I went on a short camp out with my good friend Bonner and his son Kaleb this last weekend. We started out late on Friday evening so it was dark by the time we reached our first choice, Red Rock Canyon. After driving around the park for about 20 minutes it became clear that we weren't going to find a suitable camp site because it was soooo crowded! It would have been like camping in the Wal-Mart parking lot the night before a big holiday weekend! We decided to move on down the road to Fort Cobb Lake. None of us had ever been to Fort Cobb and being great adventurers, we made that our new destination. Of course when we got there it was already after 9 PM so very dark. It was not nearly as crowded as Red Rock and there were campsites right next to the lake. After driving around the park for a few minutes I noticed a truck in my rearview mirror following us. I pulled over so they could pass. Then came the lights! It was the park ranger. He came up and asked if he could help us and we explained we were just looking for a camp site. He told us where to look and advised us that 8 PM is the curfew for driving around so we needed to get settled soon. We found a great campsite and set up camp. The first night was very cold!!! I brought my army blankets which we used to lay our sleeping bags on, but I didn't have my blanket down far enough to separate the feet of my sleeping bag from the tent floor. My feet were cold all night long. The ground was hard and we all tossed and turned all night from the cold and hard ground. Kaleb and I stayed up till about 1:30 AM playing pool on my tablet. Good times! The morning brought warmer temperatures and a beautiful day. The water was very calm all day long. We had a hearty breakfast of sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns; went on a couple of walks around the park. I did a little fishing but didn't get even so much as a nibble. A hawk made a couple of catches and ate the fish in a tree near our campsite. Bonner took lots of pictures and video with his IPad. After a quick lunch of hot dogs, we took a drive to find a place called North Lake Estates.

Sounds great right?! Not so! The only tree in the entire addition is at the entrance. Flat land, trailer homes, and no water in site! But they will make you a great deal on a lot there. Since we were just about halfway around the lake, we decided to continue on around the lake to see what there was to see. One small town we drove through looked like "Meth Village". Run down homes, broken down cars, and trash is just about every yard. All their streets were gravel except for the one road that lead you in and out of the town. I just knew we were going to drive into an ambush! In another town we came across a huge home that started out as a trailer house. The owner had added on about 3K sq ft to the trailer and a deck that was almost as big as the house. Great view of the lake but needed a lot of work. The home is for sale for 180K. We got back to camp and had a nice big burgers and baked potatoes. We played a couple of games of Wahoo and finally turned in. The second night was much warmer and more comfortable because I got to sleep on an air mattress supplied by Bonner. The next morning we got up, tore down camp, and headed home. We had such a great time just relaxing, talking, walking, and taking in all the sights and wonder that nature has to offer. Looking forward to my next camping trip with close friends and family. I'm Dad, and I'm just saying... go camping!