Monday and leaving Lake O' the Pines

Monday, June 22

I didn't get up when I woke up, so I missed the storm coming in. I went back to sleep and woke to a horrible nightmare. And to rain. Not that rain is a horrible nightmare, but there was a good bit of it. Off and on--showers, dribbles, and outright rain.

Rain's over.

So this is the departure day of my last camping trip while employed. Seems like things would feel different, somehow. It's just not sinking in...it would have, I think, if things had gone as planned and I'd retired three months ago.

If things had gone as planned, two weeks ago we'd have been on a glorious, seven night camping trip, to the Great Plains State Park and Palo Duro Canyon. That would have been two days longer than our longest trip to date--or is that three? I don't remember. And we would have been going cool places where I've never been before. Super heavy sigh. Well. That's not happening anytime soon.

While we were getting ready I went for a quick walk in search of the elusive red-headed woodpecker.



This one obligingly posed, by the rest-rooms.






Other birds seen: Great Crested Flycatcher. Great Blue Heron. Eastern Kingbirds. Scissortails








The trip back was so unmemorable that I didn't write a single thing down.


Au revoir, Lake O' The Pines!







NOTES:
1. Always put camping chocolate in the fridge.
2. Always look at all blackbirds
3. Start doing better job taking notes

Sunday at Lake O' The Pines

Sunday

Zack was feeling better--I think the cooler temperature and the cloud cover was helping. I started out with the plan of taking him for a short walk, returning him to the RV, then continuing with Mollydog. But instead I decided to keep on going and give him a lift on the way back. So that was a good walk for all of us.

For the day's fishing, we tried same spot as before--and the fish weren't there. But then Ed found a few downed trees ( or something) that were covered with fish. We caught at least six small crappie, one decent sized one (maybe 11-1/2"), and a absolutely adorable small sunfish.

We'd been watching the clouds and had just started to pick up to go in to shore, when it started in to rain. Just rain, nothing long with a little rain....

...until a clap of thunder smashed so near that we jumped out of our skins. I never want to experience that again. We headed toward the campsite, but the rain was coming from that direction and blowing in Ed's face so hard he couldn't see to steer. We did an about-face and went to hide under a highway bridge.After we were safely under the bridge--okay, I know that's not safe but at least we weren't the tallest thing on the water anymore--the rain stopped almost immediately. We went in to shore anyway--we were ready.







Back at camp I saw the coolest thing--a female orchard oriole in the small sweet gum tree by the water. I'd seen a male the day before: here he is.

I took Molly for a long walk, all the way around the campgrounds to the boat ramp we've been using. There's one much closer but it's not as close to the places where we want to fish. There was a stick-up out in water, not too far, maybe ten feet?--that she really wanted to check out. The area was deserted except for a truck with trailer and a car--no people anywhere--so I unclipped her leash and told her to go.

She paddled out like a champion, took a sniff, tried to scramble up on the tree but the underwater limbs were too slippery, and paddled back. Great fun and the leash stayed dry in my hands. She came in, and I snapped it back on her harness. After we started walking through the grass, she decided to do a roll and I let her. With the leash on. So it ended up almost as wet as she was.

On the walk back I kept trying to point out deer to her but she never saw them. I guess they were downwind of us. She was distracted by a man going in the bathroom and then the dog barking across the road.

Later, though, we saw a couple more deer. And this time she did smell them. Great excitement in the world of dog!

No stars that night. But one bat!!! Lightning to the east. Goodnight.

Day 3 at Lake O' The Pines

Saturday

I saw a bird, and said out loud (to myself), "Let me get a look at what that blackbird is doing." I looked, and I saw--it was NOT a blackbird. It was an oriole! Orchard Oriole, almost certainly. The more orioles I see, the more I notice how much like blackbirds they are. Which makes sense--they're close relatives, after all.

