The forecast was for a low of 32 degrees , but we awoke to our first morning at Lost Maples on Monday, February 7 to clear skies and our coldest morning so far in the trailer – our outside thermometer said 20 degrees! We knew it would be colder here than our previous campground because we were in the Hill Country, and close to 2000 ft elevation, but we needed a break from the flatlands! And by this point, we were getting pretty good at managing all the challenges of cold weather – closing off our ‘door’ to the drafty canvas bed compartment, remembering to turn on the electric mattress heater well before bedtime, unhooking and draining the water hose connected to city water, and using both our little electric space heater and the propane heater as needed to keep the main living area of the trailer cozy.
Since we only had 4 days at Lost Maples, we wanted to make the most of our time. It was bracingly cold and windy, so we decided it was a great day for a hike! We tackled a big loop called the East Trail, which according to our trail map, offered the best groves of maples (for fall viewing) as well as features like Monkey Rock (reminded us of Chico’s beloved MonkeyFace!), The Grotto (a cool, shady spot where the river has worked its way under the hillside, couldn’t really get a good photo), a killer 2 mile climb and descent section and a pond near the end. We had walked the mile to the trailhead the day before, so luckily we drove this time, still ending up with 5.7 miles and pretty sore feet, but happy hearts. Post-hike, we were delighted to discover the best showers in a Texas State Park so far! Warm building, warm water with lots of pressure. Heaven on a chilly day! For dinner Janine attempted her best shot at a curry, using the slow cooker to cook the rice (interesting) and the random spices we had at hand. It was OK but not the best thing we’ve ever had!
Tuesday showed the barest beginnings of a much-desired warming trend (forecast low of 34, actually 22 by our thermometer…) so we decided to go for a road bike ride around 1pm. We knew we were back in bike-friendly territory when we discovered a group of bike tourists had pedalled in, the previous evening, camped and were slowly emerging to pack up and head out for another day in the saddle. Our Peeps! We spent the morning on yoga, cleaning, and discovering that our location was remote enough that we had zero connectivity – no cell, no wifi, not even a single TV channel. Yeah! Luckily we had our old standby of book-reading. And the campground featured a ‘little library’ where we gave and got some new material!
We set out on a chilly, windy afternoon ride, heading north (continuing) on the road we had driven in on, just to see something new. Janine had found a loop possibility but when we got to the first turn, we discovered the road was not only dirt but looked private and had a Dead End sign. So much for the loop! Lacking other options, we decided to simply continue on the main road for an out-and-back. After days on end of flat to rolling plains terrain, we were pretty quickly humbled by the hills, which were short – a mile or less – but STEEP, in the 10 to 15% range! We turned back after an hour or so, and got back pretty quickly with the aid of a sporadic tailwind and what turned out to be a net elevation loss. So we decided to continue on south just to round out the ride, and discovered a series of signs promoting a 100k (62 mile) bike route – to UTOPIA! Needless to say, that was irresistable. Turned out to be a relatively flat out and back to the town of, you guessed it – Utopia! And the start was just outside our campground. Awesome.
After showers, it was JUST nice enough to sit outside if we stayed in full sun. Since we ended up with a ton of cooked rice in the slow-cooker, for dinner Janine whipped up some fried rice, which turned out better than the previous night’s curry. Knowing it would be a lot colder in the morning, we did our best to stay awake past 9pm, but the past few days/hikes/bikes were catching up with us and by 10pm we were out!
By Wednesday, we were down to our last clean kits (kit=bike jersey and shorts!) and due for laundry. We already knew we had a 35 minute drive to Leakey, the closest town with a laundromat (by this measure, our most remote campground!). We were signed up for a Gravel Challenge (an ‘event’, not a RACE!) in about 10 more, so we packed up the suds and duds and drove to some dirt roads about halfway to the laundromat for an easy spin on the gravel bikes. Turned out to be one of the nicest rides we had been on so far. Smooth hardpack gravel, rolling hills, tons of trees, horses, cows… and almost no cars!
Then it was on to Leakey, to search out the Wash Barn! It turned out to be the nicest laundromat we’d seen so far, clean and practically empty, with free wifi, restrooms and even a soda machine! Of course it didn’t hurt that the sun was out and it was actually 70 degrees!!! After that, we headed home with some chorizo from the Leakey Mercantile for one of Mike’s dinner favorites, Huevos con Chorizo!!! Leakey was a fun and interesting collection of mostly a little run-down tourist/hunting/fishing businesses, definitely worth the visit – and the clean laundry! It was warm enough to want shade for our “happy hour” on our return. But even so, we were ready to move on.
Thursday we woke to a balmy temperature of 28, but by the time we were packed up and heading out at 10am, it was in the 60’s! We tried not to dwell on the way it seemed to be warming up at each campground as we prepared to leave… but we were looking forward to warmer weather at our next spot near Austin! Our 3.5 hour drive took us through the heart of Texas Hill Country, really hilly and beautiful country that reminded us a lot of Red Bluff CA (for those from Chico) and then slowly flattening out as we approached and went past the very northern end of San Antonio.\
Nearing Austin, we stopped for a quick restroom break, and Mike happened to notice a nail in the trailer’s driver-side back tire. DOH! We got out the phone, googled, and discovered a Discount TIre (nationwide chain where we had bought the tires before we brought the trailer out to NY in summer of 2019) less than one mile further up the freeway! We brought it in, and they said the tires were too worn to rotate, but they had the exact model IN STOCK!!! So rather than repair the tire, we drove out and were on our way, less than one hour after we discovered the nail, with 4 shiny new tires. We have been SO LUCKY on mechanical issues! Another 30 minutes drive got us to our next location: Buescher State Park in Smithville TX. Watch for our next post, coming soon!