Our summer in Montana

Posted on December 20, 2020 by admin

Our full time RVing has given us the opportunity to see many places in Montana that we have never seen before. We had done some camping around the state in prior years, but since we have been on the road we have found some really new and great places to camp.

The summer of 2020 was a bit different because of COVID.  Our style of camping has changed this year as we switched from looking for places of interest, like museums in more populated areas, to looking for more isolated areas that had lots of trails.

We had made reservations to be in Kalispell in July, so timed our drive north to be there at that time.   We decided to find new camping areas in Montana where we did not necessarily need to make reservations and we could be outside and walking easily.

We entered Montana on June 26, and headed for one of our favorite campgrounds: Downstream Campground at Fort Peck dam.

We could only stay 2 nights because the park was busy, but we took advantage of the nice nature trails around the campground.

From Glasgow, we headed for Billings where we had an appointment for the servicing of our motor home and we found a great campground along the Missouri: James Kipp.  James Kipp is a BLM, dry camping, no reservation campground.  It is located right next to the road which runs between Malta and Billings so it was a great overnight stop for us.

 

After Billings, we headed to Big Timber where the Grey Cliff prairie dog town is located. We found a small private campground outside of town to stay for a couple of nights. We enjoyed a fun  few hours watching the prairie dogs go about their busy lives. We also found Sandhill Cranes in the surrounding fields, which was great.

Then it was on to Fort Benton, a small town with so much history – it even has ties to Kalispell:  The Conrad brothers began their businesses there.

 

The county fairgrounds had a campground with a couple of full hook-up sites, which is always a bonus.

We found 2 good museums in town that required masks and were not crowded so we felt safe to once again enjoy museum visits. The  town maintains a river walk, which is dotted with displays, statues and information boards. We learned a lot about the town’s history as the last stop for boats coming up the river in the spring, before the railroads were built.

We also enjoyed the walking bridge over the Missouri.

From Fort Benton we headed north again, to south of Havre, and discovered Beaver Creek Park.  This park is dotted with campgrounds, most of them in wooded areas. We use solar panels, so we chose a large, wide-open boondocking spot beside a lake. We were on a hilltop, which we had all to ourselves for 5 days.

It was pretty warm and breezy most days, but we came to enjoy the breeze for cooling us and keeping the bugs down.  The area was huge and had lots of walking opportunities, including a river bottom that was full of birds, butterflies and flowers.

 

One day we took an auto trip through the park and found a hillside of beautiful wildflowers.

On our last afternoon in Beaver Creek Park, a truck pulled up to the boat ramp and released thousands of small fish into the lake. The seagulls spent the rest of the day ‘fishing’ the area.

We started heading west and drove to the west end of the Tiber Dam reservoir, which is another huge open area where we just picked out a spot along the water and made ourselves to home.

We enjoyed walking around various areas of the lake where sunflowers and grasses were in bloom.

A small gopher decided our car was his jungle gym and spent hours running, jumping and climbing on the tires and underside of the car.  We are lucky that it did not chew through anything!  We had a bunny take out our power steering once and another time something chewed a hole in the line for the windshield washer.

Once in Kalispell, we decided we needed some huckleberries, a summer treat for sure. Our first huckleberry expedition was to the North Fork on a sunny summer day. We did not find berries, but found so much scenery. After months of muddy rivers and streams in the southern areas of the U.S., the crystal-clear water of the North Fork was refreshing.

The next berry picking expedition was to Sylvia Lake, a spot where we used to camp in the summer.  We found enough berries to make a pie, which was our goal, and we got to spend the day in a gorgeous area.

Our longest hike in the Flathead was the Cliff Lake area, which has many trails crisscrossing it and covers many miles of hills, woods, meadows and lakes.

This year we discovered the FWP Sandhill Crane preserve, which is located just a few miles north of Kalispell. This is a new preserve created out of donated farmland which has historically  served as a resting spot for migrating Sandhill Cranes. The cranes can be spotted feeding in the fields and it is fun to take binoculars and watch them – they are rather majestic looking birds.

