Lockhart State Park April 2022
------This camping trip just sort of snuck up on me. It wasn’t too long since I had been at KSP. Anyway, I was happy to go back to Lockhart. The trails are really nice, and I get lots of exercise whenever I am there.
------The drive up was uneventful. That is a good thing. I really don’t like driving on I-10 East. There is way too much traffic, most of it huge semis. Plus, there is always a lot of construction going on that makes me drive through those narrowed lanes with the concrete barriers.
------It is less than an hour and and half. I listened to a book on the way, and before I knew it, I was pulling into the park.
------I got the camper set up in site # 3, changed clothes, grabbed my camera, and headed off for my first hike of the trip. I followed the Clear Fork Trail and took the Wild Rose Loop. I only saw one wild rose plant, and it wasn’t really in bloom. The first time I came here, you walked through a valley of rose bushes. I learned on this trip that they are invasive non-natives, and the park is trying to get rid of them. They left a few to honor the trail’s historic name. Oh well!
------At the end of the loop, I picked up the Clear Fork Trail again and took it all the way to wear it dead ends at the fence line. I heard a really loud knocking in the trees and discovered that it was Pileated Woodpeckers. The ranger told me that a mating pair moved into the park after escaping the Bastrop fire. I wasted a LOT of time trying to get a photo, but never did. I headed back to the camper for a nap.
------I brought my food with me for this trip. I only planned on eating out one time. That would be a trip to a "new to me" BBQ place. I’ll talk about that later. I had some eggs, bacon, tortillas, and chicken thighs. I fried a chicken thigh in my little tiny electric skillet and put it on a tortilla.
------I thought about taking a second hike, but since I had gotten to the park later in the day, I decided not to. I processed my photos from the day then watched Netflix for the rest of the evening. For some reason, I was able to get the Netflix shows on my TV. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I don’t know why. Anyway, I was pretty tired, so I actually went to bed fairly early. At home, I have to take the dogs out at midnight. On a camping trip, I can go to bed whenever I want.
------I woke up Tuesday morning and made a quick breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese tacos with some coffee. Then I hiked up the new CCC Trail to the Rec Center. I came back by taking the Rattlesnake Run Trail, the Chisholm Trail, and the Hilltop Trail. Along the way, I recorded some bird songs for a presentation I am giving later this month for a second grade class. It was a very pleasant hike, although extremely hot and humid.
------When I got back to camp, I cooled off for a while before getting cleaned up for a trip to town. When I was putting my stabilizers up at the storage lot, the chuck on my cordless drill got stuck in the open position. I watched a video showing how to fix it, so I wanted to get the tools needed. I was hoping for a Home Depot, but Lockhart doesn’t have one. They did have Tractor Supply Store. They really didn’t have what I needed. The one tool they did have seemed way to expensive. I decided to try Walmart. I found everything I wanted there, including a gallon of water, which I almost forgot I wanted to get on this trip to town.
------When I got back to the camper, I had a new problem. The AC was making a funny noise. It is a brand new unit, in fact, this was the first trip that I have used it except for about an hour on one trip to cool the interior down on arrival. I was really worried. I pulled the filter out to get a look up inside and the noise stopped. I went ahead and cleaned the filter just in case that was the problem. It wasn’t. Every time I put the filter back on, the noise came back. Yet, I could tell that it wasn’t the filter or it’s cover rattling. I got my flashlight and looked all around up there. I saw one little section of metallic tape that seemed a little loose. I pressed it down and put the filter back in place. That solved it. The wind was somehow getting channeled up to that spot and causing the entire metal wall the tape was on to rattle. I kept waiting all night for it to start rattling again, but it didn’t.
------I went on to work on the drill chuck and had it fixed in about 15 seconds. That was a major relief. I used my corded drill when I arrived at the park. But, there would be no way to put the stabilizers down at the storage lot without my cordless. I could use the hand tool, but that is no fun.
------I took another hike up the Hilltop Trail and came back on the Creek View Trail. I wanted to get some extra steps in, even though I was staying on my meal plan. It was a great hike, although I didn’t get any bird pictures again. I could hear birds all around the whole time I was at the park. They were just too hidden by the trees to get photos.
