Georgetown to Temple

Today we made the long pull up to Belton—28 miles! This was easily the shortest distance we have traveled between overnight stops. Our goal was to get in some face time with family and friends whom we hadn't seen for a while, so I decided to camp at the Cedar Ridge Corps of Engineers park at Lake Belton. Like most COE parks, this one had water and electricity available, but no sewer, TV or phones. Before acquiring this new rig, we steered clear of any parks that didn't provide sewer hookups, because we had to dump so often. With Homer II, the 80-gallon waste tanks are more than adequate for going days between dumps. This opened a whole new world of RV parks, in a sense, because the COE parks are usually situated in very scenic locations, especially when adjoining lakes. We called ahead to make sure Cedar Ridge had a spot for one night, and they said there would be no problem. Upon our arrival, they gave us a map with all the open 50-amp spots marked. We were to come back to the guardhouse and check in after parking. We chose spot #2, a large open area with a separate parking space for the Hornet, along with a covered pavilion, charcoal grill and fire pit. We had a fine view of the lake, and we were enchanted by the peaceful beauty of the place! Leave it up to the government to create a place with what would be costly amenities elsewhere, all for $18 a night!
Cedar Ridge COE Park in Belton

View of Lake Belton from our Campsite

After getting settled in, we went into a frenzy of visitation, seeing Sandy's mom and her Aunt Nettie and Uncle Lloyd and their children. Then, even though our normal bedtime was approaching, we called up John and Linda Abbey, our good friends for 30 years, and they agreed to join us for a late dinner at Denny's in Temple. We had an excellent visit and felt almost like young folks again, staying up so late and all! One of John and Linda's attributes that we have always appreciated is their sense of adventure. They haven't lost any of that over the years, and they proved it by dropping everything to make the 50-mile round trip from Killeen to Temple to join us. They are very special to us, for sure.