Circle Trip Stop 5: Lockhart State Park

8:57PM, July 5^th, 2013

Well my morning started off nice. I actually slept until a little after seven! I felt so great that I skipped breakfast and just got right into prepping the camper for departure. It didn't take much, since I had not used the TV, the water hookup, or the sewer. I basically only had to secure my cabinets and put the Keurig in the sink. I took my time and even hiked over to the dumpster with my trash instead of driving over on the way out. It was such a pretty morning at Mother Neff that I felt a little sad to leave it.

The route to Lockhart was easy. I retraced my steps to the area I drove to for barbecue at the Backyard, but just kept going on the highway instead of turning off. There were a few road changes until I found myself on I-35 South. I stayed on it until I went on the new toll road, which I took all the way to Lockhart.

The toll road was a worrisome experience. All of the toll booths that said everyone must pay were blocked off with cones. My exit didn't even have a toll booth. N1S said that he thinks they got my license plate electronically and will mail me a bill. I hope so. I don't want Johnny Law knocking on the door with handcuffs some day.

I pulled in a picked site number 12. I got it all parked and set up. I used the BAL leveler to raise the curbside tire off the ground about 4 inches. Then, just when I was getting ready to set up the inside, I got a text from N1S asking what the plans were. He was coming to Lockhart on his way to San Antonio to eat barbecue with me. I didn't have enough service to send a response. I don't know how his text made it to me. I had to drive to headquarters and finish registering anyway, so I went ahead and locked up and headed up there. I was disappointed that they did not have any of the metal plates for my new walking stick. Oh well.

I called N1S and he was planning to leave Austin in about fifteen minutes. That gave me time to go to WalMart and buy a few supplies and get some cash. I wasn't sure if the barbecue place took credit cards and wanted to give N1S some money to enjoy his time in San Antonio. I bought some strawberries, vanilla yogurt, and microwave popcorn, then headed back to the Colby T to put stuff in the fridge. Just then I got a call from N1S. I answered it, but there was nothing but dead air.

I jumped in the truck and headed up towards headquarters to call him back, but got a text from him that said he was at Kruez Market already waiting for me. I texted him and let him know it would be five minutes.

Okay, stopping for the night. Tired of sitting at a computer.

2:36 PM, July 6^th

Picking up from where I left off:

I found N1S sitting in his truck in the parking lot, and pulled in beside him. We went inside and there was a long line. We chatted until it was our time to order. We got three sausage links, a pound and a half of moist brisket, and a half pound of turkey. He said he was really hungry and wanted some to take home.

We found a seat, got some beers, and chowed down. The barbecue was really good. However, Kreuz is very snotty about their meat. They don't use or provide barbecue sauce to go with it, using the tagline “We have nothing to hide.” That doesn't cut it with N1S or me. By definition for us, good barbecue gets coated in tangy sauce, whether during cooking or after. For that one reason, Kreuz can not and will not be the one I rate highest in Lockhart. As good as the meat was, it left us wanting something. I might add that N1S doesn't like the no forks policy either.

I gave N1S some money to take with him, and made sure he had good directions to get home from Lockhart. I used OnStar to get them, but when I got to his truck, he had already gotten them on his cell phone. He headed for San Antonio. I headed to Dairy Queen. I needed the sweetness that I didn't get due to the lack of barbecue sauce.

When I got back to the Colby T, I finished getting set up inside. That included vacuuming the floor to get rid of a the trail dirt I dragged in at Mother Neff. I really like the little 20 dollar vacuum I bought for the trailer. It is really powerful, and because it plugs in, as opposed to being rechargeable, stays powerful all the time.

I got hike ready and headed up to the headquarters. I wanted to check for WiFi. There was none, so I went ahead and hiked up the hill to the recreation hall. That is my favorite hike. It is on the road, but it is climbing the whole time, so you really get a workout.

I wandered around the top looking at things and discovered an old road leading back down that I had missed before. It was overgrown a bit, but there was nothing stopping your from walking down it. It lead me to the golf course. I also found a dirt road at the bottom that took me to one of the holes. It gave me a really nice view of the fairway.

I hadn't done my blog update or checked mail, etc. while on the top of the hill, so I took the old road back up and sat for awhile doing electronic things. I got a text while I was up there, and had to let that conversation run its course before I could come back down due to lack of service in the lower areas.

Back in the Colby T., I ate an early dinner of strawberries and vanilla yogurt and watched the news on TV. I ended up getting drawn in by some new TV show called Siberia. As soon as it ended I turned the TV off so I wouldn't get hooked into watching anything else. I still needed to burn some more calories, just to break even after all that barbecue.

I hiked at a fast pace directly up to the rec center. When I was up there, a wild wind started blowing as if a storm were coming. It was really refreshing. No rain came, but I was cooled down quite a bit. On the way down, I saw a buzzard in a tree against the evening sky. I took a gazillion photos. I hope they are good. I also saw an armadillo running around. I got as close as five feet to him before he ever noticed. I hope those photos are good, too.

Back in the camper, I drank Merlot, ate microwave popcorn, and watched an old Sally Field and Tom Hanks movie on TV. I think it is called Punchline. I don't remember. It is about comedians.

When the movie ended, I started to read but fell asleep. I woke up once in the middle of the night to pee, since I hadn't before going to bed, fully expecting to read for awhile, actually get ready for bed, then go to bed. Then, I slept through until seven again.

