Month: May 2011

VW Westy & Hippies at Heart: Gettin’ Outta Town

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We hadn’t even gotten out of Texas…and already things were so different when we finally stopped for the night.  After a full day of traveling and
battling traffic until we weeded our way out of Fort Worth, we’d missed our
turn-off to the state park, but were relieved to see a campground a few miles
up in the middle of nowhere…just off Scenic Highway 84 past Palestine.

‘R Place Campground’ was a friendly place in the piney woods of East Texas; a
peaceful place with a friendly, accommodating owner who charged us twelve
dollars for a primitive spot nestled beneath the graceful pines…just a few
yards from a reflective fishing hole.

I was glad, once we settled in and set up camp, that we’d missed our turn down
the road.  We had a quick bite to eat
(though I can‘t remember what due to exhaustion), and kicked back as close to
our vintage VW Westfalia ‘Peniki’ as possible, since the campground owner had
warned us of wild hogs and snakes after dark.

It didn’t take long for sleep to
find us once we made the bed and our heads hit the pillows.  Though our dreams didn’t last long after Nixi woke us up for her nightly session of screaming until the bottle hits her mouth or her diaper gets changed.  Still, it took just a bit for her to nod back off to sleep.  Me…?  I wasn’t so lucky.  It’s the usual event that if-ever I wake-up at night, I find sleep like a needle in a hay stack.  It’s almost impossible.

Our journey was just beginning, and
we hoped to cross the state line by the end of that next day.  With Peniki topping speeds of 55 mph and our frequent stops for this…that…or the other, we weren’t quite sure it could be done.  We just knew we had to try.  With His blessings, I knew we’d be safe.