Tuesday, February 26, 2019

No Bad "Vibes" This Time

Location: East Fork Park (Corps of Engineers Campground); Near Dalles, Texas

All pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 cell phone

Well there were no bad "vibes" that stopped me from pulling out this time. I woke up early on Monday and waited for them to show up. I looked around for them inside and outside of Liberty. None were to be found, so I got to work getting Liberty ready to go. Luckily, a lot of stuff had already been done last month before the bad "vibes" encouraged prompted suggested forced me to not leave as planned. Everything went well during the prepping and hitching. I went extra slow since it had been six months since I had hitched up. Even in 'grandpa speed', (wait a minute, I need to change that expression since I'm a grandpa). Even in 'great-grandpa speed' I was still able to finish everything and pull out at 9:00 am with a 220 mile tow ahead of me. The weather was great with the temperature in the 40's while hitching up and the low 60's when I got to my destination. It was a good traveling day. 

I headed west to a Corps of Engineers campground on Lavon Lake in the little town of Wylie, Texas. The nearest city that most people would recognize is Plano which is about 10 miles away. Oh, also Dallas is about 20 miles away. The campground is a little run down with potholes in the roads and places that hold water way too long. But even after dodging potholes, my campsite was level and dry. It is an electric/water only site. My surge guard told me the electricity was good and the water looked fine, but I chlorinated my fresh water tank, just to make sure. The other good part of the campground is the camp hosts. Very nice and efficient couple from Illinois who are full-time RV'ers.

I chose this campground to be as far away from Big Dallas but at the same time making it an easy trip into the big city. I plan to use Dallas's DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit). They have a series of light rail trains that criss-cross the Dallas area and outlying towns. One of their train stations is about 12 miles away in Plano. For $2.00, I can catch a train and ride it into downtown Dallas thereby avoided the busy traffic and parking problems downtown. When I visited Washington D.C. back in 2014, I used their train system the same way and it worked out great. My first trip downtown is to see Dealy Plaza where President Kennedy was assassinated. The train will get me within a couple of blocks of the plaza and it looks like the weather should be good walking weather. 

The rest of this post is pictures. I'll proof read this post after I publish it since I'm in a hurry to catch a train. 


Typical Louisiana four lane highway. I took this route to avoid some very rough sections of Interstate highway.

This picture is of those two "dark contrails" in the sky. Later on I saw a dark one with clear blue sky and a plane following it as it was putting out a white vapor trail. Being curious I googled "dark contrails" and it is suppose to be caused when a vapor trail in roughly lined up with the sun and you see the edge of it. Called an "Edge Shadow Contrail". I can't believe I've never seen one in my life. 

The tunnel effect of the trees along the edge of I-20.

If you leave the roadway, don't go into the median here, or you may be introduced to some trees.

Wispy clouds with a blue sky. Pretty.

This was on a two lane road after leaving the interstate. I could see this picture for a couple miles since it lined up with a straight section of the road and it was big enough to where you could make out a face. Sadly, the lettering explaining what the billboard was all about was too small for me to read it as I passed by at 50 mph. I have no idea what they were selling or saying. It's an eye catcher though.

Liberty set up but slides not out yet. That is the lake in the background.

Looking behind, toward the interior of the campground.

I liked this scraggly tree.

I passed this place on my way to the campground. It smelled great so after setting up camp, I went back to try it. I got some sausage, smoked turkey, potato salad and cole slaw. I was disappointed in all of it, include their bottled sauce. Oh well, perhaps my expectations were too high.

After getting back from eating and driving around a little bit, I walked around the campground and found this tree.

Looking back at Freedom and Liberty after walking a bit.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.    

14 comments:

  1. Too bad about the BBQ place....

    "On the road again
    I just can't wait to get on the road again"


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBN86y30Ufc

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  2. I know it feels great to be back on the road again. No matter how happy I am being around family, there's nothing like the feeling of freedom you get from being on the road.

    Being from the South myself it took me a while to get used to Texas barbecue. Texas barbecue sauce tends to be based on vinegar, and southern barbecue sauce tends to be sweetened with something like molasses. But now I like both just as well.

    Tom

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    1. Hey Tom. This sauce tasted like it came straight out of a bottle of cheap BBQ sauce.
      Be safe out there in AZ

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  3. That used to be a great park years ago but I have not been there in about ten years. It was a very good kayaking location for me. Welcome back on the road.

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    1. Hello Barney, It sure needs work now, but still a good stop.

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  4. Nice to see you on the road. Take it easy and have fun exploring.

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  5. What body of water is that? Park looks empty are you the only one there? So glad you're on the road again

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  6. Hey Sis, that is Lavon Lake. The park is about 50% full. Take care.

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  7. Nice to see you posting again and back on the road. I have missed you adventures.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks John. I hope you're getting close to hitting the road yourself.

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  8. Happy to see you on the road again. Enjoy your adventure.

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