West Texas Part I Th, 2021ursday April 1

 

We travelled from Junction to Alpine Texas on Today. For once the scenery holds my attention. Normally I get bored and work on a crossword puzzle or read a book on my Kindle.  I am enchanted with this rocky, hilly land. I have never associated Texas with mountains and was surprised to find that Alpine is at nearly 4500 feet elevation.  Almost as high as Denver! I knew we were headed for the Davis Mountains but thought the name was more a formality.

I-10 between Junction and Alpine

View from our site in Junction Bluffs in the background

The plan is to ride the motorcycles to Fr. Davis State Park tomorrow. When I read that the elevation was 6300 feet, I immediately thought of my carbureted motorcycle engine. I went to a forum to see what the modern carburetors’ tolerance for higher altitudes is and what the remedy is. As it turns out I will be riding at the threshold of the limits of the factory settings, so we are prepared to stop and tweak the jet screw if it starts to load up and run like crap tomorrow. We have been told by many that the 25 mile route from our RV Park to the State Park in the mountains is breathtaking. Birding is on the agenda when we get there. I tried to get tickets to the tour of the McDonald Observatory but was disappointed to find that the soonest available date was April 22^nd. Due to the current circumstances that I don’t need to explain, entry is limited to those with advance reservations. I even had to buy State Park Day passes in advance in order to be let into the park as they work to limit crowds. I am thankful to at least get to go birding and pack a lunch to enjoy while we are there.

This evening we will drive the truck over to Marfa and check out the eclectic town and eat dinner at one of the many unique restaurants. I hear it is a Foodies paradise. Then after dark we will head to the Marfa Lights viewing area East of town and try our luck at seeing the famous, mysterious lights in the night sky. I am looking forward to a good night sky away from civilization. Even if I don’t see the Marfa Lights, the stars are bound to be spectacular.

Marfa Lights Viewing area at Sunset

We are on US 67 South headed into Alpine and the landscape is dotted with scrub, Soap TreeYucca  that is new to me and dirt devils winding about all over the open fields. Having watch 100’s of Westerns in my lifetime, especially in the past 20 years living with Champ, I look around and think to myself, things haven’t changed all that much out here.

As we drove today, we talked about what the experience of living in such a remote area must be like. When a large grocery store or Wall-mart is 200 miles away and a small town is easily 75 to 100 for some of these ranchers. I muse at the thought that many are likely wealthy enough to own airplanes and simply fly to El Paso for groceries.

Our time in Junction was exactly what I imagined. It is nice when a plan comes together. We had good riding weather for our 185-mile ride to and around the entire Twisted Sisters Motorcycle loop on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Champs’s cousin Zeke and his with Roselyn drove the 52 miles from Kerrville. After a delicious lunch at the local BBQ joint and good conversation catching up. We went back to our site and spent the afternoon playing a rather rowdy and fun few games of Pitch.

For the rest of the trip, we will not see anyone we know till we get back to the Midwest and possibly see my cousins in Kansas.

Texas never ceases to amaze me with its expanse and diversity of landscape and climate. I am glad we finally made it to this part of the state.

Until Next Time...

Sure Signs of Spring

 

This week in Southeast Texas, the Bluebonnets bloomed, migrating Hummingbirds are feasting at the feeders in the park and I am making reservations and planning our trip home.  Spring has officially arrived. Both, on the calendar and in our routine! Another winter has flown by and we are feeling the usual mixed feelings of the goodbyes to friends in our winter location and excitement of getting back to our home base.

The famous Texas Bluebonnets blooming in the park

Purple Martins have arrived to evict the House Sparrows

We are happy with our decision to come back to Wilderness Lakes.  We continued on with friends we made here three years ago. We even got to spend a day with a Ranger we worked for at Goliad, and her family one special day. The weather has been nice except for the horrible cold that nobody escaped one week in February. We don’t know what we missed by not going to Arizona but we both agree this was where we were meant to be this season.

