learned to take my time. I had to pull back up a couple of times to straighten out, but that was only because my site is on a curve, and I wasn't able to get straight to begin with. It isn't as easy as you would think. I have to go by site, but the back end is totally blocked by the camper. You really have to trust your mirrors, even though they give you a somewhat distorted picture of what's back there.

I decided to just get everything all moved in and set up right away. I had skipped breakfast and wanted to eat a meal before hitting the trails. First thing to do was vacuum with my new vacuum cleaner. I needed to get all of Nicky's hair out of here. I got a $20 electric vacuum at WalMart. It is small, but more powerful than those rechargeable ones. Since I am using it in the Colby T, the cord is more than long enough. It did a nice job.

For lunch, I made some Thai curried rice with chicken. It was pretty good. I cleaned up trying to use a miniscule amount of water. I don't have a sewer connection here. I hope to wait until I get to my third stop to dump the tanks. I have full sewer there. It can be done by using minimal water for cleaning, and not flushing too much water.

I took a walk to the river. It was a nice loop. I carried water with me, but it got really hot. Unlike Nicky, I am not spoiled enough to carry cold water for me. In fact, I didn't even bring any ice on this trip. I turned the fridge on, but if it doesn't cool down a bit by about 5:00 pm, I will know I am not level enough. I am not going to waste time getting that level just to have ice cold drinks.

There is one bar of E phone service that comes and goes. I can't call my sister, Patti, for her birthday like I had planned. I was able to text Rachel and the project manager for the house. I do not know whether or not my posts to my new mini blog site, More Hot Air, are making it through or not. I also can't add my nutritional information to my Body Media App. I did not realize it need a connection for that. I can transmit my activity stats to it.

Anyway, I came back to the camper after the walk and felt a little overheated. I'm not sure how hot it is out there, but it is scorching. I decided to rest in the cool for a while and get this started. I am not quite ready to try and hike the hill to the scenic outlook. That might be a thing for tomorrow when it is cooler.

6:16 PM

Once I felt cooled down enough, I went back out and hiked the same hike in reverse. I saw a beautiful tiny fawn peaking out at me. I don't know if the pictures will show him. I didn't want to get too close. I actually saw some folks on the trail this time. The whole park is pretty full. When I was headed to town a while ago, there were about six trailers pulling in. There are some tent campers, and the rest are about 50/50 popups to trailers.

I got back to the camper and tried to cool off for awhile. I played a few minutes of a game called Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome. I'm not much of a gamer, but I figured there would be no TV or Internet out here and downloaded it just in case. I will do more writing and reading, but I also need some thoughtless time wasting activities.

I decided to go and buy a bag of ice. Much to my surprise, the foam cooler that N2S and I bought for the Colby T was not in the bath tub! No problem. There is a Dollar General in Junction. They have everything you could need in a tiny cramped space. If one ever explodes, it will turn into a WalMart. I also bought a cold six pack of beer. I am on vacation!

Back at the camper, I went ahead and cooked dinner. I didn't want any dirty dishes tonight, so I just had powdered eggs on tortillas. I mixed them and cooked them in a paper bowl. No mess. No fuss. Anyway, after I ate, I got you caught up. I know it's early, but I am dog tired. I think I will take a short nap, then take one more trip on the trails.

7:49PM

Well. I scrapped the nap and went straight on to the final hike of the evening. I started to follow the same path I took on the second hike, but I was lured into seeing where the scenic overlook trail went. I was just going to get a peak at it, preferring to walk it in the cool of the morning. When I saw it was a paved road, I figured I would go ahead and do it. It was a steep walk. I had to stop several times to catch my breath. The payoff was so worth it though. The view was awesome. I sat at the picnic table for a few minutes entering today's meals since there was just enough signal to do that.

While I was sitting at the overlook, something crashed through the brush headed right for me. I thought it was a deer, but it wasn't. I beautiful golden colored fox was in hot pursuit of a bird. The bird squawked and took off. The fox looked at me and gave me a look that must have said, “Damn it! You scared my dinner away.” Then it turned and hightailed it into the woods.

The walk down was a breeze. I just let the hill pull me. A little lizard started racing ahead of me and stopping about five feet ahead. He finally veered off, and I got a good shot of him.

Now it is time for a sponge bath, a couple brewskis, and a good read.

9:54AM, Friday, June 28^th

This has been an awesome morning! I woke up freezing at 6:00. That seems to be my natural time. If I ignore it, I usually snooze a little until 7:00. Today, however, I wanted to get out on the trails before they got too hot. I fixed a breakfast of two powdered egg, bacon, sriracha, and squirt cheese tacos with a nice hot cup of obsedian coffee from the Keurig. Then I dressed, gathered my stuff, and headed out.

I wanted to hike the Fawn Trail today. It is a two hour loop that leaves from near my camp site and finishes by the park headquarters. It starts out meandering through some lush brushy areas following a dry creek bed. Then it suddenly turns off to the right. At that point, you have a long grueling climb for about twenty minutes (at my pace with stops to recover my heart rate). When you get to the top, you find your self on a wide flat plain with a dirt road going ahead as far as the eye can see. To your left and right, there are beautiful views of nearby hilltops and one large plateau. Today, it was sunny and cool with a wonderful constant breeze blowing towards me.

