Friday 1-9-26 New Park, Cidercade in Fort Worth & Rain

 

Camping at Cleburne State Park

 

The weather today was a little unpredictable. At 7:30 am in Cedar Hill, Tx we had a temperature of 52 degrees and a little breeze. In Cleburne TX at 1:00 pm it was raining. The rain wasn't in the forecast. It wasn't a heavy downpour but it stayed around for about an hour or so. The high was 68 degrees at noon. When the front came in the temperature dropped to 57 degrees.

We had five fabulous nights of camping at Cedar Hill State Park. We did three hikes for a total of 11 miles and walked around the camping area seven times for a total of 20 miles. I did a lot of walking/hiking 31 miles total. While walking I saw a lot of gorgeous sunsets. Being able to walk around motivated me in getting my steps of 16,000 to 18,000 steps. Larry did a lot of reading (5 books total). I finished one book and started another.

Today our plan was to move to Cleburne State Park. We had breakfast and then put everything away and secured by 9:15 am. we were on the road. 

On our way we stopped by Cidercade in Ft. Worth to play pinball. We have played at Cidercade in Dallas a couple of times. This location is a bit smaller and the lighting in the pinball area was quite dark making it difficult to see. It had 22 pinball machines but Cactus Canyon didn't work. We played all the pinball games. They were Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Venom, Heavy Metal, Avengers, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars the Mandalorian, Aerosmith, Elvira House of Horrors, Monster Bash, Austin Powers, Metallica, Star Wars, Black Knight, Star Trek, Transformers, The Batman, Foo Fighters, X-Men, Guns and Roses and 24 hours. There was one game we had not played, which was Heavy Metal. I played an arcade game, where you danced to a song by putting your feet at where the arrows are pointed while keeping to the beat of the song. I failed drastically. We played a game of air hockey Larry beat me 5 to 3. I played another arcade game with a marble to see if I can get it through a course without blowing it up. Once again I failed. Last I played Big Buck Hunter and missed all the bucks. I guess I'll stick to playing pinball, at least I get some points. For lunch we shared an order of brisket quesadillas and it was good. The workers were very friendly and helpful. We had a super time at Cidercade Arcades.     

 

Spiderman

 

Pirates of the Caribbean

 

Heavy Metal

 

Areosmith

 

Brisket Quesadillas

 

One of the arcade areas

 

Air hockey table
 

Our drive today was 75 miles. Larry drove interstates and freeways. He drove through Fort Worth via interstate to get to Cidercade Fort Worth, which was 30 miles from Cedar Hill State Park. We had a few slow downs due to construction but we didn't completely stop. 

After playing pinball and having lunch we drove another 45 miles to get to Cleburne State Park. When we got to Cleburne Texas we stopped and filled the Minnie with gas. The park was 14 miles from there. Larry drove in the rain. We checked in and decided to extend our nights from two to three, which was no problem. The lady, who checked us in was very nice and gave us a camping area map and trail map. I felt sorry for her because she had to stand in the rain. We have been here one other time many years ago when we first started camping. Larry has a great memory so he kind of remembered the park and trails. We are staying in Cedar Grove Camping Area. 

Once we found our site Larry backed the Minnie in. I had to get out and help him so he wouldn't back into a tree. It was raining so he had a hard time seeing. He had to go forward once because he couldn't see me. We had to block the Minnie up one block to level it out. We had to move the Minnie up a little bit so we could get the motorcycle off the carrier if we need to. Then Larry plugged us in. We went inside to get out of the rain. We are now setup for the weekend.

There is very little cell phone service at Cleburne State Park. It is sometimes there and sometimes not. What we could get was very slow so Larry setup the Starlink. Since we have not been using Starlink we had put the service on standby, this lowers the monthly price to $5 and while it still works it is quite slow. But it works enough that I can blog and play games. 

In the evening we went for a walk around the camping area and by the bathroom. We wanted to see if we could hike the trail tomorrow. We hiked it a little bit. We ended up walking 1.5 miles. I ended up doing 6,500 steps for the day.

 

The bridge to the bathrooms

 

Cedar Lake

 

Picnic area

After our walk Larry finished another book and choose another one. I played games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Games Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Free Cell and 5 Pyramid). It took me 48 minutes and 9 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group. I played Angry Birds and Friends.

After playing games I continued reading Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.