Since I'd gotten out of bed shortly after dawn, we were able to get the boat out early. At one point I looked at the clock and it said 9:00, but that might have been in the truck on the way. We tried a couple of spots and fished in a cove for a long time with no bites. Finally we headed out into slightly deeper water--about 15', and lit into a whole covie of hungry crappy. I must have caught twenty-five--wish I'd been counting. One was a nice size--about 12-3/4". but the others ranged in size from 11" all the way down to "absolutely tiny". I also caught a bass--I'm thinking hybrid striper--and we each had an odd looking bass that we decided must be smallmouth. They weren't all that big but they were a lot of fun to catch.

In the skies above there were several Great Blues, a few Great Egret, one Bald Eagle and one very strange long-necked AND long tailed bird that flapped and glided, way up in the sky on its way to somewhere. What was it???

Various weather authorities had predicted rain for the afternoon, but I don't consider a 40% change of scattered thundershowers "rain".  It sprinkled a little on us while we were getting ready and then stayed overcast and cool for a long time. We were fine until 2:00 or so, when the sun came out with a vengeance. That was part of my motivation in leaving early--getting back in time to let the dogs have some vacation, too, and avoiding the blast of evil sunshine that tried to dry us into dust. The wind kicked up, too.

But when we got to the boat ramp the water was calm and nearly current-less. I was able to drive the boat up to the trailer in one try!  Crooked, it was, but on there! Small victory for me.

Aside: I have a tendency to get all mad at myself when I do stupid things out of distraction or incompetence, but so far this trip I've only done a few. Letting Zack loose while a neighbor's dog was out and I was distracted with Molly; confusing Ed's truck keys with mine; losing my brand-new reading glasses in the grass, first thing!!!  Sheez. Not to mention spilling water all over the floor when I was trying to fill up our fancy octagonal-shaped ice cube maker. I didn't realize I'd left so much water on the floor, and Ed, coming in later, through we had a leak in the refrigerator. I followed up that brilliant exercise with putting a water cup in--sideways--with the leak-proof lid open.

We got back to let the dogs out of prison at about three.

The rest of the evening was pretty much routine, with a lot of dog walking thrown in. I took Zack for sure, I remember, and then Mollydog got a long walk without seeing any interesting birds at all. How is that fair?  No deer, either. We saw plenty of people--I've have to wager that this campground is pretty near capacity. Some of the tent camping area is free, which is a bit of a shame because this park has some of the nicest tent camping I think I've ever seen.



I was tired but not nearly the dead man walking I'd been the day before. I hope Mollydog got the exercise she deserved.  I'm sure I did--even without jogging, simply moving my legs up and down on these hills has got to be an exercise.

Dinner was leftover chicken and stuff. Odd note--on the last trip I forgot to take chocolate for a snack, so this time I was careful to assemble a bag of candy from my snack stash at home. But it tasted awful. The reason seems to have been that it was stored in the snack cupboard during the trip up and the first day...and that cupboard just doesn't stay cool, even with the air conditioner on day and night. After I put the bag of candy in the fridge, it improved. But still not what I'd hoped for.

Sadly, I don't remember the rest of the evening very well. Despite the crowds, the noise died down nicely after dark and I only saw one camp fire. Maybe all of the young people were worn out from swimming and boating all day in the sapping sunshine. I sure was!

Later, though, when we stepped outside to see the stars before bedtime, people's decorative lighting was still brightening the sky like Times Square. What is the matter with people?  Doesn't anyone understand turning off your outdoor lights in a public campground at bedtime? Is everyone out here scared of the dark?  It wouldn't have been all that dark, anyway, what with the light at the boat ramp and the bathroom.

It's just sad. I could see the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, most of Draco; Lyra with its bright star Vega, and almost all of Scorpio. How cool it is to see Scorpio again!  (Note to self: bring the star book next time you go camping!) But I could barely make out the glow of the Milky Way.

