******I was really happy to come back to Choke Canyon. I couldn’t get my favorite site, but decided I needed to stop limiting myself like that, and just book another one. I was on site 101, which is the first one you come to as you enter the camping site area.

******There is absolutely nothing to tell about the trip or the set up. Both went extremely smoothly. The rain held off for the trip, and the wind was only at 8 MPH. The one thing worthy of mention is the first use of my new solid rubber and heavy duty chocks. The ones I had were pretty broken up after only six months of use. It was time to spend a little more for quality.

******There also isn’t much to tell about the first night. I did have a visit from a family of 9 javelinas. One was about the size of a miniature dachshund. They didn’t stay at my site long, and were obviously headed somewhere.

******Monday morning started like any camping Monday. That is until I was ready to drive around the park in the rain to look for birds. I had seen several green jays flying around and screeching at my site, so I knew I would see some. But, When I went to put my wallet in the blue jeans I had put on, I discovered that I had left it at home! I went on and took my drive around the park. I went to 75 acre Lake and saw lots of waterfowl. I went to the boat ramp and watched some fishermen taking their boat out of the water. Then I went through the shelter loop, but didn’t see anything but a lot of people packing up to go. I ended with a stop at the bird sanctuary. There were lots of green jays, a blue jay, some doves, and some woodpeckers. I also got a chance to see a "new to me" bird- a kiskadee.

******I got to the trailer, but was anxious about getting gas. I knew I did not have enough to get back to San Antonio pulling the trailer. But, I had no credit card or ID on me. I decided to drive over to my usual gas station in Three Rivers. I tried to pay at the pump with Apple Pay, but didn’t know how to do it. I had to go into the store and tell the cashier my embarrassing story. She was very nice and helped me get my gas with Apple Pay in the store. I needed to fill up, but she said I had to say an amount. I said "$30", which was only enough to get my a little over ¾ of a tank. That’s what I get for always getting gas at the same place and never looking at the price. I had no idea what a realistic price would be to suggest. Oh well. I made it home on that gas with 81 miles to spare, according to the "fuel range" light on the dashboard.

******When I got back to camp, I processed the photos from the last two days. I had taken some good shots at home before leaving on the trip. I put them in a folder where they can easily be uploaded to my blog. That’s what I will do next.

******The rest of Monday went like usual in the camper until 6:00 PM when my power went out in the trailer, just as it was getting dark. I couldn’t get it back on. They had nobody to fix it until this morning. They offered me a different site, but I really didn’t want to move the trailer in the dark.

******I worked hard to conserve phone battery, staying on airplane mode all night. I used one small light in the camper, because I knew my battery wasn't fully charged due to lack of sun for the past several days, and a short drive to the park hooked up to the truck. It got really cold in the trailer, but I was cozy under several blankets. I finally went to bed hoping that there was no damage to the electrical system.

******The rangers were there by 8:15 AM to check things out. They learned that the pedestals at both site 100 and 101 were out. Once again, they offered me another site, but I told them that, since the power event had fried my surge protector, that I was just going to go home. They suggested walking over to a working pedestal and trying it. I guess it needs power to operate the cut off switch, because it was not fried at all, but working perfectly.

******I still decided that I would rather head home, than go through a breakdown and setup process to move sites. But, I told them I was going to pull over to one of the sites long enough to plug in the power and make sure things were good on the interior. I tend to be a bit OCD, and didn't want to get to my next trip with a fried electric system. Fortunately, everything was okay. The surge protector had done its job and saved my system.

******Before I left, the rangers had diagnosed the problem as being caused by water leaking into the conduit and shorting the wires leading to the two sites in question. They wouldn't be able to fix it right away, and were happy that they had two extra sites for this type of situation. The park was full on paper. But, most of the sites were empty, probably due to the weather.

******They told me to stop at headquarters on the way out and the person at the desk would comp my visit. I guess that was fair, although I had a great time, regardless of the power situation. While I was there, I bought one of those new scratch off Texas state park maps. So glad I have my Discover card memorized!

******The trip home was routine. There were some spots that were extra muddy. Both the truck and trailer are filthy. Oh well…