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Purtis Creek - Eustace Texas - Part Two
We didn't want to leave without walking a trail, so we stopped at the trailhead on the way out. I was very excited about going on our first hike. I opened my door, pressed the lock button, got out and shut the door. I knew immediately that I had just locked my keys inside.
A lady happened to be walking by when it happened. She said we could walk to her camp and see if her husband could help. She said her son, who was also named Alex, had a Chevrolet and maybe his keys would work.
Well, they didn't work, but her husband had a wire coat hanger and the door never shuts completely, so there was a nice crack. The lock had a horizontal ledge that could be lifted up if we could just get underneath it. It was in the middle of the door, so her husband couldn't see what he was doing. I stood on the other side and let him know to go right or left or up or down and he patiently tried it for about half an hour. Sometimes he would be right under it, but the coat hanger would slip off without pulling it up.
Just when I was about to thank him for trying, he got it. I was so relieved! I thought we'd have to call a locksmith. Alex gave them some Mr. Goodbars and we both told them how grateful we were for their help.
With keys in hand, we began walking the trail. It was really nice at first. As we walked, though, I started getting scared. Those raccoons had to live somewhere. We might be walking right by their homes. They might jump out at us at any time! We were all alone out here. No one would know if anything happened to us. No one could help us.
Just as I was about to scare myself into turning around, a camper passed us from the opposite direction. There were campsites all through this area. I felt a little better. We didn't see any signs of animals. We barely heard the birds.
After we had walked a good distance, I decided we should turn around and go back. This being our first hike, we hadn't thought to look at the map. We didn't know how far the trail went. Alex wanted to keep going, so we did. We soon found ourselves at an earlier marker and headed toward the beginning.
We got back to the truck and drove to the ranger station to pay for last night. It was First Monday weekend in Canton. I really hated to miss that. The line was very, very long. When we got to the desk, they charged me eighteen dollars. I found out later that "primitive camping", which is a lot less expensive, means walking to a tent area.
We were on 175. We didn't want to get on the main highway and miss all the little towns, so I mapped out a route that would take us to Logansport, Louisiana.
We stopped at a picnic area and had sandwiches, then drove to Poyner, Texas. There was a little thrift store that had books for ten cents and had such a nice lady running it. She didn't have any business at all, except us. She told us that everything was closing down here.
She didn't have a whole lot that we could use. We ended up with two books, a puzzle, and a tiny brown cowboy hat for Haldir. I think we spent ninety-five cents. One of the books was a martial arts manual. Alex couldn't put it down.
On our way out of town, I saw a sign for the park. I thought it would be nice for the cats if they could run around a little. We followed the sign, but ended up going in a circle back to the highway. I didn't want to look for it, and maybe it had closed too, so we drove on.
next - Logansport, Louisiana - A perfectly charming little town
or see the index a little farther down this page
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