Camping At Cedar Hills State Park, Tx: Sickness, Storms & Interesting Neighbors! April 28th through May 2nd

 

A view of Joe Pool Lake... quite lovely, but between cool temps and being sick, I unfortunately did not get a chance to go swimming in it, as I had hoped. 

Even though Cedar Hills SHOULD have been a mere 45 minute drive south of Dallas, the convoluted and confusing freeway interchanges-- all with multiple signs above each-- caused me to go the wrong way several times and take twice as long to get there. It was utterly exasperating!  To give an example: I would suddenly come upon a split in the freeway; 3 lanes to the left, 2 lanes to the right. Over the left side, there was exceedingly complicated signage, such as: "35W288south"; 25NE/MLK Jr. Ave. NW/SE", "77 East, West, North and South". (Of course I am being a bit absurd, but this is not MUCH of an exaggeration, I kid you not!!) Then, over the right TWO lanes, some such craziness as this: "Southwest 79867/275 West" and "667 North East Cedar Street"... and by the time Google maps app spoke to me, my mind was spinning in a panic and of course I went the wrong way. Then, more convoluted and confusing directions to get back ON going the right way once more. All this, compounded by the fact that there ALWAYS seemed to be road construction everywhere, and if not, slow downs for no reason at all that I could discern, and in the middle of the day! In short, driving in Dallas is surely the MOST difficult vehicular challenge I have ever undertaken, AND the most exasperating. Far worse than Los Angeles even, I kid you not! 

However, that does NOT change my opinion of Dallas. I still love this city!

Anyhow, I arrived sometime early afternoon, made my camp as always, and began to notice that my energy was at an extremely low ebb. Additionally, I was saddened by the ranger's news that ALL of the trails in the park were closed, owing to excessive storms and wetness, resulting in massive muddiness and erosion. NO possibility of hiking... and the weather was also not conducive for swimming in the vast Joe Pool lake (so named after a Texas senator, according to my very wise, 10 year old Chinese student.) 

Thus, after making dinner, I crawled into my tent and made it an early night. 

Constant overcast and cool temps-- along with the flu attack--did not allow for swimming in the lovely Joe Pool lake. Tragic, indeed! 

The perpetual wetness did bring out multitudes of colorful and interesting snails! 

For some strange reason, they liked to congregate--and crawl up--the post that supported the water faucet in my campsite. It was a lively convention of snails! 

An unusual and particularly pretty variety! 

My soggy tent and campsite. Despite the deluge, my cheap Walmart special held up surprisingly well. I periodically had to mop up small puddles along the back seams, and where some of the wetness seeped in through the zippers of the front door. 

While convalescing inside this tent, I did at least have a most scenic view of the forest outside of the front door flap! 

Unfortunately, I was not able to enjoy a good night's sleep: There was some kind of nocturnal bird-- mockingbird? nightingale? According to Google, those are the main nighttime birds in Texas. For whatever reason, they took it up on themselves to serenade me repeatedly throughout the night. Then, come early morn, there was traffic noise from the nearby highway, along with airplanes overhead. Thus, I awoke sleep-deprived and even more out of sorts. NOT a fun situation at all!

I basically spent the week sick with the flu and suffering from intestinal distress so intense that I nearly carted myself off to the local emergency room in Cedar Hill. Thankfully, the severity lessened over the week--though never fully went away--and I just toughed it out.

Wednesday was the most dramatic day, as there were thunder and lightening storms, with subsequent heavy rain, the entire day. I remained holed up in my tent. While unable to sleep, I was at least was able to enjoy the loveliness of Mother Nature in her most resplendent glory. The thunder claps were so loud as to be deafening at times... I have never before been camping in a tent in SUCH intense storm conditions! It was truly awesome. 

NOT so awesome: feeling so unwell, and having to slosh through deep mud to get to the picnic table to cook, or back and forth to my car for supplies. The tent was covered in mud, my shoes were a muddy mess, as were the bottoms of my pant legs. Truly unpleasant. 

Fortunately, by Friday the second I was much better, though still not quite well...but well enough to pack everything up and clean most of the mud off of the tent. It was exhausting, though....

GOOD notes were getting acquainted with some interesting neighbors--there the whole week, as I was--and getting to visit the historic Penn Farm. 

The neighbors:  

1) The lone, curly-haired young man with the Ridgeback dog who always came over to my campsite to greet me if I was out and about. Strangely, the young man was too timid to do anything other than simply say "hello" to me. The classic boy and his dog!

2) The mufflerless, motorcycle dude who cruised-- repeatedly, in endless circles--around the campground...slowly and noisily. Why? No clue. Looking to pick up chics? Going hunting? I would have asked him if I had had the chance...but never did. It was just plain annoying. This went on daily,  all week long! 

3) The two couples across the way from me who drove a large, expensive truck and played loud Hiphop on their stereo...yes, clearly with the intent to drive me crazy as well. 

4) The senior couple who hiked the circular roads around the campground repeatedly, with hefty backpacks and hiking poles. I learned from the husband that they were in training to hike the Portugal Camino de Santiago in three weeks' time. Bravo for the two of them! They were very nice.

5) The family of five-- young couple with 3 youngsters in tow--who arrived in a happy mood, started playing with the kids in a lively and jocular fashion. However, by the second or third day, I was unfortunately privvy to the parents yelling at the now delinquent offspring. Apparently, they were seriously misbehaving, and one or more was having hysterical tantrums. How very wonderful!!! Ha ha ha. What a great reminder of what a good choice it was for me not to have children!

 

Finally, I was well enough by the end of the week --and the rain finally abated--so that I was able to get in some easy meandering around the park, as well as go to the historic Penn Farm from the 1800's-- fascinating, and well worth the visit. 

So, while not quite the camping experience I had envisioned, it wound up being enjoyable over all... between the beauty of nature and the history of the area. I would definitely want to return one day! 

Being springtime, the park was replete with gorgeous wildflowers, which I enjoyed photographing when I was well enough to venture out and walk through the campground. 

This beauty is aptly named the "Indian blanket". 

Great thing about the rain: perpetual greenery and lushness, vivid and lovely! 

My excursion to the historical Penn Family farm in the state park was amazing... I was glad to have been well enough to venture out on Thursday to see it.  Hope you will enjoy perusing the pics; there are too many to do individual captions for. Suffice it to say that the buildings were at least 150 years old; ditto for the various,  interesting pieces of farm equipment. 

The photo of the black turkey vulture--named "Morticia" by the park rangers-- apparently returns annually to the farm's barn to give birth to a new chick (only one--yet to be named this year!). Her mate has of course been dubbed "Gomez"! She hissed at me as I approached her to get the photo, fiercely protective of the baby, which I was unable to see. Still, I felt very blessed to get the photo of her,  a proud and noble bird!