A 3 Hour Tour!

     Bummer! We were supposed to go to Balmorhea this past weekend. We were going to spend two nights there and one night in the Davis Mountains. But as the weekend crept up so did the temperatures! The forecast called for 102 and 103 degrees. I know that is West Texas dry heat but it just sounded too hot. SO we switched plans and decided to spend a few nights at Inks Lake State Park...hence our 3 hour tour.
     We departed mid morning and we decided to take the boats. Ruby is not outfitted yet to haul the boats. She is getting her roof resurfaced and painted later this summer so the racks are on our other car, Ole Red. Ole Red was our camping car before Ruby and she has not been feeling the love so we decided to go old style and car camp. Man she was packed. I forgot how much more crap you need when you sleep in tents. It takes a lot more time to pack up too.
     The drive was scenic and we arrived early afternoon. The main parks office was crowded which should have been our first clue. We had reservations but still there were only a handful of sites left. Paco requested one in the shade and there was one left. Fingers crossed we went to check it out.
     Inks Lake State Park is Big..There were at least 300 camping sites. But there are literally on top of each other. When we pulled into our camping spot deep down we all were feeling the same thing, No Way In H-E-double hockey stick are we staying here! But we dutifully got out walked around and even thought about where we would set up the tent. Then we glanced around at the other campers that were less then a living room (a small Allandale sized living room) away. I mean we would have been able to hear them fart, they were that close! Our eyes all met at the same time and we nodded our heads, no!
     But we had driven almost 2 hours to get there we would at least take advantage of the lake and get some time in our canoe and kayak. Back in Ole Red we circled the park to find a place to park close to the lake. There was NONE to be had. I was bummed all that for nothing. We decided to head home.
     The journey home was quiet. The boy and I nodded off. Around Spicewood we started perking up a bit and even saw the humor in our 3 Hour Tour. We at least know that Inks Lake State Park is not the park for us, maybe in the winter? We are experts at strapping down the boats. And we were getting to sleep in an air conditioned house. I texted my girlfriend and told not to worry about the girls (our dogs, Juno and Sassafrass).

     In the end I knew it was the right decision but I so wanted to camp. Instead I got some tree time (our code for drinking outside under the trees) with my girlfriend, a nice steak dinner and we watched the NBA playoff game. Ruby is taking some time off for a while her next adventure is not until July when we head north..Peace and love, Aunt Rosa :)