hppants
Well-known member
Recently I had 1000 miles, 3 days and 2 nights of camping and riding in the Angelina National Forest of East Texas. On my beloved 2005 FJR 1300, I was joined by two good buddies - MikeP1300 on his trusty 2011 FJR1300, and Loki with his unbreakable 2003 Nighthawk 750. All the bikes ran flawless as expected.
We chose to camp at the Boykin Springs campground:
https://www.forestcamping.com/dow/southern/angecmp.htm
It’s a Forest Service campground with plenty of amenities (water, hot shower, picnic table, grill/fire ring, etc). We found the campground accommodating, but some of our camping neighbors were kind of loud well past the traditional “quiet time”. Regardless, we made due and it was just fine.
Usually by this time of year, the world here has turned into a sauna. However a late season cool front moved through a day or so before we left. Because of that, we were treated to 3 days of completely cloudless skies and overnight low temperatures in the lower 50’s. By mid afternoon, it was warmed up to the mid-80s, not miserable, but getting pretty hot. Our timing was good. Looking ahead, we likely won’t see weather like that until mid-October.
Typically on a bike trip, a ride report “theme” kind of develops and jumps at me. After thinking about it for a couple of days, no revelations emerged. Truthfully, there were no major discoveries. The riding was good, but not “OMG – THIS IS AWESOME!!!!”. We traveled some new territory for us, but made no life changing discoveries. We conducted no special activities noteworthy of a unique story, but we had fun and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We ate good food, but sampled nothing unusual or especially exciting.
Then it occurred to me, maybe the simple part was the best part. Maybe life was getting too dog gone complicated for us and we just wanted a weekend to “not think”. Maybe we just needed to be with good friends enjoying common interest and being satisfied in the moment, the here and now. Maybe the …..
Un-story was the real story.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
Day 1 – Lafayette, LA to Boykin Springs Campground, 350 miles
Mike agreed to meet at my house at 7:30 am. Loki will have to meet us later at the campground, as he has to work in the morning. Since I’ve got a few minutes, I check the load on the bike, double check tire pressure, etc. Whether the camping is 2 days or 20 days, it seems I still have to tote the whole bale. No worries, my big girl is always up for anything.
Mike pulls in right on time and 3 minutes later we are on our way.
We made a decision to slab it on I-10 to Lake Charles in order to get to uncharted water earlier.
Only 18 miles left on this boring piece of concrete.
Mr. Tom Tom was true to his instructions, and soon we exited the interstate and fueled up. We then ran northwest up hwy 389 to the border town of Merryville. There, we picked up some fresh veggies for supper later.
We crossed into Texas where the road conditions immediately get better and the speed limit goes up quite a bit. The land here is very rural – traffic is non-existent and if you don’t know how to raise cattle, you’d better find another place to live.
Standing by patiently while our navigator is consulting the charts…
This is 6-Mile Lake, which is an offshoot from the Toledo Bend Reservoir. The air temperature dropped a couple of degrees as we rolled over the lake – guess the water hasn’t warmed up completely yet.
We roll through the town of Hemphill and continue north to Milam, Texas when a wonderful aroma fills our nostrils. It must be lunch time.
Food should be good here, they are lining up outside the door.
That smell we experienced is fried catfish, and plenty of it. We’ll both have today’s special: fish, fries, cole slaw, hush puppies, and a big sweet tea for $9.25!
Oh – I almost forgot….dessert is included as well.
During lunch, we met a gentleman that was attending a side car rally “just down the road”. We rode around looking, but never found it. Not deterred, we decided to wander a little North. Or was it West? Or maybe it was South? Doesn’t make any difference – we were just enjoying the day.
Now getting later in the afternoon, we found our destination.
We picked a camp site and not 15 minutes later, Loki rides up. Great timing!
Plenty of room for everyone at this large camp site.
Which brings us to Happy Hour. Nothing like a little homemade guacamole with a cocktail.
