Lake Whitney Thousand Trails

2012 Apr 6

Our time here at Thousand Trails in Whitney, Texas, so far has been wonderfully relaxing, after the excitement of our travel day. The park has lots of amenities, like a basketball court, tennis courts, a pool table, library and computers. There are some things that aren't open yet, like the pools, and hot tub. WiFi is available at most sites in Sections B & D. There aren't many people here; quite a change from Florida where we were sometimes too close to our neighbor. We love hearing all the bird song and the coyotes. According to the map, there is also a horse corral, but we haven't seen it yet, nor do we know if there are resident horses, or if some folks actually bring their own horses. That's on our list of things to find out. One really nice feature here that we have only seen at one other campground, in a small "supply post", a little store. This one happened to have the sewer hose connection piece that we needed. YEAH! 

The only negative we've encountered is very, very tiny, but only with regard to its actual size. The negative is the lone star tick! It is a very tiny tick, approximately the size of half a rice crispy kernel. I'd give a size in millimeters, but my metric recognition is poor. They are reddish colored and the females have a white spot of their backs, hence their name. They are not indigenous to Texas, but do live as far west as central Texas. We have, so far, removed three of these creatures, with great difficulty. None appeared to be female. All have seemed to be immature. They have not been found on Greyla, nor on me. For some reason, they have all been on Raymond. Two have been on his neck, just below his hairline and last night, on was removed from his underarm. That one was the most difficult to remove.

They are carriers of lyme disease, as well as erhlichiosis, and STARI(Southern Tick Associated Rash Infection).

My concern now, is to communicate to Raymond how important it is to track his physical reaction and any symptoms he may develop in the next 2-14 days. His initial reaction, after being grossed out that he had been tick food, was to say, "I'll be fine", as if by shear power of will he could avoid any ill effects! This is his response to most illness, even his bouts of pancreatitis. (Well, during pancreatitis, not so much, but after and before, always!) I have read him information from the CDC, NIH, and a couple of Universities. They all say the same thing: monitor reaction, save the tick in alcohol, see a doctor. We flushed our dead ticks, but only after fully identifying them. Now we have the dates of the bites on the calendar and I am trying to monitor Raymond. There is a medical center in Whitney, and I would like him to see a doc before we leave here next Thursday, just for peace of mind (and maybe prophylactic antibiotics), but so far, he's still in "I'll be fine" mode. I pray he's correct.

For information about the various types of ticks and the diseases they carry, check out the link below.

tickinfo.com

Texas, Thousand Trails and Tornadoes

2012 Apr 4

As we left the Thousand Trails, Bay Landing, headed off to our next TT stop, at Lake Whitney, Texas, the sun was shining, which we took to be a good sign. We are mistaken. We had chosen a somewhat circular route, mainly in an attempt to avoid anything even resembling a metroplex beltway. Our destination is about halfway between Ft. Worth and Waco. It should take about two hours. We planned for three, including a grocery store stop. 

As we drive along, about five miles from our start point, it began to rain. Oh well, that's not so bad. We proceed to spend the entire drive, in rain. Sometime, gentle drops, sometimes coming down in buckets, but in unrelenting rain. 

As we drove through Texas hills, I was becoming more and more aware of the ominous clouds on the horizon. At one point, I mentioned to Raymond that I didn't like the look of the clouds, because they remind me of tornado clouds. I guess that time spent living in Kansas years ago, did provide some education. R asked about the color of the sky, and we discuss greenish hues and their association with tornadoes. At one point, I remembered that we have a weather band radio in the motor home, but I never did turn it on. Perhaps it was just as well. When you're traveling through unfamiliar counties, its hard to know which warning and watches apply.

When we stopped at the grocery store we were only eight miles from our destination. The sun was shining, though it was clouding up, and the humidity was oppressive. As we left the store, the sky was growing darker. As we drove up to the gate and Ranger station at Lake Whitney Thousand Trails, the rains began in torrents, and the wind began to gust. The gate into the park was closed and there was no one manning the entry station. We decided to sit it out in the motor home. After about five minutes or so, a Thousand Trails employee, DJ, came driving down, ran over to us in the rain, and said she would open the gate, and that we should follow her.

