Magnus Goes Beaching, Day 10

 Thursday, December 12 2024

Bye-bye, beach.  The night before we left I stood outside for a minute after Molly's very cold and miserable walk.  I should have walked down to the beach to listen to the waves, but from the parking lot I could hear them faintly but clearly.  So very wonderful.

In the morning strings of Pelicans flying in formation were cruising over to the calm waters. Flap flap flap, then unison, glide!  Bye my big, beautiful birds.

The drive through Houston was mostly uneventful. Houston traffic is just not what it used to be.  Google Maps had us going right through downtown, supposedly faster despite two wrecks. But I chose to take the middle loop (neither inner nor outer) called the Sam Houston tollway.  Last time I looked, my NTTA tolltag works on EZPASS; if that's changed, then we're in big trouble.

So the drive ended up being about three hours, maybe a little more. I forgot to write down the arrival time. As usual these days.  And then a hookup and we're done.

The place, Cagle Recreation Area, is a very nice little campground in the tall pines overlooking a lake.  There's a trail along the lake that was paved over with asphalt at some time in the distant future. the ground underneath has sunk and risen, making for a very challenging route for anyone who's not sure on their feet. But we are sure--not old and decrepit yet.

After a short lunch for me, Ed and Molly and I took a walk along the lake. We first tried to go to the boat ramp, but there was a loose dog there.  So we went the other way, the place where I saw the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers a few years ago.  None were seen today, but I hope they're still around. They're considered endangered and have disappeared from a lot of their former range.

When we got to the end of the lake trail, we had the choice of going back the same way or taking the highway up to the road that led into the campground. But a convenient trail appeared, paralleling the highway and heading straight to the road. So we took it. It seemed to stretch on too long so I checked the map on my phone a couple of times; no, we were okay. It dumped us out in the other camping loop, the one just west of ours.

Later Molly and I went back toward the boat ramp and found a little trail there that I'd forgotten about. It goes along the lake shore then loops back past a swamp.  Very short but very nice.

Sunset wasn't far away, so we showered and finished up the last of the gumbo for supper. This camping trip is nearly over, and while I'm anxious to get home and see if my feeder birds survived, I'll be a little sad to say goodbye to Magnus Motorhome for a few weeks. Next trip, if we take it, is to Arkansas for Second Christmas.