Lake Tawakoni

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From Branson we headed south looking for a warmer climate.  We overnighted at Meadow Brook in Muskogee, OK right off of highway 69.  This is a really nice park for an overnight stay.  The site we were given was a nice pull through with 50 amp service .. very nice for $20 a night.  While the temperatures were still below freezing at night, our electric water hose provided continuous service for showers and dishes.

We left early the next day and continued our journey south to Texas.  Our destination was TT Lake Tawakoni.  We had heard very little about this park but assumed the weather would be nice, so we scheduled a three week stay.  On the way down, we stopped at a small picnic area in southern Oklahoma.  Across the street was this unusual tree.  Apparently the wind  blows something fierce here!

We arrived at Lake Tawakoni and checked in at the gate.  We were told that while the park was open, nothing else was really functional.  We could access the adult lodge if accompanied by a ranger … but why bother … the pool was closed, there were no activities scheduled and they even had the temerity to claim they were too far in the wilderness to provide a newspaper as per our contract (they offered $1.00 a day if I wanted to go into town and buy my own).  This made little sense as Dallas is within an hour drive and there are smaller towns and villages between the park and the city.  In addition, the park only has 30 amp service, although we understand that permanent (annual) sites do have 50 amp.  I must say, I am really tired of hearing the tired old story that when these parks were built 30 amp was sufficient.  That was then … this is now … update the park and bring it into this century!  It is obvious that no annual maintenance has been done on this park in quite a while and that lazy attitude is also apparent with the staff.  One day the water went out (apparently there was a break somewhere in the system) so we called the ranger station to inquire as to the status.  The ranger was not in the shack, so we left a message.  The water was restored later that day … but four days later we got a call from the ranger asking about the problem with our water … four days to pick up messages and return our call!  There are some nice sites along the river but don’t plan on camping in them … they are all occupied by annual campers … really they are more permanent than annual … they are building decks next to their units!  In addition, a good 25% of the sites available have the electrical boxes covered … the sites are unusable and not available.  In fact the first site that we tried triggered our surge protector and shut down our electric.  We had to move sites and wait for the surge to reset before setting up.  The sites that are available used to be lovely with asphalt-paved pads … but the pads are overgrown and broken down … as are the park’s roads.  In fact, the roads are so bad that the maintenance men used a blade to push around the broken asphalt creating more of a problem for later years.  In addition, the area around the sites is so uneven that water collects in small ponds after a rain storm making it hard to get in and out.  On the Moore scale of 1-10 we would give this park a 2.  Here are a few pictures.

Our Site on a dry day...  This is a Campground that used to be a jewel!!

Many Sites have bagged electrical posts.

Ponds after the rain

Had a snow storm while we were here.  This is the view from our window  ...We need to go further south!

Roads are in ill repair

Here is an annual site on the river .... nice!

While here we took several nice drives in the country and enjoyed both the towns of Emory and Quinlan and the Dallas suburb of Rockwall.  In Emory we ate at Sidekicks twice … loved lunch (go for the chicken fried steak special) but breakfast was barely average.  In Quinlan we recommend Jalepeno’s Tex Mex for Mexican fare and Soulmans for Barbeque.  In Rockwall we ate at Carino’s (half off on the family platters on Monday night will give you lots of leftovers), but there are loads of other dining options in Rockwall.  On one of our drives we came across these grazers.

A strange mustang?

New kind of longhorn?

From here it is on to TT Lake Conroe, which we understand is very nice … sure hope so as we are becoming more and more disappointed in the TT parks.