A Crossover: Cars and Courthouses

Hi, y'all.

I gotta be honest, it's hard to pick back up and write on the blog because camping and Diesel were so intertwined...  I'm grateful that we have these blog pages because it's a living memorial of our camping campion; we started camping the same month he was born, he joined us just a short 2 months later, and he camped with us all the way up till Memorial Day this year.  I know the next time we camp, and every time we camp from here here on out, it will be, well... different.  To say "we miss our Diesel" is probably the understatement of the decade for us right now.

So, a slight shift from the normal camping topic - a crossover "episode," if you will.  And perhaps a new addition/distraction going forward, seeing that the blog _is_ about being "on wheels" after all.

My I introduce our newest adventure: our 2021 Mazda MX5 RF.  We bought it earlier this summer and  named her JOY. 

We've been ENJOYN this convertible over the summer months, and have already gone on a cross country 11-day trip to Denver, Colorado (the above picture was on the drive up to Pike's Peak); the past two weekends after Diesel's death, we've found ourselves jumping in the car and running away from an empty, quiet house.

This weekend was WAY too wet, even though we typically start our camping season back up on Labor Day, so we made a last minute decision to take the Miata out, and thanks to a post from the Lone Star Miata Club, we had a mission: The TX Miata Courthouse Challenge that's proceeding the 2022 Texas Miata Roundup that we're going to in October (we've got reservations to camp that weekend and are working the registration table, so we're pretty excited about meeting new friends in the Miata club.)

Y'all already know I have a thing for courthouses, so this one was a no brainer!

We're planning to get the 10 stops needed for the challenge over two different trips: this weekend, we're getting the western and southern stops, and since we already had a trip to Dallas planned to visit family and we'll get the northern ones that weekend. 

These will likely just be picture posts but I'll tag back to any camping trips where we've visited the courthouses, too, since we're not spending a ton of time exploring, just trying to get all 10 stops before the deadline of October 1st.

So, thanks for sticking with me as I shift gears (see what I did there?).

xoxo, SJB

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Stop #1: Coryell County Courthouse - Gatesville

Stop #2: Caldwell County Courthouse - Lockhart

We stayed at Lockhart State Park a few times, and visited the courthouse in Really Good Barbeque, Really Bad Gas, and a Game of "I Spy!"

Stop #3: Bexar County Courthouse - San Antonio

We've camped around San Antonio a few times, but surprisingly, haven't 'snagged' the Bexar Co Courthouse till now.  Nearby Palmetto State Park will put you one giant pecan away from Guadalupe Co Courthouse, if you're feeling a little nutty.

Stop #4: Fayette County Courthouse - La Grange

We've stayed in La Grange waaay back in the pop-up days: Rain, Rain at La Grange, but didn't get a chance to visit the courthouse.

Stop #5: Victoria County Courthouse - Victoria

We've camped near Victoria at Goliad State Park a few times over the past decade with a memorable Christmas trip to the fully decorated courthouse just last year. 

Stop #6: Wharton County Courthouse - Wharton

More than 700 miles in three days to catch six of the ten courthouses we need for the challenge.  This was a good weekend!

2020 Camping Trips

July 10-12: Lockhart State Park (F) Site #5

July 17-20th: Brazos Bend State Park - Burr Oak (50a/W) Site #126

August 14-16th: Mission Tejas State Park (30a/W) Site #12 (Car Camping) 

September 10-13th: Cedar Hill State Park - Eagle Ford Camping Loop (50a/W) Site #123

September 24-27th: Martin Dies Jr State Park - Walnut Ridge Unit (50a/W) Site #507

October 2-5th: Lake Corpus Christi State Park  - Opossum Bend Loop (30a/W) Site #17

October 8-11th: Cedar Hill State Park  - Lakeview Camping Loop (F) Site # 209 (Girl's Night)

October 29th - November 1st: The Vineyards Campgrounds on Lake Grapevine (F) Site #6 (Randshe's HalloWedding)

