A Hum-dinger of a Weekend

"The map is best read up-side-down, with your left thumb *right here,* and about the time you get to this part (circles road) you're gonna think 'this old man is playing tricks on me'..."  You know it's going to be a great adventure when the host checking you in starts off with the above directions to your site!

And what a site it was! We're camping with D&V at Hords Creek Lake Park this weekend, as they just got a Class C and have spent the last few weeks renovating the inside.  This park is only about an hour away from home for them, so if they have any mechanical issues, they're close enough to not be too worried.  Central-west Texas for us means that we've got a big drive on Sunday when we finally head home - but oh, boy, it'll be worth it! (And if you have to do physical therapy exercises, it's not a bad spot for that, either!)

Thursday evening RDB was able to get another sunset, right from the beach in front of our site.  I'm telling you - I know I've said this a hundred times, but - I really think we'll be back here again, maybe even for a long weekend trip this fall!

Friday day we spent most of the day just hanging around the campsite.  It was one of those perfect weather kind of days where you can just sit out in your camping chair and enjoy the cool breeze, and listen to the birds sing their happy songs.  Speaking of birds - I found a hummingbird nest! 

Ok, so it's not much to see, but these are little modern marvels! Not much larger than a ping-ping ball, the female hummer does all the work to put it together - using feathers and fibers, sticks and moss, and a surprising element to give it the stretch it'll need for 2-3 growing baby hummingbirds: spider web silk!  Such incredible little creatures! And what incredible camouflage! I was only able to realize it was there because the little Miss was flitting about and then sat right on top of it. 

D&V arrived later in the afternoon while we were making a Wal-mart run.  Note: this campground is one where you'll be really glad you're the daughter of an Eagle Scout who taught you to keep a map and atlas in the truck as there is _zero_ cell service out in this part of Texas; I had to use my map skills to get us over to Ballinger and back!  

Along the way, we stopped off for a quick walk around the Runnels County courthouse. They had a pathway filled with beautiful multi-colored iris in full bloom. Lots of mature trees around the square, making it difficult to get a good picture of the building, but the building didn't have the outstanding architecture that many of the other courthouses we've seen in our travels. 

V is the reason we have our Diesel: she has his older brother, Rev, from a littler two years before Diesel's and when RDB and I decided we wanted a pup she picked the biggest boy of the litter for us.  Rev stayed home this trip (he's an old boy now at 11 years and, much like Diesel, has GI issues that D&V didn't want christening their new camper!) 

Diesel as a 6 week old and Diesel as a 9 year old. Big Boy for sure!

Though Rev stayed home this trip, they brought their poodle, Obi.  We introduced the two dogs to much fanfare - Diesel is a spoiled only child and doesn't play so well with others (totally our bad - we could have socialized him more as a pup) but Obi might as well stand for "obedient" as he didn't mind at all.  

Saturday morning we woke to another crisp and beautiful day.  D&V and us went different directions - they had other friends here at the park and were heading out onto the lake to boat around for the day; RDB and I were heading over to the Lehnis Railroad Museum in Brownwood.  How I didn't know there was a mini-train and railroad museum the last time we were there, I have no idea.  I must have been a bit distracted! It's incredible to think that it's been nearly 8 years - and I'm still as in love with RDB, if not more, today than I was on that day. <3

It was such an incredible trip to the railroad museum, I'll have a whole other post about it!

Back at the campsite for the evening, RDB and I played a few rounds of corn hole (you can easily guess who won - I blame my recent shoulder disability) and enjoyed the view of the Lake. D&V and the crew motored by a few times back and forth on the water. 

It was another beautiful evening to be outside and enjoy the park. And I'd love to share RDB's new YouTube channel with you to see these beautiful sunrises and sunsets! You can find it, and subscribe, here.

Sunday morning always seems to come along too soon, and we were each getting ready to head back home.  We had a knock on our door about 11am, and it was  our neighbor, D&V's friend from Oklahoma, 'Nette the Vet stopping by, empty coffee cup in hand, to see if we had any of the glorious black morning drink - her coffee pot had breathed its last. (Don't we know how that feels?!) It's amazing what time spent over a cup of coffee can do: we share so many things in common with the Vet and we walked away with a new camping friend, and hopefully we'll see her again in our adventures!

One last surprise - I was outside with Diesel as we were finished up getting around to leave and heard the high-pitched squeak of a hummingbird.  I looked up to the hidden nest, and sure enough, managed to catch the little flyer bringing back a feather to adorn the nest.  So. Cool.

It was the perfect bow on top of a hum-dinger of a week away!

We were in site #07 at Hords Creek Lake Park.  It's a 30a/W (we thought we had booked 50a - and were grateful that the weather stayed somewhat nice as our AC struggled to keep it cool.)  Even with that small mishap, the entire weekend was wonderful- and we would come right back to this site again in the fall (in fact, I'll probably start looking at booking up our fall trips here in the next few weeks - Covid Campers have really made planning ahead a requirement this year). 

For more camping photos, go here.