Dreary Weather = Inside Day

Location: Falcon State Park; Falcon Heights, Texas

(click pictures to enlarge)

The weather was dreary today. It was overcast, misting rain off and on, and wind gusts near 20 miles per hour. The temperature was in the lower 60's to upper 50's. I poked my head out the door early this morning and the wind nearly ripped the door from my hand. I held tight and remembered the damage caused last time the wind did that. I closed the door and set about doing some inside jobs. 

I snapped a picture before closing the door for the day.

One of the jobs was to add a few things to the blog. If you noticed, there is a new page tab that contains a map of the places I've been, where I'm at and where I'm going. The map will be for a one month period of time with pictures of each campsite and dates stayed listed beneath the map. Once I know where I'm going, I'll add it to the map. Let me know if this is helpful or if there is something that could make it better. 

The other job was organizing some of the cabinets. Even with living alone in Liberty, storage space is a premium. I picked up some wire stands that were on sale at walmart a few weeks ago and used them today. It turned some of my wasted space into usable space.

Usable space thanks to $2.00 wire stands from Walmart

The day also consisted of playing some WGT golf on the computer and cooking a pretty tasty steak.

I also did some research about adding a couple batteries to Liberty so I'll be able to live off the grid for a few days at a time. This will prove useful the farther west I go. More on that in future posts. 

It's a pityful post, but that's all I have for today. I mainly wanted to call attention to the new page tab in case people miss it.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road. 

1st Birthday of the Blog and Moving Day to Falcon Lake SP

Location: Falcon Lake State Park; Falcon Heights, Texas

(click pictures to enlarge)

The blog is one year and two days old. I started it about 3 months before I retired so I wouldn't have to work the kinks out while on the road. I chose Blogger as the work platform because it is a google product. Although I don't agree with some of their philosophies, they do have a good blog platform that has been around a while. It also helped that it was easy to learn, which was good for a slow witted person like me. 

Surprisingly, there have been almost 18,000 pageviews since I started the blog. The first pageview and comment was by Pat Sanchez. We were still working together at that time, so maybe she felt obligated. :). I enjoy writing the blog and posting about the things I see and do. Someone else that worked with me before I retired told me she liked the blog because she was able to see things through my eyes that she knew she never would be able to see. A blog is different than reading a book or looking at pictures. A blog becomes more personal and it's different for each reader.  

There have been pageviews from a couple dozen countries around the world. Obviously, the U.S. has the most pageviews but it was surprising to see that the Ukraine was in 2nd place with 660. The next five, in order, are France, Germany, Turkey, Russia and Canada. It is sad though that there hasn't been any comments from the foreign countries, maybe they aren't real people. 

I arrived at Falcon State Park about 1:30 this afternoon after a 160 mile tow. The weather was nice with a temperature in the upper 60's and overcast. Traffic was extremely light. There were places where I didn't see another vehicle or driveway for 10 miles or more. The most vehicles I saw were either State Troopers or Border Patrol Agents. They were mostly on US 83 which parallels the border. I have been in 3rd world foreign countries with dictators in charge that had less police presence than I saw today. I'm not sure if that was normal or not. One of the other campers said there was a shooting yesterday in a campground down the road. Maybe it was due to that.

The road was long and straight with very little traffic. This is the typical landscape in this area.

This will be out home for the next 7 days. They are tight little pull thrus, but will be OK. I'll have to run the sewer line under Liberty to get to the outlet.

After getting set up, I drove down to the lake. The structure in the distance on the left is apparently the gates for the dam. I'll drive over there tomorrow. I started to drive there today, but I still had something in the truck that I hadn't put in the RV yet. 

Another view of the lake. Old Mexico is on the other side

Last view of the lake

About an hour before sundown, I took a walk on one of the nature trails.

Around in this location is where I started hearing a pack of coyotes or wild dogs. They were tearing it up for a while. I was judging, by hearing, if they were getting closer or not. 

They were nice enough to put some benches along the way. That way the wild animals wouldn't have to deal with a moving target.

I did see an interesting bloom on this tree/plant. I'm not sure what plant it is but in doing a little research, the bloom looks like those on a Joshua Tree but I don't think they grow in this area. If anyone knows what it is, please post a comment.

While out on the walk, I thought I would check my phone to see if I was close to one of the Geocaches in the park. Sure enough there was one about 1/2 mile up the trail. There was also a warning on the Geocache web site that said,,,,,"This park is active in border traffic, please stay on the trails". It would have been nice to read that BEFORE I'm out on the trails, uh? It was an easy find on the side of the trail. I forgot to take a picture of the inside. I signed the log and left a business card. It was a good walk.

It's a short blog tonight, but wanted to let everyone know that I made the move without ending up in the ditch somewhere. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.

