A Night to Remember
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 3:27 am
With the ladies out of town this weekend, My son and I decided to grab the yaks and the camping gear, and head to O.C. Fisher here in San Angelo. It's nice to have the state park so close, and it's been close to 6 years since we were able to paddle here because of the lack of water.
We skipped bringing the fishing gear and opted to just explore the new water. Beautiful afternoon even though the wind was a little harsh.
A few weeks ago they released 150,000 fingerling LMB. New water, new fish, new place to paddle. Of course, this reservoir has been around for decades (long before I was born), and it's heyday left in the 80's, but finally after years of drought, the ol' gal is starting to see new life again.
We paddled out to an island about a half mile from the boat ramp. It's used by the buzzards for...well, for whatever buzzards do. But since they were the only inhabitants on this 1500 square foot piece of mystical land, it was dubbed...Buzzard Suites by Marriott.
After taking the grand tour of the island, 45 seconds later, we were back at our yaks and ready to play.
It didn't take long for my son to make his own decision on what we would do next. It had an awesome drop off, just feet from the white pebble shores.
And after being called a wet blanket, stick in the mud, and old fuddy duddy sitting on the bank, I joined in on the fun and we spent the next hour swimming around and having a grand ol' time.
The wind was picking up and it was getting later in the day. I should add the day didn't start until 4:30 pm after I got out of work. We didn't get there until after 5:30. I decided a few months ago i'm not letting work get in the way of getting out anymore. Even if they're just quick trips. I'm tired, i'm beat, i'm without the motivation sometimes, but heck, the day will come when i'm way down on his list of people worthy to hang out with. So it's worth all the work, sweat, headaches, body aches, and fireant bites.
We headed back to a strong headwind and had a refreshing wet ride back.
We got back to the campsite and started setting up our junk. We've been going out a lot lately, so everything is getting easier now that it all has it's own bags and place in the garage. We have our quick trip junk, long trip junk, car camp junk, backpacking junk, visit the relatives junk...ok, so, obviously we have a lot of junk.
Once camp was set, fireant bites extinguished, and cactus needles extracted, I headed back down to the water's edge, 40 yards away, and played around with the camera. The light was great and I found some nice drift wood to pose for me.
Back at camp, the boy scout had the fire roaring, and it was time to get our grub on.
I figured, if your gonna cook over a campfire, you mine as well have enough for some good left overs. Chicken, pork chops...ohhhh so good. Washed down with Sprite and coffee, i'm not sure it gets any better.
Everything was perfect for the day. Great paddle, great camp, great food, great conversation, great company.
We were in bed by midnight...because i'm a fuddy duddy.
Then, as usual, the weatherman was wrong again...and the forecast changed. The original was less than a 5% chance of rain the rest of the night. I woke up at 4am, burning up with no breeze. Off come the covers and back to sleep. 5:15am hits with a gust of wind that could wake the dead. And I awoke. My son son was already awake.
"You seeing all of that?"
"What?", I asked.
"All the lightning".
About that time a crash of thunder hit.
Wow, that's close. He agreed and said he's been up a while watching it. I grabbed my phone and checked the radar. What's normally green with a bit of yellow in our storms, was nothing but red with a hint of yellow on the radar....and coming right for us.
Being in this situation many, many times before, I asked what he wanted to do and gave some options. Option A...Hunker down and ride it out. We'll need to get up and get our rain flies on, (they were left off because of the heat and the misguided trust we have in our weatherman). Option B...pack up and go home. The original plan called for getting up in a few hours anyway, so we had time to get ready and go to church.
At that moment, while we were standing there, a bolt of lightning hit extremely, extremely close to us. (no joke, the timing was nuts) My son and I jumped with the bright light and clap of thunder and he swore he could see through me. I laughed, mentioned an underwear change, and the decision was made through the laughter and a bunch of "holy crap's". We packed up, and 18 minutes later we were driving off as the first of the rain started. It gave us .75 inches of rain and pea sized hail throughout the next few hours.
We awoke at the house and started getting ready. We again laughed at our night's adventures and amazingly didn't even sleep through service...well, he didn't I guess, I wouldn't know, I was half asleep.
Was it worth it? You dang well better believe it was. Every part of it. I'm yakkin' and campin' with my son. How could it not be? How long before I get struck by lightning, kicked by cancer, hit with heart disease, run over by a state park bison, shot by a crazed gunman? When it's time, it's time. But until then...stop making excuses and get out there and make some memories with your kids!
