Camping at Lake Murray

Friday the 13^th, You gotta Love it!!!

Friday, July 13, 2012 – Yep Friday the 13^th and it definitely was.  We at least made good time leaving again – We left at 7:15 and FINALLY arrived at our destination at 11:30; now to tell you the whole story.

  

We never made it to our original destination.  This was such a fiasco.  We were supposed to go to one of these camping membership sites kind of like Thousand Oaks.  First problem, they sent us a confirmation for a site in Glen Rose.  They called Monday to confirm we were coming, John told them we were and I presume he told them they send wrong directions and they would send new directions.  We never got new directions and John had to wing it. BIG mistake!

  

We never could find the turn off after Hwy 69 for the campsite.  We did get quite a light show with the lightning.  Some bolts were hitting the ground.  We even saw a few deer on the side of the road, better there than in the road and hitting them.

  

Since we either couldn’t find turn off or missed it we decided to wing it and keep on going up to Lake Murray and take our chances up there.  We finally arrived at Dukes Forest at 11:30.  We tried a few others but they were either full or closed due to curfew.

  

Once we got to Duke’s we found a pull through and nabbed it.  We couldn’t see any lake but at this time we didn’t care.  We stopped, leveled the trailer and then I fixed dinner of stuffed tortilla with scrambled egg and bacon.  We were too tired to even unload the bike so we left it in the trailer and went on to bed.

Saturday, July 14, 2012 - After we got up and showered John was going to start up his bike but it didn’t start.  John’s battery was deader than a doornail.  John was not a happy camper, not happy at all.  He had no jumper cables in the truck but then I mentioned something about his trickle charger, and he then remembered he had some bike cables in his saddlebag after the incident last year when Liz’s bike battery ran down when she left her lights on.  We got John’s battery charged and left immediately after he got it started Sherman 11:30

  

We tried to meet up with Liz and Mark but it didn’t happen with her needing to change out the shocks on her bike in Allen and John needing a new battery here at the Sherman HD.

  

We had seen a roadrunner at Juniper Point, one of the Lake Texoma state parks on our way back from Sherman.  It is a great park on the Texas side.  I don’t know what it costs to stay there but I would highly recommend it from what we saw there AND there were lake views all around.

  

We returned back to the trailer at 3:45.  It was hot and humid even in the trailer.  The air conditioning wasn’t cooperating.  John finally figured out the air conditioner had frozen up after ice had fallen down out of it.  For whatever reason it had frozen up, just like my air conditioning in my house has done.  Luckily the trailer cooled down fairly quickly, we were beginning to think we would need to have it looked at before Sturgis.

John fixed chicken wings for dinner.  We watched a movie and then headed to bed.

 Sunday, July 15, 2012 - We woke at 9a.  We walked over to their shower facility.  It wasn’t near as nice as West Burns Run’s but it wasn’t as bad as some I have been to.  There were only 2 showers per gender.  There was a large one for handicap and then a smaller one (and it is definitely smaller). 

  

CAUTION:  of all things, the light over the showers is on a timer, not the water like Burns Run.  Luckily there is another light over the sink and toilets area so you aren’t left in total darkness.  There were also only 2 toilets; 1 handicap and another regular one. 

Again I have seen better but I have also seen worse.  Surprising, Lake Grapevine’s was worse and you pay primo to camp there.  I had been to Boiling Springs State Park last year and their “free” showers were infested with black crickets.  There I decided to sponge bathe instead of showering with the little critters. 

 Luckily they had pay showers but after paying to camp I can’t believe they also want to charge for the water too.  They need a better system like West Burns Run.

  

This campsite here has absolutely no lake view but what you give up in lake you get in Mother Nature.  I imagine in the fall the foliage colors are awesome.  In fact, I know it is.  I had been at one of the other sites at the end of October and the colors were awesome and the fog was lifting off of the lake.

 Unfortunately, none of the parks offer the ability to make reservations. They are all first-come-first-serve.  In the summer they are quite busy and that is how we came upon this one; since no lake view, more spots.

  

I fixed breakfast and then we started packing for our trip home.  It always seems to take extra effort to get everything packed for home.  But it has to be done.

  

We left for home around 2p.