Thursday, March 24, 2011

Campout Quick Hit -- My Guess

You'd think a Plainsman would be able to figure out where these guys are.  We've heard several hints.  My guess -- somewhere in the vicinity of Mineral Wells, and my more precise guess is near Mingus in the Cross-Timbers area near Palo Pinto Creek Reservoir or Lake Mingus.  Hints:

     --  Danny suggested that they went west, making a vague reference to the landscape that sounds more like West Texas than East Texas.  Gordon made a reference to "Louisiana" this morning, but this was an obvious Gordon misdirection play (lie).

     --  Junior made a reference to a 7:32 sunrise.  Sunrise this morning in Mineral Wells is at 7:32.  Mingus is south of Mineral Wells and just slightly west.  When I go to http://www.weather.com/, I see that sunrise in Mingus is also stated to be 7:32.

     --  The temperature in Mingus this morning is in the mid-to-low forties.

     --  Mike R let slip that there was a bar in town starting with "Mule."  There is a "Mule Lip Bar" in Mingus.

     -- Mingus is a few miles from a major lake, the Palo Pinto Creek Reservoir.  Now, there are lots of lakes in this area of Texas -- however, if I'm recalling correctly, PPCR adjoins the 7R Ranch development, for which Gordon Keith used to do commercials and might have had, as Danny might say, "a good in" with them. 

         There is also a Lake Mingus just north of town, which might be a better guess, because this morning someone wasn't sure whether the lights in the east was the town or the sunrise.  This indicates that there is a town east of the camp.   The town in question might be Gordon, which is to the east of Lake Mingus, and somewhat larger than Mingus.    So I'm going to give Lake Mingus the edge.



Gratuitous Ticket Campout Woman Photo

Therefore, I conclude that the campout is somewhere near the shores of Lake Mingus, or possibly the Palo Pinto Creek Reservoir, in any event not far from Mingus.

Please do not hassle them.

WAIT -- They're talking about where they are.  Junior named several lakes that they're NOT near, and none of them was PPCR.  So I'm in the running.

I had some more quick hits but I'll let this one simmer a bit.

22 comments:

  1. Contra my guess: They said they had to go through "several small towns." To get to Lake Mingus or Palo Pinto you take I-20 most of the way, You might go through Gordon or Mingus, but probably not through the center of too many other small towns.

    But I still like my guess.

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  2. In introducing their "small town" segment, Junior said they'd only gone through "one or two" small towns, or words to that effect. To get to Lake Mingus, assuming you took the shortest route (193 off of I-20), you'd go through Gordon and most likely also Mingus itself. Palo Pinto would not require a trip through Mingus, but would take you through Gordon and really no other small towns. Thus, I'm leaning strongly towards Lake Mingus since it would involve a two-small-town pass-through.

    I turned off the showgram, so keep me updated. I emailed Junior my guess, but haven't heard anything. He might be reluctant to say on the air there had been a correct guess, given the number of people who check this site and would conclude that this was it.

    Apologies to the Nation for Vanderjagt-like confidence in this guess. Cue Dave Matthews.

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  3. I don't see any campground areas on Lake Mingus that would fit the description and the pictures that Junior tweeted. At least not on the satellite views that Google Maps provides. There's a doc on the eastern side of the lake that could be the one that Junior tweeted, but it looks like private property, and there don't appear to be any cabins nearby.

    I'm not saying your guess is wrong, I just don't see anything to support it from what Google shows me.

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  4. Anyone else think the guys are being weenies about the cold? Maybe they should share tents (not in the SUPER GAY WAY)There body heat will warm up a tent. Sounds like the guys Mike & Dan arent exactly digging on the camp out.

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  5. C-Monk: I tried to go to Google maps to look at photos of the area but for some reason didn't come up with anything. Also, I'm not on Twitter so not hip to Junior's photos. The lack of a cabin would indeed be strong contrary evidence. Well, there's a reason circumstantial evidence is not as strong as direct evidence. Thanks for the additional info.

    There are other bodies of water nearby. Maybe one of those. The sunrise time indicates that we're on approximately the right meridian, and that "Mule" reference was suggestive. Perhaps Lake CB Long, only about a mile further north.

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  6. Maybe we could just respect the process and not worry about it.

    P1's are crazy and i wouldn't be shocked if there weren't a few out roaming around looking for the guys.

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  7. "Respect the process"? That's funny. It's our duty to try to smoke them out. It's part of the process.

    And I'd be willing to bet there are at least a few people swinging by their local campgrounds just to take a look.

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  8. "Respect the process"? Hell, the participants don't even respect the process. C-Monk is right.

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  9. The buzz on another P1-oriented website is that it's Lake Tawakoni. There are a lot more camping areas there, but it seems like it might be a bit too heavily trafficked to be the spot.

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  10. Doubtful. If Junior was right that sunrise is at 7:32, then the location has to be west of Dallas and somewhere on the meridian that runs through or near Mineral Wells.

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  11. The Plainsman is awful Vanderjagty for a guy who's fairly new to the area (IIRC).

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  12. Possible campsite location: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Mingus,+TX&aq=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=37.052328,78.046875&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Mingus,+Palo+Pinto,+Texas&ll=32.556065,-98.415447&spn=0.00241,0.004764&t=h&z=18

    They just mentioned during BaD that it's within earshot of train tracks.

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  13. The train tracks can be very misleading... I live about 4 miles from train tracks & I can hear trains, but it is a good clue....

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  14. My DeLorme maps show a train track going right through Mingus. (Does not show up on Google Maps, at least with my settings.) Lake Mingus starts only about a half-mile from there, and extends northward approximately a mile.

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  15. Doesn't their radio commercial say their at Loyd Park in Grand Prairie?

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  16. It says that Lloyd Park was the host of the 2010 campout. They've said they're not at Lloyd Park this year.

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  17. Makes sense. Play a commercial from last year. Just like The Ticket website showing the interviews with the hosts from last year. Is that how cheap Cumulus is or what's the point in that?

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  18. No, they're sponsoring this year's campout. For some reason. I guess. Don't overthink it.

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  19. Well, I've already spent too much time on this, but now I'm very intrigued with whether the clues added up to anything. Looking at the map again, the south tip of Lake Mingus is pretty close to the Mingus metroplex, so (if anywhere near Lake Mingus at all) the camp is probably near the end of the road that goes up the west side of the lake, and then some. That would put it something over a mile from Mingus proper, a hearty walk for Mike R into town to the Mule Lip.

    I'm going to look pretty dumb (and even more Vanderjagty) if this guess goes wide left, as it almost certainly will.

    Still, as C-Monk says -- part of the fun. C-M, what's the Ticket-web-o-sphere speculating at this hour?

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  20. BOOM! You got it right..., but then changed your guess.

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  21. Very impressive... till you changed your answer...

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  22. Yeah. I only changed it by about a mile. I hadn't considered that the property as a whole was much larger than the area directly around Lake Mingus, so Corby's discussion threw me off a little.

    However, I have decided to claim credit for being 100% correct early on.

    Cue Vanderjagt drops.

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