Dinner is the event; breakfast and lunch stay dumb-simple. Chili and fajitas locked in per the boss.
Made at home, frozen flat, reheated in the dutch oven — zero effort after a travel day. Fritos, cheese, jalapeños. Feeds five teens-included with leftovers for Thursday lunch.
Skirt steak + chicken marinated in a zip-top from home, peppers and onions on the cast iron over the fire, tortillas on the griddle. Limes, guac if the avocados survived the cooler.
After boat day: the famous fried-catfish joint in Taylor, just south of Oxford. Opens at 5, no reservations — one of us gets on the list, everyone else waits on the porch. BYOB. ~$75–110 for five. Thursday on purpose: Friday and Saturday are football-crowd nights.
After Go Ape, ribs in Memphis before the drive back — nobody cooks, nobody cleans. ~$80–100 for five. Backup if we skip Memphis: B.T.C.'s Catfish Friday in Water Valley (until 7).
Smash burgers on the griddle, plus a fry of whatever legal crappie the derby produced (12" club only). Last-night s'mores championship — winner picks Sunday's breakfast stop on the drive home.
Breakfast burritos prepped at home — foil, straight on the coals while coffee happens. Backup tier: cereal, fruit, pop-tarts for whoever's already got a rod in hand. Out of camp in 30 minutes.
The full griddle show: pancakes, bacon, eggs, cocoa for the boys. One, maybe two of these — they're the mornings the trip is for.
Camp coffee + whatever's left, then the s'mores champion's pick on the drive home. It's a long day in the car — eat real food.
Sandwich station on the table: deli bar, chips, pickles, fruit. Thursday is chili-leftover day by design.
Wrap-and-carry: PB&J rolled in tortillas (no smashed bread), jerky, trail mix, apples, a sleeve of cookies for morale. Made at breakfast, eaten wherever noon finds us.
Eat on the Square — Ajax Diner plate lunches, ~$60–80. On game day, eat early or pack it in; every table in town is spoken for by noon.
Pets are welcome at Wallace Creek (leashed, never in the restrooms or other buildings), so the dogs camp with us. Corps rules don't allow leaving pets unattended at the site, so any day nobody stays at camp is a daycare day — boat day and Memphis day for sure.
Looking for something that used to live here? The buy list + Dad's sink-in-a-toolbox build are on The Gear Desk · the family Board (suggestion box) is at the top of The Plan.
Mid-October in north Mississippi: normally ~73° days and ~57° nights — but this year's forecast is wild: mid-90s Tue–Thu, a cold front Friday, a 63° Saturday and a 37° Sunday-morning low. Pack box fans and real sleeping-bag warmth; with hookups, a small tip-over-safe heater is an option for Saturday night. Pack for warm days and cool mornings. Checkboxes are shared with the whole family — check things off as they hit the truck.