We walked over to the park pond to look around. The overflow area is bone dry today.
While Mike and Loki contemplated on the meaning of life…
I was enjoying the good light on the pond late in the afternoon.
We chose to camp at the Boykin Springs campground:
https://www.forestcamping.com/dow/southern/angecmp.htm
It’s a Forest Service campground with plenty of amenities (water, hot shower, picnic table, grill/fire ring, etc). We found the campground accommodating, but some of our camping neighbors were kind of loud well past the traditional “quiet time”. Regardless, we made due and it was just fine.
Usually by this time of year, the world here has turned into a sauna. However a late season cool front moved through a day or so before we left. Because of that, we were treated to 3 days of completely cloudless skies and overnight low temperatures in the lower 50’s. By mid afternoon, it was warmed up to the mid-80s, not miserable, but getting pretty hot. Our timing was good. Looking ahead, we likely won’t see weather like that until mid-October.
Typically on a bike trip, a ride report “theme” kind of develops and jumps at me. After thinking about it for a couple of days, no revelations emerged. Truthfully, there were no major discoveries. The riding was good, but not “OMG – THIS IS AWESOME!!!!”. We traveled some new territory for us, but made no life changing discoveries. We conducted no special activities noteworthy of a unique story, but we had fun and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We ate good food, but sampled nothing unusual or especially exciting.
Then it occurred to me, maybe the simple part was the best part. Maybe life was getting too dog gone complicated for us and we just wanted a weekend to “not think”. Maybe we just needed to be with good friends enjoying common interest and being satisfied in the moment, the here and now. Maybe the …..
Un-story was the real story.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
Day 1 – Lafayette, LA to Boykin Springs Campground, 350 miles
Mike agreed to meet at my house at 7:30 am. Loki will have to meet us later at the campground, as he has to work in the morning. Since I’ve got a few minutes, I check the load on the bike, double check tire pressure, etc. Whether the camping is 2 days or 20 days, it seems I still have to tote the whole bale. No worries, my big girl is always up for anything.
Mike pulls in right on time and 3 minutes later we are on our way.
We made a decision to slab it on I-10 to Lake Charles in order to get to uncharted water earlier.
Only 18 miles left on this boring piece of concrete.
Mr. Tom Tom was true to his instructions, and soon we exited the interstate and fueled up. We then ran northwest up hwy 389 to the border town of Merryville. There, we picked up some fresh veggies for supper later.
We crossed into Texas where the road conditions immediately get better and the speed limit goes up quite a bit. The land here is very rural – traffic is non-existent and if you don’t know how to raise cattle, you’d better find another place to live.
Standing by patiently while our navigator is consulting the charts…
This is 6-Mile Lake, which is an offshoot from the Toledo Bend Reservoir. The air temperature dropped a couple of degrees as we rolled over the lake – guess the water hasn’t warmed up completely yet.
We roll through the town of Hemphill and continue north to Milam, Texas when a wonderful aroma fills our nostrils. It must be lunch time.
Food should be good here, they are lining up outside the door.
That smell we experienced is fried catfish, and plenty of it. We’ll both have today’s special: fish, fries, cole slaw, hush puppies, and a big sweet tea for $9.25!
Oh – I almost forgot….dessert is included as well.
During lunch, we met a gentleman that was attending a side car rally “just down the road”. We rode around looking, but never found it. Not deterred, we decided to wander a little North. Or was it West? Or maybe it was South? Doesn’t make any difference – we were just enjoying the day.
Now getting later in the afternoon, we found our destination.
We picked a camp site and not 15 minutes later, Loki rides up. Great timing!
Plenty of room for everyone at this large camp site.
Which brings us to Happy Hour. Nothing like a little homemade guacamole with a cocktail.
We walked over to the park pond to look around. The overflow area is bone dry today.
While Mike and Loki contemplated on the meaning of life…
I was enjoying the good light on the pond late in the afternoon.
