11/29 Tuesday
Home to Lockhart State Park
Lockhart State Park was just a stopover on the way to the coast, but it was not a bad little place. We were camped beside the golf course--they called our loop the "Fairway Loop". After sundown all the deer came out to feed on the lovely green grass. Probably on the greens, too--I wonder if deer poop makes a difficult putt?
For future reference, it's a pretty convenient stopover unless your navigator falls asleep and lets you miss your turn and have to take the slow route through town. In the case of the sleeping navigator, it's an embarrassment.
Our drive was uncomplicated. We got an early start, about 9:17, and only planned to stop twice--a pee break and a fill-up. It turned out, we skipped the pee break. When we got to the rest area near Hillsboro, Ed didn't need to go so he planned to wait until the Love's in Temple.
But that was a sad mess! There were trucks everywhere, lined up all along the little street that goes back to the truck pumps, coming in, going out, inside, outside, upside-down.... We were in line while we were still out on the access road, but then Ed through there was an opening so he followed a big truck through, only to realize that the truck was actually going through--all the way out the other end. So by the time we were in the parking lot, stopping would have meant cutting in front of a whole slew of big trucks waiting in line.
So we went on. Circling around and coming in at the end of the line was going to result in a 45-minute wait at least, since we knew there would be several trucks in front of us. I frantically looked for Love's, Pilots or Flying Js in the area and just couldn't find any. Then I checked the Open Roads app and found a "Walhburg's" just at the highway 130 toll road entrance. It was a big truck stop, and it was on our fuel discount program, so that's where we went.
It wasn't bad at all, and I think we'll use it in future. Both coming and going. I know that once you get on 130 (the Pickle Parkway), you're stuck on there all the way past Austin and there are NO gas stations at all, let alone ones we have a fuel discount for. But this was fine.
(For future note: there actually was a Flying J on I-35 just a little ways past Temple. For some reason, it wasn't on the map. Not when I looked, anyway.)
And on to the park. It was a little crowded, especially for a weekday. Most of the site in the Fairway Loop with full hookup were occupied. The sites were a lot closer together than I like, especially for a state park. Of course, compared to a private RV park they were spacious! But I noticed that the water+electric sites (no sewer), along the Creek View Loop, were much better spaced. A lot of them were pull-through sites. and the dump station was right there on the way out, very convenient. Also, they were mostly empty--I think only two out of ten or so were occupied. So it's good place to consider in future planning.
There were several little walking trails, so after hooking up, Molly and I set out to find the "scenic overlook" and Ed came along. It was surprising--the terrain looked pancake flat all around, but then we went up a slight hill and suddenly came to a decent little climb. Not all that high, but high enough to have a CCC staircase of huge stones and a decent view on top. Plus, apparently we'd just ascended to Hole 1 of the original golf course--
Birds seen: red-bellied woodpecker, chickadee.
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