2024-10- 21 Potter's Creek COE TX

On my way to an upcoming rally, I decided to spend a few days at a Corps of Engineers park, Potter's Creek, which is located on Canyon Lake northwest of San Antonio TX. It's a nice park that stays pretty busy all year round. There is no day use which makes it nice as there will only be campers onsite. Check-in time is 3:00PM and not one minute sooner so keep that it in mind if you want to camp here. There is a gate which closes at 10:00PM in the summer and 9:00PM the rest of the year. You can always get out but not back in after the gate closes. 

I had a very nice shady site. About 1/3 of the 124 sites are shady but some people being out in the open so their satellites work. One of the loops was closed for the season.

Each site has a paved driveway with electric and water hookups. There is also a covered picnic table, a grill, and a fire pit. We are under a long term drought here so only propane grills can be used.

I had a nice open view behind and beside me.

One area of the loop I was in has 3 group sites with 3 sites in each group.

Sadly the lake is down 25 feet right now which is the lowest it has been since the dam was built. This means that the boat ramp is closed as are most of the ramps around the large lake.

Looking across the dry inlet to one of the other loops.

This bridge and float are normally floating on the lake surface. We need a lot of rain

It is very common to see deer in the park. The next two pictures were actually taken in a neighborhood next to the park.

I grew up in Minnesota so the small size of deer in Texas came as a huge surprise to me, especially when everything in Texas is usually bigger, lol.

Back in the park for more deer.

This was a surprise to see this fox in the site across the road from me. The site was empty at the time.

My husband showed up on his motorcycle one afternoon and painted this pumpkin for me.

Harley was outside enjoying the day with me. 

 It was a great weekend. There were lots of campers, many in tents. The weather was perfect so I didn't need A/C or heat at all.

2024-03-21 Potter's Creek COE Park Canyon Lake TX

We didn't have far to go so we didn't leave Galveston State Park until checkout time of noon. Our next stop was at 60 North RV Park in Bay City TX. I stayed here on my way to the Galveston State Park rally one week ago. I made reservations for Elaine and me before I left the first stay. Let me tell you a little about this park. It's a nice park. Seems to be a lot of long term but the sites were all very tidy. As another reviewer stated "the only messy area in the park is the office area." They have pull throughs and back in sites which are level, paved, and angled nicely for back in. They have a tiny playground area and a dog park. Here's the negative. The park manager never seems to be available and the office is closed. He's off taking kids to school, shopping, or other personal business. You have to call and leave a message and he calls you back. They don't leave packages with site numbers outside the office nor does the manager give you a site number when you call. On my first visit, I got a site number and he said I would have to pay cash as the computer was down. Of course, he was not there when I arrived. I figured he would stop by my site when he got back to the park. Nope. I went to the office the next morning to pay before leaving. Of course, he was not there again. I called the office number and got no answer. A few minutes later, I got a call back from a woman. She said she could definitely let me pay by credit card over the phone. I told her that I would be back in exactly a week and I needed two pull-through sites for one night. No problem, I would pay when I arrived. Well, we arrived. On site manager no where around. No info about where my sites were. I called the number and got a different woman. I told her I had a reservation for two pull through sites for one night. She said just drive around and take two pull-throughs. There were no pull throughs. I called back. She said she would check with the owner who made the reservation and call me back. In the meantime, the park manager returns my call and says there are no pull-throughs available and he wishes the park owner wouldn't take reservations without checking with him. The other woman calls back and apologizes and says to take any sites available. The next morning, no park manager again so I called and paid over the phone to the woman. This is no way to run a business. 

We headed cross country to Potter's Creek which is a Corps of Engineers (COE) park on Canyon Lake northwest of San Antonio. We routed through the countryside and didn't go into San Antonio at all. I made sure to time arrival no earlier than 3PM as they absolutely will not let you check in early.

