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March 16, 2005

Spring Break Camping Adventure

Meg, Scott, and I decided to do an overnight camping adventure while Kate and Claire did a Spring Break Tennis Camp at ATA.

We left on Monday, while the weather was still reasonably warm and dry and went to Krause Springs, which is know for it's camping and summer, spring fed pool.

We made sure we were loaded on firewood and charcoal because we knew it would be getting cooler and we'd get hungry a time or two.

We arrived late Monday morning a found a spot to break camp, not too far from Lake Travis where we could fish, but had all the amenities of a flat spot to pitch our tent, a picnic table, and a place to make our campfire. Who needs electricity and all that fluffy stuff!

After pitching our tent and eating sandwiches, we headed down to the lake for some serious fishing. Mostly we managed to feed our worms to the fish, catch sticks and lakeweed, and get our lines tangled and stuck on things, like trees and stuff.

Then, Meg had a break through and landed a couple ounce perch. Not quite dinner, but a start. A few minutes later, "Fishslayer Meg" landed another perch... this one approached a third of a pound. Again one to turn loose for another day. Scott and I could not get a bite we did get good at hooking the night crawlers on our hooks after losing them time after time.

We came back and built a campfire which would prove to be valuable as the temperature dropped and winds picked up. Meg and Scott treated me to recreations of famous battle scenes, I'm not sure if Revolutionary War, or Battle for Texas Independence period...

After battling hamburgers for dinner with nothing more than coat hangers for a grill we were sufficiently fed again and ready for camp fire stories.

The reviews on my stories of the Texas Range wars were decidely mixed if not outright panned.

We cashed it early to get to the ghost stories and some early morning fishing when we hoped we encounter some starving fishies.

Scott and Meg regaled us in jokes and ghost stories, and Scott was no longer anxious for any more of my stories. It was still fairly early when we fell asleep. If not for the college kids nearby having a Spring Break celebration into the wee hours, we'd have gotten quite a bit of sleep. I had to think back somewhat to my college days and camping trips to Hamilton's Pool to appreciate this wee hour stuff.

A cold, windy morning greeted us at 6am when we were ready to have breakfast and go fish. I felt a sense of payback as we rattled around fixing breakfast. Also there was some good learning. Some types of plastics do not handle hot coffee too well. I need to get the run down on plastics thermal properties from Dad. I do know that of the two types of cups we had, one worked.

The morning fishing proved too windy and two cold. By unanimous consent we bailed after about 15 minutes. We made it a point to build up that camp fire and use up our remaining wood. Check out this camp fire!

Overall, we're ready to do it again, and the remaining night crawlers sit in our fridge awaiting the next fishing expedition or someone mistaking them for leftovers!

Posted by Jim at March 16, 2005 9:23 PM

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Meg, Scott, and I decided to do an overnight camping adventure while Kate and Claire did a Spring Break Tennis Camp at ATA. We left on Monday, while the weather was still reasonably warm and dry and went to Krause Springs, which is know for it's camping and summer, spring fed pool. We made sure we were loaded on firewood and charcoal because we knew it would be getting cooler and we'd get hungry a time or two. We arrived late Monday morning a found a spot to break camp, not too far from Lake Travis where we could fish, but had all the amenities of a flat spot to pitch our tent, a picnic table, and a place to make our campfire. Who needs electricity and all that fluffy stuff! After pitching our tent and eating sandwiches, we headed down to the lake for some serious fishing. Mostly we managed to feed our worms to the fish, catch sticks and lakeweed, and get our lines tangled and stuck on things, like trees and stuff. Then, Meg had a break through and landed a couple ounce perch. Not quite dinner, but a start. A few minutes later, "Fishslayer Meg" landed another perch... this one approached a third of a pound. Again one to turn loose for another day. Scott and I could not get a bite we did get good at hooking the night crawlers on our hooks after losing them time after time. We came back and built a campfire which would prove to be valuable as the temperature dropped and winds picked up. Meg and Scott treated me to recreations of famous battle scenes, I'm not sure if Revolutionary War, or Battle for Texas Independence period... After battling hamburgers for dinner with nothing more than coat hangers for a grill we were sufficiently fed again and ready for camp fire stories. The reviews on my stories of the Texas Range wars were decidely mixed if not outright panned. We cashed it early to get to the ghost stories and some early morning fishing when we hoped we encounter some starving fishies. Scott and Meg regaled us in jokes and ghost stories, and Scott was no longer anxious for any more of my stories. It was still fairly early when we fell asleep. If not for the college kids nearby having a Spring Break celebration into the wee hours, we'd have gotten quite a bit of sleep. I had to think back somewhat to my college days and camping trips to Hamilton's Pool to appreciate this wee hour stuff. A cold, windy morning greeted us at 6am when we were ready to have breakfast and go fish. I felt a sense of payback as we rattled around fixing breakfast. Also there was some good learning. Some types of plastics do not handle hot coffee too well. I need to get the run down on plastics thermal properties from Dad. I do know that of the two types of cups we had, one worked. The morning fishing proved too windy and two cold. By unanimous consent we bailed after about 15 minutes. We made it a point to build up that camp fire and use up our remaining wood. Check out this camp fire! Overall, we're ready to do it again, and the remaining night crawlers sit in our fridge awaiting the next fishing expedition or someone mistaking them for leftovers!