------Back at the trailer, I cooked some more chicken for dinner. I processed the days photos even though I couldn’t upload them to my blog. I used up too much of my personal hotspot data in Kerrville trying to watch Netflix on the fire stick. Now it is throttled until April 8th. Plus, there isn’t much extra service for using the hotspot to begin with. I just wanted to pick the good shots out and organize them into folders for when I get home.
------The rest of the night was spent watching Netflix. Once again, it worked on the TV with the old apple adapter. For years, it wouldn’t work with Netflix. Now suddenly it does.
------I started nodding off and losing my place in the show. That’s really hard when you are reading subtitles. I decided to just go ahead and go to sleep.
------I woke up an hour earlier than I planned on Wednesday morning. I made breakfast before taking a hike over to the playground and headquarters area. While at headquarters, I chatted for a while with a Master Naturalist and a Park Ranger who were working on the butterfly garden near the swimming pool. The ranger told me about some upcoming improvements to the park. We also discussed the changes I had noticed in the trails. I told her that I was surprised that the Clear Fork Trail hadn’t been changed. Crossing the dam was scary for me years ago when I first visited the park. Now the dam is in worse shape and has fallen trees all over it. No way I would even try it. She told me that they took the crossing off the trail maps and removed the Clear Fork Trail sign. I told her I was pretty sure I saw the sign the day before. She didn’t seem to believe me and said she would go check it later. I went ahead and hiked over that way. Sure enough the sign is still there. She will be surprised when she goes to check on it.
------I decided to go ahead and hike up the Creek ViewTrail since I was at the trailhead. When I got to the top, I turned on to the Persimmon Trail to make the climb to the hilltop. It is a gentler trail than the one that follows the fence line straight up the hill. After that, I took the Hilltop Trail back down and headed back to the camper.
------I had turned on the water heater earlier in the morning so that I could clean up for my trip into town. I went to Walmart and got some gas, first. Then I drove over to Riley’s Pit BBQ to get a meatloaf plate. I also grabbed a two-meat plate with turkey and sausage. Meatloaf is my favorite food, but I still wanted to try some other meats for dinner. This way I also got to try four different sides: mac and cheese, potato salad, pea salad, and green beans. I really liked the meatloaf. The other meats were also good. This is now my new favorite BBQ place in Lockhart. You can read my review on YELP: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rileys-pit-bbq-lockhart?hrid=BeBLjb0XksV_EM76RFFO0Q
------The meatloaf plate was really filling and made me sleepy. I gave in and took a nice long nap. When I got up, I knew I needed to get another hike in. I decided to go back up to the rec center. This time, I followed the newly re-routed Caddy Trail. Instead of going straight up a steep hill the way it used to, it now meanders up with a bunch of switch-back turns. It is a very pleasant trail. I sat at a picnic table up near the rec hall in the little area off by itself. It is so peaceful there. I followed the road back down to the golf course, where I took the beginning of the Chisholm trail until it turned to go up hill. I had no desire to climb at that time. Instead, I just loitered under the trees listening to birds sing. Then, since I was suddenly really thirsty, I headed back to the trailer.
------I rested for a while before processing the day’s photos. Then I heated up the turkey and sausage and had a great dinner. After that, I started some of the departure prep that I always do on the night before leaving. I stowed the things I wouldn’t need for the rest of the trip. I cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the trailer. I washed all of the dirty dishes and the little electric skillet. Finally, I packed the things that could be packed, mixed a jug of wine coolers and settled in to watch my Korean series on Netflix.
------I went to bed pretty early, but when the 7:00 AM alarm went off, the trailer was so cold that I rolled over and went back to sleep until my daily eight o’clock alarm went off.
------I jumped out of bed and finished all the interior departure steps. I put my stuff in the truck. Then I checked the air in the tires, hitched up the trailer, disconnected the power and water, and checked the signals. I decided to put some new velcro on my trailer brake controller. It has been hanging funny for a while. When I was done, I made a final check inside the trailer, did a walk around, and headed home.
------The trip home was uneventful.
------You can see pictures from this trip on my It’s Alive blog at https://itsalive.postach.io/
