Lake Claiborne - July 2008

Hanna wanted to go camping with me and the dogs before she went back to school so we headed out to Lake Claiborne. She was a very good camping buddy and I really enjoyed having her with me.

We got there Friday afternoon and got set up. She got all of her stuff ready to go to the beach.

And then she was ready to hit the beach...We got my new canoe in the water and paddled down to the beach. While Hanna dove for treasures, me and the dogs just paddled around the beach area. The dogs like the new canoe. They have a lot more room to move around.Hanna found a lot of stuff diving in the beach area. She found a bracelet, about 6 quarters, an earring and lots of mussel shells. She was a natural on the canoe. After I told her how to paddle, she was the paddling queen! We had a lot of fun and I think I'll have a great camping buddy from now on! If you want to see all of the pictures from the trip go to my webshots album by clicking here.

Cathy

Lake Ouachita

Mom and Dad and I went up to Lake Ouachita the first weekend of May. Going up we encountered tornadic winds and rain. It was quite something. Listening to the news when we got up there, we found out that we had driven VERY close to where tornadoes had struck. So we were very fortunate to have made it through with no problems.

Here's Dad relaxing after we got there.


The winds were amazing Friday and Saturday on the Lake. We had 40 mph gusts with a constant 20 mph wind. So I was not able to get out in the yak at all until Sunday. But the sunset Sunday evening was quite nice.

We had a great time, and I have a few more pictures in my webshots album. You can go there by clicking on the title above.

We plan on going to Lake Gilham the end of the month although from what I understand the camping sites are underwater right now...so that may change.

Cathy

Mom and Dad's 65th Anniversary

Mom and Dad's 65th Wedding Anniversary was May 10th. Carole arranged for us to take a boat ride down the bayou in Jefferson, Texas. So we all gathered there for a picnic lunch and took off. It was lots of fun. I posted the pictures in the webshots album, so I'll only put the family picture here.


You can click on the Title of this entry to go to my webshots album.

Camping in Feb-April

Well, we have been camping quite a few times from February until April, but I really haven't been so pleased with the pictures. So I have the only ones that I liked all put into one album on Webshots and you can look at them by clicking here.

Our trip to Lake Quachita State park in Feb was quite cold so I didn't get out in the yak at all. And we went on an eagle tour of the lake and we did not see any eagles at all. I got some good pictures of Mom and Dad, but I seem to have misplaced them somewhere... I'll find some soon I hope. Below you will see the only picture that I really like out of the ones that I took on that trip.

Then we went to Jimmie Davis State Park. We had never been there before and we were quite pleasantly surprised with the park and the lake. I was able to get out and kayak 3 times during the weekend, and the water is very clear. The bottom of the lake is sand on top of clay, so the clarity of the water is great! There are many undeveloped parts of the lake, so it will be very nice to kayak in during the summer when it becomes necessary to do a lot of swimming in the lake to say cool as I kayak.

I saw a lot of wildlife while kayaking. I was able to get pretty close to some beavers. I don't think that they liked me hanging around taking pictures.

There were several different types of ducks. This is one I am not familiar with and I'll have to look it up.

It stormed pretty bad the day that we drove over to Jimmie Davis State Park, and I found out that my 4Runner was pretty uncontrollable when big trucks passed us on the highway. I spent most of the drive with "white knuckles" because it was such a tense ride. So I figured I had better bite the bullet and get a vehicle with the right wheelbase and weight to handle the 7000 lb trailer. So, I went the next week and traded in my 4Runner for an 8cy 5.6L Tundra Truck. What a difference! It was so much easier to haul my trailer when I went to Lake Claiborne a few weeks ago.

I love my new truck!

We are going to Denby Point in Arkansas in a week for four days. I am hoping that I can get a lot of kayaking in while there.

Love y'all! Cathy

Eagle Etc at DeGray

Well, we had a great time at DeGray Lake State Park. Although the drive up to the park was quite hazardous. The temperature was 27-28 degrees with falling sleet. But I took it easy at 55 mph and we made it just fine. By the time that we got to the park the whole trailer, hitch and all were encased in a half inch of ice. I took a picture of my car mirror the next day after it had gotten above freezing and you can see it is still encased in ice.
It was pretty hard getting all of the locks unfrozen. But I had stopped and bought the last can of deicing spray so we had them open after about 5 minutes of work on each one.

The birds were awesome as usual. I got quite a few up close pictures. I like this one... Wesley had a good time and he traded eating worm larvae for a chance to go an a midnight golf cart safari. Yes he really did eat fried cheese covered worm larvae...yuk!!!!! Here you see a red tailed hawk...he is fascinated by two little girls who are wearing yarn hats with tassels on top...I think he is saying...they look yummy! Every one of the birds of prey acted like that when those girls walked close...I guess those hats looked like a great dessert!

