Dinosaur Valley SP, Glen Rose TX. 9-27 & 28

[working on it]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't find a "check-in" time for the campgrounds. Never done this before, so I wonder what the best time to arrive at the gate on Friday would be...I've got two days reserved (9/27-9/28). I have a tendency to arrive too early, so I don't want to get there before you experienced "guides".

[2bits]

Wow this is a great new camper question because I just spent the past half hour trying to find the info on the Texas Parks and Wildlife site and could not find the facts! Luckily it is a pretty easygoing endeavor. The standard is check in at 11 or 12 depending on the park and check out is 2pm. You can see the obvious overlap in time but it never seems to be an issue, there are always enough early risers who vacate before check in time. Also, since you arrive on Friday, you have to think who will be camping Thursday and checking out Friday... not many people if any, so the Thursday people are here for the weekend. I only say that to also reinforce how cool and flexible the state park people are. If you show up at 9am, they will surely not hassle you. It was an adjustment for me too since I am a fairly new camper to state parks myself. It's like everyone helps each other and it works!

I am at Lake Tawakoni 45 min East of Dallas and plan to take I-20 to 67 and arrive noon-ish, I am not sure if you are Dallas or ft. Worth but if you're in Dallas let me know if lines up to caravan!

[2bits]

Oh, and I am bringing the propane firepit and making Southwest chicken in the crock pot for Saturday night's pot luck! I probably won't bring the Monte Carlo unless it is really cool and a get a wild hair but man I would love that!

[2bits]

Woody my sister just replied back... YES!!! So they will be coming in their motor home, Thank you!

All, My sister Mary and Bro-in Law Tim will be camping for the first time with us! Tim is an engineer and very cool and laid back and Mary is super sweet and incredibly fun to hang out with, she reminds me alot of Cindy (Marks'). I am excited to finally introduce some people that I know into this great group! What a great way to kick off the season!

[Woodyperk6]

Woody my sister just replied back... YES!!! So they will be coming in their motor home, Thank you!

All, My sister Mary and Bro-in Law Tim will be camping for the first time with us! Tim is an engineer and very cool and laid back and Mary is super sweet and incredibly fun to hang out with, she reminds me alot of Cindy (Marks'). I am excited to finally introduce some people that I know into this great group! What a great way to kick off the season!

Good deal. Look forward to meeting them.


Sure feels like camping weather outside.

[2bits]

Woody, the weather is amazing today!! I am not going inside all day!! Heading down to Edom to a sawmill, to mill two 10' cedar logs that I picked up for free, they are two feet think at the base and 1 1/2 foot thick on the small end, that is going to make for so e fun projects and a nice cool afternoon drive today! So excited to go camping next weekend!

[working on it]

I guess I screwed up...checked my reservation online, not what I wrote down, and saw that I only have 1 night reserved September 27. Guess I'll have to leave before everyone either gets there, or as festivities are starting. When is the latest I can pull up stakes on Saturday 9/28? I was also about to sign up for the LCGVIII event, but my wife says she is going to be out of town for that week. So I build a trailer for two years, and only get to camp for one night in the foreseeable future? Something not quite fair about that!

[Woodyperk6]

I guess I screwed up...checked my reservation online, not what I wrote down, and saw that I only have 1 night reserved September 27. Guess I'll have to leave before everyone either gets there, or as festivities are starting. When is the latest I can pull up stakes on Saturday 9/28? I was also about to sign up for the LG event, but my wife says she is going to be out of town for that week. So I build a trailer for two years, and only get to camp for one night in the foreseeable future? Something not quite fair about that!

Check-out time should be 2PM on the 28th. Are you sure you only reserved for the 27th? When you make online reservations you are only required to pay for the 1st night and the balance is due when you arrive at the park.

If you did only reserve one night you can check with the office on Saturday morning (or Friday when you arrive) to see if there have been any cancelations.

Hope this helps.

[working on it]

Yep. One night. No cancellations yet. Maybe (doubtful) I can talk the wife out o the last few days of her important (not) trip to visit her friends, after another trip to visit her friends, after a trip to visit Sasquatch. And she doesn't plan to take the trailer, built for just that.. I shoulda just resumed drag-racing.

[2bits]

There will be a full house on Friday as we tend to mostly do two nighters so it will be a great time either way so do not fret!

I would definitely wing it for the second night and tell the park staff what happened with the mix up and I will volunteer to park my truck up at the guest parking with your vehicle and we can park our two trailers in the same site if they allow it so there are no extra vehicles on the street. Just ask, they are usually really cool about stuff if you just ask. There also might be a no show too so don't plan for the worst, plan for the best! We'll address it on Friday with the staff and work with what we got. I have always been pleased with how willing they are to accommodate.

Oh, Your wife will probably change her tune once she meets all the great people here and spends an evening around the campfire chatting. I think she will make new friends and want to come again, there is such a diversity here and everyone is so cool, I've never seen anything like it.

Oh, Could you change your avatar picture so we know what you look like? It just helps when we get to a gathering with 40 people! Thanks! ! !

[working on it]

Thanks for your offer, 2bits. I do hope that I will be found to be acceptable to the other campers, as I am by nature an extroverted introvert (slow to make friends, then, watch out!). I actually don't have any photos of myself on hand to show myself to you, as I am in the witless protection program, and am not particularly photogenic either. I might chance a self portrait, as I have a spare camera, if the lens might shatter. My wife is hot-cold on camping in the little trailer (she didn't want it, then did, now not sure)...she doesn't plan to use it in October on an extended trip into the wild (and at the same time, foiling my plans for LCGVIII). And we can't both be gone from home over 18 hours or so (11 pets to care for). My record time away from home is 36.5 hours (twice!),in the last twenty years. See my post under Beaver's Bend 2014 for details. I'm going to plan on Beaver's Bend in April, if open, and will post a notice on the wall, so she CAN'T forget and schedule a conflicting trip. But, then again, its her nature....

[2bits]

Yeah, no big deal on the photo, I only ask because you get to know so many people here by their screen name and their camper and when you get to a gathering, especially the bigger ones, you can be talking to someone for 20 min and not know who they are! It's sometimes hard to make the transition into "reality" sometimes, I found that was an interesting by product when I first started camping with the group because we would have 50-100 people sometimes!

[working on it]

2bits-I will try to get a picture posted today, after I work on my HHR (intake camshaft actuator on the fritz), but I don't think anyone will confuse my trailer with another's. It is slightly different than most: unique, un-teardrop, and "ungainly". In large gatherings, you can spot me either in front (when I know what I'm doing), or in back (learning and listening). I'm a novice in the camping genre, except for scouts in the early '60s, so I'll be in the back.

[aggie79]

Any chance they remove the burn ban?

[planovet]

Any chance they remove the burn ban?

I doubt it. It will take more rain than we have had to remove the ban.