We parked in the main parking lot outside the family center. I followed DJ into the center, thinking that Ray was coming too. While  inside the center, I met another employee, Margie, to whom I had spoken the day before. These folks informed me that there had been either a tornado watch or warning for Meridian, about 20 miles to the west. While I attempted to dry off with paper towels, it began to hail. Most of the hail I saw was about marble sized with a few quarter sized thrown in. DJ and Margie told us to go ahead and drive down to section A where there were pull thrus and just picked any one of them for the night. The plan was to head up to the center in the morning to register and pick our site for the duration of our stay and to minimize our time in the elements.

When the rains and hail slowed down, I went back to the motor home to find that Raymond had stayed there because Greyla was freaking out. Between the heavy rain, the whipping wind, and the hail, poor Greyla was a total stress ball. 

Later, in the early evening, as the sun was setting, after making a brief appearance, Margie came by with our reservation information and paperwork. She said that since we didn't have a car, if we wanted to move to another area in the morning, we should come to the Ranger station and let them know. This was because, section A, where the pull thrus are located is the farthest area from the activities area. She also told us that if there was any threatening weather, she would come by with her car and bullhorn and we should either go to the bathhouse or up to the family center. Thankfully, evacuation was not necessary.

Watching the local news made us realize how fortunate we were. There had been as many as 10 tornadoes which touched down that afternoon. It seems that we had been ahead of the storm front the whole time we were driving. And the tornadoes touched down in some of the very areas we drove past of Saturday as we made our way from Point to Bridgeport, Texas. In fact, the Flying J on I-30 was destroyed, and that had been one of the places described to us in directions. Raymond heard that the edge of the storm was heading toward Lake Tawakoni, and Sulphur Springs, both places where we had recently been. 

So many people were affected by these tornadoes, it makes me wonder how effective that prayer I said as we left Bridgeport was. I mean, we took a roundabout route, instead of a more direct one. We managed to be in, or near communities that were hit, before it happened. I thought about turning on the weather radio, but didn't. And if I had, would I have panicked?  I don't know. But what I do know is that we are safe. Thank you, Jesus. 

I am sorry we don't have any pictures to post of the ominous clouds. Since I am both the driver and, generally also the photographer, it was not possible. Although, Raymond could've taken some shots. We will work on being better at documentation. 

Now, we've settled into our time here at Lake Whitney Thousand Trails, planning for the next leg of our adventure, which will be New Mexico and then the Grand Canyon, where we have reservations from May 8 till May 18. I am so excited! Raymond has never been to the Grand Canyon, and I haven't been there in in 38 years! And neither of us has ever camped there. We're staying here past Easter and I am looking forward to Resurrection services here at the campground. 

Lake Tawakoni, Texas

2012 Mar 30

We arrived at Thousand Trails Lake Tawakoni, later than we had planned, due to poor directional skills, some on my part, some on the part of various locals. We had a reservation and an itinerary number. What we didn't have was anyone to meet us. Nor did we have any information left for us. There was a phone at the entrance, but no one answered when when Raymond called the number beside it. There were, however, some campers very nearby, who hollered over to us that we should just pick a spot and see the manager in the morning. That sounded like a plan.

                                                            OUR VIEW

From right

to middle

to middle

 to left.

This is our "yard".

The park itself was huge, total of 480 acres!  In the center was an open field, which was apparently used for a driving range. We drove around, through mature trees, along the lake shore, and back toward the center again. Let me just say that neither Raymond nor I are very decisive people. Consequently, we drove around again.  We considered the lake front, but were concerned about mosquitoes, since lake front in MS had been infested with them. And since we didn't have a map of the facility, we really weren't sure where anything was located. We ended up basing our decision on where R could set up the satellite dish for best reception, and turned out to be wrong, anyway! The park seemed very empty, and many sites had their hook ups wrapped in plastic.  Later we learned that the "official: season for this TT starts on April 1. I guess that would explain the swimming pool being locked, the general unkemptness of all the grassy areas, the dirty floors in the laundry facility, and the general lack of staff. The TT app on our phone says they have cable and WiFi, which they do not.

The morning after our arrival, Raymond walked up to the office to firm up our arrangements. Turned out that the site we had chosen was just two sites away from the camp host's RV. Since we were only staying three days, we owed $9 for the resort fee, which R was unable to pay, due to their computer being down. In addition, the woman was training a new employee, so she told Ray they would come by later to collect the money, when they made their rounds of the park. 

