hppants
Well-known member
Mardi Gras (French meaning “Fat Tuesday”) is always 47 days before Easter. Each year, the actual date varies because of the lunar calendar – this year is comes early, February 17th. Regardless every year, the Monday (Lundi Gras) and Tuesday are State holidays and for Pants, that means I get a 4 ½ day weekend. I started watching the weather about a week out and quickly it became apparent that we were going to get terrific sunshine for at least Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And of course, that’s plenty good enough for me. So I started making plans.
Everything was going pretty good until I realized that Saturday is Valentine’s Day. A member of the “Til Death Do Us Part” club for nearly 28 years, I’ve never been accused of being a hopeless romantic. However, it is Valentine’s Day, on a Saturday, and well … something just didn’t feel right about leaving She Of Queenly Stature (SOQS) home alone. So I rolled the dice and asked her if she’d like to go camping with me. Imagine my jubilation when without hesitation, she said “Yes”!
My plan was to go riding of course, but there’s no way I can pack everything for both of us on the bike. So I re-grouped and decided to put my bike in the back of my truck and we’d go that way. However, upon closer examination, I didn’t like the way I would have to strap my bike down, so we re-grouped yet again. I rode the bike, and SOQS drove the SUV with the load in tow.
We camped about 115 miles away at Lake Fullerton Recreational Area in the Vernon District of the Kistachie National Forest.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/kisatchie/null/recarea/?recid=34669&actid=42
I stumbled upon this place recently on a riding day trip and wanted to give camping there a try. In the early 20th century, this was an old sawmill town and the USFS did a great job of illustrating the history of this place. It’s perfect – well off the beaten path, very few people must camp there as evident by the fact that on this holiday weekend, we were joined by only one other family way on the other side of the park on night one, and we had the entire place to ourselves on night two. There are restrooms, but no showers and the primitive sites do have tent pads, a picnic table, a fire ring with a grill, and a light stand. At $5 bucks a night, this is now my favorite “in Louisiana” camping place – hands down.
The weather was wonderful. We were rainless all weekend with day break temps in the low to high 40s, and daytime highs around 70 degrees. The evening star gazing was tremendous considering our latitude. I hate our brutal summers, but the winter here is pretty darn good.
I rode a total of about 450 miles over the 2 ½ days – about half of that solo getting there and back, and the better half on Saturday with my girl sitting pillion. The bike ran smooth as silk and my fuel mileage was in the 45-46 mpg range – to be clear, this was not a peg scraping weekend. Rather, this was about taking it easy with my sweetheart – enjoying our time together.
So the kids are grown now – they are full tilt into Mardi Gras and all that goes with it. We were lucky to get the occasional text message from them, assuring us that at least for the time being, they were safe. Those days are long gone for Pants – my idea of a good Mardi Gras is to run to the Woods and Waters.
I hope you enjoy the pics.
Day 1, 115 miles, Lafayette, LA to Lake Fullerton Recreational Area
Ride Route: https://goo.gl/maps/FKuFp
I only work until 12:30 on Fridays, but I planned to leave around 10:30 am to get a jump start on the weekend. That was nixed when a key member of my staff called in with a sick kid. Oh well, good things come to those that wait and indeed, by 1 pm-ish, the Honda CR-V is packed to the gills.
The traffic in Lafayette was stupid, so I led us well on the outskirts of town in route of the Interstate. Since we are in separate vehicles, I decided to just ride it directly and quickly. The ride was pretty uneventful except when SOQS got stuck behind a couple of logging trucks on a 2-lane hwy. The CR-V doesn’t have the same kick as the FJR.
Regardless, about 4 pm, we made it to our weekend home.
We chose a site near the lakeshore and our first order of business is setting up the shower. Like most ladies, SOQS is fond of her personal hygiene and for $6 bucks (Academy Sports), we found a good solution to the lack of showers at the campground. Even in cool weather, after a few hours in the sunlight, the water was nice and warm.
My friend MikeP loaned me a larger tent for the weekend.
The small lake was originally formed by damming the West Fork of the Six Mile Creek to provide water flow for the saw mill.
Gathering firewood was a piece of cake as all kinds of wood is lying around very near by from the lack of camping pressure. I recently bought a Coughlin’s Camp Saw and was eager to try it out.
Soon the fire is started and we are enjoying the sunset on the lake.
SOQS wanted to try campfire baking for dessert and I was all over that idea. With a little day light left, we prepped the treats. She got this idea from something called Pintrest – whatever that is.
While SOQS mixed all of the ingredients….
… I cut the tops and hollowed out the “baking pans”. Then she filled them, and we wrapped them up for later.
After a couple of adult beverages, I cooked us dinner. The Bush’s “Grillin Beans” series are all great products and provide an easy no effort campfire side dish.
Good eats for us.
After dinner, we walked over to the lakeshore and lied down to watch the sky. Not 30 seconds later, a shooting star emerged – in my 49 years I have never seen that. Way cool!
Then it was dessert time. We placed the Orange Brownies in the fire.
And then we covered them with coals for about 25 minutes.
Most excellent job, SOQS!!!
After some conversation, we turned in around 10 pm.
Day 2, 230 miles, Loop near Lake Fullerton Recreational Area
Ride Route: https://goo.gl/maps/wQipK
I slept like a baby – SOQS, not so much. Day break temperature is about 40 degrees and dry. I put SOQS on my insulated air mattress, my zero-degree sleeping bag, loaned her a pair of my long handles, zipped her up like a mummy, and she was STILL cold. We will have to try something else tonight.
