EISENHOWER STATE PARK, Texas — So help me, it wasn’t supposed to be this hard.

We’ve hauled our fifth wheel all the way from Amarillo to Denison, the birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower. We exited the highway right where the sign told us exit. We turned west, heading — we thought — for the main gate to the park.

“Road Closed” blinked a large electronic highway sign. The park had been deluged by rain during the spring and early summer. Many campsites been damaged, some were destroyed. But it reopened for general use just a few weeks ago.

The first thought that ran through my mind: This isn’t happening. I did not want to have to turn that fifth wheel around on a dime, back it up, do whatever motor vehicle gymnastics I would have had to do to get our assembly pointed in the right direction.

My wife said, “Why not turn right at that street and maybe we can circle the block?”

Good call. Actually, it was a better call than I imagined.

We made the turn, headed north along this narrow street. Out came a gentleman. He waved us over.

You might recall a blog entry I posted about three weeks ago about being watched over by guardian angels in Santa Rosa, N.M. Well, another appeared in the form of this fellow.

I didn’t get his name. I’ll call him Mr. Wings.

Mr. Wings said that, yes, we could circle our rig around the block. But he informed us of an alternate route into the park.

We had to go north, across the Red River, into Oklahoma, turn left at the second exit, go west a few miles, then turn south  and drive “over the dam” and then we would find a great road into the park.

OK, man. Thanks.

We circled the block, came back out and standing before us was Mr. Wings.

“Good thing I talked to one of my partners back there,” he said. The road we were to take west was washed out.

He then instructed us to head back south on U.S. 75 take the second exit we saw, drive along U.S. 84, make a few sharp turns and that would take us into the park.

So, we got to Ike’s park.

It’s a lovely place. Quiet. Dark.

We’re quite certain that getting out of there in a few days won’t be nearly as harrowing as coming in.

As for Mr. Wings, he has shown me once again about the truth behind the existence of guardian angels.