Day 3 of the return leg of the St. Louis Road Trip

7:34 PM, July 7, 2016, Daingerfield SP

I woke up pretty early today because I knew I had a five hour minimum drive ahead of me. I was hoping to be on the road by 7:00. That would put me at my next destination between 12:00 and 1:00, which would give me plenty of time to explore before dark.

Packing up when I stay on the hitch has become a fairly fast and easy routine. It only takes me about 30 minutes from start to finish. What takes time is making and drinking my two cups of coffee as well as making sure I am REALLY done with the bathroom, if you know what I mean.

I put a little deet on, but I didn't see any mosquitos. That's kind of odd, because usually if they're bad at night somewhere, they're bad in the morning. Lucky me!

Most of my drive was on four lane highways today. In fact, 183 miles of it was on I-30. It wasn't until I got to Texas that I started being diverted to smaller roads. I kind of like them. The only problem I had today was the traffic. There were so many trucks headed to Dallas, it was making me crazy. It was pretty windy in spots, as well.

Just about the time I hit the Texas/Arkansas state line, I finished the book I was listening to. The iPhone instantly switched to music, and that was okay. I also started wanting to get gas around that time. I had already stopped once, but it was creeping back down towards half a tank. I can't risk getting any lower because of the difficulty I have finding suitable stations.

I took and exit off the highway in New Boston. The sign said there were four gas stations, and I figured one of them would work for me. As I was pulling off, I saw a Walmart across the highway and really liked the pump layout. I drove over there and filled up. The downside? No restrooms unless you go all the way into Walmart! I just pulled the trailer over by some truckers who were parked at the far end of the parking lot and used the toilet in the Colby T. What a luxury!

The last 50 miles of the trip were on small roads. I would go about five miles and make a turn. It really made the trip go fast. It seemed I was at Daingerfield SP before I even knew it.

They gave me a choice of sites 1 and 4. I took four, but when I got to the loop, 4 was the only one with no shade. All the other sites are nestled under huge pines. I looped back around and pulled into site one. I called headquarters and they said I could have it.

When I first pulled in, I wasn't overly worried about the levelness of the site. I did all my normal "on the hitch" set up. Then I went inside to do some setup and just couldn't deal with the way it felt. There was a side to side difference of about 6 inches. Also, since I was on the hitch, the front end was way higher than the back.

I raised the stabilizers back up, got the trailer off the hitch, removed the chains, pulled the truck up, leveled front and back with the crank, pulled everything out of the basement so I could access the BAL leveler, installed the leveler and raised the port-side tire six inches, and re-lowered the stabilizers. When I was done, I was a HOT mess.

Luckily, the AC and icemaker are the first two things I do. The camper was semi-cool at 83* by the time I finished, so I just sat there in front of the fan for a few minutes. Then I went out and put everything back in the basement.

I took out my iPhone and started following my normal campsite arrival checklist. Funny how I need that.

I decided that I could wait to set up the coffee maker, kitchen cabinets, and get my Merlot out of the overhead storage. There were some other little OC things I needed to do, also. I just wasn't in the mood right then. Instead, I put on hiking clothes and hiked the trail by the lake that leads to the camp store. I wanted to buy a walking stick medallion. It was a very nice hike. The breezes coming off the lake were cool, and the trees gave me shade the whole way.

When I got back, I ate a snack of pork rinds with squirt cheese. That has really become my favorite snack on this trip. Then got two bottles of water and squirted some flavoring with electrolytes in them and left to hike around the lake.

I took the road to get to the trail head. It was all up hill, there wasn't as much shade, there was NO breeze, and I almost aborted the mission altogether. I'm glad I didn't because it was a beautiful hike. I thought I would have to double back. I totally misinterpreted the trail map. I didn't see that there was a connecting trail that would get me to the tent camping loop. Then I could just walk the road to my site.

It is a good thing that I didn't have to backtrack. By the time I found myself in the tent loop, I was already pretty spent. I can't tell you why I was so worn out today. It wasn't any longer of a hike. It wasn't any hotter. It sure as hell wasn't as humid as the hikes at Sam A. Baker and Jacksonport. My back hurt. My knees hurt. Every step was an effort. I was so tired that I was partially dragging my feet and tripping over things that normally don't bother me. On top of that, I felt overheated. I don't understand that either. It was nice and cool and breezy on the trail and I drank two bottles of Gatorade-like liquid.

When I got back to the camper, I stripped off the wet clothes, threw a towel on the bed, grabbed a nice cold drink, and just lay there naked in front of fan trying to cool down. After about twenty minutes, I was dry and feeling better.

I decided to take a shower at the bath house. It is about 50 feet from my site. I started out with water hotter than I usually like and then brought it down to lukewarm and just stood there for awhile.

When I got back to the camper, I did all those things I had skipped before. Then I got caught up on FaceBook, email, and the OpenRoads RV Forum.

Dinner tonight was one of those Hormel Compleats. This one was Stroganoff. I liked it. I like all of the different ones they make.

Before I knew it, it was already 7:30 P. I poured a glass of wine and started this post.

And that, my friends, was Day 3 of the trip back home!