November 1st - Nov 2nd: Lake Tawakoni State Park - Spring Point Camping Loop (50a/W) Site #65

November 12-15th: Choke Canyon State Park (50a/W) Site #108

THANKSGIVING TRIP (#TravelingfortheTurkey):

• November 19-22nd: Martin Creek Lake State Park - Bee Tree loop (50a/W) Site #39 (Sis and TJ)
• November 22-25th: Cooper Lake State Park - South Sulphur, Bright Star loop (50a/W) Site #5
• November 25-27th: Ray Roberts Lake State Park - Johnson Branch (30a/W) Site #61 (Thanksgiving)
• November 27 - 30th: Fort Parker State Park (30a/W) Site #10 (NOT a good park for large RVs)

December 10-13th: Mother Neff State Park Site (F) #20

CHRISTMAS TRIP (#CrossCountryChristmas):

• December 24th: North Little Rock/Junction I40, AR KOA (F) #G6
• December 25th: Nashville East/Lebanon, TN KOA (30amp) #25
• December 26th: Cartersville/Cass-ville White, GA KOA (F) #D11
• December 27th: Greensboro, NC KOA (F) #22
• December 28-31st: Jordan Lake Recreation Area, Apex,  NC - Poplar Point (50a/no water at sites during winter months) Site C037
• December 31st - January 2nd: Falls Lake Recreation Area, Durham, NC - Rolling Hills (30a/W) Site A025 (New Year’s) 

Camp Cooking #12: Way Easier Watermelon

A trip to Lockhart State Park wouldn't be complete without dropping by the Farmer's Market in Lulling and picking up one of their famous watermelons!

Now, you might be wondering: how on earth is a post about watermelon necessary? I mean, you jut cut it, and enjoy it. Simple, right?

Well, yes! But I'm about to make it even easier for you!

It was honestly the SMALLEST watermelon we could find!

First, grab your supplies:

Watermelon

Large Knife

Cheese Cutter

Screwdriver

Salt

So, yes, a cheese cutter.  I would never have thought about this had I not seen Alton Brown post his secret weapon for watermelon cutting on Facebook during our trip - but it's AWESOME! and totally worth repeating.  Here we go:

Slice your watermelon in half width wise.

Cut it into two inch slices.

Cut a small slit into the rind.

Use the screwdriver to unscrew and remove the bar under the wire that determines the thickness of a cheese slice (when used for it's actual intended purpose...) from your cheese slicer.

Hello, new watermelon cutter!

With your new watermelon cutter, insert the wire into the slit you cut in the rind.

And follow the rind all the way around back to your starting point.

Now, pop the center fruit out from the rind.

And there you have it! Repeat for the other slices of your watermelon!

Cut your slices into wedges....

... sprinkle some salt over the top (coarse, kosher, or flakes is best!)....

and enjoy your perfect summer treat!

All Is Calm

I can't help but smile - we went to Lockhart State Park for our first trip with the Castle, and it's right outside of the city of Lulling.  

See lull, think "calm."

And I am so much more calm and happy now that we're camping again.  The hat RBD bought me for this trip truly says it all:

It's always a bit of a mess when you're moving into a new camper - I think we made 4 (5?) trips to Wal-mart along the way regathering items (and food!).  We were so excited to head out after closing on the camper that we didn't have any of our gear from the old camper that we had in storage.  I can tell you, THAT makes for an interesting weekend - knowing you have the stuff, but you don't have the stuff.

I'll tell you though, the one thing we did have was ice! 

OMG, y'all our new camper has an in-freezer ICE MAKER!!!!

 I have nothing but coffee mugs, but we. have. an ICE MAKER!! 

*swoon*

Lockhart SP is a fun campground - its a loop of hookups right on a golf course.  So, of course, we spent the evenings taking walks and enjoying the stars.  (I'd forgotten how wonderful the dark skys are when you get out of town.)

Lulling also happens to be a really neat little town to visit (Check out the write up from the Day Tripper).  We greatly enjoyed the bar-b-que the last time we were here, and this time, we went down to the local farmer's market.

