A Change in Plans…

Originally leaving from Hugo Oklahoma our plan was to head to Belle Starr COE park for 6 nights then on to other COE parks around Little Rock to get through the July 4th holiday. While there I was going to figure out what we would do next…

Well then we had a change in plans. Our good friends in Virginia chatted with us and asked if we would like to house sit for them at their farm in Virginia. People who follow this blog will know we love spending time at their farm in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. As a result, the next day I had to make some cancelations and replan our trip with a destination of their farm in Virginia.

The challenge, of course, will be finding a place to stay for the July 4th weekend. After discussing our options we decided that maybe the best idea would be to make the push to get to the farm before the July 4th weekend. Problem solved…

The first thing we did was shrink our reservation at Belle Starr Campground down to three nights so we could plan the rest of our trip from there. Once at Belle Starr I was able to figure out our best route and planned some stops along the way. For us this would be a marathon drive since I planned on only a few multi night stops and longer than normal (for us) drives per day.

While all this planning was going on we were camped at Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma which is another nice COE park with lake front views and ample places to walk. The site we had was a very long, somewhat narrow, pull through site.  Sites in other loops we noticed were more spacious and inviting.

We did take a road trip over to Muskogee Oklahoma and played a round of disc golf. It was nice to get out and throw some discs. We also stopped by a store to pick up some local craft beers and found one that was quite appropriate for this area known as tornado alley. It’s name is F5 IPA. For those that don’t know F5 is the classification moniker for the worst type of tornado. The beer was good!

From Lake Eufaula we drove 264 miles for a one night stop at Laura Ingalls Wilder RV Park & Campground in Mansfield, MO. This was a nice Passport America Park in Missouri. We didn’t do much other than walk around the park which was nice and we even found some black raspberries ready on the vine. As we walked around we also found some cornhole boards where we decided to spend our happy hour tossing some bags.

We had fun tossing bags as we hadn’t done that in a long, long time.  Tomorrow we will push on eastward.… Stay well everyone!

NOTE: We are currently at Glen Maury Park near Buena Vista Virginia until June 29th…

Exploring SE Oklahoma…

Well it was finally time to leave Texas and our destination would be to Oklahoma just north-northeast of where we were. It would be a bit of a longer drive at 173 miles but as it turned out to be pretty easy going. Oh, I almost forgot to mention our last gas stop in Texas was at a Buc-ees where we filled up our diesel tank for $1.39 per gallon. I simply had to document this is our blog! While I fueled up, Sharon couldn’t resist the urge to don her mask and venture inside to purchase some brisket and kolaches for our last taste of Texas.

We pulled into the Kiamichi Recreation Park, yet another COE park and settled into our site which was another beautiful waterfront site. We have been staying at COE parks since we left Canyon Lake and have done so for two main reasons. First and foremost was to be at a park with a beautiful view. We figured since we aren’t going to be doing a whole lot because of the pandemic we might as well have a nice view out our windshield.

The other reason is cost. Corps of Engineer Parks honor the America the Beautiful Senior Lifetime Pass where all camping is half off making our cost as low as $8 per night to only as high as $15 per night. We figure there is no need to be in a private RV park since we wouldn’t use any of the amenities even if they are open. Also, since we are staying close to the RV and doing less excursions we want sites that are spacious and not as confining as commercial parks can be.

But back to this park… it is huge! There are actually several campgrounds around the lake and miles of roads to walk or bike along with very minimal traffic. We might venture for miles, hiking or biking, and only encounter a few cars slowly ambling along the roadways inside the park. This park is remote with Hugo, Oklahoma being the nearest town and it is a very small town with little charm.

We did take a few drives around the area with the highlight being a drive over to Beavers Bend Oklahoma. We really had no idea how scenic this part of the state of Oklahoma turned out to be all around the Broken Bow Lake. If we had done our homework better we would have found a nice hike there.

Other than a few scenic drives we spent our time at our park biking nd walking around while enjoying more wildflowers before they give up their blooms. I also fished a little and caught a nice bass for dinner one evening. Another day I was trying my luck at catfishing and hooked about a 12 pound carp. I have never caught a carp on a meaty bait before so I thought I had hooked a huge catfish but after about a 15 minute battle I finally landed it and later returned it to the lake. If I had a smoker I think I would have tried smoking it as they do in northern Florida.

We have decided to continue eastward this year so I will need to find some more COE stops since this virus doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.  Stay well everybody! 

NOTE: We are currently at Bell Star COE Park near Eufaula Oklahoma until June 21st…

Bardwell Lake and a Visit to Waxahachie TX…

After our visit to College Station our time at Granger Lake ended and it was time to move on. We packed up the RV and drove north for about three hours until we pulled into the High Point COE Campground near Ennis Texas.

Over the years we have streamlined our set up time to a little less than 20 minutes so we are quickly able to enjoy our new destination. Our site was huge and we were happy to have a nice view of Bardwell Lake. This is an older COE park and could use a little upgrading as the age of the facilities is beginning to show. Not to mention there are a few huge potholes in the road.

It didn’t take us long to go out for our usual walk to check out the campground. Like most COE parks this campground is large and provides more than ample space to walk a few miles with great views of the lake. There is also a little marina inside the campground with a pay for use fishing pier.

