Planned distance: 402 miles
Planned time: 6:26
Actual time:7:42
Stops: quick pee stop at the Hillsboro rest area. 10-minute stop on the road, checking low tire pressure, then 10-minute stop at a Valero/Circle K where the truck pumps had tire air filler nozzles right there--very convenient. Second fill-up close to the park.
We'd planned to go to Choke Canyon State Park and camp next to friends Bob and Theresa, and we had reservations just across the street from each other. But that got canceled due to a water system failure at the park. On Thursday I'd gone jogging with my phone turned off, then left it in my purse while Ed and I went to the grocery, so I didn't hear the calls, texts, and emails from TPWD telling me my campsite reservation was canceled. I didn't get the texts or call from Theresa, either, until I returned at eleven.
But Bob had gotten online and found that Lake Corpus Christi State Park, 30 or 45 minutes farther south, still had a few sites available. We immediately got busy and made our reservations. We were about four sites away from each other, but at least we had sites! The other options were not good--Lake Somerville, which I'd seen and hated, and various places farther afield. At least this place would be new to us.
The drive was really, really long, but otherwise not so bad. Got moving early--shooting for nine o'clock, we made it out by nine-thirty. We were trying out our new and highly necessary toy--a tire pressure monitoring system. For an ungodly sum of money, Ed found one that would monitor all six Mammoth tires plus the four on the Jeep. Installing the sensors was a pain, but he finished it in good time the day before.
Problem was, the alarm started going off on the Mammoth driver's front tire after about two hours of driving. Either the sensor was malfunctioning, or else it was slowly losing pressure. A quick stop on the road to check it indicated the latter issue.
Ed's theory was that the monitor was not well screwed on, so he tightened it up and then we went another ten miles down the road to a Valero truck stop. I forget the exact numbers, but I think it was in the range of ten pounds below the required pressure of 110 when we filled it up. not too awfully bad.
He monitored it closely from then, but the repair appears to have held. no more pressure loss, just the normal variation, Or maybe the sensors are a little off, but still the pressure never varied by more than a pound or two after that.
We arrived t about 5:10 to find this a pretty nice little state park on a lake. Our site had big shady trees and a view of the lake through the trees. The park was crowded--Saturday night--but not full. Certainly not as full as the reservations page had indicated. Funny, when I made the reservation there was only one site free, but at the park, on the loop we were on, there were at least five sites free. And they never filled up, either. This really makes me wonder if people are making reservations "just in case" and not bothering to cancel them. That sort of thing really sucks for us out-of-towners who need the reservations to keep.
The only real issue with the park, other than a bit of noise from a party over the hill, was the sticker burs. They were worse than I'd ever seen. You couldn't even step in the grass beside your site without getting them all over your clothes,, socks, and of course, dogs. The dogs suffered.
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