Garner State Park October 2013

Friday, October 18

Well, it has been a while since I have been able to get away in the Colby T. I was ready to go on the weekend of October 12^th, but I couldn't find a spot ANYWHERE! Then I realized that it was Columbus Day weekend. You don't notice those things as much when you have to work. Sure I knew that the students wouldn’t be in school, but I had to be there. Plus, I don't have kids in school anymore to consider. Anyway, that weekend was a big bust. So then I considered the weekend before that, but Rachel reminded me that it was N1S's birthday weekend. Just in case he was going to come down or something, I needed to pass on that weekend also. That pretty much pushed me to this weekend, the weekend of October 18^th. I tried to get a spot at Guadalupe River State Park, but there were none. Out of desperation, I tried for Garner State Park, which was not my favorite for several reasons that I won't bother to mention, since I can already tell none of them apply!

Now, I am not someone who cuts work routinely or without a huge guilt process. This time, it wasn't even my idea. I jokingly said to Rachel that I couldn't wait get to my getaway weekend. I said that I should have taken the day off, and she said, “Why don't you?” I had things to do in the morning, so I only took the afternoon. Then, as fate would have it, I ended up being a substitute for my ECT all morning anyway. It obviously didn't matter what I had on my plate, we needed a warm body in the lab with the rotation classes. I am not complaining folks. Even the principal had to help by covering the afternoon. Don't think for a minute that went unnoticed by me. My selfishness ruined her day. I HATE being absent. Oh well. I will hold up my record to anybody's. Besides, I never get to work later than 6:45 am, and most days I am even earlier. I get my work done.

The morning dragged on as I pretty much just babysat classes for four hours. I had everything packed at the house instead of just leaving straight from work like I would have, had I not taken the afternoon off. This way I got to make sure the dogs got out because Rachel gets home late on Fridays. I also got to empty myself for the trip, if you know what I mean. It didn't delay me too much even though N2S and Storm were hanging out at the house while N2S did his laundry. In fact they helped me load the truck with my few things.

I had stopped on the way home to get gas and put air in my tires. I left the caps in my pocket so I could check the pressure after driving home. Then once I got to Packrats and hitched up, I realized that I had left the damned things at the house. I called N2S and told him to get them out of my pants and bring them out to me when I pulled up. Just as I got there, the pesticide folks got there, too. I told them to just do the outside since the boys were in the house. I get kind of goofy about pesticide in my house, even though they say it is non-toxic. Anyway, I checked my tires and put the caps on. Then I remembered that Storm had left a T-shirt in the Colby T when we went to the Grand Canyon, so I went in and got it for him.

I finally pulled out of the cul de sac ready to go. I had told OnStar to get me to Tarpley, Texas. I didn't want to get to Garner by taking highway 90 to Sabinal. Google and OnStar both routed me that way. I figured that, if I got all the way to Tarpley, then OnStar would send my on through Utopia. That worked, with a few surprises. The ride to Bandera was uneventful. The drive to Tarpley was uneventful. The drive to Utopia was kind of curvy and hilly. I had to go about 25 in some parts of it. Then, after Utopia, about 5 miles of the road, which were some of the hilliest and curviest, where under construction. Now, nobody was actually working on the road, but it was a dirt road lined with cones. Not exactly the most comfortable way to go when pulling a trailer. But, it was stunningly beautiful, so I didn't mind it at all. The last ten or so miles to Garner were also uneventful.

The gate to Garner was not were it used to be! I was surprised by how different the park was. Instead of pulling up like most parks and walking in to register, I had to pull into a huge parking lot and actually park and walk to the headquarters. When I got there, I walked into a room with about thirty people standing in line to register. I even had to take a number. Mine was 50. The sign read 41, which made me a bit happier, because that meant some of the people were together. Every few minutes, they would buzz the next customer into the next room where there were about four counters open to register people. It seemed to take a lot longer than I remember at any other park. I soon learned why. This park has GROWN. They have about three new areas to camp. It takes longer for you to pick your spot. On the way out of the building a boy said, "Hi, Mr. Baker!" I recognized him as one of my students from one of my schools. I said, "Why aren't you in school?" He answered guiltily, "Because I'm camping." I told him not to worry, that I was playing hooky, too. By the way he looked at me, I'm not sure he knows that term.

I chose spot 122 because it looked like a straight back in, and it was far away from everyone else for some reason. The only other camper near me is the host. It turned out to not be as much of a straight backup, but I did fine. I got out and looked a couple of times, just to be sure I was putting it where I wanted. The site is beautiful. The back is a jumble of hills and ravines. The front is a big field with trees. I like it a lot.