While walking we came across a beautiful field of a spiked red flower known as standing cypress. It is quite striking by itself but it was amongst many other beautiful Texas wildflowers. It was an unexpected surprise. The Black Eyed Susan were abundant and blooming as well. Besides getting in some good walks the sunsets have been pretty nice as well.

My birthday snuck up me while we were here so we donned our Covid masks and made our way to the HEB to see what goodies they had for my birthday dinner. Luckily for me we found some fresh Chilean Sea Bass for a great price as this tasty fish is often $35 or more per pond. I also picked up some six packs of locally crafted IPA’s and had a fabulous dinner with our great finds. Yum!

We also made a road trip over to Waxahachie Texas and walked around the town square. Downtown featured a magnificent courthouse much like the one in Lockhart Texas. It was beautifully crafted and we heard one of the Italian stone masons of the courthouse was not allowed to date the mayor's daughter so some of the gargoyles are caricatures of the mayor which are hilarious.

The downtown was vibrant with some neat old buildings and a great vibe.  Sharon enjoyed their painted hearts scattered around town and found a Waxahachie mural painting on one of the old buildings.  Apparently there is an annual Gingerbread trail which is a tour of Victorian and gingerbread homes in town.  And who knew Waxahachie was the site for movies in the 1980s such as Tender Mercies, Places in the Heart  and The Trip to Bountiful. After visiting we could certainly understand why!

We loaded up on groceries while in Waxahachie. This will be the last HEB grocery store we see for a while so we stocked up on all of our favorites. Our time to leave has come and it is on to our next stop on the road of retirement while trying to dodge the ever present coronavirus…

NOTE: We are currently at Kiamichi COE Park near Hugo Oklahoma until June 18th…

Road Trip to College Station Texas…

With us camping a little over an hour from our old home town of College Station we decided to take a day trip over to town. We had several objectives while in College Station.

Our first stop was to Coco Loco for some curbside service since it is our very favorite lunch spot in College Station. We ordered four Carne Asada tacos and some chips with their wonderful green and red sauce, Our plan was to eat one taco each and save the other two for our next lunch on the road coming up soon.

Our next stop was to see an old friend of mine who raises bees and makes the best honey in the Brazos Valley. He and I had chatted online and I told him I was going to be in town to drop off a load of Bell Jars for him to use for honey. He urged us to stop by and mentioned he also had some more honey for us to take back with us. It was great to chat (socially distanced) with Gene and we look forward to consuming more of his ET Buzzz Honey.

College Station recently was hit with some very large hail and intense storms bringing loads of rain and wind along with the hail. We wanted to drop by the rent house we still own in town and see if it or any of the trees around it had been damaged. Luckily for us we didn’t see any damage and I was glad since we had just replaced the roof last year.

Sharon also wanted to stop by C.C. Creations Warehouse to get her a new Texas A&M University visor. Luckily she found the one that she wanted and scored another Aggie T-shirt off the 50% discount table they always have there.

With her new visor in hand we also wanted to walk around the Texas A&M University campus to see some of our favorite sites. We parked near the Former Students Center and walked alongside Kyle Field, the Aggie football stadium. Man oh man it was a bit eerie as we were nearly the only people on campus.With enrollment at Texas A&M University at 60,000+ students it was weird to see it so empty.

Our last stop was to the local Aldi Grocery Store to purchase our Aldi favorites. We haven't been to an Aldi for quite some time so we stocked up on few goodies before heading back to the RV park. While we didn’t have any time to visit many of our dear friends in town we will certainly return another day after the virus has abated to spend more time in town visiting friends.

NOTE: We are currently at High View COE Park near Ennis Texas until June 10th…

Granger Lake near Taylor Texas…

On the road again… yes the song was playin” the back of my head as we drove out of Canyon Lake in our RV and was still playing when we set up camp at Granger Lake near Taylor Texas. The sites here are spacious with 50 amp and water but no sewer. All pads are concrete including a nice covered patio. Each site also has a smoker bbq pit and a fire ring.  You get all this with the senior pass discount for a whopping $13 per night,

The only downside is that only a few of the sites actually have any lake views. There is a bit of a cliff down to the lake and the shoreline is heavily wooded thus making views of the lake few and far between. However it is another perfect stop for us to hang out during the pandemic.

Our first few days found us taking daily walks around the park and enjoying the last vestiges of spring. There are still a lot of wildflowers blooming with even a few bluebonnets and paintbrushes still in bloom! Not much else happened for us the first four days as we were in a weather pattern of rains and occasional spats of severe weather. Most of the bad stuff bypassed Granger Lake but high winds and large hail were in the areas all all around us.

One afternoon we drove into Taylor to check out the quint little town. There are a couple of highly regarded BBQ joints there and even a little brewery. We stopped at the local HEB grocery for some curbside delivery of groceries as we still aren’t going into the stores yet but probably will soon.

After picking up groceries I went online to order two growler fills and two 6-packs of beer form the Texas Beer Company to help support the breweries struggling to stay afloat in these trying economic times. Well, that, and we wanted some fresh draft craft beers! Pretty tasty too I might add!

Weekends are filled with campers but on the weekdays there are only  a few of us. Even though we can’t see the lake from our site this is still a nice park to chill for a week or so while Covid-19 continues to troll around the USA.

NOTE: We are currently at High View COE Park near Ennis Texas until June 10th…