A New Tent and a Little Time to Breathe
Somewhere along our journey, one of my dearest friends told me how much she and her husband loved Granbury, Texas. I did some research and discovered a free camping site so when we
, we headed to Granbury.
I fell in love with this town. It's about the size of my hometown in Alabama, which is also a lake town, so it felt comfortable and homey from the moment we arrived.
The Rough Creek City Park offers a boat ramp with large parking lot, a couple of docks, and a great area for pitching tents. They also have a couple of drive-through or back-in spots for RV boondocking, but no hook-ups. When the weather warms up, they also offer public restrooms, but while we were there, they were locked up tight. Thankfully, the city provided porta-johns, and we brought our own water, so we were set.
(TIP: A water and ice station is just across the street from the park, so you can bottle your own water for only 25 cents per gallon or restock ice for $2/bag.)
When we got to town, we stopped in at Walmart to get supplies and walked through the camping department. We discovered that a tent we'd had our eyes on had been drastically reduced, so we decided to exchange the tent we'd bought in Carlsbad, but still hadn't used or even opened, for the bigger, better one - and it was cheaper, too!
I love our new, sort of goofy, hexagonal tent! It's large enough to feel like a living room when we're inside it, so that's a bonus. The first time we set it up was a challenge - one of the legs had been bent backwards (at a joint), so trying to figure that one out took a few minutes - but now, we're able to set it up in about 10 minutes.
The wind knocked down one of the arms one day, and we provided plenty of entertainment for the residents across the street trying to get it back up, but the next morning, we added some extra guy line support and haven't had any problems. No leaks either. Whew!
(A special word of thanks to the kind neighbors who heard all the laughter from the other neighbors and came over to offer tools, help, support if we needed it. Your kindness surprised and blessed us.)
I also, finally, got myself a cot, so I'm finally up off the ground. These creaky bones are grateful.
The campground was peaceful, with only a couple of campers. Weekends get busy because of the boats, but we were far enough away that it didn't bother us. I loved being on the water, and occasionally catching a whiff of lake water made me happy.
Tim got happy, too, when I introduced him to Braum's ice cream. He said it was the first time he'd ever had a banana split with hand-dipped ice cream instead of soft serve. (And if you've never had Braum's ice cream, try the strawberry - best in the world.)
(Yes, he ate the whole thing.)
Our time in Granbury was spent more on taking a breather from the road and on taking care of necessities like getting an oil change, installing a hitch for the car (and then a cargo carrier), and on getting a 20 lb propane tank for our heater and camp stove (instead of spending a fortune on the 1 lb cylinders). But we did explore the area and visited the town of Weatherford, too. (Ranch land between the two towns was some of the prettiest we've seen!)
Somewhere along the way, before we got to Granbury, I developed a rash on one of my ankles that gave symptoms of poison oak. I hadn't been around the stuff, so I'm not sure how I got it, but began treating it with Calamine while we were camped. Thankfully, it didn't spread and the Calamine dried it up in about 10 days.
We couldn't have campfires in the city park, but we were able to cook on our campstove, so I was glad to have some home cooking again. And we finally found a percolator so we could have some good (and hot!) coffee, too.
Planning took another turn while we were in Granbury, too. Weather continues to play a role in all our decision-making, and the storms (and cold weather) seemed to follow us east.
Our last night in the park, winds hit hard. We hurriedly packed, but before we could finish, it began sleeting. We finished loading the car, then checked into a hotel for the night. The next morning, I went to the car and discovered ice on the door handles. Another dear friend gifted us with a second night at the hotel so we could stay put until the cold blew through.
We debated directions, and finally decided, as ridiculous as it seems, to head west again. Destination: Arizona.
