It was a successful trip. Our third time out. We even had company while we camped. Tom and Roz came out on Saturday night and brought their dog, Matisse. We ate dinner, walked the dogs and then roasted marshmallows, made s'mores and talked around the campfire. It was great and they had a fantastic time. We would definitely do it again.
Sunday Josh came out for dinner. I cooked bacon and hamburgers and friend onions in the bacon grease. Shazam that was good. Not healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but yum-o.
After the last trip, we realized we needed some kind of table outside. Something we could set just out the door of the trailer. We got a 4' plastic table that worked great. It held the coffee maker and a container of food that was too big for the camper.
Even though I noted after the last camping trip that we needed lighting, I never did anything about it. Saturday afternoon we ran home and picked up a couple of strings of lights and a lantern. We were very pleased with the result. We plan to take even more lights next time.
We also needed some kind of basket to shuffle items back and forth to the picnic/cooking area. I found a collapsible basket at Wal-mart that worked perfectly. It stored easily when not in use, but was big enough to get everything back and forth in one trip. It was worth every cent. Marshall and I used the heck out of it because our campsite was very deep and the picnic table and fire ring were way in the back. If we'd had to make a bunch of trips for supplies, it would have been a pain in the bottom.
Speaking of the campsite, I went out Thursday morning before work to reserve our spot. The lady talked me out of a couple of choices because of ants. M and I have a list of spots we are good with so I went down the line until we got to 73. It was open. Shady and private - yup, that's what we wanted. Not really close to the bathroom, but we don't care. We did get some noise from FM 1382, but we weren't as close as we could have been (there are a number of spots we want to avoid that back up to the road.) Overall, it was a lovely spot and we would stay there again.
Unfortunately, FM 1382 wasn't the only noise pollution we had to deal with. The people next to us, very friendly and they even shared some fajitas, brought a TV for the kids. Because of the way we were situated, the TV was aimed in our direction and we could here it drone on. Again, it didn't ruin the weekend and it's something we should have anticipated on a crowded weekend like Labor Day.
What worked
M brought a propane stove that was quite the old monster, but it cooked like crazy. We ate like kings.
M used a strap between two trees to create a dog run for the girls. Once they settled in they didn't need it. They stayed pretty close and we were so far off the road when were in the back of the spot, they were not a problem. Another reason to love that site.
More camping in about a month. Can't wait to go and I'm hoping for cooler weather.I'm rating this weekend 4-stars out of 5.