Moving Day (Choke Canyon SP to Lake Corpus Christi SP) and Pictures

Location: Lake Corpus Christi State Park; Mathis, Texas

(click pictures to enlarge)

It was another very pretty day. Short pants and short sleeve shirt to hitch up and move on down the road. The tow distance was only about 60 miles and mostly interstate. I was glad to leave Three Rivers, it was a dirty town due to the natural gas boom. Some of the residents are not happy with the dirt but are willing to suffer through it for a year or so then get busy cleaning it up after all the workers leave.

I got a nice pull-thru campsite with full hook-ups at Lake Corpus Christi State Park. I didn't get a chance to see much of the park since I had to watch the ballgame. Lucky for me though, the game ended about 30 minutes before sundown. That gave me enough time to walk down to the lake to see what kind of sunset it was going to be. It reminded me of some of the other campgrounds I've been to where dozens of people meander down to the water's edge to watch the sun set. Apparently this isn't one of those kind of campgrounds because I was the only one down by the lake watching the sunset. There were others there, but they were busy fishing. They probably thought I was crazy for taking so many pictures of the sky.

Freedom and Liberty hitched and ready to roll on down the road to the next campground.

It was a pretty sky today. I figured it may be a nice sunset if those clouds hung around till then.

Out new home for the next 3 days. 

The bare trees make for some good pictures

Some waves rolling in and disturbing the mirror image

Another tree picture as I was heading on to a better view of the sunset

I kept seeing the clouds forming the appearance of a large eagle. To me it is right above the horizon in the middle of the picture. The wings spread to the edge of the picture in both directions. I'm sure others may not see it, but it looks good to me.

Panorama view

Good one (I think)

Fishermen calling it a day and heading to the boat ramp

:)

The light was changing quickly

Some of the blue sky would poke through

The eagle is dissolving

A kid came down to the bank to fish. That's him sitting in the chair in the lower right corner

Some more trees on the way back to the campsite.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.

Travel Stats and Pictures from Choke Canyon SP

Location: Choke Canyon State Park; Three Rivers, Texas

(click pictures to enlarge)


I've been on the road for 40 weeks. So many memories compressed into such a short time that I sometimes have to think hard about where I was at a particular time. Retirees are not supposed to have to think hard so I guess I've broken that rule. The complete list of stats are:

40   Weeks
280   Days
19256  Total Miles Traveled
9912   Total Miles Towing
9344   Total Miles Exploring
10.4   Average MPG
25   Num of States seen
73   Num of Campgrounds
39   Num of State Parks
136   Avg miles between CG
128   Avg miles exploring an area

3.8   Avg days stayed in CG

The average stay per campground has increased but that was primarily because I had extended stays while I was enjoying Thanksgiving with my family. My goals are to have the average stay per campground increase to 4 to 5 days with about 150 miles between campgrounds. I am happy with the number of state parks being a little more than half of the total campgrounds. I believe that is a good mixture. There have been a lot of states with excellent state park systems. I hope that continues as I head farther west. The MPG is a little higher than I had anticipated but that is good.  

Choke Canyon State Park is full of wildlife. More so than any other state park that I've stayed. There isn't a lot of things to explore in the area and due to the shale gas boom and lack of a good drenching/cleaning rain, the roads and town are nasty. There is limestone dust and dirt everywhere except in the park. There was so much dust on Liberty's windows that I couldn't see out of several of them. But the wildlife and pretty scenery in the park makes up for a lot of that drawback.

The following are some pictures from around the park:

I drove right by these guys as they were grazing on the side of the road. They will raise their head but usually won't run off unless you make a loud noise or sudden move. 

Herds of deer just wander around the park. I counted 22 in a group yesterday. Most are young or does. There are a couple spikes mixed in now and then. 

This one was grazing by the dumpster when I took my trash out. You can see Liberty in the background.

This is one of the few big bucks I've seen. I was driving up the road and he was "hiding" behind the tree. There were several does on the opposite side of the road. The bucks seem to stay close to the dense brush in case they need to make a quick escape. 

As I got parallel with him, he trotted off and I snapped this one through the passenger window. Looks like he has been around for a while. 

 

I believe it is a Crested Caracara

Harris's Hawk?

These are the evening visitors to my campsite

Entrance to one of the hiking walking trails. A geocache was located down this one. 

Another walking trail. What looked like to me as a couple javelinas crossed in front of me but I was too slow to get a picture. They were quick as the crossed the path. I mentioned it to the Park Ranger and described the size of the animals. He said, based on the size it was probably wild hogs. 

Here is the "thinking bench" picture. It even has what looks a little like a heart shaped tree next to it.

Pre-sunset. I am standing right at my campsite.

Nice sky

The leaning tree added character to this picture.

