Days 179 & 180: Bastrop State Park, TX

It was another early day on the road on Wednesday, as we attempted once again to try to get the riding done before the heat overtook us.  It was looking as though Alea would finish her 49 miles before the thermometer hit 90 degrees, but the hills between Buescher State Park and Bastrop State Park made that impossible.  She still finished before noon, but it was hotter and more humid than either of us liked by the time she was done.

Alea rides between Buescher and Bastrop State Parks.  In the background beyond
the mirror are the outlines of hundreds of burned out trees.

That road between the two state parks is deceptive.  The hills are steep, and just long enough that it is very hard to maintain momentum to the top of the next hill.  As a result, a couple of times Alea had to get off and walk her bike, as attempting a standing climb out of the saddle put too much pressure on her bad knee.  Needless to say, we are hoping that the gradients will be gentler for the bulk of our remaining months on the road for this year.

That is Alea pushing her bike up the steepest part of the hill.

Bastrop State Park suffered considerable damage from a fire five years ago, and crews are still culling burnt trees that could be blown over onto the park roadways.  To add to the park's problems, they also had a dam burst that washed out part of the loop road.  And it seems flash flooding has been an issue with the loss of so much tree canopy.  But it looks as though the park is starting to recover from the recent devastation.

We camped at Copperas Campground ($20, power, water, air-conditioned showers with adjustable controls) for two nights (currently it is the only campground at Bastrop State Park that is open), as this was the one part of the park that was spared from the fires.  The shower house here is fairly new and it could easily be the nicest such facility that we've used in the past 14 months.

We spent our second day here getting things ready for the installation of our new ARB awning, which my niece Paula should deliver to us on Friday.  The task today was to mount a piece of 2"x2" pine to the roof of the van.  That will in turn be the anchor point for some angle aluminum brackets.  The awning will then be anchored to the brackets.

Of course trying to do this without proper tools has presented a challenge.  It was easy enough getting the plastic bolt hole caps off of the roof (these cover up where a factory rack can be attached to the roof).  Next, I had to remove some panel retaining clips that attached some black soundproofing foam to the ceiling around the track of the sliding door.  It was evident that my limited tool set was inadequate for the task, so off I went to the local auto parts store to get a pry bar, which worked well without causing any damage to the foam or the clips.

Of course with those removed it was obvious that a couple of the remaining bolt holes could only be accessed with a nut driver or socket wrench.  I was hoping to find one of the former, but ended up having to buy a small socket set instead.

With the proper tools in hand, and with Alea's help, I went about drilling holes in the wood.  I started by anchoring one end with a stainless steel lag bolt.  With that one installed (and with the wood fairly level, despite my butchering it with a 3/4" chisel in an attempt to approximate the slope of the van's roof), I proceeded to the far end.  Of course while attempting to tighten that lag bolt the 1/2" socket fell off the ratchet and was trapped behind some sheet metal.  Fifteen contorted, sweat-filled minutes later, it seemed I was about to retrieve it, when it fell down the door pillar (where only specialized tools and a lot of luck might have retrieved it).  

It was easier to return to town to buy a replacement 1/2" socket.  I taped the new socket to the ratchet's extension, so that it would not succumb to the same fate as the first.  Of course, by this time we had lost most of our shade, meaning that it would be a lot hotter than we had planned while we finished the job. 

With the proper tools once again in hand, I drilled the two remaining holes, and then disassembled everything.  I cleaned the roof with an alcohol wipe, and then dried it.  Next I applied a very generous amount of high grade silicone to the roof and realigned the wood with the bolt holes.  With Alea's help, I bolted the wood to the roof and, once that was done, sealed up all the 2x2 edges with silicone.  The result was a very solid, water tight installation, with just a slight slope toward the outside of the van (meaning it will drain well in the rain).  Now all we need is the awning...

One of the stainless steel lag bolts on the ceiling of the van.