Last spring’s intrusion of COVID-19 nixed everyone’s travel plans including our plans return to Iowa via West Texas and New Mexico.  This year we are looking forward to seeing another new corner of this great nation. They say things happen for a reason. I am a big believer in that, and this year is proof. If we had taken the trip last year, we would have done it with no motorcycles. Since the trip was postponed last year, I bought another motorcycle, and we traded the SUV for a pickup to haul them both south with us. So, this year not only will we see these two beautiful areas, but we will also be able to ride the motorcycles through some breathtaking countryside and experience Texas Hill Country, The Big Bend area and southern New Mexico desert and mountains as motorcyclists. Not, simply car rubberneckers. I have longed to see the desert in all it’s spring glory for most of my adult life. Now I get to do it from the perch of my two wheeled companions listening to my music as I take in the scenery.  Yes, I have some lofty expectations for our trip home. The weather can always put a kink in the chain, but we are looking forward to our excursion with great excitement.

We are 8 days from lift off. All the yard decorations and pots that grow my lettuce and greens that have fed me through the winter got washed and packed away today. The shopping list of provisions for the trip home is starting to populate and we are making last time plans with winter friends.

Excitement is building for the return home and excitement grows for our commitment with Fish and Wildlife Services on Key Largo next winter. A bonus is we got word that our good friends John and Cathy, who we met on our very first volunteer gig are going to be visiting the Keys for a month next winter. I was over the moon when they told me they were planning time in Florida nearby. We can all experience the beauty of the Keys and I get to go birding with The Great John Harrington as he is known to some, including me.

The countdown has begun.

Until Next Time…

 

Aransas Wildlife Refuge

Ever since my first winter in Texas, people have asked if we have been to Aransas Wildlife Refuge. I know others who have volunteered there, I have worked for Rangers who worked there at some point in their career and today I finally visited.  We originally set out yesterday. We were on the road and I pulled up the weather to see if the forecast had changed and indeed it had. It was raining there, and the sun wasn’t coming till late afternoon. We took a detour to Auto Zone and picked up a new Serpentine belt for the motorhome and went back home and improvised the rest of the day.  The one-day delay was worth the wait.

New Visitors Center under construction

On arrival we were greeted by bright sunshine and about 60 degrees. The birds were actively feeding, and the trails were not particularly busy.  We were treated to a nice variety of shorebirds and views of Mustang Lake and San Antonio Bay from the trails and the viewing platforms.  They have done a nice job with this refuge. Hurricane Harvey made landfall in this very place in 2017 and there was still some evidence in the gnarled tree debris and the brand-new handicap accessible 40’ and 20’ viewing towers. The new Visitor’s Center is under construction and looks like it will be fabulous!

Breakfast for all!

American Pelican's in flight

Roseated Spoonbills and Egrets

R

Egrets flying in

Tri Colored Heron

Tri Colored Heron in flight

Alligators were plentiful as they slumbered in the sun along the shores of the waterways sleeping off their meals from last night. We watched a bit in horror as one idiot loudly taunted a large sleeping alligator as we exited one of the trails. Not only was he stupid he was loud and proud about it. The worst of it was he had several kids with him and a wife pleading with him to quiet down. He reminded me of the occasional news report when someone is attacked by wildlife in a park or refuge and is usually chomped on because of their own ignorance and /or lack of respect for where they were. No one got hurt but I did get a telling picture from the bridge, of this moron getting way too close. 

All I can say is "What a dumbass"

Gater trails to the water

Say Cheese!  Shot from across the channel

 

One of the areas was ironically named Jones Lake. We couldn’t resist the urge to take a selfie with the sign. The lake was covered in ducks and I stood there missing my friend John, who knows ducks well. There was a gentleman with an exceptionally large camera on the viewing deck and I asked him if he knew ducks. He did and was happy to decipher my scenery. I knew the Pied Billed Grebe and the Gadwall, but the American Wigeon escaped me till he told me what it was. The light was excellent, but the picture of the beautiful Wigeon was only recorded in my memory bank since my camera battery died and the extra was back in the truck.