Tomorrow is moving day. It will be a short tow down to Lake Corpus Christi State Park and the weather should be good. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road

Moving Day (Goliad to Choke Canyon)

Location: Choke Canyon State Park; Three Rivers, Texas

(click pictures to enlarge)

I pulled out of Goliad with a cold wet mist hanging in the air. The temperature was 41 degrees and there was a haze or slight fog. You could feel the wetness in the air around you as if the water was suspended in mid-fall to the ground. It sounds nasty, but it wasn't too bad until I had been in it for an hour as I was hitching up and emptying my tanks. I pulled out of the campground around 11:00 with a short 80 mile tow ahead of me. 

I stopped at the Walmart in Beeville to stock up on some things. I knew there wasn't going to be many shopping options around Choke Canyon so I got enough groceries to last me the 4 days I planned to stay there. As usual, anytime I'm in Walmart, I pick up things that aren't on my list. I think they have subliminal messages playing in the background to entice people to buy stuff. But that's OK with me because I am a Walmart believer. They are usually located near a main roadway with a parking lot large enough for me to pull in hitched up. They are what America and the free market system is all about. Old Sam Walton started with nothing and grew into the giant chain of stores around the country. As far as the Mom and Pop stores that are put out of business when a Walmart comes into a town, I think that is the natural progression of things. If Walmart does not meet the needs of its customers, then another store will come in and replace them. Chances are, that Mom and Pop store that Walmart put out of business had put a store or trading post out of business when it opened up. The customers decide what their needs and wants are and it is up to businesses to provide that. Free enterprise at work. 

I did get two surprises as I approached Three Rivers, Texas. The first appeared out of the misty fog. The weather had turned to a drizzling rain/fog. The wipers were slapping about every 20 seconds and the visibility was about 1/2 mile. The landscape was typical flat cattle range with an occasional farm. Down the road, something very tall appeared, but I couldn't quite make it out. The fog would clear for a couple of seconds, just long enough to give a hint as to something being out there, then the fog would cover it again. The ghostly appearance of something large, dead ahead, that could be faintly seen one second then disappeared the next was a little worrisome. Visions of old Sci-fi movies were brought to mind. I glanced down at the speedometer and I had unknowingly reduced my speed by about 10 mph. Finally after what seemed a very long time, but was actually only 5 minutes or so, a tall smoke stack and vent pipes appeared. I had seen things like this before. It was a refinery. But why was it located here in the middle of cattle country. I later found out it was the Valero Three Rivers Refinery. Strange place for a refinery of this size.

This is what was appearing in and out of the foggy rain

Finally it cleared enough to see the refinery. It was a surprise since I wouldn't have expected one to be here.

The second surprise was I noticed I was in the middle of what looked like a boom town area. The dead give away for me was the number of RV parks located in every piece of empty land along the road. Most were in fields that had become nothing more than a mud hole, but was full of RV's, some of which were very expensive. Most of the parks seemed to provide a wooden pallet to be used at the door of the RV's. I had seen this kind of stuff before when the Haynesville Shale Natural Gas find was opened up back in Louisiana. Sure enough, the other confirmation was the large number of salt water trucks on the road. Mud was everywhere as trucks were pulling in and out of every little driveway along the way. After checking online, sure enough, I'm in the middle of the Eagle Ford Shale Natural Gas find. Freedom and Liberty are both dirty from mud everywhere.  

Based on the number of new RV parks I saw on my way in, I was a little concerned the state park may be full of people. I shouldn't have been, because the park is only about 10% full. The nice lady in the Park Office was interested in full time traveling so I gave her the address to the blog. While driving to the campsite, I was greeted by what looked like a dozen deer. One just stood alongside the road as I drove by. 

I think I heard her tell me to slow down.

While setting up Liberty, several more deer came out of the brush in the empty campsite next door. One was a buck with about 8 points. There is no way I could shoot one but I am glad that others do. When I was in the Northeast this last summer, I saw dozens and dozens of dead deer along the road that had been hit by vehicles. I was told it was because of the drastic reduction in hunting days by the state government. I wonder how many people were hurt or killed by those vehicles hitting and dodging deer as they tried to cross the road.I have a feeling they are going to be frequent visitors and I'll need to break out the fancy camera with the bigger lens.

The buck is just beginning to come out of the brush

The buck was broadside in this picture. 

After setting up, I took a few shots of the lake. I can see it from my campsite. The temperature was still in the mid 40's with a slight drizzle so I wasn't going too far. The weather is due to improve and the temperature is suppose to get close to 70 degrees by this weekend. I believe the only exploring I'll be doing will be around the campground, but that should make for a relaxing 4 days.

My homeplace for the next 4 days.

The lake. This is about 100 feet from my campsite.

Looking East with a nice tree in the foreground

And for balance, looking West.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.