Y'all - support the locals. We enjoyed a little lunch at Mom's Front Porch  - the chicken salad salads were delicious, and the smell of fresh baked bread wafting out the front door was like a hug and a kiss on the cheek from Grandma.

The Farmer's Market just down main street was another great place to help support the locals - we bought fresh veggies for breakfast on Sunday, and the smallest watermelon they had - which was still big enough to fill the whole freezer! 

I'll have a whole post about a trick I learned to cut watermelons.. Look forward to that shortly!

We also made an appointment to visit the Lulling Lavender Fields (made an appointment, because Covid-19 is still rampant, and even more-so in Texas where we've "reopened the economy" before mandating mask wearing and because of the Memorial Day weekend, we're now seeing unprecedented outbreaks and the maxing out of our hospital systems....  but I'm not going to make this blog about Covid, and the 19 bazillion things that are being discussed elsewhere. Camping is about getting _away_ from all that, so that's where we're going to focus.) 

M-kay?  Okay.

Now, where was I? 

Oh, yeah - Lulling Lavender Fields.

Our visit was short, but we found several items to take back to our new home-on-wheels: CBD peppermint tea, a few bundles of dried lavender, and a CBD/lavender/frankincense balm for me.  RBD and I have both found CBD to be a wonderful addition to our daily lives - for me, it's been a huge aide in pain relief from the nerve pain that still lingers from a car accident five years ago.  So, it was nice to find another local place that we could support, and take home a few items we know we'd enjoy.

For dinner that evening, we used some of the jalapeños that we picked up at the farmer's market and made one of our camping favorites: bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers.  

New Camper, Tasty Dinner, Good Movie

I mentioned that Lockhart is on a golf course, right?  Well, we enjoyed walking the course and taking picture, but the park headquarters had a little bit of free fun around it, too. I always try to drop into the park HQ, because you never know what you'll find!

It was such a great weekend to be back camping again - though, RDB says we should start calling it "RV-ing" because we've definitely moved up a bit aways from where we started.  To-may-to, to-mah-to. I'm just glad we're back!

We were in Site #5 of the full hooks loop at Lockhart State Park.  I know I used to tell you if the sites were relatively level or not, but the Castle has auto leveling (something RDB really desired) so all we do is push a button and viola! We're leveled!  We've been to this park before: Really Good Bar-b-que, Really Bad Gas, and a Game of I-Spy.

For more camping photos, go here.

Buying our Rollin' Home; Ron Hoover RV

Nothing like taking time away from work to go camping....and not being able to go camping.  

RDB and I had a long weekend over 4th of July, and with all the troubles we were having with the the Wildcat, we did what we're known for doing: making a big move, spur of the moment. 

And I don't regret it one bit! 

Rusty:  281-381-4505

Working with Rusty at Ron Hoover was a really enjoyable experience.  He's a boat guy by trade, but did a really great job of listening to what it was that we were looking for, understanding our price point, and showing us "a little bit of luxury" that culminated in us purchasing a 2019 38" Palomino Columbus.  And y'all? It's the most luxurious thing I think we've ever bought! 

To put the nail in the coffin on this whole debacle with buying a camper in 2020: Rusty had a quote on the wall of his office, and after our experience with the Wildcat (AKA Cut Bait), I couldn't help but snap a picture of it - it just resonated so much with me:

And a final note: Damian - one of the service techs at Ron Hoover - was INCREDIBLE.  The level of detail he took in giving us the walk thru of the camper, and the incredible amount of honesty that he shared with us about our unit and hte industry as a whole, and the fact that it was Friday afternoon and he had already clocked out and was heading to vacation for the next week- but remained behind to make sure we were hooked up and ok before he left.... its all of those things that really made an incredible difference for us in our experience with Ron Hoover over the other guys.  And it's likely why we'll be customers for life.

We couldn't WAIT to go camping - in fact? We closed on it Friday afternoon and immediately hit the road for Lockhart State park.....

For more new camper photos, click here.