Storage - Alextown | Adventure Terminal | Adventures of Cheryl and Alex | Purtis Creek, Eustace, Texas

Crazy cats, cramped cold quarters, and scary creatures. Our first night of camping may be our last.

Purtis Creek

Eustace Texas 2006

Alex and I were so excited to finally be getting on the road. The plan was to camp at Purtis Creek for about a week. It took us a lot longer than we thought to load up our camping gear and the cats and head out. By the time we got to the park it was dark.

We drove through and managed to find the park host. She gave us a spot right next to her. She warned us about the raccoons. She said they would come right up to you because they were used to being fed. She told us to make sure we kept the cats inside the truck.

We drove down the road to the dollar store and got some charcoal and food and drinks. We probably should have gotten a flashlight. When we got back we realized it was too dark to do anything. We turned our focus to our sleeping arrangements. We couldn't put the tent up because we couldn't see. I would've been too scared anyway. I had read stories about raccoons coming after people.

We decided to sleep in the back of the truck. We'd fix the cats an area toward the cab and fix our area toward the tailgate. Why we thought the cats would cooperate is beyond me. The back was packed with supplies, so I started taking things out and loading them in the cab. Our two male cats, Haldir and Elrond, kept trying to jump out. Our camper top has two side windows and one back one that all lift up to open. Every time I went to a different window, the cats were there before me. Alex did a great job keeping them in.

At one point, I saw two shadows near the front of the truck. I stood there squinting, trying to see what it was and then I got really scared. I ran to the back and jumped in. I didn't want to get out again, but if we wanted space to sleep, I had to. By the time I had finished, the cab was completely full.

Spreading the blankets would have been easier if the cats hadn't been taking turns laying on them. Every time I pushed one aside, here would come another to lie down. After we were sort of settled, we noticed activity outside. We looked and saw a group of raccoons sniffing around. They raised up on their hind legs to get a better look at us. They were so beautiful, but really scary. I kept thinking they might find a way in and get us.

We watched them until they went on and then we turned in. At first, it was a nice soft bed and it seemed like it would be a very comfortable sleep. Then we realized we didn't have enough to cover with. It was really very cold. So I took some of our blanket padding and put it on top of us. Now the metal ridges of the bed were too hard for me. Alex had it better; he also had a sleeping bag.

I would rather hard than cold, so I covered up my head and tried to sleep. The cats had other ideas. They were all over us and my head appeared to be their favorite spot to lay. I began to think this might not be so fun after all. I decided we would not do the camping thing right now. In the morning I would surprise Alex with the idea of visiting his dad in New Orleans.

When we woke up, I told Alex what I was thinking. He was thrilled with it! He hadn't seen his dad in quite a long time.

It was an extremely cold morning and both Alex and I thought it would be great to have hot showers. We were conveniently parked right across from them, so we bundled up and walked over there. The water was not as hot as we would have liked and it ran out way too quickly, but all in all it was nice.

Afterwards, we dug through a ton of stuff to find leashes for the cats. We were going to try to walk them. We tried Galadriel first. She wasn't having any of it. She would only back up and try to get out of her collar. The boys wouldn't budge when we tried to get them to walk and the kitten didn't have a collar. So that didn't work out. I don't know why we thought it would.

I set their cages on the picnic table and put them inside. Then I moved everything I had put in the cab of the truck back to the bed of the truck. The cats cried and cried and tried desperately to get out of the cages. I felt really bad for them. I wanted to let them run but it's against the rules in state parks.

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.

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