Day 2 at Lake O' The Pines

Friday, June 19

Ed skipped breakfast, so I just had a poached egg on a tortilla with salsa. Which was not enough. It would have been enough for a typical Friday, where the only exercise I get is a one-hour walk at around ten in the morning.  (Wow!  I only have one more typical Friday left!) But not for a camping Friday.

The dogs got a short walk--not super short but not the long one Molly has come to expect.  Then we got the boat loaded and headed out fishing. There were almost no birds at all, which stunk! There were plenty of fish down there but we didn't catch many--just one nice dark crappie for me, about 11 inches, and a couple of small catfish for Ed. I had another fish on the line but I failed to get it into the boat.  I'm sure it was a huge bass, alas.

After about one o'clock the fish seemed to stop biting. We searched around for spots to try and found several that looked promising, but nothing happened. So we headed home, arriving a little after four o'clock.

Then the dogs got their exercise. It wasn't all that hot, either, hurray! Some clouds came through and there was a bit of breeze from time to time. First I took Zack for his walk (Molly came along but she didn't really enjoy it all that much; imagine a young, long-legged dog having to walk at the pace of an elderly, crippled Shi-tzu). Then I tried to take Molly swimming, but the spot I had picked out had children in it. I didn't want to let her loose in a lake just then and I don't trust her around kids yet. So we went back toward the boat ramp and the fence to the camping area, and found a spot where the lake bottom was nice, squishy mud.  I waded out up to my hips and tried to encourage her in. She wasn't having it--couldn't see the point, I reckon. I know she knows how to swim, so I can only guess she didn't see any thing to swim for.


So instead we went for a long walk, with deer--five at least. Molly was finally able to see deer and smell them at the same time--I'm not sure she'd been able to do that with the ones she saw in our back field. Those were always at a distance and very fast moving; these were willing to stop and pose for a while.










As for me, I saw:  Brown Thrasher; Red-headed Woodpecker; Wren, probably House; Oriole, almost certainly Orchard, in the grass by camp. Fish crows, several--I don't think I heard an American Crow in all the trip. Eastern Bluebirds. Annoying and unidentifiable sparrows in the grass. Mockingbirds. Cardinals. High-pitched warbler-ish bird in tops of pines. A couple of small, flitty gray birds that sounded like Gnatcatchers. Cormoronts on lake. This morning I caught sight of a duck or two but they were moving rapidly away from me and ducks are difficult at the best of times. Great Egret across the lake.

Brown Thrasher

The campground that night was lit up like a circus and nearly as noisy as one. It's hard to believe that Ed and I leave our nice home, where the only lights are the moon and stars--and all the stupid LEDs on every freaking electronic device we buy--to go someplace where people hang out Christmas lights. In June. At home all we hear is the distant hooting of owls, the sqreak-squauk of frogs, and the bark bark bark of silly Molly Dog. Sometimes she barks at sounds in the distance, but sometimes I think she barks just to hear some noise.

So maybe that's the answer--we leave home and go out to be amongst our fellow men...and to remind ourselves of why we prefer to NOT be amongst our fellow men.

Mammoth Takes The Boat

Johnson Creek Camp, Lake O' The Pines, with boat
Thursday 18 June - Monday, 22 June 2020
 
                                                  You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They
                                                 catch the fish and then let it go. They don't want to eat the
                                                                fish, they just want to make it late for something.
                                                                                                                    -Mitch Hedberg
    Temp        Rel Hum    Wind
    81/69        76/41        3-14
    81.5/69    87/38        3-16
    90/74        82/46        0-14
    91/74        91/50        0-17
    89/72        91/57        0-16
   
The usual route--US 380 to Greenville, I-30 to Mt. Pleasant, TX-49 E and US-259 S to FM-729.

1. Planned distance: 135 miles
2. Map time estimate: 1:36
3. Adjusted estimate: didn't calculate
4. Actual distance: forgot to check
5. Actual time:  didn't check, but the return trip was about 2:25 with no stops
6. Stops: none?
7. Average mph trip: unknown, of course. Why do I bother?

