03-29-11 Sunny…thank you for the truth you let me see…

03-29-11
Sunny…thank you for the truth you let me see…
72.6 Miles Camping at Jordan lakes State Park
I took my time leaving Extended Stay Suites room 107. I’d been given a late exit time of 1pm and left at 12:45 (as opposed to the normal 11am vacancy). I used every bit of the time. I wrote, I packed, I walked Mischa, and gave us both a bath (separately.) I checked out and thanked them for the stay and mentioned Belinda’s contribution to the experience.
Then it was off to Jordan Lakes State Park.
After originally overshooting the turn off I got there and finding not ranger to take my debit card I went in search of “The Ranger Station on HWY 64” I found it after a few extra parks driven to & exited Had a pleasant talk with the woman who took my payment and assigned me to loop A, space 9. This is the loop without power saving me $5 for the night.
I set up camp just as a park ranger drove by and noticed my tag for the site was missing, my having not yet gotten to that part yet. I went up showing my marker as she passed by on the return scouting. I asked her about the price changes between the AAA listings and the current rates. Also why it showed 3 camps open all year long and all three were now listed as “Closed for the season.”. The Ranger, Amanda, was unaware of AAA’s listing of individual camps of the park as separate listings; or of the pricing structure they listed. She took notes and said she’d try to let AAA know that’s not how they list the park campsites, even though the information is supposed to be as recent as 2010. We talked about my planned journey, the state and federal parks she’d been to and I got some good camping tips (especially for inclement weather ).
With the tent set up and being aware it was supposed to start raining early in the morning I loaded it sparsely and we went in for the night around 7:40 pm as dark was already surrounding us. I slept fitfully thru the night. I guess my hyper vigilance was just waiting for that first drop.
It came around 5am. Very light and brief, as I hoped the other succeeding occasions would be.
Around 7 am it came again a little stronger and longer. After it stopped I quickly removed the tent contents to the car and as quickly s I could took the tent down. We were packed by 7:59 am and I used the showers before leaving the park. As I came out the rain had come back and was non-stop. So began the day of the Radio interview - “The Story”. But that will be recounted on the next day’s post.