We took the eagle boat tour, but by Sunday it was sunny and the eagles had gone elsewhere to look for food I guess...so all we saw was one immature. Dad looks a bit cold... We had a good time even though it was wet and freezing. The new trailer was great and with central heat it was nice a toasty inside. And we had plenty of room with the four of us. Mom, Dad and I head up to Lake Ouachita next weekend for another eagle boat tour. Hopefully we will see more than the one that we saw on the DeGray boat ride...

If you want to see more pictures from the trip click here to go to my Webshots Album.

Until next time...Love to all...Cathy

Camping the first time in the new trailer

Well, I decided to go out last weekend (since I had a 3 day weekend) and try out the new trailer before the big Eagle Etc weekend. So I drove up to Lake Claiborne and was able to get my favorite spot on the hill. It was just me and the dogs so we got to take long walks. And of course Little Bit had lots of fun chasing squirrels and of course Missy chases him....

Here is a picture of the trailer and Missy in spot 25...


It was a very enjoyable weekend...and this coming weekend Mom, Dad, Wesley and I head up to DeGray for their Eagle Etc weekend. Hopefully Wesley won't volunteer to pick up the Eagle poop this year!

Love to all...Cathy

New Camper

Well...those winds were so disturbing last time we camped that I decided that we needed a bigger trailer...

Here is the old trailer...just had it a little over a year. It has been a good one, but it is time to move up.

So the Saturday before last I bought a new 8 cylinder 4Runner which can haul up to 7500 lbs. And then last Saturday a got a new trailer.
The awning is almost longer than my old trailer! We go up to Eagle Etc the last weekend of January so we will be able to be very comfortable!
If you want to see more pictures of the inside after I brought it home click here.

Love you all.... Cathy

Gulf Shores

After Christmas I took Mom and Dad and we headed down to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores Alabama. I had wanted to start out around 5 AM that morning, but I got a nail in my tire so I had to get that fixed before we could get on the road. We finally left around 9 AM. It took us 9 hours, and it was dark by the time we got there. We got all set up and sleep like a log.

Gulf State Park is built around an inland lake that is .2 mi from the beach. We woke up early and I took this picture of Mom as she was looking at the lake. The state park Pavilion on the Gulf is right across the water from us.

It was a very nice day. We went walking on the beach and then drove the beach road to look at houses that we could rent next time we come down. We went down to the beach by the outlet of the lake we were staying on and it was beautiful. I brought a couple a chairs for Mom and Dad to relax in while I took pictures. Looks like they were having a good time!

We went to the store and bought some fresh scallops to cook on the grill for supper. But before I could cook the sun started going down. So we went back to the beach and got some sunset shots. The pelicans were out, the winds were blowing and the sunset was spectacular and the grilled scallops were pretty good too!

We had a really stormy night, but we didn't blow away (I think we had at least 40 mph winds). After breakfast we went to the beach for a short time, but it was threatening rain, so Mom and I decided to go to the outlets mall while Dad stayed at the trailer and relaxed (read that...slept...). It really stormed at the mall, but we had a good time shopping. We ate lunch at Lambert's...the home of the "throwed" roll. It was pretty good "down home" cooking. Mom and I were really full and Dad ate our leftovers for his supper. The storm was finally over by sunset and we had another nice sunset.

We got up early the last day and drove down to a bird sanctuary. It was really cold that day, so there were not really very many birds out. But I got a good picture of Dad on top of the observation tower... I took it with my cell phone!

After we left there we drove on in to Santa Rosa Island. We found a place to eat called "Flounders". Mom had crabcakes that she said were as good as the ones that she had in NC, Dad had a hamburger (he doesn't like seafood), and I had shrimp. That was definitely a go again place!
Then we took a walk on the beach. ...got a picture of Mom and Dad walking down the walkway.

After that we drove on back to Gulf Shores to pack up and head home the next morning.

I think that Mom and Dad enjoyed themselves. I think it makes them nostalgic when they get around the water and the waves. I really liked this picture of both of them just looking at the water...

If you want to see more pictures from the trip you can click here to go to my webshots album. I think I got some good ones of Mom and Dad. And here is the picture that I took right before we got on the road to come home.


Love to all... Cathy

Dad's 85th Birthday Celebration

Well, this is not about camping or kayaking, but it will be about my Dad's 85th birthday party. My sister Carole had the idea early in July to have a meeting of the family to decide what we would get Dad for his 85th birthday. We thought at first about renting a place up in Arkansas and having a family outing like we did when Dad turned 80, but Nancy reminded us that Elizabeth's baby being due in October meant that she would not be able to travel. So we thought about having the party closer to home. I was going to look up renting a party barge on Lake o'the pines and Susie got information about renting one on Cross Lake. In the meantime, our TV broke down and I was "forced" to buy an HDTV. I loved it, and thought about how Dad would like it too. So I suggested that we all pool our money to buy Dad an HDTV. I researched and found a set that seemed like it would be a good fit. So below are the pictures from Dad's 85th birthday. Can I just say that he was very surprised and I think that smiles on his face pretty much say it all....