In the meantime, while SOQS sleeps in a bit, I took advantage of the morning light to walk around. The birds are singing songs of joy and the lake is very peaceful this morning.
Everything was going pretty good until I realized that Saturday is Valentine’s Day. A member of the “Til Death Do Us Part” club for nearly 28 years, I’ve never been accused of being a hopeless romantic. However, it is Valentine’s Day, on a Saturday, and well … something just didn’t feel right about leaving She Of Queenly Stature (SOQS) home alone. So I rolled the dice and asked her if she’d like to go camping with me. Imagine my jubilation when without hesitation, she said “Yes”!
My plan was to go riding of course, but there’s no way I can pack everything for both of us on the bike. So I re-grouped and decided to put my bike in the back of my truck and we’d go that way. However, upon closer examination, I didn’t like the way I would have to strap my bike down, so we re-grouped yet again. I rode the bike, and SOQS drove the SUV with the load in tow.
We camped about 115 miles away at Lake Fullerton Recreational Area in the Vernon District of the Kistachie National Forest.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/kisatchie/null/recarea/?recid=34669&actid=42
I stumbled upon this place recently on a riding day trip and wanted to give camping there a try. In the early 20th century, this was an old sawmill town and the USFS did a great job of illustrating the history of this place. It’s perfect – well off the beaten path, very few people must camp there as evident by the fact that on this holiday weekend, we were joined by only one other family way on the other side of the park on night one, and we had the entire place to ourselves on night two. There are restrooms, but no showers and the primitive sites do have tent pads, a picnic table, a fire ring with a grill, and a light stand. At $5 bucks a night, this is now my favorite “in Louisiana” camping place – hands down.
The weather was wonderful. We were rainless all weekend with day break temps in the low to high 40s, and daytime highs around 70 degrees. The evening star gazing was tremendous considering our latitude. I hate our brutal summers, but the winter here is pretty darn good.
I rode a total of about 450 miles over the 2 ½ days – about half of that solo getting there and back, and the better half on Saturday with my girl sitting pillion. The bike ran smooth as silk and my fuel mileage was in the 45-46 mpg range – to be clear, this was not a peg scraping weekend. Rather, this was about taking it easy with my sweetheart – enjoying our time together.
So the kids are grown now – they are full tilt into Mardi Gras and all that goes with it. We were lucky to get the occasional text message from them, assuring us that at least for the time being, they were safe. Those days are long gone for Pants – my idea of a good Mardi Gras is to run to the Woods and Waters.
I hope you enjoy the pics.
Day 1, 115 miles, Lafayette, LA to Lake Fullerton Recreational Area
Ride Route: https://goo.gl/maps/FKuFp
I only work until 12:30 on Fridays, but I planned to leave around 10:30 am to get a jump start on the weekend. That was nixed when a key member of my staff called in with a sick kid. Oh well, good things come to those that wait and indeed, by 1 pm-ish, the Honda CR-V is packed to the gills.
The traffic in Lafayette was stupid, so I led us well on the outskirts of town in route of the Interstate. Since we are in separate vehicles, I decided to just ride it directly and quickly. The ride was pretty uneventful except when SOQS got stuck behind a couple of logging trucks on a 2-lane hwy. The CR-V doesn’t have the same kick as the FJR.
Regardless, about 4 pm, we made it to our weekend home.
We chose a site near the lakeshore and our first order of business is setting up the shower. Like most ladies, SOQS is fond of her personal hygiene and for $6 bucks (Academy Sports), we found a good solution to the lack of showers at the campground. Even in cool weather, after a few hours in the sunlight, the water was nice and warm.
My friend MikeP loaned me a larger tent for the weekend.
The small lake was originally formed by damming the West Fork of the Six Mile Creek to provide water flow for the saw mill.
Gathering firewood was a piece of cake as all kinds of wood is lying around very near by from the lack of camping pressure. I recently bought a Coughlin’s Camp Saw and was eager to try it out.
Soon the fire is started and we are enjoying the sunset on the lake.
SOQS wanted to try campfire baking for dessert and I was all over that idea. With a little day light left, we prepped the treats. She got this idea from something called Pintrest – whatever that is.
While SOQS mixed all of the ingredients….
… I cut the tops and hollowed out the “baking pans”. Then she filled them, and we wrapped them up for later.
After a couple of adult beverages, I cooked us dinner. The Bush’s “Grillin Beans” series are all great products and provide an easy no effort campfire side dish.
Good eats for us.
After dinner, we walked over to the lakeshore and lied down to watch the sky. Not 30 seconds later, a shooting star emerged – in my 49 years I have never seen that. Way cool!
Then it was dessert time. We placed the Orange Brownies in the fire.
And then we covered them with coals for about 25 minutes.
Most excellent job, SOQS!!!
After some conversation, we turned in around 10 pm.
Day 2, 230 miles, Loop near Lake Fullerton Recreational Area
Ride Route: https://goo.gl/maps/wQipK
I slept like a baby – SOQS, not so much. Day break temperature is about 40 degrees and dry. I put SOQS on my insulated air mattress, my zero-degree sleeping bag, loaned her a pair of my long handles, zipped her up like a mummy, and she was STILL cold. We will have to try something else tonight.
In the meantime, while SOQS sleeps in a bit, I took advantage of the morning light to walk around. The birds are singing songs of joy and the lake is very peaceful this morning.