We had some spare time before we were ready to hit the road again and  so we decided to check out Lake Mary Ronan, a place that neither of us had visited before. It is a pretty lake with a state campground that has some reservable sites and some walk-in ones. We found a good spot to set up camp and then spent our mornings and evenings walking the nature trails all around the park, often seeing deer and lots of birds. It was quite hot, but we had a spot with electricity and shade trees so we were quite comfortable.

We returned to Kalispell after a pleasant stay and made plans for our upcoming year. We had originally planned to travel north and south with the seasons and keep moving eastward, but rethought that plan due to COVID. We decided instead to go back to the west coast where we could stay near the ocean and enjoy walks on the beaches.

Our last stop before leaving Montana was Dunn Creek Recreation Area, which is located a mile or so south of Libby Dam.  We chose a great spot to camp along the river and found a nearby closed-off road that was a great walking trail up to the dam.

During our stay at Dunn Creek, we drove to the swinging bridge and Kootenai Falls.  This area is gorgeous: the water is green and clear, the bridge offers a scenic walk across the river and the falls provided a wonderful backdrop where we sat on rocks and ate our picnic lunch.

On September 3rd, we drove into Idaho. As we left Montana, we realized that we had taken its gorgeous scenery for granted for so many years as we went about our lives before we retired.  Coming back into the state we have gained a new appreciation for all it has to offer.

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Life on the road during a global pandemic

Posted on July 12, 2020 by admin

We spent most of the winter of 2019/2020 crisscrossing Louisiana.  Lots of fun and interesting things to do and see in the state, so we had a great time.  Valentine’s Day on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras was a once in a lifetime experience.

What we mean by that is, we are glad we did it but will probably never do that again.

 

 

 

 

The beginning of March saw us heading north to Arkansas for a visit to Hot Springs and then on to Little Rock  to see one of our favorite people, Cousin Marcy.  We were in Moro Bay, Arkansas, when we heard the news of the growing pandemic.  Like just about everyone else, we headed to the closest WalMart (about 20 miles away) for supplies.

  We found lots of empty shelves but were able to stock up on essentials (even some t. p.!).  Not a lot of storage space is available in our motorhome so hoarding is not an option for us.

On March 17th, we headed to Hot Springs National Park campground and found a great spot overlooking a small creek.  We stayed isolated in our coach except for daily hikes on the park trails.

 

 

 

We had been there for two weeks when the park closed due to the pandemic so we had to relocate to a private park just a few miles away.  The trails were still open so we continued to hike every day while isolating for another two weeks just outside of Hot Springs, AR.

We really wanted to visit with Marcy but, according to the experts, that would have been too risky. So, after a month in Hot Springs, we headed north again.

Like everyone else, Covid 19 changed our way of life. We took advantage of the ‘old people’s day’ at several WalMarts, shopping early on Tuesday mornings when most people were wearing masks.  Instead of looking for museums and other attractions to visit, our goal became finding out of the way places to hike and enjoy nature.  The only public places we went to were to a grocery store and to a laundromat every couple weeks.  We even purchased some new clothing items so we had enough clothes to last a couple weeks between washings. Gail pretty much disinfects an area of a laundromat before doing laundry.

For a while it was difficult to find open public parks, which usually have some kind of outdoor activity available, but they slowly opened up as summer approached.  By the time we got to the Dakotas, most parks were open. One of our favorite parks, Cross Ranch, allows us to park right along the Missouri River, near the area where the Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped twice.  The hiking trails are beautiful, the ticks plentiful, and an encounter with the resident bison is not unusual.

 

As we entered the summer months, we began to find museums that required masks to be worn.  If the place is not crowded, and everyone has a mask on, we feel it is ok to go inside. When we are done, we use lots of hand sanitizer until we can wash our hands thoroughly.

The main reason for this page is to reassure all our friends and family that we are well and taking all necessary precautions to protect ourselves and those we encounter.  We wear gloves and masks when we need to go inside any building.    We avoid crowds and no longer go out to eat.  If we do visit with other people, we do so outside, we wear masks, and practice social distancing.   We don’t want to be part of the problem, so we are taking precautions very seriously.  We certainly don’t want to infect any of our friends and family.