About this time, I started to feel funky. I was having some abdominal discomfort and felt a 

bit puny. As the day progressed, the discomfort bloomed into pain. It was all left sided, middle and upper quadrant. Eventually, R suggested that I just go lay down and try to rest. The pain seemed to be affected by position, and when I found a way to lay that limited the pain, I feel asleep. When I got up, I was still painful and remembered my last doctor visit when I mentioned a "tightness" in my left abdomen and Dr Ebbert thought that it may be diaverticulosis. The pain was the energy sucking kind, that makes you feel like all the energy in your body is being sucked into this black hole of pain. 

Needless to say, I did not get our massive amounts of dirty laundry washed. Thank goodness my husband is a patient man. We had a quick and easy dinner, and before bed I decided to take a couple ibuprofen. That was a good decision, since it killed the pain, as well as allowed me to sleep all night.

Today I finally got around to the laundry. Yeah! Four loads, but now it's done and we have a good idea of the maximum amount of time that can lapse between laundry visits, which, amazingly enough is about four weeks! Granted, that means wearing nearly everything we own, and NOT changing shirts daily. But, a lot of that time was spent in state parks, which is different from RV resorts. And we're not nearly as active as we were in, say, our forties. Plus, we do monitor each other for bad odors :)

As to the abdominal pain, it is much less than yesterday and I am checking out what measures I should be taking to curb this from happening again. Seems that high fiber in the diet is helpful. As if I needed yet another smack upside my head regarding changing our diet! More fiber, less junk, more fruits and veggies, less processed food. The good news is that Raymond is all for changing our diet if it will help me. If, however, I suggested changing it to help him, he'd be all, "No, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."  So, with this episode, I can change our diet, for both of us, and he's onboard because he doesn't want me to have any issues. I guess that's a win/win.

We will be moving on tomorrow, headed to another Thousand Trails, this one in Bridgeport, TX. I hope it's in better shape than the one we're currently in. I'm thinking we got spoiled at all those Encore Resorts we stayed in in Florida, as well as the great state parks in Mississippi and Arkansas. We'll soon get a better handle on whether the Thousand Trails membership was a boon or a bust.

On the Road, Again

2012 March 29

Our time recently, has been spent getting lost, finding the Thousand Trails, at Lake Tawakoni, in Texas and waiting for me to feel better.

When we left Arkansas, our map app on our phone, combined with my lack of direction, and Arkansas's lack of directional road signs, made for an additional 90 minutes, driving in a huge circle. When we finally managed to get ourselves righted and headed to I-30, we were aware that this leg was not going to be the easy hop we had envisioned. 

We made it to Sulpher Springs, Texas, where we had earlier located a CVS Pharmacy using the internet. We needed to pick up my prescriptions, as I had been without my anti-hypertensives for a few days. Even when we thought we knew where we were going, we got turned around, so we added a bit extra to the driving time, again! (In our defense, people gave rather poor directions. No specificity. Anyway…) We needed to pick up just a few items at a grocery store, and I saw a Super Walmart, so that's where we stopped. Raymond took the cart, to go in search of beer, while I managed the rest of the list: paper plates, dog treats, bread, laundry soap, and a snack. When I had finished finished and Ray was nowhere around our designated meeting spot, I went to where I thought the beer would be, figuring I'd hook up with R and be on our way. Only, there was no beer anywhere in the refrigerated area. I spotted I guy who looked like he might know the answer, and asked him, "Can you buy beer in grocery stores in Texas?" His response: "You can, but not in this one." He elaborated, "Sulpher Springs is dry. You need to go down the road to Emory to get beer, they're wet."  Well, OK, then. Off I went in search of my husband. 

After locating Raymond, we checked out of Walmart, double checked the map and realized that Emory was on our way to Lake Tawakoni. What we didn't count on was how small Emory was and the lack of stores on the road we were traveling. Still no beer for Ray.

As we came upon the intersection where we needed to turn for the last couple of miles to Lake Tawakoni, we saw a quickie mart, where R found out that if you want beer, you drive, "Down the road to Doc's". Seriously, those were the directions he got! I suppose they must've included some pointing, because Raymond indicated a direction. About a mile further, in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go, we did indeed find Doc's. Raymond got his beer and all was right with the world. For now.

We turned back and made the correct turn for the Thousand Trails on Lake Tawakoni. We were glad to make it there before full on sunset. But let's just say, nothing was as we expected.