Camping with Lisa -- Round 2 -- at Buescher State Park

Well, I think I'm really enjoying this camping stuff. Lisa and I did our second camping excursion this year, this time at Buescher State Park in Smithville. We had planned to go to Pedernales Falls State Park, and had even paid for two nights (Friday and Saturday), but when Lisa got sick Thursday night, we decided to bag the Friday trip and just go on Saturday. Unfortunately, when we didn't make it on Friday, they gave away our reservation and we were screwed out of Saturday night, even though we'd already paid for it. Now we know better, I guess.

Anyhoo, it worked out for the best. Buescher was great, and we had a wonderful time. The picture above is Lisa and the boys at the trailhead for the hike we did on Sunday. More on that later. Also, you can read Lisa's take on it on her brand new blog located at www.lahatten.blogspot.com. She has a great take on it. Anyway, on to the rest of the story.

We arrived at Buescher at about 3:45 PM and immediately set up camp. I set up a "zip line" across the camp and attached the boys' leashes to it so they could follow us around the campsite. Lisa and I put up the tent and got all the pots and pans and things out and set up. After we had the campsite set up, I set about cleaning the drive train on my triathlon bike. I brought it along to do a ride/run brick on Sunday morning.

Our campsite was pretty cool. There were only about 15 or so other campsites and only about half of them were filled. A couple were filled up by a group of cyclists who had biked in with all their gear and then rolled out again the next morning around 9:30 AM. But, while they were still there, they made some pleasant conversation, and were very complimentary of my Guru bike. They really stroked my ego! It was fun!

As the sun started to go down, Lisa and I made dinner. Okay, Lisa did all the hard work. She had prepped some bratwursts and soaked some corn in beer. We also bought some potato salad (the warm kind) and some sauerkraut. Although we forgot the buns, we had a great dinner of boiled (then roasted) brats, kraut, potatos, and corn. We washed it down with some yummy Shiner Blonde beer. It was a feast fit for a king! I almost felt bad that the boys got nothing but run-of-the-mill dog food! Oh, it was heavenly!

At night fall, we roasted marshmallows in our fire and made s'mores. What a perfect dessert! After the fire burned down, we went to bed and chatted for a while before falling asleep.

I never seem to sleep well on the ground. AJ got me up at 1:30 to go pee. I took both boys out and they did their business (as did I). I slept fitfully again until about 6:30 AM when AJ got me up again. So, we went for a short walk (both boys and me). They did their business again and I brought them back and fed them. At about 7:15, I pulled on my bike stuff and went for a ride.

Lisa had been to Buescher before and told me there was an 11-mile road (Park Road 1-C) that connects Buescher and Bastrop State Parks. I decided a nice out-and-back would be perfect. So, I headed out after doing a warm-up lap around the park circle (about 1 to 1.5 miles). Let me just tell you that the road between the two parks is HILLY! It was generally uphill from Buescher to Bastrop and I didn't get much speed going. It was rather tough going! However, by the same token, on the ride back, it was speed town! I was pretty tired when it was done, but I wanted to do some running too, so I slipped on the shoes and did a lap around the Buescher Park circle. It was a good run.

After breakfast (Lisa made pancakes and bacon), we cleaned up the dishes and then loaded up the backpacks with water and a dog bowl and hit the trail for a hike with the boys. The rest of the pictures were taken on the hike.

Here's a picture of me pretending to be the Crocodile Hunter. As we were walking along this stretch of the trail, there were numerous warning signs for a gas pipeline. I'm pretending to be Steve Irwin sneaking up on a sign. Imagine me in my best Australian accent saying: "Crikey, here we have the elusive albino pipeline sign. You don't see many of them in these parts, mate." We had a good laugh about this one.


This is a nice photo Lisa took of some Indian Blanket flowers. There was a whole field of them along the open part of the trail. We thought they were pretty.

This is one of my favorite pictures. The boys LOVED this waterhole. AJ is so cute!! He actually plopped down in the water and refused to move for several minutes. Reese doesn't seem to take to water quite the same way, but he sure liked wading through this pool. You can't see it in this picture, but to the left is a larger pool back into the woods. The boys kept trying to get over to it, but we weren't supposed to go off the path, so we had to say no. Even with the 15' extendable leashes, the boys couldn't reach the big pool, so they made do with this one.


Here's a good picture of the open part of the trail. Reese and AJ loved running through the tall grass.




You should really check out Lisa's blog. We ran across a copperhead on the trail and Lisa got a good photo of it. Apparently, I almost stepped on it and never saw it until Lisa gasped as it slithered off the trail just behind me. When I did finally see it, it scared the heck out of me. Reese and I both almost stepped on it and neither of us saw it. It was a bit unnerving!

The rest of the hike (supposedly 7 miles long, but I doubt that!) was rather uneventful, and we got packed up and headed home in the late afternoon.

It was a really great time, and the boys were bushed after the long hike. We have GOT to make sure they get that kind of exercise more often. It's nice when they're too tired to get hyper!

Anyway, go check out Lisa's blog. You'll love it! She's so much better with these things than I am.

Back to the triathlon training later!