Lesser Yellow Legs wading

My duck guy. I didn't get his name

Pied Billed Grebe

We had a full day walking the trails and taking in the scenery, knowing that it may indeed be several years before we return to Texas. Next year we will be in the Florida Keys and we plan to finally spend some time in Arizona or New Mexico next winter. Who knows after that?  We finished our day in North Padre Island at a Burger Place that I ate at with a lady’s group two weeks ago. I knew Champ would love it and it seemed a just reward for him putting up with 5 hours of walking trails with me stopping every 10 feet to watch a bird through my binoculars. He said it was well worth it!

The next three weeks will be a frenzy of preparing to travel and getting around doing things and seeing people for the last time this winter season. We are looking forward to a meandering trip home that we planned last year but was thwarted by the virus situation. In a way it will be a better trip this year since we have two motorcycles with us to enjoy the areas we will visit in West Texas and New Mexico on our round about trip back to central Iowa.

We are happy with our decision to come back to Wilderness Lakes. We spent time with friends we made here in 2017 and made some new friends that we are sure we will see again down the road.

I talked to my sister on the phone during the hour trip to our birding destination this morning and realized that I am starting to feel the symptoms of my springtime homesickness. I hung up the phone knowing it is time to go home.

Until Next Time…  

 

I never dreamed I would take post ice storm pictures, while bundled up in a coat and long johns under my jeans again, but there I was Wednesday morning in South East Texas doing just that! As my northern, non-migrating friends and family exist in an unthinkable deep freeze. Texas is enduring record cold temperatures not seen in over 40 years.  Mathis escaped the snow that has fallen by the foot as close as 100 miles north of us but has endured one ice storm after another the past 5 days.

I had enough of being coop up in the motorhome the past 7 days and bundled up with what little cold weather clothing I own and defiantly went for a walk along the trail by the lake. As I walked in the 34 degree temps the ice that accumulated on the trees was dripping. It sounded like rain it was melting so quickly. The solace is in knowing that we will be back in the 70’s by next week after the stubborn jet stream retreats back to the north. Today the sun is out and we will see upper 40’s. A heat wave compared to what we have had the past week. Water lines are rupturing all over Texas.  The Texas power grid descended into a downward spiral early this week and of course everyone ran to the store and picked it clean of most everything. Panic over weather at its very worst.

Today the sun came out, power is coming back online slowly, and the grocery stores await deliveries, not seen in days because of the treacherous road conditions and power outages everywhere. It has been quite a few days.

Our life is one of flexibility.  We were lucky to have not lost power in our RV Park. Why is a mystery, but I’ll take it. Even if we had the motorhome has a generator and we had just had the LP tank filled before this front enveloped us in the sub-freezing temps. I had just been to the store so we have plenty of groceries. In all, our biggest complaint was boredom and spotty internet.

I have book marked Key Largos weather on my app as I do our future destinations to see what the next winter will have in store for us. I am envious of the consistent upper 70’s that the Florida Keys have enjoyed while the rest of the country freezes.  My sites are set on next winters adventure, the tropical climate and of course the summer at home with our family and close friends that divides our winter gigs.

I never thought I would post ice pictures again, but here they are.

Until Next Time…

2021 Change of Pace

 

We reached an unusual seasonal milestone this week, that only full-time RV’ers will understand. I opened the last package of Hy-Vee brand frozen veggies. Let me explain.  Hy-Vee is the major grocer in Iowa, much like HEB in Texas or Kroger in other parts of the country. I’m a house brand girl on many things like canned and frozen veggies and pantry items. We know when we’ve been away from a place for a certain length of time when we open that last item with the regional house brand emblazoned on the label. It’s a weird but definitive milestone.