I got the Colby T leveled with the BAL leveler and put my stuff inside. Then I took off for a hike on one of the new trails. It was beautiful. It followed a ravine all the way to the highway. Just as I reached the old gate to the park, I turned left and took another trail that climbed way up and wound around the hills. It eventually came back down to the old original entrance road. I walked on that for about a half mile to get to the road that goes to the old section. Then I turned left and hiked back to the Colby T. Altogether, it was probably about a three mile hike. It was humid as hell, but not at all hot.

Back at the camper, I went ahead and finished setting up the kitchen and unpacking my things. Since I have full phone service, I decided to hook up the TV and try it, even though nobody else had their antennas up. They didn't because there is absolutely no signal here at all. I went ahead and re-stowed the TV and put the antenna back down. Then I brewed a cup of coffee while I opened my box of Merlot (It is one of those Black Boxes.) and heated up my dinner.

Now I am sitting here listening to Pandora (my Linda Ronstadt channel) and fighting the AC. It's too humid to leave it off, but too damned cold to have it on. I'm gonna grab a glass of Merlot and figure it out. Then I am going to take a walk around the Shady Meadow camping area before getting in bed to read the rest of the night away. I want to hit the trails super early in the morning. I feel pressured to walk all the new ones tomorrow, since I will probably get up and head home on Sunday so I can have some time with Rachel and rest up for the work week.

October 19

Well I woke up this morning with frozen feet. The temperature dropped to about 40 during the night. All the humidity blew out too, which is awesome. I had gotten up in the middle of the night to do use the restroom and turned off the AC. Still, it was well below sixty inside the Colby T. I looked on weather bug and saw that it was 44 degrees outside. All I had with me were shorts and T-shirts. I knew I was going to be one cold hiker. I cooked a quick breakfast of scrambled powdered eggs with Cheerios in them. Then I drank one last cup of coffee, put on an extra T-shirt and hit the trails.

I started on the road that leads to the old part of Garner. Then I turned onto the Crystal Cave trail. It was pretty rigorous, and I totally expect to feel it later this evening. My plantar fascitiis acted up most of the day, already upset from yesterday's hike. Anyway, the steep climb warmed me up, which was good, since there was quite a breeze up on the hills. Even in the sun, it was chilly. I did a pretty good job of climbing. I always make sure to stop and let my heart recover every hundred yards, or so. After all, I am by myself. No sense pushing it and risking a coronary on the top of a mountain with nobody around to help me. In fact, I didn't see another human being until about the last five minutes of my hike.

I took lots of pictures and really enjoyed myself. Coming back down on a different trail was more challenging. Because I am an old fart with bad knees, I have to be very careful to find the “knee friendly” way down the steep parts. Add to that, the fact that some footfalls (I think I'm using that correctly) are extremely painful, and I need to make that next step FAST! Throw in my triple lenses and my constantly watery right eye. It can be a rough and rocky road-no pun intended!

I was up on the top, when I got the brilliant idea of turning on my Geocaching app to see if there were any caches nearby. I was surprised to find one listed about 500 feet from me. It was on this interesting land formation called “Diane's Patio”. It kind of looks like someone purposefully arranged the rocks to form a makeshift patio. Anyway, I had to use my caching experience, since I didn't actually have my GPS with me, and the phone isn't quite as exact enough for finding them, in my opinion. It took me about fifteen minutes, which is embarrassing. Just the same, I did find it. Then I just headed on down the trail.

I guess the hike was about two and a half hours altogether. I feel like my BodyMedia device ripped me off on steps. Oh well. Anyway, back at the Colby T, I decided to make a cup of coffee and sit at the picnic table. I had already taken my tennies off, so I put my “$1.99 at WalMart” thongs on. I keep them by the door, just in case I need to go outside for something and don't want to bother with my shoes. I used to keep my Topsiders there, but the metal eyelet started cutting me, so I stopped wearing them. Anyway, I quickly learned that it was too cold for my poor old achy feet so I finished up my coffee and went inside.

I checked my calorie burn and decided that I would go for lunch at the barbecue joint in Leakey. It was too early for that, so I laid on the bed for a few seconds and ended up falling asleep. I woke up with cold sore feet a few minutes later and actually got my ceramic heater out to warm the place up. That little thing is about the size of a box of Hamburger Helper, but it can heat the entire interior of the Colby T in about 15 minutes on the coldest of days.