Thanks for coming along,
Scott
We skipped bringing the fishing gear and opted to just explore the new water. Beautiful afternoon even though the wind was a little harsh.
A few weeks ago they released 150,000 fingerling LMB. New water, new fish, new place to paddle. Of course, this reservoir has been around for decades (long before I was born), and it's heyday left in the 80's, but finally after years of drought, the ol' gal is starting to see new life again.
We paddled out to an island about a half mile from the boat ramp. It's used by the buzzards for...well, for whatever buzzards do. But since they were the only inhabitants on this 1500 square foot piece of mystical land, it was dubbed...Buzzard Suites by Marriott.
After taking the grand tour of the island, 45 seconds later, we were back at our yaks and ready to play.
It didn't take long for my son to make his own decision on what we would do next. It had an awesome drop off, just feet from the white pebble shores.
And after being called a wet blanket, stick in the mud, and old fuddy duddy sitting on the bank, I joined in on the fun and we spent the next hour swimming around and having a grand ol' time.
The wind was picking up and it was getting later in the day. I should add the day didn't start until 4:30 pm after I got out of work. We didn't get there until after 5:30. I decided a few months ago i'm not letting work get in the way of getting out anymore. Even if they're just quick trips. I'm tired, i'm beat, i'm without the motivation sometimes, but heck, the day will come when i'm way down on his list of people worthy to hang out with. So it's worth all the work, sweat, headaches, body aches, and fireant bites.
We headed back to a strong headwind and had a refreshing wet ride back.
We got back to the campsite and started setting up our junk. We've been going out a lot lately, so everything is getting easier now that it all has it's own bags and place in the garage. We have our quick trip junk, long trip junk, car camp junk, backpacking junk, visit the relatives junk...ok, so, obviously we have a lot of junk.
Once camp was set, fireant bites extinguished, and cactus needles extracted, I headed back down to the water's edge, 40 yards away, and played around with the camera. The light was great and I found some nice drift wood to pose for me.
Back at camp, the boy scout had the fire roaring, and it was time to get our grub on.
I figured, if your gonna cook over a campfire, you mine as well have enough for some good left overs. Chicken, pork chops...ohhhh so good. Washed down with Sprite and coffee, i'm not sure it gets any better.
Everything was perfect for the day. Great paddle, great camp, great food, great conversation, great company.
We were in bed by midnight...because i'm a fuddy duddy.
Then, as usual, the weatherman was wrong again...and the forecast changed. The original was less than a 5% chance of rain the rest of the night. I woke up at 4am, burning up with no breeze. Off come the covers and back to sleep. 5:15am hits with a gust of wind that could wake the dead. And I awoke. My son son was already awake.
"You seeing all of that?"
"What?", I asked.
"All the lightning".
About that time a crash of thunder hit.
Wow, that's close. He agreed and said he's been up a while watching it. I grabbed my phone and checked the radar. What's normally green with a bit of yellow in our storms, was nothing but red with a hint of yellow on the radar....and coming right for us.
Being in this situation many, many times before, I asked what he wanted to do and gave some options. Option A...Hunker down and ride it out. We'll need to get up and get our rain flies on, (they were left off because of the heat and the misguided trust we have in our weatherman). Option B...pack up and go home. The original plan called for getting up in a few hours anyway, so we had time to get ready and go to church.
At that moment, while we were standing there, a bolt of lightning hit extremely, extremely close to us. (no joke, the timing was nuts) My son and I jumped with the bright light and clap of thunder and he swore he could see through me. I laughed, mentioned an underwear change, and the decision was made through the laughter and a bunch of "holy crap's". We packed up, and 18 minutes later we were driving off as the first of the rain started. It gave us .75 inches of rain and pea sized hail throughout the next few hours.
We awoke at the house and started getting ready. We again laughed at our night's adventures and amazingly didn't even sleep through service...well, he didn't I guess, I wouldn't know, I was half asleep.
Was it worth it? You dang well better believe it was. Every part of it. I'm yakkin' and campin' with my son. How could it not be? How long before I get struck by lightning, kicked by cancer, hit with heart disease, run over by a state park bison, shot by a crazed gunman? When it's time, it's time. But until then...stop making excuses and get out there and make some memories with your kids!
Thanks for coming along,
Scott