Camping in Tyler State park, TX

I am happy about this weekend for two reasons. First, I bought my second car (Well.. actually the first car is dead). Second, I went camping.

About my car, it's a 1995 Ford Probe and has about 130000 miles on it. The coolest part about the car is it is a manual transmission car and because of which I got it for a ridiculously cheap price of $1000! More car of the pics will soon follow. The car also complies with my policy of not accumulating too much wealth and buying first hand-stuff (some style stuff excluded).



About the camping trip, my boss happens to be bit strict (others would call that behavior *itchy) about taking time off. So I work saturdays (half day actually but more if I feel like it). This sat I worked from 11 to 3, and then came home, cut vegetables, ate a hurried lunch, packed my car and set off to Tyler, located about 110 miles away from Dallas. Remember that i just bought my $1000, 13-year old car about 20 hours ago. So part of the excitement was due to the uncertainty of my car stopping in the middle of the trip or crapping out entirely. The members on this camping trip were myself and P, for whom this was the first camping trip. The car ran fine and the first stop was El Rio Grande to buy the meat for grilling at the campsite. After loading the meat in the cooler and leaving the key on top of the stuff in the boot, I locked the boot to realize a split second later that I have locked up my only key in the boot. Fortunately for us, there was a huge american guy (trucker) who came to the rescue. He used a long metal rod to pry open the window to reach and release the lock lever. It took some time but finally it gave way and opened. I can solemnly swear that it was the best moment of relief - not even when I skipped lunch to complete the homework in my 6th grade for fear of caning by my history teacher :) Then we set out on the long 90 min journey to Tyler.

The Tyler state park is part of the 90+ state parks in Texas and has camping, fishing, hiking, biking, viking (made that up), swimming and boating areas. It has a small lake with a hiking trail around the lake and one in the periphery, 3 designated fishing piers, O/N, RV and equestrian campsites, boating area and swimming areas (though people were swimming everywhere). We pitched our tent when we got there at about 8 PM and started the grill. We went for a small hike around the place but couldnt do much as it was too damn dark. We came back and grilled food and ate and crashed for the day. Next morning, we went hiking around the lake and fished. There was a seasoned Aerican guy (a local from Tyler) who taught us to fish for Bass and Crappie. He also happened to be a antique trader who buys stuff from thieves for low prices and sells them high. He said he had loads of antiques (with Saraswati name on it and lotus shaped candle and incense holders) and wanted me to be his agent in selling them and share a good % of profit with him. His wife was an experienced fisherwoman (angler would have been better) but with a FEW extra pounds and has a tendency to float in the water as she fishes. After that we went to the campstore to buy some postcards and a lapel pin for myself (my usual - postcards sent to myself and P, and lapel pin goes on my cap) and a mug for P. We came back and started on the long trip back home to Dallas.


I look forward to another camping trip very soon. BTW Texas state parks have free fishing with no license required.