Fort Richardson State Park in Jacksboro, TX

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The plains of north Texas slowly gave way to rolling hills and trees during the drive down. The sight of wind farms remained constant along our route while natural-gas wells and cotton fields faded to oil wells and pecan orchards.

Fort Richardson was a delightful place to spend a long weekend. I took a tour of the grounds and chatted with the tour guide for awhile on Friday when I arrived. I came to this part of Texas to meet old friends and we had a cook-out, caught up on the years that have passed since last we meet, and ate some fine Texas brunch.

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Fair Park in Childress, TX

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Fair Park is a delightful place with a large pond, walking trails, and picnic tables. Nearby are the outdoor stadium, swimming pool, and softball fields. The pond is home to a variety of birds; ducks, blue herons, and some energetic little back birds who are in the passionate throws of mating season. Two males put on a show for a female, but the only ones really interested in watching the males were the cats.

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I’m not sure how to enjoy the picnic table and still follow the admonition on the sign

The park is also home to a 5-space RV park with power and water for only $15 per night. Childress Fair Park was a great place to stop overnight and much more tranquil than a truck stop or big-box parking lot.

Lake Meredith near Sanford TX

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The weather provided a tail-wind on our way here from Boise City, OK. When we arrived there was a very crisp north wind and white caps on the water. By the time our afternoon nap was done the wind had settled to a breeze and the sun was warming the cats. The leaves are just beginning to unfurl and show some green in an otherwise red and tan environment.

It looks like the campground is getting some RV sites with water and electric. There are several new concrete pads all of which have orange caution cones blocking me from using them. We ended up dry-camping at a picnic site on top of a hill overlooking the reservoir. The heated restrooms have hot and cold running water and showers which looked to be free.

Head Wind

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The Court House in Boise City, OK

Boise City, OK

I had planned to make our next stop near Sanford Texas at Lake Meredith, but the wind was wreaking havoc on that plan. A 60 mph headwind slowed our forward progress to just under 100 miles after three-and-a-half hours on the road. The prudent choice seemed to be stopping and waiting for the tailwind forecast in the following day’s weather to materialize

In the mean time I went for a walk from the Love’s Travel stop to the court house in the center of town and back. The wind tried to blow me off the sidewalk a dozen times yet I managed to make the round trip without falling! Back at the RV I tried to boil water but was thwarted by the rocking motion of the coach. The pot kept sliding across the stove top! I wish I had a gimbaled stove from a sailboat!

Queens State Wildlife Area

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Queens SWA is a series of reservoirs in southeast Colorado between Eads and Lamar. I found out about it from UltimateCampgrounds.com and decided to check them out. After some time with google maps and the internet I decided on the Nee Gronde reservoir. We stopped at the parking area on County road C and hiked around a bit. The parking area is about a mile west of Highway 287 so there was no road noise. There are a few boat ramps, but none of them is near the waters edge. Two of the very nicest boat ramps are about 100 meters from the water. When we were there the wind was blowing about 10 gusting to 20 so the insects were not a problem.

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We camped in a parking lot, which I imagine was built for boat trailer parking, and had the lot to ourselves. There are 3 parking areas each with enough room for a big Class A to turn around. There are no services but there are great views of the sun setting over the lake.

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In the evening we could hear the red-wing black birds and meadowlarks singing. Later the white-tail deer strolled by and the coyotes began howling. In the morning the deer were back accompanied by the hoot of an owl.

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House-Cooling Party

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A House-cooling party is the opposite of a house-warming party. Instead of bringing gifts for the house the guests recall fond memories and bring good companionship. Plus pot-luck and Sandy’s famous carrot cake in our case. Twenty-two of us gathered at Bob and Elaine’s house to celebrate, hang out together, and sing a few rounds of Dear Friends.

The people in attendance are some of the people of my tribe. I love my tribe!! I also love the peeps who were not able to attend! YaY tribe!

New Week – New Park!

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This weekend we are at Chatfield State Park Colorado. There is an open grass field near our camp and I’ve been able to take the boys out for walks. There are also lots of bunnies running around the field which the cats find remarkably entertaining.

When we got here the weather was windy, the fire danger was extremely high, and the temp was over 80º F. A couple days later it had snowed, the high temp dropped into the 40’s, and the wind was roaring through camp! The wind has increasingly become a regular feature of Colorado weather. When I was a kid growing up here the wind usually made an appearance in the fall and created an indian-summer in late October. The down-sloping winds, sometimes called chinook or snow-eater, warmed the plains east of the mountains. For the past 4 or 5 winters the experience has been strong winds from the west or northwest as a storm pushes into the mountains. These storms last several days and create wind conditions one typically associates with Wyoming – strong, seemingly endless wind.