WC Swearingen Recreation Area on Lake Fork

Last June we went on quite a long road trip, driving from Northern California to Fort Worth, Texas, to visit the Big Guy’s parents. It was the second time we’d done this drive, and we figured we were getting to be old hands at this type of travel. So much so that the Big Guy decided on an extra side trip before we headed back home. He had been watching a lot of pro bass fishing tournaments on TV that took place on Lake Fork, on the Sabine River in northeast Texas, and he wanted to see the lake in person and try his luck at fishing from the shore. It meant an overnight stay in Emory — about a 2-hour drive from our hotel in Southlake (a suburb of Fort Worth). It also meant crossing bridges over Lake Fork, Lake Tawakoni, and Lake Ray Hubbard. I was thinking that crossing a reservoir this way was something I had never done, until I remembered that Interstate 5 in California crosses Lake Shasta. Still, the Lake Shasta has a mountainous shoreline covered in evergreens; our route through Texas took us along a Farm to Market road (FM515), so it was extremely flat and frequently treeless. The experience felt very different!

East shore of Lake Tawakoni on Highway 35

Heading east across Lake Fork on FM515

Texas Mockingbird

At WC Swearingen Recreation Area, Lake Fork. Swearingen (1806-1839) fought for Texas independence

“No wake” (Lake Fork)