Tuesday 1-6-26 Camping, Hiking Talala and Penn Farm & More

Joe Pool Lake from Talala Overview

 

We had a gorgeous day with sunshine and a little breeze to keep it cool. The morning temperature was 61 degrees and the high of 75 degrees.

I crawled out of bed at 7:45 am and got dressed. Larry had been up since 6:00 am. We shared a bagel with cream cheese on it for breakfast. After eating we got ready to go on a hike.

Today's hike was for 3.5 miles on Talala and Penn Farm trails. We picked up the trailhead by the restroom, which was .20 mile from the Minnie. Yesterday, we took the trailhead right in front of the restroom, today we took the trailhead on the other side of the road. The hike was very nice it went through some junipers, oaks and a lot of honey locust trees. The honey locust trees have big nasty thrones on them. We had to be careful not to get them on us because they will go right through your hiking boots. The trail was out in the open and had 305 feet elevation change. We hiked through the prairie and saw areas, where the prairie has gone under restoration. A fun fact, Talala is Cherokee for "woodpecker". We saw nice views of Joe Pool Lake and the hills surrounding the lake. We hiked along the rim of the prairie and over five bridges. We hiked to Hog Wallow Camping Area to Penn Farm, where we did a self-tour of the farm. Penn Farm was a working farm for about a century. When we got to the farm we walked around and looked at the old farm equipment, buildings and learned the history of the farm. After touring the farm we got back on the Talala trail and headed back to the Coyote Camping Area, where we're staying. It was a great hike. 

 

Honey Locus

 

Size of the honey locus thorns compared to Larry's hand

 

 

 

Plow

 

 

Seed Drill

 

Garage to store their Model T automobile

 

 

 

 

Penn's house built in 1859

 

Double Crib Barn 
 

Penn Farm was started back in Dec. of 1854 by Major John Penn, his wife Nancy and six children. They grew wheat, corn, oats and barley and raised horses, sheep and cattle. During the next decade Major Penn acquired 2,200 acres of land and gave his son John Wesley 800 acres to raise cattle. John Wesley's parcel expanded to 1,200, which became Penn Farm. John Wesley died at the age of 55 after a rattle snake bite. His brother Andy inherited the farm after John's wife Lucinda passed away at the age 87. Andy managed the farm through rough times of the Great Depression and WWII. When he died his wife Dee Ett inherited it in 1964. The farm was working until 1970 when Dee Ett Penn moved off the land after 110 years. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers bought the property in 1977 to make Joe Pool Lake.

While relaxing before lunch Larry went online and extended our stay here for another two nights. While he was online he made reservations for three nights at Cleburne State Park, which is about 50 miles from here. 

After lunch we took the motorcycle off the carrier because we're going to use it in the morning to get to the hiking trailhead of the DORBA trails. When this was done Larry decided to stay outside and read. He setup both our chairs and started reading another book. 

 

 

 

 Reading is very relaxing

 

I played my games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 16 minutes and 07 seconds, which put me in 33rd place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

After playing my games I was going to join Larry outside but it was close to dinnertime. I did join him a half hour later to barbecue hamburgers for dinner because the wind was down. 

After dinner I went for an hour walk around the camping area for 3 miles. Larry walked the first lap with me and I did three more laps. When I got back I spent the rest of the evening reading Rules of '48 by Jack Cady. Larry continued reading.  I ended up doing 18,000 steps.