The winter has been satisfying, even with our semi locked down circumstances.  The park we are in has been free of COVID issues. The club house is closed and what few activities taking place are outside. It hasn’t been boring by any means. Horseshoes and Bocce Ball are a blast and the pool is open for the sunny days.   It is just a different speed.

 I bought a portable greenhouse last summer and have put it to good use here. It protected my outdoor plants during our ‘winter’ that brought lows in the upper 30’s for a couple of weeks, and it gave me a place to get my lettuces started. My spider plant that got bit one night when it got colder than expected is using it as an infirmary now, and recovery nicely!  I’m not sure how I have lived without it the first 4 winters as full-timers.

Plants recovering from the cold night

Lettuces and Spinach three weeks after sewing seed

We have occasional happy hours with friends and neighbors.  I do Yoga regularly with a friend here in the park and when the mornings start being consistently in the 60’s the office has asked me to lead a social yoga practice at the pool patio a couple of mornings a week.  My yoga partner also taught me how to play Canasta and we get together once a week or so with another friend and spend an afternoon playing. Most days are nice as we while away the days going for walks, taking motorcycle rides and enjoying our winter off from workcamping.

I have spent a great deal of time sewing. I work on my own projects and even got to help my neighbor here, who doesn't sew, make some decorative throw pillows and a curtain for her RV. I am finally learning to ‘just be still’ for the first time in my adult life.

My New Couch Blankie

Like all full time RV lifestyles, our way of living, working and traveling is evolving after 5 years.  When we return to Iowa this spring, we will not be working at Saylorville for the first time since we started. Instead, we will be homesteading on our oldest son’s acreage during the summers. We are both excited to spend time with a new crop of young great grandkids and be on what was once Champs home before his son bought it from us several years ago. I will be able to put  a  garden in the ground and not in containers, the cats will roam about and hunt, like the farm cats they once were, and we will be free to travel.

And travel we will this summer!  A trip to the Black Hills with 2 of our 3 kids and their families, an adult grandson, my son in laws parents and his brothers family is on the calendar for June. A huge 5 BR house will be our basecamp as we explore Western South Dakota. Several weekends reserved at Saylorville to be guests rather than workcampers and then the big trip of the summer will be out East. We will visit friends in Maine, finally after cancelling last summer due to COVID, then park the truck in long term parking in Boston while we take a 7-day cruise to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Coast of Maine. Upon disembarking from the cruise, a road trip back to Iowa will cap off what will end up being nearly 3 weeks of exploring parts of the country, we have not yet broken ground on.

Next fall we will head for a long-awaited engagement with Fish and Wildlife Services at a volunteer gig from November to March, on Key Largo.  Jobs will vary from vehicle maintenance and heavy equipment work for Champ, to Butterfly garden, interpretive tour and working with the Biology interns in the field for me. I couldn’t be more excited!  Champ is cautiously optimistic that he won’t encounter a behemoth Python during our 4-month tenure. I, on the other hand will be thrilled if I get to help the interns capture and collar one of the invasive beasts that they are working to eradicate. There are 8 species actively being protected at this refuge.  I am beyond excited to get the opportunity to be on such a diverse refuge and in an amazing climate like the Keys! Check it out at this link if you want to see more. 

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/crocodile_lake/

We stay in contact with our RV friends around the country, practice our social distancing and await the near future when travel will be easier, and adventure awaits!

Until Next Time…

 

Merry Christmas 2020

Mathis, Texas December 25th, 2020 couldn't have been a nicer day if we were able to special order it. We woke up to a crisp sunny 47 degree morning that quickly warmed to the mid 60's by 9 a.m. As we set out for our routine morning walk along the RV park trails I suggested we hop in the truck and drive the mile to the parking entrance to a wildlife area up the road. I have noticed it since the first time we visited Wilderness Lakes three years ago and today felt like the time to go. 

