Sometimes in life, what seems like a set back can become a most fortunate turn of events. That was the case with this unceremonious eviction from Lake Livingston.
We arrived at our next destination, Atlanta State Park and into the arms of a delightful and sympathetic volunteer. She listened patiently to the story of our plight and she put us in the best site at the park for the entire time of our stay! The new site was much larger than our originally reserved spot, and it was also more private which we always love.
The excellent site was not the only good thing about Atlanta State Park. The campground sits on the shore of Wright Patman Lake near Texarkana, Texas. If you have followed our blog at all you know that Texarkana played a very large part in my formative years. My grandmother, Gladys for whom our RV is named lived here and I have lots of family in the area. I won’t go in to a lot of detail but to say that after our grandmother died, I did not stay in touch with them. Oh, a funeral now and then, but that was about all. Traveling in the RV gave me the opportunity to rebuild some of those relationships.
I spent most of my summers living with my grandmother in Texarkana so my cousin Diana, three months older, was like a sister to me. Her Little brother, David James tagged along with us as we rode our bikes on sidewalks that were cracked and lifted by the roots of the giant oaks that lined Magnolia Street. We would hide and laugh under the overpass of the then under construction highway through town. The three of us formed quite a pack of explorers as kids.
Diana’s and David’s parents took me in stride, my uncle being the only father figure I had in my childhood. Uncle Jimmy had a boat and took us water skiing at that very same lake which was called Lake Texarkana before being renamed Wright Patman in the ‘70’s. As I stood on the shore of the lake I could see the ghosts of giggling kids splashing in the water while a blue and white boat circled around to bring the tow rope within reach for another try. As the happy memories flooded into my heart and tears filled my eyes I felt connected to my family and to my past in a way I had never known. I have no doubt that my grandmother stood next to me and I heard the words, “Welcome home.”
Diana took me to her favorite spa for a pedicure. I call it my Texas Chainsaw Pedi.
Then we visited Diana’s daughter’s place of work, and had lunch with more kids and grandkids. We had an especially good time at a cookout with the old gang of three; Diana, David and Jill. Tim seemed to be content seeing me so happy and I am so grateful to him for making it all happen when he decided that we needed to buy our RV three years ago. Little did I know just how appropriate it was that I named her Gladys.
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