Nail Biting Adventures: May 2015

OMG! Where has the time gone?! Oh yeah...to work, to rain, an unexpected surgery, canceled camping trips, and life! So much for camping at least once a month! Life seriously gets in the way of me enjoying my camper! With that said, its way past due to review the last camping trip we took.......in January.

Our DS turned 12 and decided he wanted to go camping for his birthday. YES! We allowed him to invite his best friend along since we weren't going far on this trip. That's right, we only went 15 minutes down the road to a hidden jewel in Grimes Co., Gibbons Creek. Now, Gibbons Creek is known by all the locals as a decent fishing hole. Located at Hwy 30 and FM 244, every weekend you can see bass boats pulling in for a day of fishing. Little did I know they actually had RV sites hidden back in a small wooded lot.

Its honestly not much and its only open Friday - Sunday. But when you've got to get away from the house and into your camper, its not bad. The stars still shine bright and you're far enough away from the road that all you hear or see are the boats pulling in for the morning. There are 17 spots with water and electricity. There's a poorly marked dump station back near the entrance. There are men and women restrooms with shower facilities should you choose to use them. Each site should have a fire ring or BBQ pit, and there are primitive camp sites closer to the water.

For recreation, Gibbons Creek is mainly a fishing lake but some do dare to swim, ski, or ski tube. I say dare because there are a couple resident alligators and that's enough for me to keep this a fall/winter camping location. They have a decent 250' fishing pier, 110' boat dock, and a 5 lane boat ramp. Don't feel like cooking? Check out Yankees just outside of Gibbons Creek for a cold one and a good hamburger...just don't go there if you're in a hurry because service is generally slow. Yankees is a biker hangout on the weekends and locals during the week. Not a bad place and we've taken our family. Gibbons Creek states there is a gas station on the corner but that has recently been torn down to make way for the new over pass going in.

We pulled in Friday night later than we wanted and found a boat parked in our site. After some grumbling and an apologetic neighbor, he quickly moved his boat for our trailer (People....there's a parking lot. Drop your boat and chock the tires). The site wasn't very level and DH was more than over the whole trip already and so we didn't completely level the trailer. Not a great decision in retrospect because every time I opened the microwave the plate came sliding out. We managed. The rest of evening was spent celebrating D's birthday with his friend, cokes, cold drinks, cupcakes, and good times with friends around a camp fire.

Saturday morning we got up, had a wonderful breakfast, and then set out to do some bank fishing for cat fish. Unfortunately, the weather was windy and cold and the cats weren't biting. We caught a lot of bottom stick fish but that was about it. The rest of the weekend was spent sitting around a camp fire and just enjoying a weekend with no responsibilities other than me driving home twice a day to feed the critters (kinda nice and kind of a PIA - cut into my drinking time).

Sunday morning we packed up and headed back for our loooong 15 minute drive home. But not before we dumped our tanks at the dump station. The dump station is not marked AT ALL. You better be looking for it as you cross the bridge. There will be a little road that takes you straight instead of to the left as you leave. You'll see the white PVC pipe sticking up out of the ground. There's a water faucet for your wash hose and PVC pipe in the ground. Watch where you walk. Its not fancy but it works.

Overall, Gibbons Creek is not my first choice for a camping trip. But if I want to escape but stay real close to home, its good enough. Camping is about who you're with and not where you are. Will we go back? I'm sure we will. Will I float out on a tube? No. I don't care what they say about the alligators.