Eventually, you come to a descent that is windy and steep. Signs warn that it may be dangerous when wet, but it was no problem today. At each twist of the trail, new vistas open up before you. At the bottom, I turned down another short trail. There was a pit there with a large strange looking deer beside it. It looked at me and screeched like I have never heard before running off. The pit was full of deer carcasses. When I asked at HQ, they told me the deer was an exotic. The carcasses are the ones hit by cars or found dead of old age in the park.

A short ways from there, I entered a lushly canopied part of the trail which had little flip-board signs with information on them. I stopped to read everyone and even took some photos. That trail ended at the headquarters. I went in there and asked about 6 questions that were burning on my mind. One of the rangers mentioned that there is a public library in Junction with WiFi, so I am headed there later.

I finished my hike by adding on an hour long loop past the lake, where I sat on a bench and listened to birds and watched some little boys fish for awhile. Then I hiked back to the Colby T. As I passed other campers, they all seemed to be just getting started on their day. I have already burned more than half of my calories for the day, met my step goal, and doubled my moderate activity goal. I don't know why I didn't get points for vigorous activity today or last evening while climbing hills!

As soon as I got into the Colby T, I stripped naked, put a wet washcloth in the microwave, and gave myself a sponge bath. Then I put my wet clothes in the bed of my truck to dry and started getting all of my devices charged.

In town, I am hoping to get my photos posted to photobucket, catch up on email and FaceBook, and research sites to see in Junction. I want to tour around during the hotter hours before coming back and taking a few small hikes in the later evening hours. I also need to call a friend who tried to call me yesterday. My phone rang, but I couldn't hear anything. When I have service (it comes and goes), it it usually no more than 1 bar of 3G and most ofter 1 bar of E. I seem to be able to send texts with any service. Facebook doesn't work at all. Email worked once. Strangely, I seem to be able to sync my Evernote app on the phone.

Anyway, I need to get my photos off the camera and head to town.

2:05PM

Well I am back. It is really hot out there. The LED sign at the bank in Junction said it was 95, but I'm sure that was just the beginning of today's climb to the inferno. I went straight to the library and got caught up on FaceBook, twitter, and email sitting on the porch. Then I tried to upload my photos. My laptop claims to have 6 hours of charge, but only stays on for two or three minutes. I went inside and the librarian showed me a hidden outlet by a table where I could plug in. I had the pictures up in a snap. Then I started researching places to see in Junction. There wasn't much listed, but I went ahead and sent OnStar directions to my truck for the Kimble County Historical Museum. Before leaving the library, I walked through the O.C. Fisher exhibit. It was really nice. He is related to King Fisher and was a congressman.

I drove to the museum, but it was closed. It is just a tiny little building. They are raising money for a new one. There is a sign on a big vacant lot announcing the future home. I was a little disappointed. I decided to park on the town square and just walk around for awhile. I got some good photos. It was unbearably hot, especially on my head! I spent about 45 minutes walking and reading all the signs. Then I got back in the truck and drove the other way through town to see what was there.

Just as I was thinking a cold drink would be nice, I saw a Sonic. I stopped in and sat at a table outside. The phone service was good there, so I called Ann. I sat there in the heat for a while longer enjoying my Route 44 diet cherry limeade. Then it was just time to head back to camp.

I passed a place called the Milky Way. I decided that since I hadn't had any lunch, I would stop for ice cream, if it was an ice cream kind of place. I turned and drove to the school and parked so I could look it up on the Internet. A Police truck was going by and just slammed on his breaks and sat there watching me. I quickly learned that the Milky Way was a full-blown diner. I didn't want lunch. I have food in the camper. I pulled out of the lot, and headed back to camp.

Now, I am going to stay in doors and read for a while. Then I will take at least one more hike around the lake. No big hills. I'm kind of worn out already.

5:15PM

Well, I took a nice long hike around the lake to pass time for dinner. I saw several deer along the way-lots of fawns. When I got to the end of the part of the trail that meets the river, I saw three people carrying their floating tubes. They must have rented them from the park because they were big and yellow with numbers marked on them. A medium sized black dog was trotting along with them. The youngest guy was barefoot and obviously having a bad go of it. I wanted to badly to offer my socks to him. They would have helped with the heat and might have helped with the rocks. But-NO! I was too afraid they would think I was some old crazy guy or something. Instead, I asked how the river was and went on my way.

At the Colby T, I stripped off my clothes and washed up again. I had changed back into my dirty clothes, because all you do is get sweaty in this heat. Now they are drying and getting ready for their trip into the dirty clothes sack for good. I can't go through too many clothes. Beating my shirts on a rock by the water is not an option.

I fixed a nice dinner of chicken flavored taco rice. Since I skipped lunch, I indulged myself with some extra low carb tortillas. I also drank one of the beers from yesterday. The others are on the docket for tonight. I plan to read and relax inside before going to bed early. I have 137 miles to travel tomorrow, and prefer to do it in the cool so the Colby T is easier to cool off. I hope to pull out of here by 7:30, but I am not setting any alarm.

That's it for this leg of the trip. I will start with tomorrow morning in the next post about Lake Brownwood SP. If something amazing happens tonight, I'll update this one.

Happy Trails!

You may view all of my pictures from this trip on my photobucket site.click here