 

 

 

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Home is where we park it

Posted on June 13, 2020 by admin

“Home is where we park it” is a term often used by folks who live full time in RV’s.  As full timers, we have a number of choices where we can park it: commercial or private RV Parks and resorts, public parks such as national parks, state, county, Army Corps Of Engineers parks, and even some city parks, and also boon-docking or dispersed camping on public land.

Private RV parks are popular since they are most often located close to highways and attractions.  They usually have full hookups (hookups: water, sewer, electric, sometimes cable TV and even possibly WiFi, though the WiFi is most often not very good).  Private RV parks run the gamut from simple gravel lots with hook ups to paved communities with lovely landscaping, community centers, fitness centers, laundry facilities, pool and hot tub and even well stocked stores.

Private RV parks can sometimes offer a community experience with pot luck dinners, club and sports activities, community centers with a band or Karaoke, and sometimes even dances.

 

 

Public parks often feel more like a camping experience than in the private parks.  Sites can range from “primitive” to sites with full hookups.  There is usually a dump station located in the park where holding tanks can be emptied and water tanks can be refilled, if those things are not available at each site.

While we have experienced city parks, county parks and even county fairgrounds within city limits, most public parks are usually located out in a country setting.  We really like that these parks are often in woodlands near lakes and rivers and have nice hiking trails.  This is where we have taken some of our best wildlife and landscape photographs.

 

 

Boondocks/ rough, remote, or isolated country.

There are those that refer to spending the night in a Walmart parking lot as boondocking.  Parking in a parking lot is known as “lot docking”.  Parking in the yard of friend or family is known as “mooch docking”.  Boondocking is really parking out in the wild, or boondocks, usually on public land such as BLM land.

Before we hit the road we installed solar panels and solar charging equipment on the coach so that we have sufficient electricity when off grid.  The coach has a large propane tank so we can run the furnace, stove/oven, fridge (with ice maker) and water heater for quite a while.  The biggest limiting factor to our boondocking is water.  We carry about 100 gallons so, if we are conservative, we can stay out in the wild for a couple weeks.

We found a fair amount of BLM land in the deserts of the south west and even found open beaches on the Gulf Coast.  There is something quite special about being isolated and able to step out our front door and enjoy a hike in wilderness or on the beach.  We developed a great appreciation for the desert, its flora, fauna and landscape.  And falling asleep and waking to the sound of waves crashing on the beach is something we will never forget.

 

Travel day in a motorhome is part of the adventure.  We sit as high above the road as the big rig drivers and the whole front of our coach is a windshield, so we have a great view of the world as we travel the back roads of America.  Sometimes we have been able to stop to enjoy an attraction such as a museum or visit the world’s largest ball of twine on travel day.

 

 

 

 

 

Even stopping for lunch can be a memorable experience.

 

 

 

Everywhere we’ve been, we have found things to appreciate and enjoy.  Hopefully we will be able to continue to explore the wonders of our country and share them with you for some time to come.

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Photography

Posted on December 19, 2019 by admin

We have a number of friends and family members that are interested in photography so we thought we might create a page to describe the evolution of our photography and the equipment we are using as we travel.

When first we hit the road, Gail was using her Samsung S7 phone to document our travels while Bruce was using the Sony Cybershot DSC-P200 compact camera that we had been using for almost 20 years.  The phone takes surprisingly good photos and the Sony does quite well too but they each have limitations.

As those of you that rely on your phone camera to take pictures already know, it can sometimes be quite difficult to see the screen, so composing the shot can be challenging.  With compact cameras such as the Cybershot, they tend to pump dirt and dust into their insides every time they are turned on and off. After a while, spots and smudges will start to appear in pictures as the sensor gets dirty.  As you can clearly see in this photo, this happened soon after we started our adventures.

