Friday the 13th

Friday, May 13, 2022

We left Lake Catherine State Park around 10 am, had a nice uneventful drive through the Ouachita Mountains, ate a lunch Jane had prepared while rolling along, and only stopped once in Mount Ida to diesel up. After about three and a half hours, we arrived at the Wilburton Pine Creek RV Park on OK State Hwy 1.

You Have Arrived

A hand-painted sign with a well-weathered and shredded U.S. flag marked the entrance. We turned into the campground, parked and were unhitching the car as our hostess with her man approached driving her car from a nearby trailer. She was Brenda, “not Paula that Jane had spoken to on the phone and who was in California but sometimes went to Australia, but I have to take care of the RV park, it rained 7.5 inches recently, my man couldn’t mow the grass but he did mow that site, I like to know the number of vehicles and people and if they have pets and the hookups they need, we have someone coming on the 18th and 23rd and ….”. Brenda was a chain-smoking chain-talker. Only one of the several campsites was being used (by an unoccupied rig that had obviously been around awhile). Eventually Brenda decided that we should set up in the shady site that had already been mowed, Site 0.

Contrary to what you may think, rural Oklahoma is an excellent location to get your RV stuck in the mud. I learned first-hand that the folks here are not only very friendly, but also very helpful. After Brenda had determined that we would stay at Site 0, I was turning the RV around and the rear tires went off the compacted road into a grassy area that had recently been flooded with 7.5 inches of rain. Brenda’s man sprung into action to try to pull the RV out with his (two-wheel drive) truck. That didn’t work and so he decided to retrieve his electric jack to lift the rear wheels enough to place some traction under them. As I was contemplating the muddy mess that it would yield, a hefty dually pickup with a bucket lift and electric winch pulled up. While passing by on the highway, the driver assessed the situation in a glance and swung in to help. He attached the winch cable through a pulley on Brenda’s man’s pickup to our RV. Well, as he began retracting the cable, the RV did not budge while the pickup truck was pulled closer and closer to the RV. So, we proceeded to plan B (C?). Brenda’s man moved his pickup so that the winch truck could set up directly in front of the RV. This worked like a charm and I was out of the muck and pulling into Site 0 in a jiffy. I shook hands with and thanked the Good Samaritan (Jeremy Schaefer) and off he went.

The Kindness of Strangers

After hooking up the RV, we decided to drive to Robbers Cave State Park on the other side of Wilburton. We dropped by the trailer on the way out to pick up our receipt for the $25 (cash only) that Jane had already given Brenda. “Oh, I was just finishing the receipt, I like to put my name and phone number on it .” Brenda greeted me at the door and began chain-talking as she returned to a small table and continued hand writing a receipt on a piece of notebook paper. “We had 7.5 inches of rain here but over in, honey how far is it, 20 miles no I think its 27 miles, they had 10 inches.” The chain-talking continued while she folded the paper in half, licked the crease and carefully tore the paper into halves. As I heard Jane turning the car around I interjected that I needed to dash before my wife left me. “I know you do, do you remember the way I told you to get there, I don’t use any technical devices, sorry that the grass wasn’t mowed , enjoy your stay.” Brenda continued to chain-talk as I gingerly took the receipt and said goodbye. I felt guilty leaving because she would only have her man to chain-talk to and I surmised that he wasn’t a very attentive chain-listener.

We managed to find Robbers Cave State Park entering near beautiful Lake Carlton. We parked the car in the trail parking lot and after briefly surveying the information board, followed what we thought was the trail to the cave. After an ascent through rocky rubble the trail improved and we we were walking through woodland. We proceeded via trial and error as the trail markings were ambiguous. We finally stumbled on a high rugged outcropping of cave-ish looking enormous boulders that we climbed over and then descended through into an area designated Rock Corral. After emerging through a tight squeeze we realized that we were back near the parking lot after about a 1.5-2 mile hike. We studied the information board again, more attentively this time, and realized that Robbers Cave was just across the grassy area and around a large boulder a few hundred yards from the parking area. We proceeded to the cave entrance but the climb to it was too challenging for a couple of worn out seniors to reach.

King of the Mountain

A Tight Squeeze

On the way back to the campground, we picked up a veggie pizza and six pack at Casey’s in Wilburton. Today, Friday the 13th, is my 66th birthday. There is no cellular signal (zero bars) at the Wilburton Pine Creek RV Park, so no calls from family. We celebrated in our cozy motorhome parked along OK 1 with pizza and beer followed by a few rounds of Rummikub. In all my years, I don’t recall ever having a birthday quite like this most memorable one.