This is right after we brought in the box.

Everyone gave individual cards.

Look at his face...I think he likes it!

Carole and Bill had also bought and installed a rooftop digital antenna (which Dad never saw before tonight), so Bill got the TV hooked up to the cable and it recognized 13 digital channels and a few Christian channels that are standard channels that Mom will like. We got to see the President's address with the new TV. Too bad they don't have an HD camera in the Oval office!

After that we sang Dad the Happy Birthday song and ate cake (made by Carole) and ice cream.

I think we did the right thing in getting Dad that HDTV. I think he will enjoy it a lot! Thanks to all for helping Dad have a great 85th birthday.

Love to all, Cathy

PS. Click here if you want to see some of the pictures that I did not put on the blog.

Denby Point - Lake Ouachita - August 2007

I left Thursday night for Lake Ouachita with the two dogs. Mom and Dad had to work Carole's estate sale so I only had the dogs for companionship. I left about 4:30 PM from work and went by the house to pick up Little Bit and Missy. They were all excited. They love road trips.

I was between Prescot and Arkadelphia and heard a strange noise from the back of the car. I pulled off the highway (hoping I would not be blown over by a big truck going by) and checked everything. It all looked ok. I got back on the road, but was still troubled by the noise (flap, flap, flap...), so I pulled in to the next rest stop, got out and did a better inspection of the trailer and car. I found that the passenger side tire on the trailer had shredded and was coming apart! I had prayed before I ever left for God to protect me from my own ignorance! Thank God he did! I walked the dogs and put them back in the car and started getting the tire and jack out of the car. But an 18 wheeler pulled in next to me, so I asked him to help me change the tire, and he was very nice to do just that. I tried to pay him, but he considered it his good deed for the day.

So after an hour of downtime at the rest stop we were back on the road. We finally got up to Denby Point on Lake Ouachita at 9 PM. This was the first time for me to try camping without a direct water hookup, so I had to find the water spigot to fill my fresh water tank. Did that and got backed in to the site (VERY HARD TO DO IN THE DARK). Got everything set up, turned on the AC in the trailer and we went for a nice walk around our part of the park. The next morning dawned bright and a wee bit hot, but it was still a beautiful day.

Friday morning I got the kayak down and put it in the Lake. After breakfast we went out for a while. It was pretty hot so I did a lot of stopping to swim. Little Bit did too. Everytime I turned around he was jumping out of the yak! And Missy made the journey quite a trip too...as she moved her considerable 25 lbs from one side of the yak to the other we leaned precariously close to the water several times.

After a while I saw a blue heron dive into the lake.

It was pretty neat to see it make off with it's lunch!

Site #34 was a great one. It was right on the water and we had a lot of room between us and any other camper. I could let the dogs wander around and chase squirrels...which both are really good at! I got lots of pictures of them looking/chasing the squirrels. So if you want to see more like the one below you can go to my webshots page.

The sunset wasn't really anything great, but I like the picture with the skier going by.

Saturday morning we are awakend by a huge gust of wind at 7:45 AM. I jumped up got dressed and got everything tied down a bit better. After the little windstorm, the day turned out beautiful. It never got above 80 degrees and the breeze was blowing all day. I really enjoyed being outside. We took lots of short walks (still a bit crippled from the knee injury). And I sat outside and read while looking out at the water. We got out in the kayak once, but the wind was so high that I was afraid that between it and Missy we were sure to end up in the drink... So I decided to just relax the rest of the day.

Missy looked quite cute, so I had to take a picture of her sitting on the chair. She doesn't like sitting on the ground...

I got a cute one of Little Bit just looking at me as he was trying to find a squirrel to chase.

Sunday morning we got up and I started packing up. Little Bit and Missy watched me from the trailer.

We had a nice drive home with no more incidents. We had a great time...the dogs got to run around and chase a lot of varmits and I got to relax and enjoy the downtime.

Because my boss has a daughter who plays soccer at Rhodes, we won't get to go anywhere until the last weekend in September. He will be out of town every weekend to watch her play...so I will just have to make do with going kayaking close to home. But until next time...

Love to all...Cathy

Hot Hot Hot days of summer...

Well, it has been a long time since I posted. I hurt my knee in a fall while solo camping the first weekend of June, so I have not been very mobile. And I had not kayaked at all since then.