I have not been birding in months.  I have learned that birding is outstanding on the heels of a couple of windy blustery cloudy days. That was what this morning delivered. The Wildlife area is located in the flood plane below Corpus Christi Lake Dam. As we walked down the trail I began to feel quite relaxed and happy to be in the woods with the sounds of the timber drowning out the man made sounds of the world just a few hundred yards away. I didn't see anything remarkable but basked in the company of some of my favorites. A Great Kiskadee joined us early and followed us, as they do,  calling and flying back and forth across the trail.  I watched thrushes busy turning leaves on the ground in the dappled sunlight looking for breakfast. The trees and bushes were busy with a number or sparrows and warblers. It took me awhile to get my brain in Texas birding mode. At first I didn't recognize the Goldfinches and Eastern Bluebirds in their winter plumage but it all came back to me rather quickly. As we walked near the spillway we came upon a huge oak tree full of activity. I stood and took in the show of a flock of Cedar Wax Wings busily eating away and flitting about. Champ wandered down to examine the spillway  that we glimpse the end of each time we leave and arrive at the park entrance across the road. 

Cedar Wax Wing

Great Egret, Snowy Egret and White Ibis at Wilderness Lakes

Great Kiskadee

Northern Cardinal

Killdeer

Lincoln Sparrow

Orange Crown Warbler

Spotted Sandpiper

I stood there alone in the woods and completely lost myself in my surroundings. The only sounds were a dozen or so bird calls, acorns falling on the ground beneath the tree alive with the Cedar Wax Wings and the distant roar of the spillway. For a moment I felt like I was in the woods in Iowa and the Christmas time homesickness I feel each year waned.

Champ and I found each other again and we headed back to the truck enjoying this quiet area along the Nueces river below the dam.

Corpus Christi Lake spillway outflow

Nueces River below the spillway

Spanish moss covered tree

We spent the rest of Christmas sitting outside enjoying the warm, sunny afternoon. We dined on a roasted chicken, potatoes, asparagus and coleslaw. I made Charro beans for Champ for the first time. Being a life long bean hater I don't cook them. This was a first on two levels. I have never made beans of any kind and I have never made a dish from scratch that I didn't taste as it cooked. When Champ filled his bowl, I had no idea what they tasted like, nor did I want to, but he said they were delicious. I'll take his word for it. 

Enjoying the Gulf view after a Sunday ride to Rockport

First time at the beach in jeans! 

Christmas day rounded out a great week in Texas that included a motorcycle trip over to the coast. Video chats with all three kids and some of the grandkids completed our snowbird Christmas routine. The weather at home today, post blizzard, didn't make it out of the single digits, serving as a reminder of why we do this. April will be here before we know it and we'll be back in Iowa with the kids. In the meantime we will enjoy this odd, secluded winter and look forward to the days when we can start to reinvent what will become a new normal.

Until Next Time... 

 

This winter is going to be a decidedly different pace from past snowbird RV park winters. That much is quite clear.  We settled into our nice corner site at Wilderness Lakes and have met up with old acquaintances and met some new ones.  We are fortunate that the pool is open, and the weather so far has been staying consistently in the lower 80’s. Great poolside weather!

2020 is resulting in closed clubhouses, no indoor activities and of course no potlucks for the holiday meals. To people who don’t leave their families to escape the cold weather, it may not seem like a big deal, but the holiday potlucks are more than a huge communal meal. It is a place of fellowship and sharing and knowing that we are not alone in our mixed emotions of choosing warm weather over family for the holidays. Misery does indeed love company and the potlucks are soothing in that aspect. The stark reality of our choice flashes like an obnoxious neon sign in a hotel window when it is just two two of you trying to pretend Thanksgiving is special. This year that feeling was felt by most everyone with the times dictating distance.  We will all carry on and do what is needed to get through this trying time with as little adverse effect as possible.

