Friday, December 13 - Tuesday, December 17
US-75 South to SH-190 East; I-30 West to I-635 South; I-45 South to US-190 E, FM 946 S, TX-156 N, FM 222 N and FM 3278 E to State Park Rd 65 in West Livingston.
1. Planned distance: 264 miles
2. Map time estimate: 4:18
3. Adjusted estimate: didn't calculate
4. Actual distance: forgot to check
5. Actual time: didn't check, but the return trip was about 4:40 with two stops
6. On way out, gas stop in McKinney; on return trip gas stop on the way to Huntsville and pee stop at rest area on i-45
7. Average mph trip: unknown
The year was waning and day length decreasing, so I chose "South" for our next direction of travel. Ah, the sunny south! Not to mention Ed's new toys--he had his new trolling motor and live scope to play with, so we needed a destination with a nice, sunny lake to explore.
For reasons I do not recall, I chose Lake Livingston, near Houston, as an appropriate site, and started looking for campsites. The best ones were reserved for all Friday and Saturday nights in the near future, so I made a 2-night reservation at a site that wasn't in a great location, then added another 2-night reservation at a prime site right on the water.
Our plan was to leave as early as possible on Friday, but that soon fell through. Installing the trolling motor and Garmin Live Scope took all day Thursday, and on Friday morning when Ed finally got ready to test out the Live Scope it refused to complete its software updates without an empty USB device or a Micro Sim card. We searched the house for something that would do, and finally found a sim card--but we first needed to back up the pictures on it. When that was done, Ed inserted it with great expectations...and the Garmin refused to accept it. He gave up.
After that he took the boat and truck to fill up on gas and that took a short century. I had time to organize the RV and put the sheets on the bed while I waited, plus take Zack for a walk and clean up the kitchen. It turned out that there was construction on highway 380 and they had it closed down to one lane eastbound--a fill 'em up trip that normally took fifteen minutes ended up taking forty.
He had decided to hook up the boat in the church parking lot, so I went there to wait while he took Mammoth for propane. When that was done, we hooked on the boat but we still needed diesel. The best place for that was just northeast of town--but that would require us suffering through the construction on 380 again. So we detoured north on New Hope Road and guess what? Construction. It was down to one lane with a guide truck making the circuit. We discovered this after turning onto it, of course.
After a few bangings of head on steering wheel, we made it through, got diesel and headed south for a pretty smooth drive around Dallas--until the huge backup getting on I-20 west toward I-45 south. That sort of thing is normal for Dallas so we weren't surprised. Eventually things calmed down (and sped up) but my brain was in overdrive--we'd gotten started so late that it seemed impossible that we would arrive before dark. My brain made a lot of desperate calculations and concluded that if we didn't have to stop again, we wouldn't.
So with only a small cup of water to drink and a tiny bag of trail mix, I called Ed and determined that we both had enough gas to get there. That was going to have to be enough. Drinking and bladder relief was going to have to wait.
Traffic was heavy with a constant stream of cars headed to Houston, but otherwise the drive was boring. Very. I don't remember it ever being any more boring. Of course I was driving a huge Ford F250 and looking in my rearview all the time, making sure I didn't dart around across lanes and leave Mammoth blocked in by slower traffic. It wasn't like I had time to gaze at the scenery. If there had been any.
Our arrival was smooth and the sun had barely set.
...but we discovered that the best overflow parking for the truck was a good way away from the camp site. There was another, closer parking lot but the attendant warned us that it was more isolated, with no one to watch our vehicle. So? It was a beat up, fifteen-year-old pickup--who was likely to bother it? I volunteered to go park it while Ed did the hookups.
I hopped in, consulted the map and drove off...and discovered I couldn't see the road in front of me. (Okay, I could see well enough to not hit trees. But I couldn't read a single sign or portent.) I circled the camping loop and turned onto the road--in the exact wrong direction. A road opened out to my right and I took it, thinking it might be a shortcut, only to find myself in another camping loop. At the end of that loop, I turned right again and found myself at a dead end facing a huge pile of compost.
After a dainty eight-point turnaround, I switched on the inside lights and carefully examined the map. I needed to go back to the front gate (left turn then right turn), pick up the boards we'd accidentally left behind (wheel stops while swapping the boat from RV to truck), then go left, straight, and take the second right. It was absurdly easy--especially after I realized that when I put the headlights on high beams I could actually see where I was going! The left headlight was out, as I discovered after parking.
It was nice to know that I wasn't going blind after all. The walk back to the campsite was easy after my eyes adusted while waiting to let some deer cross the road. Only their eyes reflected my flashlight beam--all eyes and stick bodies--ghostly in the dark. I switched off the light and let them pass in front of me.
It was getting on to seven o'clock by then and neither of us had any interest in cooking. Plus we still needed that MIcroSD card for the Garmin. So I suggested taking a quick drive to the Walmart in Livingston...and by the way, my phone said they a Whataburger! Yes, dear, we're still in Texas!!!
They also had a Taco Bell right in front of the Walmart. Back at the RV I had plenty of refried beans, Picante, tortillas and extra tomatoes. All it would take was a bit of lettuce--and we were at a Walmart with groceries--to make a delicious taco salad and a bean burrito for myself.
But no--I am a child of the seventies. Fast food is my destiny. My fondest memory of freshman year college is eating lunch every Friday with my brother--at McDonald's. After a week spent eating dreary cafeteria food from a meal ticket, I gave myself a treat: McDonald's filet-of-fish, fries, and a diet coke.
So the question of whether or not to stop at Taco Bell was never a question...but this one turned out to be severely disfunctional. There were at least seven cars in line and each took at least five minutes. If we'd noticed this before we were trapped between barriers, we'd have jumped the curb if necessary to get away from the torture.
But when we were safely back in our cocoon with Ed's Whataburger and my Taco Bell, we were satisfied. It was a nice evening. I couldn't fall asleep, of course, but that's normal for a first night out camping. I've learned that no matter how long I lie awake, eventually I'll drop off and it will be better next day. So don't sweat it--sleep will come. Someday.
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