Rib Dinner and Alamo Lake

Monday was a quiet day for Ray, as he was still recovering from our trip to the Desert Bar yesterday. I did a bunch of chores, we did go into town and fill up the propane tank to make sure I had enough fuel to barbecue ribs for several hours. When we got back to camp and hooked up the propane tank .... go figure the plastic fitting to screw into the propane tank shattered and I had to go back into town to find a replacement. After being sent on a wild goose chase between stores as to where to go, I finally ended up at the Pit Stop where they make customized propane hoses. (This of course is where we filled the propane tank up earlier!) All of this took an hour and a half so ribs were going to be later than planned.

As always in the desert, the weather can change ... winds came up, clouds came in, so I decided to cook the ribs in the convection oven as I was behind in timing and just finish them on the barbecue with glazing. It all worked out as Dianne and Steve were coming for dinner, but they had a whole bunch of people stop by for a visit so they were later than planned as well. Dinner turned out great with slow cooker baked beans, ribs and coleslaw. Another great time with our besties!







We talked for a short while longer and then called it a night as we were going to Alamo Lake tomorrow.

Tuesday morning at 9:30 we were off on our adventure with Steve and Dianne to Alamo Lake. Steve graciously drove our car again. A beautiful sunny day for a drive although a little chilly when we started. We all wanted to see if it is a possible destination and worth dragging our rigs to the lake as we'd heard it's a good fishing lake.

We passed through the little towns of Brenda, Salome and Wendon before making our turn up to Alamo Lake.  38 miles later we arrived. Boy is the lake level down ... you can see dead trees sticking up out of the water.



First look at the lake as we drove towards the park.

This is near the only boat ramp that now reaches the water. The water edges are very muddy so no swim for Freya.

The only functioning boat ramp

 We drove around all of the campsite areas. This place is huge. Prices vary from $15 to dry camp to $25 for water and power. One of the areas would be great for ATV people as the trails leads out right from the campsite. We all preferred that side in the drycamping area with lots of room and great views of the lake. None of the sites though are on the lake and would require you to drive to the one and only boat launch several miles to go fishing. Ray and Steve felt this was too much work. They would prefer to launch their boats once and then just tie it to the shore by the campsite. The internet/cell signal was not the best either.

Typical plug in campsite.

 

You can see part of the old ramp that doesn't reach the water any more.

2 kyakers enjoying the lake amoungst the dead trees.

We noticed after leaving the park, a road to the right that pointed out the Bill Williams River Viewpoint so up we went.

The dam

There were signs posted to watch out for the burros. We looked and looked and finally Steve saw one while we were driving out of the Alamo Lake. Their coat colour sure matches in with the landscape so they are very hard to see.

By the time we left it was 12:30 and we were all starved. On the way to the lake we'd noticed a small bar in Salome where we decided to stop and have lunch. Kind of a funny little place, the bar is one business and the cafe another. So we decided to eat outside and had to order lunch in the restaurant and buy the beer separately in the pub. It was pretty good food and we were all stuffed by the time we finished. Freya even was on the patio with us. Thanks for lunch Steve and Dianne. Ray, our DD drove us the rest of the way back home.

Dianne was going to make us dinner tonight but we all decided we just had it! So Dinner tomorrow, Wednesday, at Dianne and Steve ... Dianne's famous lasagna. Yummm.

All of us were glad we had gone to Alamo Lake so we all know that it probably will not be a future destination. Better to find out via a car ride than tow all of our rigs up there and not be happy. It was a great day none the less in the sunshine.