We had two nice spots for Saturday night but had to move to 2 different sites on Sunday as the first sites were only available one night. Moving is not a big deal for me but a little harder for Elaine as she has a trailer. All 4 sites were nice. It's a nice park but the lake is really down.

I had a visitor. He was very busy jumping from the top of the mirror to the bottom of the window.

We had some rain while there but not enough to help fill the lake.

Not all the sites were in use. 

It's a nice park. They have both shaded and not shaded sites in 4 loops. We walked around our loup, Checked out a couple other areas. It was a nice visit.
 

The Rest of the Story

After such a disruptive beginning, the rest of the weekend went great. Steve and Helen arrived late afternoon on Friday and quickly set to work setting up their tent. It's a pretty big one that can actually be divided in half but it goes up quickly and easily. I put my patio mat out in front of it so dirt wouldn't get tracked in. Angus thought that was a perfect place for him to lay. Unfortunately I neglected to get any pictures of the whole set up all weekend. After they were done getting things set up, it was time for them to head up to Marble Falls to pick up the kids. As soon as they turned on the road heading towards Canyon Lake, Morgan had it all figured out that they were going camping!  The kids ate coming down with their Mom so they were able to hold out on dinner until they arrived back at the park. I started a campfire before they got there so it was burned down enough to roast hot dogs.....a thrill since we are usually under burn bans when we are out camping.

 

Saturday, Helen was talking about swimming and they had reminded the kids to bring their swimsuits with them. I didn't figure it would be warm enough in the water so didn't worry about a swimming spot. We headed over to the beach area only to find that it was really non-existent with the water being down. The area exposed by the lower water was really rocky (sharp rocks) so that really wasn't doable.



 

We ended up going back over by the boat ramp which we really don't like to do but it was about the only place that you could get in the water and there were other people there. So....keeping a sharp eye out for anyone needing to load or unload their boat, the grandkids got in the water. Steve got his feet wet....Helen didn't get anything wet and neither did I. It is only the very beginning of May after all and Canyon Lake is a big deep lake so it was too cold for us.

The kids rode their bicycles and kept pretty busy all weekend. Saturday night, we had another campfire with marshmallows so it was a pretty successful weekend after all. The weather was perfect. Sunday afternoon, the tent came down and everything got stowed away. Steve and Helen took the grandkids back to meet their Mom in Marble Falls. The longdogs and I took a nice long walk and visited with some of our camping neighbors before heading to bed.

Monday morning I finished tearing down the campsite....not much left to do there, cleaning the RV inside, and hooking up. I thought about staying for several more days but with at least 40% chance of rain every day for the next 10 days (several 80-90% chances), I decided to head home and get things put away before the rain hit.

The Traveling Longdogs and I are already eager to head out again and we just got home two days ago.

A Long Weekend Escape

We are having beautiful weather for the next 4 or 5 days so I hooked up the RV and brought it home on Wednesday. Thursday morning we were off to Potters Creek COE Campground. We picked this site because the kids and grandkids want to put up their tent and sleep in it. We were going to do it two weeks ago but rain intervened.

Anyway, the Traveling Longdogs and I arrived out here about lunch time. The gate guard said go on in and find a site, set up then come back up and register. So that is what I did. Found a very nice site, checked it out thoroughly to make sure someone wasn't just off dumping the tanks. It was completely clean and empty. I got us backed in, unhooked from the truck and hooked up to the utilities. I leveled us up and opened the slides. I decided that I would run back up to the gate and pay up before setting up the inside.

