Dallas Date Night #12 - KOA Kamping Weekend

Sometimes when you live in the city you just have to get out of it.

You just want to fall asleep at night in quiet - without the sirens, without the jazz guitarist next door practicing, without the kids playing in the pool at midnight, and without the buzz of traffic in your ears. You want to smell fresh air, not exhaust, or cigarette smoke, or body odor. You want to see green, living things instead of cement, and you want to see real trees instead of telephone poles.

So, when KOA (Kampgrounds of America) had a buy one night, get the second night free deal, we couldn't pass it up.

Friday night we headed out to Kerrville (no, we couldn't go somewhere closer, and yes, as usual, my car broke on the way down).

On the highway we saw this man:

We have a friend (Joey) who says that where he's from (Iowa) men don't wear Crocs. Well, we're here to prove him wrong. If this overall-wearing, motorcycle-driving, croc-sportin' man of a man isn't proof that men in Texas wear crocs, then I don't know what is.

On the five-hour drive to Kerrville, we stopped at Rudys, and I thought, "It's good to be back in Texas." There's nothing like a little Sissy Sauce to make a camping trip complete.

After jerry-rigging my car half-way through the trip so that it didn't explode, we finally arrived after dark to what appeared to be our campsite. It was like a grass-covered parking lot 100 yards from the freeway and nestled in between half a dozen campers. So, it wasn't a state park, but we were tired and we slept good.

In the morning we fixed breakfast with my brother's dutch oven and our new portable grill.

Danny made stunning biscuits on his first try EVER cooking in a dutch oven.

It's all in the placement of the coals - and then having the skill not to get charcoal in your food when you move the lid.

While Danny perfected the art of biscuit making, I fried some eggs and sausage, only burning the second batch! Somehow food always tastes better after sleeping outside!

After polishing off our camp-cooked meal, we hit the Guadalupe river for my first ever kayaking experience. It was a success, and I might enjoy kayaking even more than canoing - getting splashed while paddling might just be the ticket!

It was the most relaxing afternoon we'd had in a long time. We stopped half-way and ate our picnic lunch (which you can see below on the back of Danny's kayak).

I applied non-expired sunscreen so that I managed to make it through the day without my knees falling off.

Danny played a horrible trick on me while cooking dinner (yet another fabulously successful dutch oven meal). While I read, Danny was bustling about putting all the necessary ingredients into a shepard's pie-type meal. All of sudden I hear a bang, see red stuff dripping off his hand, and see him moaning, groaning and squeezing his hand.

I immediately jumped up and screamed "What happened?!"

To which Danny smiled and said, "NOTHING! Gotcha!"

I started crying the biggest, most uncontrollable crocodile tears ever, and Danny's mischievious smile immediately disappeared.

I guess the fear of having to figure out where the ER was in Kerrville, mixed with the relief that it was just tomato sauce was too much for my emotions. And, Danny's little joke left him consoling me.

A friendly warning to husbands: don't try that at home!

Danny's tasty dinner made enough to feed at least six. Too bad all of our neighbors where holed away in their air-conditioned campers.



We changed campsites to a little more secluded area the second night.

I just love this picture - look at that smile and those muscles - and in the "kitchen" no less! I love my man!

Danny's creative, make-shift lid-lifter:

Our second and final night was spent in these chairs reading books, talking and watching the sunset over the hills. It was perfect.

Much thanks needs to go to the man whose name we can't remember, who "just so happened" to stop by the KOA Camp Store to buy ONLY chocolate milk (who does that?). He told us how to fix my car so that it was driveable, took us to the nearest O'Reilly Auto store, told us the parts we needed to buy, let us use his tools, pushed back his plans to meet with his brother, and then tried to give half of the money we gave him for his time BACK TO US. We might still be stuck in Kerrville if it weren't for his generosity.