I had made reservations earlier in the summer to camp at Lake Greeson in August, so Mom, Dad and I went up to the lake last weekend. When we got there the temp was 102! It was sooooo hot it took several hours to cool the trailer down to where it was comfortable. Of course we had to set up in the heat of the day...someday I'll learn to do things differently... I went kayaking for the first time in two months that first night. There was an ok sunset, but nothing to really get excited about. I took a few pictures which I'll post later (since I am writing this after work and don't have access to my pictures here).

Saturday it was another hot day. It got up to 105 in the SHADE! needless to say, it was just too hot to do anything except lay in the bunk and read. But I still enjoyed just getting away from Shreveport. If the temperature gets better in a few weeks I intend to solo camp with the dogs at Lake Ouachita. If it isn't below 98 degrees though I think that I'll cancel that trip.

We packed up early Sunday morning and headed back to Shreveport. So...not a very memorable trip except for the heat!

I am looking forward to seeing my brother Jim as he is coming in Wednesday for a few days. I hope he can bring some milder temps with him as he flies up from Miami...

I'll post some pictures from some of my camping trips in the webshots albums soon.
Love to all...Cathy

Lake Ouachita State Park - March 07

Mom, Dad and I headed up to Lake Ouachita State Park last Friday. We got to leave early since I had put in lots of OT lately helping to get our new website up and running. It was really nice to get up to the lake in time to get set up and in the kayak by 4 PM. The weather was great for my first paddle in a few weeks. The water was still about 50 degrees, but the sun was warm and the temperature was around 65. The water was very still so there were some nice reflections on the water of the sky.
I absolutely love the Werner bent shaft paddle that I got. It is so light and I am able to paddle for long periods of time with no pain in my thumb. The paddle made a nice prop to showcase the sun on the water. The coots looked like the only bird I would see that evening, and every time I got a little close off they flew! So, I called it a night and went on back to camp hoping that the next day would be nice and warm so I could kayak a lot. Mom and Dad had already eaten by the time I got back to camp, so as Dad made a fire, I ate and took some pictures. Can you see my kayak tacky light? Pretty cool huh? It was thundering and lightning by the time we went inside. I got the DVD player ready and we watched the Charlie Chan on Broadway movie. Mom and Dad had never seen a Charlie Chan movie before we went to Lake Greeson last month. But they found that they are pretty good clean entertainment and they have quite a few laughs too. After the movie was over it was 10 and we went to sleep. I had really had a hard week at work and I slept so hard that I didn't even hear the storm that we had during the night.

After Mom cooked the waffles for breakfast, I went down to the water and headed out in the kayak. I had a map of the lake so I was hoping that I would not get lost. I paddled for about three hours. It was so good to get out and just paddle until I could not paddle any more. There was a slight wind to battle coming back up to our little inlet, so by the time I got back to the campsite I was pretty beat.

The lake was about 50 degrees and my feet were just too cold even with the sunshine on them. So, we ate lunch then we got in the car and headed in to Hot Springs. I wanted to go to the kayak shop and get some water socks. I found the water socks looked at a few kayaks and then we headed further in to Hot Springs and went to a little shopping mall so Mom and Dad could get some walking in. We shopped for about a hour and then headed back to the park.

When we got back to the campsite, I got my socks on and went to paddle. I wanted to explore the other side of the little inlet that we were in and I was hoping to find some birds who would not fly away when I got close. Down at the very end of the inlet I found a pair of ducks. I looked them up when I got home. They are Northern Shovelers. They winter in the southern US. Click on the picture to make it bigger and look at the bill on those heads! They definitely named them correctly! I paddled up the south side of the inlet and into a small stream that comes in to the Lake. I found another bird that I had never seen. It just pretty much ignored me so I was able to get really close to take a picture of it. I looked it up when I got home and found out that it is a Northern Flicker. It is a kind of woodpecker and it also winters in the southern US. After that I went back to camp so I could cook our traditional grilled steak dinner. After we ate and washed up, we watched another Charlie Chan movie (I have all of the Warner Oland Charlie Chan movies) and then turned our clocks ahead an hour and went to bed. I slept great again that night.

Rain was threatening again on Sunday, so we packed up after breakfast. I let Mom and Dad finish the packing and I went for a last paddle. I wish I lived on a lake. I would paddle every day! I stayed out for about an hour then headed back to the ramp to load the kayak. Mom just did not feel like another sandwich so we left around lunch and stopped in Hot Springs for our noon meal. We had rain on and off until we got to the state line, but the trailer pulled great. I'm glad I got the Weight Distribution Hitch. It made a real difference in the way the trailer pulls.

Well, I guess that's it for this time. I'm not sure when my next trip will be. We'll go somewhere in April, just not sure yet where. I have a few pictures on my webshots album that I did not include here. Click here if you want to go see them.

Cathy