West to Mineral Wells

We left Hickory Creek COE Park and started west today... actually, we went north to Denton and then came south on I-35W to I-820 around Fort Worth and then got off on US180 heading west.

We came through Weatherford - US 180 splits and goes around Parker County Courthouse.

It looks like they are doing some roofing on the domes of the courts building.

I had done some research and discovered a place marked as "Other Parking" on Allstays... it was a rest area with picnic tables, but... I should have done a bit more looking for information... it was a bit tight both side-to-side and roof clearance for Miss Doozie...

We decided not to stay as no one else could have passed us if they also wanted to use the rest area....

This sign was beside the rest area.

We called a Walmart in Mineral Wells and they said it would be fine for us to park there for the night. We made it safely out of the rest area, and headed toward Mineral Wells. As we got into town, Dwayne was telling me about his memories of coming to ROTC camp in Mineral Wells when he was in high school. I asked if he would like to stay here a couple of days, and he said that he would. After we got to the Walmart, we disconnected the Jeep and drove to Lake Mineral Wells State Park and drove around to see if we found a site (and roads to get there) that could accommodate Miss Doozie.

We found a nice site right near the lake... it is just 30A, but that is fine as long as we don't need to run the air conditioners.

There are a lot of "cattails" (or some other water plant) growing at the edge of the water. I asked the lady at the office if there were snakes, and she allowed as there probably are... I'm watching where I step very carefully!

 Dwayne specifically remembered hiking over to this area from the ROTC camp and visiting a rock climbing area - he asked the lady at the office about it and she said that there was a nice overlook up there, so we decided to visit it this evening.

A map of the park area...

The rock climbing/rappelling area is on the bottom right where the red arrow is - Miss Doozie is parked on the other side of the lake, in the last section that is right on the lake (Juniper loop).

The name of the rock climbing area is Penitentiary Hollow...

The signs in the area indicated that you should not put any bolts, pitons, or other items that would damage the rock surfaces, but there were a few items bolted in at the top that could be used to tie off ropes, I guess.

It was really pretty - narrow crevices... probably about 30' deep...

At the bottom, it appeared that the ground would be easy to walk on - 1' to several feet wide.

The lake was pretty from this vantage point...

My sweetie getting some pictures!

One of Dwayne's pictures of the lake...

And of one of the crevices....

We made our way to an overlook area --

There was a bench made out of stones and protective railing...

In this area, the crevices were at multiple angles - so the railings kept you from stumbling into one...

There was also a rough stone stairway down - we decided that we weren't ready to make that trip this evening (I was wearing sandals and we hadn't had dinner yet) - but maybe tomorrow!

Our plan is to be here two nights - but we might find more to do and extend our stay!

Pictures from Sunday...

We were so blessed today to be able to worship with our church family one more time on this visit...

We celebrated and were taught on God's love of ethnic diversity - in Revelation 5: 9-10, scripture says: And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our  God, and they will reign on the earth.”

We were blessed to hear 5 members of our congregation share this scripture in their heart language!

While we were at National Indoor RV Center, Mike found that the fitting associated with our bulk oil delivery system had quite an air leak. The fitting would have been expensive and difficult to replace, so he put a valve in that allows us to provide air to the bulk oil delivery system only when we need it rather than trying to maintain air pressure all the time. We checked it out today to make sure we knew what had changed before we leave the area (in case we needed to go back and ask any questions!).

We again enjoyed sitting outside and watching the bird life around us. Dwayne brought his "big" camera with its big lens out. Unfortunately, the goose family did not come up this afternoon...

...but there were these cute little birds getting sustenance from the area around the base of the trees near us.

Isn't he (or she) a cutie?

The current plan is that we will be heading west tomorrow! We've loved being back in the DFW area and seeing friends and family here!

What a nice day!

We were only able to stay at Lake Park Campground in Lewisville until today (Saturday), and we had decided that we would like to have one more Sunday to worship in person with our church family, so I had found a site at Hickory Creek for Saturday and Sunday... The checkout time at Lake Park is 1pm, and check in at Hickory Creek is 3pm, and they are only about 15 minutes apart driving time... so we had some time to spend outside a campground...

We had wanted to get our propane tank filled, so we stopped at the U-Haul in Lewisville to get it filled. The guy said it did not take very much (6.9 - gallons), but the gauge indicates it is now full. Previously the gauge indicated it was about 2/3 full... and Dwayne was concerned that we would not have sufficient pressure to use the propane, so we were glad to be able to get it filled.

As I was getting ready to leave the U-Haul lot, there was a guy riding an interesting motorized (?) board....

It had a wheel in the middle, and if he pushed down on the front, it went faster, and if he pushed down on the back, it slowed down.

He seemed quite proficient on it!

Then we stopped to get diesel. Note that the price per gallon is cheaper for diesel than for regular gasoline (as it *should* be! - since gasoline is a more processed product from the same source). We put in 119 gallons into Miss Doozie. The lady at the store thanked me over and over for choosing to come to their station to fill up ($316 sale) - she offered me any of the food they sold as a thank you - so I took two fried pies!

We still had more time before we could check in, so we drove to the Walmart near Hickory Creek - on the way, I noticed that the road that we would use to get to the campground was closed! So, we took the Jeep and found another way (through a neighborhood that has signs indicating "Neighborhood traffic only") to get there.

We got settled into our site....

There was a goose family up on the shore getting dinner... 

We then we headed off to meet our friend, Glen, for dinner at Golden Corral to celebrate his birthday!

When we got back from dinner, I took Miss Kitty out to see if she would enjoy being outside...

She was enjoying it, so Dwayne brought some chairs...

We enjoyed being outside for quite a while!

There is a small cove of the lake behind us - it was very peaceful...

The goose family came back for more dinner...

One of the goose-parents was quite protective - there were another pair of geese and he/she would drive them off if they came anywhere close.

We felt like we had a productive day followed by a peaceful evening at the lake!

GFCI and Mi Dia

When I was plugging in my hair dryer a few days ago, I found that the GFCI would trip when I plugged it in. Other things worked ok being plugged in, but even if I was not using the hair dryer, just plugging it in caused the GFCI to trip. Dwayne diagnosed it as needing to replace the outlet, so we set about to do that today...

The outlet is under the medicine cabinet over the sink that is in the hallway - not very accessible! We took it down and took the old one with us to ensure we got the right thing at the store. We took a picture so we would remember how it was wired.

While we were out, we stopped at Mi Dia, a Mexican restaurant that we had heard about from a couple of folks at National Indoor RV Center. There was this "interesting" sculpture of a boy reclining in the grass outside the restaurant.

The outside of Mi Dia's menu... (http://www.midiafromscratch.com/) - the covers seemed to be covered with or made of metal - very interesting!

We enjoyed the chips and salsa...

... and ordered the guacamole made at the table!

It was a LOT of guacamole -- Dwayne got a serving of jalapenos separate (so we could get the guacamole mild for me and he could spice it up!).

Another view of the sculpture on the other side as we were leaving the restaurant.

Maybe this cropped version lets you see it a little better -- it is like he is partially submerged in the lawn!

Back at Miss Doozie... getting to where the GFCI was located was a challenge... we finally put a cushioned pad down over the sink and Dwayne laid down over it in order to get the outlet back in... it was NOT easy! But it seems to work great now!