That's when it happened......the gate guard told me I must have the wrong site as that number was taken until Tuesday. I told him there was someone in the next site but this one was definitely empty with no signs of any occupants. He said no, it is rented and they may have gone somewhere for the day so I would have to move.   Seriously????????  He was rather gruff which didn't help....a woman was at the gate when I came in. He said I would have to pick out another site and move as he couldn't let me stay when it was already rented.  Talk about an unhappy camper.....that would be me.....and it was getting warmer by the minute.  So back I went. I talked to two other campers parked nearby. One hadn't seen anyone there. The other said that there was a small RV with a black car that pulled out that morning. View

I pulled the slides in, unhooked the utilities, and hooked up the truck. In the meantime, the Traveling Longdogs have been waiting patiently in the truck the whole time. We drove around again and found a couple of other sites. I went back up to the gate and was going to pay for one but had some concerns if I could get into it with the branches hanging down. I asked if I could change the site if I couldn't get into it. The lady was once again at the gate and told me just to go and park and come back. I asked her if she would still be there when I came back and she said yes. I said the man hadn't been particularly nice about what happened especially since it was not my fault. She said he mentioned that I had been upset and they were both really sorry and realized that it was not fun to set up and then have to move.

Back I went and I did manage to get in the site I wanted. Budget dollars being down, branches haven't been trimmed for some time and they really need it. I was almost set up when the gate guy pulled up. He said he felt really bad about what happened and wanted to know if I was getting set up okay. He seemed sincere and I know it wasn't their fault.  I told him that other than the branches which really needed trimming, there was only one thing wrong with the site. I asked if they had recently done electrical work on it.  He said no, not recently. And then I remembered that I was out here last year when they did some work on that post. I already checked it out and it worked fine but they put the outlet for 50 AMP in upside down which made it rather a hassle to get my surge protector to fit in there. He looked and said....."yep, that is definitely not right. I'll put a work order in on that to get it fixed. Wonder why no one told us before." As soon as I finished, I headed back up and paid for four nights. Now to relax!

View out my back window.......

And here are the Longdogs relaxing......

 

 

Oh, by the way, this all happened yesterday. We had a great afternoon, evening, and night. Guess what......my first site is still vacant. For whatever reason, the couple in there left and failed to check out or leave their car pass at the gate when they left. Must be experienced RVers......like two days worth of experience. They did pay for the site, it wasn't the gate guards fault, but they sure caused another camper a lot of extra work.



Somebody Turned Off the Heat.....and it's cold out!

I'm never in a hurry to come home from a GTG especially when I probably won't get back out in the RV for a while so I headed down to Potters Creek COE Park on Canyon Lake with my friend Birdie. We left Grand Prairie early on Monday morning hoping to miss some of the wind moving in. My 5th wheel barely notices the wind but Birdie's Class A feels it a lot more and driving in it is not fun for her. Gloria caught up with us on the way down. She was going to stay for the week but discovered a leak in her roof so she had to leave Tuesday morning and headed off to Louisiana to meet up with someone who could fix it for her.

Tuesday night, Birdie baked a little bread, we had a little salad, oops, forgot to get the main dish.

Plans were for several others to meet us here sometime this week but Claudia was the only one that made it. She arrived on Wednesday. Can't say that I blame anyone else for passing on another GTG as the bottom dropped out of the thermometer on Tuesday night with the huge cold front sweeping across the country. Claudia had to head east this morning.

In spite of the cold, we've had a good time visiting and fixing meals together. Birdie made pancakes with blueberries and walnuts yesterday and biscuits and gravy this morning. She's the early riser. I made chicken alfredo the other night. The RV's are warm. The dogs want to go outside to do their business but aren't interested in any walks in this cold.

This is the view out my back window.

I love being in my RV even when the weather isn't that great outside. See you later. Stay warm.

The GTG is Slowly Coming to an End

A few people had to leave Sunday while Vicki (Yakn) was just arriving  She was in charge of another fly fishing GTG but there was no way she was gonna miss out completely on a Pink FlaminGoes Flocking.  Yea, Vicki.  She bunked with me for the night.  We had one final potluck that evening for a large group.

Monday was a day of leave taking for a lot of the attendees.  All the Louisiana ladies pulled out for their long trek home.  Sharon headed back to California.  Others headed out for various parts of Texas.  But then, we had yet another arrival.  Diana (Mtngal) arrived.  She just came in from California a couple days earlier and had to get a grandkid fix first but she didn't want to completely miss out on the GTG.  Her little Roadtrek puts on lots of miles between California and Texas.

