Back to Belton Lake

Friday, 24 July 2020
Turkey Roost Campground, Cedar Ridge Park, Belton Lake, Texas

1. Planned distance: 200 miles
2. Map time estimate: 3:20
3. Adjusted estimate: didn't calculate
4. Actual distance: forgot to check
5. Actual time:  4:03, return trip 4:02
6. On way out, slowdown on 380. On way back, gas stop in Temple.
7. Average mph trip: unknown

It's the same lake as the last one, but this campground is nothing like the other. And it doesn't even look like the same lake. The other campground--Johnson Creek--was close to the dam. But this one is a good bit upriver and it's on Cedar Creek, a tributary to the Leon River. It's all steep, dry cliffs here, with a sharp drop off down the the creek; the ground is dry and sparsely sprinkled with scrubby oak and cedar.

The reason for this trip was that we realized we had a few weeks before the next scheduled trip in mid-August, and since we were so close to Edward, why not go spend a weekend with him? The last trip was all week days--we only saw him in the evenings. So I started looking. None of the good, lake view sites were available, but we could get a decent site tucked back into the "woods" for the weekend and then move to a lake view site for the next couple of days. So we were at site 9 for Fri-Sun nights, then site 31 for Mon-Tue.

We were completely packed and ready on the day before this trip--except for, of course, the normal departure day activities like the topping off of cat food, scooping the litter boxes, and filling the water bowls. So now I finally know what it's like to be camping while retired!  Plenty of time to prepare in advance and nothing left for the night before. It's nice. But still just as much work.

We could have gotten an earlier start if we'd pushed it, but we had no interest in tackling rush hour traffic through Dallas. We left the house at 9:38, stopped at the church parking lot to hook up the boat, and got our actual start at 9:58.

Google told us there was a ten-minute slowdown on highway 380--the best RV route going south from our house--and there was. Such a silly--just some road work or something that was causing a lane to be closed. It took us ten minutes to go two miles. But soon we were underway to accomplish a nearly picture perfect drive down to Belton.

The only little hitch was this: about two hours out, I needed to make a pit stop. We hadn't discussed one, but Ed nearly always makes a pit stop on his own after an hour or so of driving. I waited and waited and held it and held it and he didn't stop. I could have called him, of course, but I try not to do that except in emergencies. Maybe someday we'll get a pair of walkie-talkies so we can squawk at each other on the road.

I found a roadside park on the map, but when we approached it I could see that it was on the wrong side of the road and had a very challenging entrance. Shortly afterward we were on a long, straight stretch of the highway with nice wide shoulders--I goosed the gas pedal, passed the Mammoth and pulled off. And yes, I made it to the potty without losing any dignity.

We arrived at the gate at 1:55, and we were parked and hooked up by 2:23. Not bad. It was hot, of course, but very cloudy and windy. The wind--when it was blowing--was 'almost' cool. At the least one might call it 'pleasant'. But then it stopped.

The dogs got a walk down to the water, then Zack was left behind and Mollydog got to go down to the boat ramp and around. She swam out to fetch a piece of stick willingly, but when I tried it a second time, she wasn't interested. It wasn't a great walk--I found myself excessively tired and hungry, despite having a tortilla roll-up with crab salad and half a bag of cheese nips on the road. Plus jellybeans. I think driving tires me out more than I would expect.

Note to self: the following made an excellent traveling snack and was only a bit messy:

Coarsely chop 6-8 ounces of fake crab , and mix with a little mayo (I used Hellman's Lite), minced onion, lemon juice, and Old Bay Seasoning. I added a sprinkle of salt but it may not have been needed. Roll up in tortillas and cut in into appetizer sized slices. Perfect!

Birds seen: about a million black vultures; a Roadrunner; a little bird in the low scrub around the water that was probably a Bewick's wren. Oh, well--we didn't come here for the birds. But if a Golden-Cheeked Warbler were to swing through....
 

                              Vultures at sunset:


Edward joined us and we had a cozy evening with steaks, salmon, baked potato and skewers. Boring but delicious.