I got up and fixed breakfast, but I wasn't feeling all that gung ho. I was still kind of tired and my right foot was hurting a bit. I decided to succomb to laziness and laid back down on bed to read. I read until about 9:30 and remember thinking, “Okay fat ass, time to hit the trails!” The next thing I knew, it was 11:48. I had fallen asleep and had some really vivid dreams about some really crazy things.

I went ahead and ate some strawberries, yogurt, and avocados for lunch before hiking over to headquarters to get a new map. I couldn't find the one they gave me, and I planned on hiking trails today. I took the Clear Fork Trail that runs right across the creek from where I am parked. There is a new trail loop called the Wild Rose. I took it and came into a little valley that is covered with wild rose vines. It was awesome. I have never seen anything like it. There were some roses on the vines, but it was obviously not the blooming time of year. I went to take a picture and my camera was dead! I hate rechargeables! I had it plugged into the computer all night charging, but when closed the laptop, it must have reversed the flow and sucked it all back out.

I came back to the Colby T to charge the camera. Part of the fun of hiking for me is taking pictures. That is the status quo. I am waiting for it to charge, then I am going to hike the trails to get to the rec center instead of the road.

7:55 PM

Got it all charged up and went off on another hike. I repeated the first one so I could get some photos of the wild roses. They were amazing. I would love to come back when they are all in bloom. From there, I followed the Creek View Trail, the Fence Line Trail, the Chisholm Trail, The Comanche Loop, and the Rattlesnake Run Trail. The Comanche Loop trail and the Rattlesnake Run are new. I loved them. I ended up at the recreation center at the top of the hill. I

I stayed on the hill for awhile and updated my mini-blog, checked email, and looked at FaceBook for a few minutes. Then I took the road back to the Colby T. It was really hot, and I was unusually thirsty. You know how sometimes you can't satisfy a thirst? It was like that.

I went to the bathhouse and took a nice hot shower. Then I came back and cooked my last dinner on this trip. I had chicken taco rice. It was good, but I still couldn't get enough to drink. I drank so much I felt bloated, but it did nothing for my thirst.

I got a text from Rachel out of the blue. I tried to respond, but couldn't. I walked away from the camper a bit and got just enough to send one. Then I realized I was hot again and decided to drive to DQ for a blizzard. When I got in the car, I noticed I needed gas. I forgot to get it yesterday again.

I went in to a Valero and filled up. While I was getting gas, I saw a man come out loaded down with styrofoam cups of soda for his family. I went in and got a 60 ouncer. I filled it with as much ice as it would hold then added a splash of Coke Zero. I am not much of a soda drinker, by I figured the ice would melt and give me something cold to drink. I only have three cold bottles of water left in the fridge. I should have put more in last night, but forgot. No sense now. I am going to empty the fridge tonight before bed and stow the thermometer and fridge fan. That way I won't have as much work drying it out when I get back to Packrats.

I'm sitting here watching American Ninja. Not my favorite show, but the best of the choices I can get here. If nothing better comes on after, I'm gonna go back to reading. That's all I'm gonna write tonight. If there is more to add, I will do it in San Antonio. I'm going to shut the computer down and stow it right now.

7:12PM, July 7^th, 2013

Well, my trip is over. It was a good one. I need to tell you what happened last night.

Not long after I shut down the computer, I saw a big ant walking on the wall of the camper by my bed. I got a paper towel and killed it. A few minutes later, there were two more. They were huge ants. I knew that they must be coming in from somewhere, so I grabbed my flashlight and went outside to see what was up. Sure enough, they were climbing up the shoreline (the power cord that connects the camper to the park electricity) and going into the port where the shoreline is stored underneath one of the dinette benches.

I sprayed some Raid to stop the trail. Then I went inside, moved the mattresses, and opened up the compartment under the dinette bench. There were hundreds of the ants in there. I let them have it full on with a ton of Raid. Then I went back out and plugged the porthole with paper towels and saturated them with Raid. That stopped them from coming in, but for the next few hours, I kept finding one or two ants walking on my bed. Some were staggering as if poisoned. Others were perfectly fine, and probably had already left the compartment before I sprayed.

I diligently watched for ants, killing them by hand, until there didn't seem to be anymore. I got in bed and read for awhile, checking for ants occasionally. When I woke up during the night, I turned the light on over the bed and checked again. Fortunately, I didn't see another one, until I stripped the sheets in the morning. One was down between the mattress and the back wall of the camper.

I decided to take the toll road to Seguin to get home. It made it so much easier than worrying about be the slow vehicle on the back roads. It shortened my time getting home because I was able to maintain 60 mph the whole way, and there was no traffic at all on the toll road, and only a little on I10.

At Packrats, I sprayed Raid around all the baseboards as I had planned to do before last night's attack. I had seen a few tiny black ants in the camper at one point during the trip. I never saw anymore, but planned to spray at the end of the trip just in case. As I was locking the gate to leave, I heard an alarm going off. I walked over to the Colby T, and sure enough, it was the carbon monoxide detector reacting to the Raid. I had to disconnect the battery to stop it.

I am not overly concerned about this ant invasion. I have spent 58 nights in the Colby T, and this is the first time it has happened. In the future, I will be proactive and block the port. You live and learn.

Happy Trails!

You can see all of the photos from this trip on my Photobucket site. click here