Short weekend, but we filled it!

Escape!

We needed a break. We took it.

A leisurely drive south/southwest eventually took us to the river. But we did stop along the way. First we stopped for a sandwich and to stretch our legs. We hit one of my favorite stores (books -The World of Jane Austen: Her Houses in Fact and Fiction* by Nigel Nicolson and Stephen Colover - but mostly and the opportunity to say "no" to a deviled egg dish**).

Come on. Who doesn't like a thrift store?

I love deviled egg plates, but don't need another.

Sad, out-of-date, television sets and, perhaps, a computer monitor or two sit unwanted at the back of the store.

It was a long drive with many miles of ranch land. Every now and then we were rewarded with the view of a windmill or a few deer (white tail and exotics).

It was a lovely day, even as the road seemed to go on and on.

Everyone needs a good windmill. Somewhere along this road we lost service for the cell phones (THAT is a good thing for a few days anyway). On the way home the phones go crazy receiving texts and missed calls.

DH was proud to pass a Jaguar. This is the Jag in our rear view mirror. [Yeah, he giggled]

We arrived just in time to check in (the office was closing), buy a few T-shirts, discover that it is a river clean-up weekend, and get a few tubes. If we agreed to participate in the clean-up we got the tubes for free. We would also be able to enter the state park for free and be served a celebratory end-of-clean-up barbecue dinner. Sounded good to us and we delivered gifts and a clean-up bag to OC's room.

We arrived at the campgrounds and left goodies (if you must know - sugared cereal, a bouquet of Tootsie pops, bubbles and a trash bag) for OC and JB who would join us later in the evening.

We have stayed in this cabin many times. My ankle always hurts when we stay here.***

We hustled to the river, rolled up our pants, and waded in.

Small "pool" at the swimming area. Note piece of trash at the bottom center.

Across the river are a number of piles of driftwood remaining from the massive flood over Memorial Day weekend.

It was starting to get late.

One of my favorite views.

This set of rapids comes and goes.

The path along the river near the true "camping" sites.

Smaller bundles indicating the height of the flood waters.

We did "clean" on our float early Saturday morning. We continued to pick up trash in the swimming area and along both banks. We ended up with 4 bags of trash.****

Some of the trash [Yes, it is up to you - and me] and driftwood.

Barbecue! Loads of scouts and other volunteers.

My door prize. I think it is a bird feeder.

NOTES:

* It was actually quite good. I want to do a little research - the basis of a future trip, perhaps.

** How many deviled egg plates does one person need? Perhaps the question should be - How many deviled egg plates does one person have?

***I rolled my left ankle while staying here probably 20 years ago. It still misbehaves...and does twinge a bit when going up and down the stairs at Cabin 4.

**** We always pick up trash we find during our floats - like good scouts everywhere - we try to leave a place better than we found it. And I LOVE these bags that let you float unimpeded by your trash bag! We try to recycle the bags (they wash nicely) and keep some stashed in our camping box.