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| Road to a campsite |
I’m celebrating the holidays early this year. The past two years I’ve celebrated
Thanksgiving with family in Northern WI.
I do not like flying, I like driving, so I drive. The drive takes two long days. If I fly, it takes one long day with all the
waiting in an airport and other stuff necessary to fly. My aggravation factor is lower when driving
so it is worth the extra travel day to me.
Leaving on Labor Day weekend is asking for mobs of people on
the road and camping so I held off until Sunday so I would have only one day of
campsite searching.
After 10 hours of empty road driving I arrive at Ponca City,
OK. My first choice is on the lake upstream
of the Kaw dam. The lake is huge, it has
to be, to hold all the swimmers, water skiers, boaters, kayakers, canoers … you
get the idea. Seeing all these people
lowered my expectation of finding a campsite.
My first choice was packed with nobody looking like they would be
leaving anytime soon. My IPhone directed
me to the next choice, the Ponca City campground on another lake. The campground is a loop road with open and
shaded spaces. Querying a few campers enjoying
their weekend, “Grab an open spot, first come, first served”. I needed no encouragement finding a couple
trees to pull under hiding from the 95° sun driven heat. After a few minutes I was reminded that when
there is humidity, shade does not necessarily make you feel cooler.
Even though I have been driving the past ten hours the first
thing I do is pull out a chair to sit down.
Go figure.
Amazingly there are no mosquitoes; no complaints pass my lips.
Everyone else in the campground seems to have kids. Kids are everywhere; running, throwing rocks
and playing games. Mostly they run into
their tents to jump around on the air mattresses. Mom came by several times that afternoon
yelling to get them out of the tent.
As the sun goes down; cicadas start their buzzing, followed
by other insects starting the symphony of whirring or chirping. Mosquitoes also start making their
appearance.
As the darkness deepens another sound appears; loud country
music on a car radio, almost loud enough for the entire campground to enjoy?!? Fireworks follow, several of them on par with
what the city might put on for Independence Day. All of a sudden everything goes quiet… A
vehicle slowly crawls through the campground stopping to speak with a few of
the campers. The local police. After several minutes of visiting they head
off. A minute later the human driven
noise resumes, although at a lower volume.
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| MacBride campground |
More mosquitoes start their buzzing, not quite certain if
they want my New Mexico blood; I don’t give them the opportunity disappearing
into my camper for the night. Tonight I
will see how well the new mattress topper works. Sleep comes quickly; even with the noise.
I allow myself the luxury of sleeping in past 5. Many more miles today. The topper worked well so I feel refreshed
and ready to go.
Morning is my favorite time for driving. Not many people like the early morning so the
roads are empty. I like seeing the
sometimes colorful sky before sunrise.
The low hollows are filled with fog with wisps drifting across the
road. The sky is so dense that I don’t
notice the sunrise over the distant horizon even though the sky is
cloudless. The sun is a red ball; I
don’t need to shade my eyes from its glare.
As the morning progresses the red ball turns to orange, yellow, then to blinding
white. As the sun climbs, so does the
heat. I finally give in; turning on the
air conditioner.
There are only narrow strips of mowed grass off the shoulder
of the interstate. The rest is a buffet
of wildflowers for pollinators to dine upon.
Red, blue, yellow, white; short, tall, single flowers and shrubs.
Wildflowers line the road for miles.
Traffic picks up on I-80.
The day turns to afternoon so I see more camping traffic as they are
making their way home from the holiday weekend.
I arrive at MacBride campground near Solon, IA. As I
hoped, the heavily treed campground is empty.
I have my choice from 50 empty sites; only five other families are
staying the night.
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| Acorns |
Stepping out of the truck my feet almost go out from under
me from all the ‘marbles’ laying on the ground.
Acorns/marbles are everywhere.
They are easily crushed under truck tires, but not under my hiking boots. Acorns rain down on the campground with every
gust of wind. I jump each time one hits
the camper roof. BANG…… BANG.. BANG. Sitting outside I almost wish I had brought
my hardhat from work.
Wandering down to the lake I find several fishermen. Nobody has any fish. Each one tells me they had just arrived. This
seems kind of suspicious, everyone just arrived. I did not see a fishing bus in the parking
lot so I have this feeling they were not having a good day - SAYING they had
just arrived. One can never tell with a
fisherman, I know. Even down by the lake
there is an unusual absence of mosquitoes.
I start wondering if they are all congregating in northern WI waiting to
ambush me.
I notice unique fire rings at each campsite. There are two grates that swing on and off a
fire. I like the idea. Enjoying the evening, looking at the fire
rings off in the distance I easily imagine each one is a deer bedded down. I see fireflies circling in the woods and
bats overhead dipping and diving for their meals. As I go to bed the winds pick up… BANG.
I’m expecting to BANG find dents in the hood of the truck tomorrow.
Throughout the night I was startled several times by yet more acorns but overall had a good night’s sleep.
No dents in the hood. One more
long day with a few planned stops including a cheese run to Henning’s Cheese
outside Kiel, WI.
The further north I travel the more ominous the sky becomes. Once in WI the skies are pale blue with
gray-white clouds rushing in from the north.
If this was November, or later; I would expect snow instead of
rain. Within an hour the sky is a blanket
of dark gray. Rain and wind take turns
buffeting the truck as I continue north.
I notice the truck’s thermometer as I pull in the driveway;
53. Sunday I was baking at 97, Monday
75, today 53. I’m glad I have some cold
weather clothing. I admit I’m a cold
weather wimp having lived in the desert for the past 30 years. I’m hoping tomorrow’s reading on the
thermometer does not continue this downward trend of 20° a day. I was invited to sleep in a warm house but
declined; I want the full camping experience.
The camper furnace works well. I had tried it out prior to leaving on the
trip but it’s hard to tell if the furnace is putting out hot air when it’s 95
outside, even hotter in the camper.
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| Deerskin Creek |
I got out for a few walks and visited the local library,
twice. I had to go back the second time
so I could study their 2017 Milepost book.
It is the ‘bible’ for those driving to Alaska. I spent a couple hours going through just a
portion of it. Returning the book I spotted an ‘Alaskan camping’ book. I spent
another half hour studying that. Alaska
has been on my list of places to go.
After studying those books it has moved up several spots.
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| Bose Lake |
I made a run to the National Forest office to gather maps
and get some advice on a good trail to hike.
I also stop at one of the local fishing guide shops to find a good trout
stream or two. I am told this is not
trout country, bass and muskies prevail.
I was directed to the only one in the area, Deerskin Creek. My maps also show several dispersed camping
sites. I make an afternoon of my search
for the creek and several of the hidden camp sites.
My visit with family goes too fast. I stayed a week but it doesn’t seem that way as
I look back on it.
The timing of this trip sure beats dodging the weather of late November.
It has been a good trip
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
Tom and I are ready for that trip to Alaska... :D
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