I took another cup of coffee out to the picnic table-this time with tennies on. I decided to send the information for the barbecue place to OnStar with the iPhone app. It wouldn't do it for some reason. It kept telling me I need to drive the vehicle to establish a location first. I decided that was an omen of some kind and blew off the whole idea of barbecue. Instead, I ate one of the granola bars that HEB gave me in my gift bag at the sampling event. Then I headed off on another hike to see the old part of Garner State Park.

To get there, you have to hike all the way up a hill and then come back down again. It was a nice walk. The weather is now unbelievable. Hold on- okay, I just checked Weather Bug. It is 65 degrees with 32% humidity. Can we say HEAVENLY!! I am sitting at the picnic table right now enjoying the weather. But, I digress. The walk over there was wonderful. I was so giddy from the beauty around me that I felt like an idiot when people drove by. I was listening to Pandora (Linda Ronstadt channel) the whole time. I never do that! It was awesome, I felt like I was in a movie with a soundtrack.

The river is beautiful today. There were actually some people in the water. I think they're frapping nuts. They don't call it the Frio River for nothing. For my non Spanish speaking readers, Frio means “really really cold”. That makes it like a paradise in the summer, but when it's hot, you get to come out of the water to warm air. Today was a breezy cool day. Well, to each his own.

I walked all over the old section, which is called Pecan Grove. That's where most people like to camp. I heard them saying that while waiting in line yesterday. For me, it brought back an overwhelming flood of memories. I actually got a little misty for a few minutes. (Okay. I cried. Get over it!) I relived my first trip here in 1976. I came on a school bus for my Senior Trip. Talk about a bitter sweet memory. I haven't seen any of those high school friends since graduation. I wouldn't even recognize them now. I probably see a lot of them in town and don't even realize it.

 I also thought about the disastrous stop I made here a few years later with my first girlfriend, Beth Hughes. We were sweethearts in Taiwan. She drove to my parents house in San Antonio during my Junior year at SWTSU to meet up with me, and we took a great trip to Big Bend. ( We were no longer a couple, but had moved on to being life-long friends. It is a relationship I value to this day.) We had decided to stop at Garner on the way home for one last night of vacation. Unfortunately, we had managed to lose the the top part of the tent poles- you know the one that all the other poles used to snap into. We ended up driving home in the wee dark hours. We went through Utopia, Tarpley, and Bandera with deer shine every hundred yards. It was a horrible drive, as I was exhausted.

Then, there was that last time  I came here with the Cub Scouts when N1S, now 23, was about ten. We camped in that old section in a tent with his best friend Everett. I remember we hiked the trails, and I got so tired I thought I was having a heart attack. I sat on a rock and let them go on with the scout leader. I decided not to wait for them to come back down and staggered all the way back to the tent alone. I crawled into my sleeping bag to die. Before long, I found out what was wrong with me. For the rest of the time we were there, I was puking or sitting on the pot with diarrhea. The other men packed up my site the next day. I tried to drive the boys back to San Antonio, but ended up at the Dairy Queen in Hondo convinced death was imminent. I called Rachel on the pay phone and told her we were going to eat and sit there for a while until I felt like I could finish the trip. After about two hours, I felt up to it, and managed to get us back. We dropped Everett off on the way home. I got out of the van (or whatever I was driving then), staggered into the house, crawled to the bedroom, stripped out of my clothes and got in bed. I stayed there until about 7:00 PM the next day. Maybe that is one reason I have always avoided coming back here. I don't know.

Anyway, I went into the gift shop and bought myself one of those plates you nail onto your walking stick with the money I had in the pocket of my hat. Then I climbed back over the hill to get back here. I've been sitting here drinking coffee and writing this ever since.

October 21, 2013

Okay, I am now sitting on my LazyBoy with my laptop on my lap finishing up the details of my trip while I wait for the Draino to unclog the shower drain so I can take a much needed shower. The clog showed up on Friday, so I asked Rachel to buy some stuff and have it ready for me. I should have just let her do it, but I am the maintenance man. I also need to gather last week's laundry and add it to my camping laundry and get them all cleaned and dryed. I hope to spend the evening watching my shows Sunday's are my favorite TV nights.

So, back to Garner. Shortly after the last bit that I wrote, I went into the Colby T and took a nap before cooking dinner. As mentioned earlier, I had wanted barbecue for lunch, but talked myself out of it. That made me feel like I deserved and extra good dinner. I cooked a bag of “Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Sides”. I threw in a package of 90 second “zesty peas and lentils” and two Nutrisystem chicken breasts. It was wonderful, and still kept me under the calorie count I would have had eating a barbecue plate. Besides, I had already taken two long hikes, and knew another one was coming up.