Tuesday was a relaxing wind-down day.  Dawn, Ann, and Paul were resting up for their travel day on Wednesday.  Karen and Birdie headed in to town to pick up a few items.  Diana and I decided to check out a sign I saw on a nearby road for a winery and a bakery.

Well, we found the Fawncrest Winery....but it was closed.  Wine tastings on Saturday only.  Darn.

Then we found the sign for the Chocolate Iguana Bakery.  Hmmmm.....it was 2:30 PM.

So we went on down the road and checked out Canyon Lake Park and the Marina and then we went to Sattler to pick up a few items for dinner.

Dinner for four....Eggplant Parmesiana, salad, green beans, garlic bread, and brownies.

Last views of the campsite.....

View out my back window....the campground area behind us was already closed for the season.

Birdie left early to have some warranty work done on Suite Pea.  Dawn, Ann, and Paul headed east to RV Bootcamp.  Karen headed west to Bandera. Diana headed back to Austin, and I headed home.  All good things must come to an end....until next time!

Pot Luck Breakfast on Sunday

Everybody gathered for coffee with breakfast soon to follow.  Birdie, Darlene, MaryJane, Sue, and Martha.

Sharon, Karen, Carolyn, Gloria, and Sharon (Sprinter) are bright-eyed too.

Pat, Margareta, Ann (Dawn's Mom), Dawn, and Maggie.  Dawn brought Barbzee to the GTG via her Ipad.  We all got to see her and talk to her and she got to join the breakfast.

We had lots of goodies for breakfast too, biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs, cinnabon cake that Barbzee volunteered Dawn to make for us (oh, yummmmmm).  There were lots of other items too.  Margareta, Carolyn, Gloria, and Pat are checking it all out.  If you could see through the plexiglass, you would see three long dogs checking it out too.

After breakfast, Chris (Redwahine) presented Birdie and I with her "find" from the Market Days at Wimberley.   Pretty appropo wouldn't you say?

And the fun continues.....

Pot Lucks and Dutch Oven Cooking

Before we got to the Potluck and the Dutch Oven cooking, we took our GTG picture.  We just did a combined group of Pink FlaminGoes and Women RV forum members since quite a few women belong to both groups and we were a combined gathering anyway.  From top left to right - Birdie (Nancy) and Colleen (Longdog2)   Middle row - Maggie (Sandersmr), Martha (Acadianmom), Karen, Judy (JudyJB), Chris (Redwahine), SharonM, Gloria (gklb), Pat, Liz, Carolyn (cpatinjones), Darlene, KarenW, Margareta, Ann (Dawn's mom)   Front row - Sharon (Sprinter), Dawn, Kim

We had 26 women who attended for at least one day, 20 RVs, and 3 gents. For those that arrived later, Susan came for the day on Wednesday.  For those who had to leave Sunday, Vicki (Yakn) arrived on Sunday afternoon and Diana (Mtngal) arrived Monday. Good park, good weather, good fun, good food, and no "attitudes"...what else can one ask for? And very special thanks to Dawn for making the lovely pink earrings for all the ladies and to Maggie for the awesome Dutch Oven cooking lessons.

Sharon (Sprinter) waiting for dinner.

 Maggie gives us a quick peek at the peach and pineapple cobbler on the right.  The stew is on the bottom left with a pot of cornbread on top.

Sharon watches as Maggie checks the coals.  This girl is an expert and she makes it all look so easy and fun.  She starts her charcoal in the tall canister under the cooking table.  Extra coals are in the round pan and the silver can with the lid is for ashes.

Maggie stirs the stew.

Everyone is filling their plates.  We had lots of extras but I think Maggie made enough to feed everyone anyway.  MaryJane is coming at a run on the right.

Liz and Sue are in semi-serious conversation over something.  Liz is all decked out.

Another great potluck winds down with everyone relaxing together until long after dark.