Finally finally finally finally finally. My day has been a rollercoaster ride, between "at the height of ecstacy" and "in the depths of despair". No--that's exaggerating. Try instead, between "yes! this is good!" and "I'm tired and it's hot and why did I leave so much preparation until the last minute?"

On that latter point, I'll take excuse. This will be the last--I hope--of my camping trips where I have to get ready during a work week. On Wednesday I worked a little later than I oughten to have; then we went to Petsmart and Walmart, and by the time we were home, it was time to walk the dogs and wind down my day. But I still needed to pick the garden, set up the sprinkler, and bake cookies. It wasn't like some of those pre-travel nights of old, where I got to bed at one a.m., but it was still painful.




On travel day I got in a short (46 minute) jog, and then it was prep, prep, prep for two long hours. Later in the day when I wondered why I was so tired, it came back to me: I'd been on my feet for over three hours, only to sit down and drive the truck for another three hours, then help unhitch and get the dogs a bit of a walk.  And yeah, it was hot but not killer hot. Just 92 or so.

The campground was freakishly weird in that it wasn't at all how I remembered. True, the last visit was in October and now it was June; and true, I'd not been able to walk onto this site and take a picture of it until the last day of the previous trip. But I remembered it with a lot more big trees, a lot more shade, and (of course) a lot fewer campers.  Previously only the sites along the water were occupied--all the ones in the middle were empty. But this time, every one was full. That wouldn't matter--we have a waterfront site with plenty of space--except I have an untrained dog--or shall I say, dog-in-training?--to deal with. I need all the distance I can get.

There's a chain-link fence between the campsites and the day use area where the closest boat ramp is. Last fall the water was high enough you couldn't squeeze around the lake-side end of the fence and cross into the the day use area. But now you could, and we did.

Mollydog wanted to try to catching the waves that were splashing the shore. What fun! I can't wait to get her out to the ocean.

The lake was still as beautiful and blue as I remembered it, but so many people!  We took a lunch break, then at around five o'clock went walking up toward the other camping loops and then on a wooded park road. Guess what? As usual, when you get off the "beaten path", there was not a person anywhere. We were walking through a tall forest and it was a little hot but so dang beautiful. I love this place.





Lake O' The Pines was impounded in August, 1957, and finished in June, 1958, about three months before I was born. So you could say they created the lake just for me. Surface acres: 19,780 at summer pool level; 18,700 at winter pool.  Maximum depth: 49.5 feet  (Lake Lavon, by our house, is 38'). It comes from the Big Cypress Creek (Bayou if you're Cajun), which then    flows into Caddo Lake, the only natural lake in Texas. Most of the water ends up in the Red River on its way to Louisiana. The Red River was once a tributary of the Mississippi River, but now it's been captured by the Atchafalaya.

And having said all that, I will retire to the Mammoth Mobile and go to sleep.

,Still walking on

Southbound
by Lucy Letcher

Absolutely one of the best hiking travel books I've ever read. Neither too much detail nor too little; scenery, plants, animals, people; sore feet, aching muscles; breathtaking vistas on mountaintops; bewitching meadows; singing streams.  It's all here.

I liked this so much that I turned around at the end--sort of like they did--and started on the sequel.

Some little inspiration

Your Pace or Mine?
What Running Taught Me About Life, Laughter and Coming Last

by Lisa Jackson

It was okay. I wasn't swept off my feet or even inspired all that much although it did cause me to increase my normal jogging pace a tad. All that talk about racing made me think about whether I'd ever be willing to undertake a race myself, just so I could brag that I'd done it. But I just don't get the point--or actually, I do get the point. People race in order to be together.

They train together too, and that's a big part of it. But when she writes about her favorite--and least favorite--races, she mostly writes about who they hung out with and how they encouraged each other. 
"For me, running is about 'we time', not 'me time'....