After dinner, I put on my tennies and hit the trails. I took the same one I had used on Friday evening, but when I got to the old entrance gate, I turned on to the deserted road and followed it all the way to where it dead ends on the hill that leads to the older section of the park. About half-way, there was an old scenic overlook. Since the road is closed, they filled it with picnic tables. I sat there looking at the view of the park below. I couldn't see the Colby T because it was too close to the hillside. Off in the distance, a guy was flying in one of those parachute thingys. I was really jealous. All the beauty of Garner from the sky- Awesome!

When I got back to the camper, the sun was starting to go down. You could sense the end of the day coming. The smells along the final stretch of campers was amazing. Everyone was getting their meals done on the grill. I grabbed a glass of wine and sat at my picnic table enjoying to view for awhile. Then, just as it was starting to get dark, I made a loop around the camping areas. The smells were good, but there wasn't as much activity as the night before. That had been a little later though. Just as I got to the lonely stretch before the road curves and where my site is, something ran across the road in front of me. It was about the size of a house cat with light fur, but I couldn't make out what it was. It was probably a rabbit.

My feet were absolutely killing me, so I grabbed more Merlot and sat back down at the picnic table. I could hear mosquitoes swarming around my ears, so I went into the trailer and got some bug spray. As I was coming back to the table, I saw a strange glow over the hills off in the distance. Almost instantly, the glow turned into a huge beautiful full moon. It looked like an egg being laid. Then it was all the way up and sitting on the hill. I knew that aching feet or not, I was going to have to go for another walk around the camping area later. There is just something special about walking at night with moon shadows all around you. I made it a plan, and sat back at the picnic table to drink Merlot and wait for the moon to get higher and brighter in the sky. When I took a sip of my wine, a moth fluttered on my lips. It had fallen in my glass and was spinning around like a motor boat. Yechh.

I finally took my “Merlot shuffle” around the campsites basking in the moon shadows. This time, I had grabbed my flashlight, just in case another critter ran in front of me. I am glad I did because there were several skunks around enjoying the moon shadows with me. I would spot a movement near me, shine my light, and see a cute little skunk staring at me. I had to wait for one to cross the street before I could pass. Back a the Colby T, there was one running around the picnic table area, so I decided to take another lap around the Shady Meadow area to give him a chance to get lost. As I passed one campsite, a man was talking about how they were going to make s'mores. He was elaborately outlining how each boy (seemed to be a bunch of cub scouts) would take a marshmallow, one sheet of graham cracker, and half a Hershey bar. He wanted to be sure that everyone got some. I thought it was funny, because I remember one of the scout leaders giving the same talk when I was here with N1S. I wanted to walk up and join them, but I am not that kind of creepy old man. (yet)

The rest of the evening was fairly mundane. I drank some more Merlot and laid in bed reading. I ran the heater all night. The temperature only went down to about 44, but that somehow translated to very cold inside. I have a real issue with cold achy feet. The ceramic heater doesn't have a usual thermostat. You basically turn it on until you are comfortable, then you turn the knob down a touch and it shuts off. Then it will come off and on to maintain that temperature. You have to play with it to find the sweet spot. I like to sleep at about 73 degrees. It did a pretty good job of maintaining it. On some cold weather trips, I heat the camper up, then turn it off. Then in the morning, I will turn it all the way up and let it run for about ten minutes before getting out of the covers. I like it.

This morning, I woke up to my alarm at 7:00 amazed that I had slept through the night. I just laid there enjoying that cozy and snug feeling of waking on a cool morning. At about 7:45, I got out of bed and started prepping for departure. I decided that I wanted to dump the tanks, even if it meant sitting in line for an hour. Something about leaving that “stuff” to ferment in the Colby T grosses me out. It isn't a smell thing, because there is no smell if you take care of your tank system correctly. It is the thought of it. Anyway, having made that decision, I decided to try and be on my way before the other campers made their mass exodus. I know some people like to stay for the rest of Sunday and go home in the evening, but I like to be home, showered, clothes washed, and ready to just relax for the rest of the day. As it turned out, I was next in line when I pulled up to the dump station, and the entire process of waiting and dumping was over within fifteen minutes.

There is nothing of interest to say about the trip home. I couldn't get an OnStar signal, so I followed a sign for Uvalde. Then I turned on another highway in Concan and headed to Sabinal. From there I knew the way. As fast as it all started, my weekend getaway to Garner SP was over, and the Colby T was back in its jail waiting sadly for the next adventure. That is probably not for a month. N2S and I are going to go to Mustang Island SP over Thanksgiving break.

Until next time: Happy Trails!

See all the photos from this trip here!