A Sunny Day in Texas

January 23, 2011
We have been really enjoying the COE parks, Waco Airport and now Stillhouse Hollow. We have also looked at the state parks online and wanted a look at them in person. Therefore, we took to the road yesterday with a picnic and GPS to track down the best of the hill country.

We drove from here southwest to Burnett and then on to Inks Lake. This really is beautiful country. The campgrounds are way busier than where we are now, not surprising with so much to do in the area; hiking, Longhorn Caverns, boating. However, the lake level is way down, giving the whole place a "vacant" kind of look. I read that the LCRA lowered the lake for maintenance by 8ft and will bring it back to usual levels in mid February.

We then drove toward another state park we've heard a lot about, Colorado Bend. On the way to LLano, we spotted a nesting eagle and stopped for a photo. From LLano we headed toward San Saba, and then east to the park. Obscure does not begin to tell the story. Despite the remoteness of the place it was incredibly busy!

To get to the park, you take a FM out of San Saba, turn onto a county road, then another that turns to dirt, then another that gets more narrow; roughly 10m off the original FM. We passed cattle guards, cows, bikers, hikers, scouts (boy and girl) mesquite, and a creek with low water crossing. The road winds down, at long last, to the Colorado River and the primitive campground run by the state. It is beautiful! This is a place to forget the phones and computers and just hike, take pictures, and in warmer weather, swim. But NOT in a 40ft RV.

We could have easily found all of this online, but then we would have missed the adventure.

Our drive completed the loop by heading east to Lampasas. We could see smoke from the park road and found the source when we drove by an extensive grass fire. Someone's attempt to burn off the gathered brush got out of hand. They fired up about 50 ace rs in the process, but didn't appear to hurt anything else and the VFD had things under control by the time we drove by. This touched memories of farm life that we do not need to revisit.

It was a wonderful day that we enjoyed together. We covered at least 200m in Central Texas Hill Country. We saw wildlife, creeks, lakes, and a river that makes it all possible. We learned that we have been spoiled. The state parks are rustic and what camping is about But for now, we prefer the wide, paved sites of the Corps of Engineer parks that cost us old folks half the money of the more crowded, dirt version the state is offering. Things change, and I'm sure we will revisit these places at a later date to take full advantage of all they have to offer.

A New Year, 2011

We had heard great things about the Grapevine RV park, The Vineyard, but had not been able to get reservations on prior attempts, until now. The park is really lovely and our window view was the sun setting over the lake, no obstructions! The weather was perfect, crisp and clear for the most part. It was a great place to practice with the Nikon camera from Kyle - Paul Simon's song keeps cruising through my mind. Ducks are willing subjects. Also sunsets, campfire, the marina; Well, I'm just glad we don't have to pay for film and development anymore.

We celebrated a quiet New Year's Eve with campfire, a very nice home-cooked dinner, and football. We also watched "Wild Hogs." It wasn't any better than the first time we saw it - old, fat guys cussing on bikes; but we did enjoy seeing the town of Madrid, NM again. Our evening came to a close long before midnight, but nearby revelers alerted us to the year end. Bless each of them!

We spent a wonderful New Year's Day at Kyle's house. I got to share cooking duties with him and loved it. We had a mighty fine dinner complete with ham, black-eyed peas, cornbread, sweet potatoes, winning football teams and friends in addition to our family. A down-south kinda' day.

We have now moved to another pretty lakeside spot in Waco. There are differences; Grapevine park is nestled under the jets of DFW, Waco is tucked away under Cessna's (for the most part) of Waco Airport and a shooting club that makes about as much noise. This section of Lake Waco doesn't get much activity in mid-week January, so it is quiet, spacious and lovely.

Even better....it's cheap! Russell gets the geezer discount with his newly acquired SENIOR PASS for National Parks. He got the $10 lifetime pass in November. This gets us $12/night as opposed to $24/night at all Core of Engineer parks. We have become fans of the COE!

HAPPY NEW DECADE TO EACH OF YOU!