We had originally planned to drive back to Iowa Thanksgiving weekend and surprise one of the grandkids by showing up for his birthday. As the time drew near and cases spiked in our home state, we all made the decision not to travel and were glad we had intended it for a surprise, so we didn’t have to let him down. Then the real surprise came.  Schools closed and with no notice parents all over were faced with trying to facilitate home based education with their own jobs and obligations. After a few conversations with our daughter, we decided to send me back to Iowa to help. Before I knew it, I had a flight booked for early morning the day after Thanksgiving. Flying was uneventful and I was impressed with the measures American Airlines had in place to make the trip a sanitary as possible. Champ dropped me at the curbside at the Corpus Christie Airport at 6am and we said our goodbyes for will be the longest separation on our nearly 20 years together.  Up to now 4 days has been the longest we have been apart.

This morning I am starting the second school week with the boys. It is a brave new world, this online learning. The school day is a six-hour blur of Zoom meetings, for everything from CORE learning to PE and Art. Using school provided Chromebooks to take pictures of paper-based assignments and post them to the online learning portal and of course keeping the kids engaged with all the distractions of home that don’t exist in the classroom.  Cat’s jumping in their lap, being within earshot of each other as they do different work on overlapping schedules. We have worked it out and all things considered it is going well.  As a grandparent I shudder when I think too hard about what all young parents are dealing with and get angry at the thought that daycare centers are aloud to be open, ignore mask recommendations and blatantly tell parents they may or may not see to it that the kids do their schoolwork, all the while charging a premium because they know parents are stuck. If a petri-dish, disgusting daycare center can get away with all that, why the hell can’t they hold classes at school? Like many things this year it makes absolutely no sense. In a selfish way though, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. It has been a once in a lifetime experience to be here and engage with the boys on the level I have. We are making memories and I know my presence here is helping, despite my heart that aches to be with Champ in Texas and knowing he is missing me as much as I miss him. I feel fortunate that we were able to offer the help.

Art Class on Zoom

In their home work stations

Birthday boy! 

I have taken advantage of my sequestered time here at my daughters to break away and spend a safe evening with my good friend Joyce and will get to spend my son’s birthday with his family later this week. I’ll see our oldest son as well before I head back to Texas in a few days. Each morning I walk the sidewalks in the neighborhood getting in my morning 5000 steps, I am bundled up against the mid 20-degree temps in one of my son-in-law’s coats that he is letting me wear during my stay. It’s a far cry from early morning 60’s in Texas, but invigorating!

What will undeniably be the most memorable moment of the trip was when I climbed into my daughter’s car at the airport. She had purposely not told the boys I was coming. Both were sleeping when she arrived at the curbside pickup lane. Isaac, the six-year-old woke up as I was getting in the car and asked how I got here. As we were talking about my trip on the plane, the birthday boy Hunter who is nine, woke up from a deep sleep and was clearly bewildered at my presence. He stared at me closed his eyes and reopened them as if to try to figure out if it was a dream. Then he asked, "Did we drive all the way to Texas?"  My daughter chuckled and said ‘no’, and I watched him try to process it with his sleepy eyes and his curled brow.  I finally told him I had flown to Iowa and was staying for a couple of weeks.  I laughed and he sat in the backseat trying to wake up and process the fact that Grandma had come to visit!  As long as I live, I’ll never forget the look on his face when he woke up and saw me in the front seat of the car. Those are good memories.

Champ is spending his days working on projects like modernizing his outdoor stereo. The cabinet is now home to a soundbar that is wired into the motorhome dash stereo that pipes Sirius XM outside. The antiquated Radio/CD player is in the dumpster.  He piddles as he calls it and I sit in Iowa wondering what little improvements he will have made in my absence. He tells me the cats are in mourning, not understanding where I went or that I will return. It’s a weird feeling to process that I am ‘home’ because I am currently in Iowa. But I am looking forward to going back ‘home’ meaning the motorhome where Champ is in Texas. In this life, Home is a very fluid concept!

Until Next Time…