About two weeks ago, our youth staff and a few others took a journey to Camp Eagle where we have Camp Tallowood.  It was a pretty awesome trip so I thought I’d share some of our journey.

We started out heading north towards Austin, instead of heading west towards San Antonio like normal.  The reason for this was that we needed to pick up some cedar staffs that are carried by our seniors each year at camp.  We weren’t able to find a place that sold exactly what we were looking for near Houston, so we had to make the journey to Lampasas so we could go to Myers Cedar Yard.  

Once we were there, we were able to load up 100 Senior Staffs.  This should get us through about 3 years of camp.  

Jensen found one he liked… it is a little big though!

After we picked up the staffs, we asked the guys at the cedar yard to recommend a good place to stop for lunch.  They didn’t lead us astray.  We made a stop at The Yumm Factory Cafe.  They had a lunch buffet that was amazing!  We had fried pork chops, beef tips, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, and chocolate cake.  It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.  Good place.  If you’re ever in Lampasas, I highly recommend it.

After this we began our drive to Camp Eagle which was about 3 1/2 hours away.  Being from Louisiana, and not getting out to explore much of Texas, I was amazed at the beauty of this state.  Lots of nice scenery and flowers everywhere.  Along the way we passed through Johnson City, the birthplace of President Lyndon Johnson, and we even stopped to smell the roses in Fredericksburg.  This was a cozy little town with a lot of festivities going on.  Wish we could have stayed longer.

After a quick stop at the Dairy Queen in Kerrville, we continued on our way to Camp Eagle.  But we weren’t quite done with stops yet.  On the way down Hwy 83, we stopped at the Legendary YO Ranch and the epic Garven’s Store – the gas station near camp that sells all kinds of jerky, biker clothing, and even huge chunks of unrefrigerated cheese.  Good times!

Eventually, we made it to Camp Eagle and it was gorgeous.  They’ve done a ton of work recently including repainting their buildings and adding some stone to all of them as well.  They have even made some improvements to the pavilion where we have worship.  They are also building a few new cabins and a huge new duel water slide.  Can’t wait for that!

This is where the new 150 foot water slide will be.  That’s a long way down!

We had a great dinner with some of the staff that night and we were able to meet with Chris, their summer camp director, about all kinds of things that will be happening at Camp Tallowood this year.  I don’t think I can say much more except that we scouted out some new locations for a few tribes, drove up to the windmill, and even found where the Senior Celebration will be this year.  It is gonna be awesome!

After all that, we headed back home to Houston.  We went out the back way (which I didn’t even know existed) and had an amazing drive through more beautiful hill country.  On the way out we saw some weird stuff though.  Apparently, some people have ranches with giraffes and kangaroos.  Crazy!  Anyway, we made less stops on the way back, and one is worth some explanation.  And no its not Buc-ees, though we did stop there for some Beaver Nuggets and Dr Pepper Icees!  

We made a stop in Uvalde at Rexall Drugs.  We weren’t in need of aspirin from being in the car so much, we were actually looking for a good place for lunch.  We saw on a sign outside of the store that they served food, so Jerome sent me in to scope the place out.  What I found was incredible!  They had a fully operational, old school soda fountain and lunch counter.  So of course, we went in and had a delicious meal.  Burgers, shakes, and mexican food.  What a combo!  

After all these adventures, we made it home and I’m more excited than ever for this year’s camp.  Be sure and sign up if you haven’t yet.  It is gonna be amazing!

-Micah