Sunday and leaving White Oak Lake

Morning walk with Zack and Izzy. First we went out the peninsula where I could take a few snaps of the RV reflected in water,

 
Next we took a birdwatching circle. I headed out the path by the water and saw/heard nothing except frustratingly invisible Peewees.

Then I decided to go find the Pileated woodpeckers for one last time. That walk took us up to the higher ground in the direction of the visitor's center, the spot where I'd seen them before. I was just about to give up when....

BUM BUM Bum Bum bum     bum        bu.

Very distinctive drumming. I headed that way at the speed of Zack, then eventually heard the tap-tap-tapping of a bird actively hunting food. The technique for seeing these birds is something I've just learned...listen for the tapping, get close enough to see all the way to the top of the tree without breaking your neck, then watch for the chunks of falling wood. Once you've seen that, follow the line upwards.

So I got my Pileated Woodpecker fix, then came back to camp to find a couple of small warblers in the tree by us. One was solid, pale brown-ish, like a young yellow warbler; the other yellow under the belly and whitish under the tail. I could see wing bars, but he was moving around a good bit. So no ID.

Annoyed, I decided that with all the dragonflies and the Tiger Swallowtail butterflies floating around, who needed birds?  I never saw so many. Maybe an occasionally black swallowtail or two would float by, but mostly just tigers and tons of them at that.  I wonder what food they eat? I wonder why those were the only two butterflies I saw?  I wonder if it would be interesting to learn to tell the dragonfly species apart, or at least a few of the commoner ones. I wonder if I'll live long enough to have time to learn about all of the things I wonder about?

As we cleaned up, packed up and prepared to leave, I remarked that it seemed to be getting a little hotter every day. Which it was, of course. I'd known that.  But not unbearable. Other than the near disastrous start and the real disaster mid way, I'd say it was an uneventful trip.  But so very enjoyable.

Goodbye to my beautiful bathhouse.

We were pretty efficient packers by then and I wished I'd timed us for proof. At any rate we departed the campsite at 11:47.  When the weekend approached, our nearly empty campground had become slightly less than empty but nowhere near one-quarter full. I counted about seven RVs (motorhomes, fifth wheels and trailers) and about six sites with tents. We were told that traffic at the park picks up in September, which is surprising to me. It makes sense that August would be dead--too darn hot--but September is school. Odd.



Return trip was pretty much boring...up until the point where we came on the exit for Highway 380. We've taken it like hundred of times before in our lives...but we were going 75 miles per hour and Ed asked me if that was the right one and I had literally a split-second to think and I remembered they done construction a couple of years ago--I saw the word Business on the sign and nixed it.  We took the next exit which would probably have been a better route--no stoplights at all--but my phone told me to turn left when it should have said stay straight and we ended up doing a mile and a half on a gravel road to get to 380. Which sucked. My car was coated with a double layer of dust.

With an eight-minute stop for gas at the Shell station again, we arrived home at 3:39.  So that was 3:52 for the trip.  (227 miles this time)  Google said 3:34.

NOTES:

1. If camping in summer and especially if boating is on the agenda, pack two changes of clothes per day. I ran out of shorts and was down to my last "spare" pair of underwear and teeshirt. Luckily I'd thrown in a pair of running shorts for my daily jog. (Made a funny, there.)

2. The pre-packaged salad I took made a delightful addition to lunches; it's expensive and wasteful, but do it again unless I happen to be overflowing in salad makings. The bottle of Gold Peak Tea was refreshing. Plan ahead for a return trip lunch: make a sandwich; heat a frozen burrito; take a hummus/cracker dip bowl.... 

3. Never give me the keys. If taking the fish finder on a rental boat, pull in the transducer before you head back.

4. In the hot months of summer--July through September--we really want 50-amp hookups. This applies to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and any other state whose temperature will be in the 90s. But turning on the generator for an hour before bedtime let us run both air conditioners and get the place nicely cool...after than just the bedroom air conditioner would suffice.  However, if we ever decide to upgrade an RV, I sure would appreciate one with a quieter air conditioner.

5. Tall pine trees are delightful--they make great shade. Tall pine trees are annoying--they hide birds in the tip-tops.