The Bunch Head to Ft Richardson

We have not had our camper out since last November when we braved the not only the below freezing weather, but also 40 mile an hour winds to visit the Silos in Waco. We were a little out of practice with packing and getting ready for a travel day, but we managed to get everything done the day before except pulling the jack up to haul the trailer. We were able to move through most of our travel day at a nice easy pace with no stress. We were only going about an hour and a half west and with a check in time between 2-5, we weren't in any kind of hurry. In typical Murphy 's law fashion, that was the best part of our day.  It was beyond humid outside so in order to have the trailer NOT be 120 degrees inside when we arrived (and yes it really does get that hot) we decided to run the a/c for a few hours before we left so it would have a good start at being at a livable temperature when we arrived. We are putting in hook ups at the house for the rv, but haven't yet. We are plugging into the house via 120V adapter. What this means is I can use one major energy draw at a time in the trailer when it is plugged into the house. Usually I just run the fridge, but since I needed the a/c on I would need to switch the fridge to run on gas or I would flip the breaker to the house. This is where we learned that the fridge wouldn't run on gas. We kind of wished we would have discovered this 3 months ago before the warranty ran out, but again Murphy's law is at work. So the fridge can't run on gas and we can't run both the fridge and the a/c on house power. We decided to run the fridge until 2 hours before we leave, unplug it, and then just run the a/c to cool the rig down. The fridge is well insulated and I was not worried at all about the food getting too hot. In fact on travel days we never run the fridge on gas and even on long travel days through Arizona, we have never had an issue. Our self designated departure time was upon us. The rig had cooled down to about 82 and we were ready to raise the jack and pull away. I went to unplug the power and burned my finger. The old adapter had broken and was super hot. I didn't think much of it until we went to raise the jack. The jack wouldn't raise. The battery had appeared to die. No big deal the salesman showed us a manual override so we would just use our muscle power to raise it. It turns out the same device you use to tighten your lug nuts does in fact NOT work on the jack (Salesman 10 Us 0). We could plug back in to house power to raise it, but I just had to throw away our only adapter. We immediately went into our small town, but of course, Orielly's which was our best bet, didn't carry it. We were off to Camping World. Camping World is a solid 30 minutes from our house. One way. A fun surprise was that Camping World had over stuffed their already small lot with rv's for sale so we literally had to drive around and wait for a spot to open up. There were rv's everywhere, including blocking the entrance. Anyways, we finally got inside and made it home with our $4 part. Now the camper had sat in the heat for over 2 hours and we had pretty much lost all the cooler air we had run the a/c for in the first place. However, the adapter worked and we could raise the jack. D and I were both pretty sweaty and hot from the high heat and humidity so the trip wasn't off to the best start, but again Murphy's Law. As were bouncing along the highway, something came off another truck passing us  and the windshield cracked. We finally arrived to our camping spot and got in our cool 99 degree camper and were seriously considering if the trip was even worth it at this point. 

Well, we were ready to leave until the jack wouldn't come up.

That half moon crack we got just driving down the road was the icing on the cake. Glad whatever it was missed the rig.

D was not impressed with the trip so far though to be fair sun and humidity makes him irritable anyways. 

We liked the campsite. There was even a beach volleyball court behind us...girls didn't play though.

Luckily, a cool front came through that night and things rapidly improved, for me anyways. Last year in Arkansas, we hiked a trail that we had to turn back on because the grass literally came up to our armpits in some places (Arkansas has this weird stance about not "disturbing nature" by mowing the trails). Since that hike, if I am going out on an unfamiliar trail trail I wear pants and usually a long sleeve shirt. Needless to say on this new trail we were about hike I was the only one prepared. T was the next prepared since he had worn knee high socks, but everyone else wore shorts and ankle socks. To put it mildly, they were NOT enjoying the not yet mowed portions of the trail. I made them move forward through the calve high grass, but when we turned a corner and the grass became waist high, I literally laughed out loud. I knew the grumbling trio was not going stand for that so we turned back at that point. D, L, and A had enough and went back to the trailer. T and I, however, were up for more adventures so we headed off to do some more exploring. The cool front had made the humidity super low and it felt wonderful outside. First, we went to explore the old buildings that remain from the 1870's when this area was used as a fort to protect settlers from Indian attacks. We have toured them before during a reenactment we attended there a few years ago, but today they were not open so we just walked around and looked through the windows. Afterwards, we still weren't ready to head back so we went to explore some of the other trails. The one we picked was wonderful. The grumbling trio would like it. It had lots of shade, no ant mounds, and no tall grass. T and I decided to bring them on it the next day. After we explored for awhile, it was lunch time so we headed back to camp. After we finished eating, we decided to go check out the swim beach. This park is a little different than most. It is split into two sections with about a 4 mile gap between the two. The swim area was on the other side so we drove there. Except for the first 15 minutes, we were the only ones there. The actual swim area wasn't the best we have seen, but the covered area was really nice. The kids played for a couple of hours. It was really relaxing. Overall, the trip was a good one. In fact, we plan to go back so we can explore the last trail we didn't have a chance to explore this time.  

I was ready to hike. I even tucked my pants into my socks.

T was ready too.

Believe it or not the girls were already complaining at this point...if they only knew what would be coming.

The grass got taller as we walked along. They had pretty wildflowers though.

Did I forget to mention the trail was called "Prickly Pear"?....huh oversight on my part I guess.

It really wasn't too bad until we got around the corner...I wouldn't have wanted to be wearing ankle socks!

T and I started our own adventure.

This was the "hospital". The morgue was directly behind it.

The bakery made 800 loaves of bread a day to feed the troops.

The guardhouse ruins (jail)

This old train bridge was moved here. They plan to reconstruct a train depot here, eventually .

The officers got a real house to stay in. The enlisted men got to sleep in bunk beds in the barracks...2 men per bed!

The trail we found was super cool.

Literally, it was all shaded and next to a babbling brook. It was really relaxing.

It was a little treacherous in parts.

We had a lot of fun though.

It was a good hike.

The swim area had a nice covered pavilion.

We mostly had it to ourselves.

L and T swam for almost 2 hours.

D enjoyed the shade and breeze while studying his Bible. A and I kept a watch on the other 2 in the water.