The only fix is take the camera apart and clean the sensor, which is what Bruce did soon after this picture was taken.  We were using the camera a lot and quite often in dusty, dirty conditions, so it didn’t take long for new spots to appear on our pictures.  The decision was made to buy another inexpensive camera just before we went the see the Spruce Goose in Oregon.  Now we had two compact cameras that we could use in rotation and clean as necessary.  The hope was that we would always have a usable camera.

Compact cameras are really nice since they can easily slip into the pocket.  Given the dirt issue and the limitations of this type of camera, we started to consider upgrading to a DSLR.  So many times Bruce emphatically stated that he didn’t want to spent his day lugging around a big camera and lenses.

All that started to change as we got more interested in birding.  We needed a good camera and lenses to really enjoy that.  So we ordered a kit with the Nikon D5600 camera.  Included with this kit was a 18-55 mm, f/3.5-5.6 lens and a 70-300 mm, f/4-5.6 telephoto, among other incidental accessories.  This really got us going on birding and wildlife photography and all seemed well until the day we set up our gear to photograph a herd of elk in Yellowstone National Park and a lady set up next to us using a 150-600 mm telephoto lens.  Given the opportunity for a side by side comparison of our 300 mm lens to her 600 mm lens, we were suddenly in the market for a 600 mm lens.

So now we had added a Tamron 150-600 mm, f/5-6.3 lens to our camera bag.  Then came a 1.4 teleconverter that, when used with the 600 mm lens, creates an effective focal length of 850 mm.  Now we are able to get up close and personal with wildlife subjects.

The ability to use different lenses is what makes this type of camera so versatile.  But changing lenses can be a bit challenging out in the field so when our cousin Tom introduced us to his new Nikon 18 mm to 300 mm telephoto lens we knew this lens would be very useful for the birding, wildlife and landscape photography that we enjoy.  Thanks to Amazon, we had another new lens within a couple days.

There is one more piece of photographic equipment worth mentioning.  We have a DJI Phantom 4 drone with a 4 K camera.  This little guy has given us an aerial view of some incredible places.

On December 14 2019, Bruce attended a photography workshop at Magnolia Plantation near Natchitoches (pronounced Nack-a-dish) LA.  The workshop was sponsored by the National Park Service and hosted by art teacher and professional photographer Annabel Jones.  Bruce said that his main takeaway from the workshop is that he still has a great deal to learn about photography.

 

 

 

Three of the remaining slave quarters at Magnolia Plantation.

We are having having a really nice time discovering some of the amazing sights this country has to offer. We hope to share with you some of what we see through our photography.  Enjoy.

 

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Our winter in Texas, Part 6

Posted on May 27, 2019 by admin

We retraced our route and headed back to Corpus Christi and then further east to Goose Island, a state park which is situated directly across a bay from Port Aransas, the small town where we began our Gulf Coast adventures in January.

Goose Island is the winter home to Whooping Cranes, who summer near the Arctic Circle,  and the cranes are one of the reasons that people come to this area.  The park provided 3 docent-led bird walks, which we attended.  Fog was a pretty constant part of the day there, but we did manage to see all kinds of  birds.

 

Goose Island is  home to The Big Tree, a 1,000+ year old oak tree that has somehow survived natural and man-made disasters and is still in pretty good shape.

 

On our last bird walk we were privileged to witness what must have been a feeding frenzy of some kind.  A small body of water had one of the highest concentrations of bird species in one area that we have seen.  We watched in awe as we tried to pick out all the birds,  and then just as quickly as the birds gathered they all flew or swam away.  Whooping Cranes even joined in the group.  In the first picture a crane is in the back right corner and it gives you some perspective of the size of these birds.  Later we saw a family of cranes flying over us. A group of three cranes includes last year’s baby which has not been sent off on its own yet.

 

We signed up for a Whooping Crane boat expedition which took us to the edge of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, a  crane wintering area. The day started out with the usual heavy fog, really heavy fog.

 

We drove around for about 3 hours and finally the fog lifted enough to for us to find Whoopers, and one pair gave us a rare treat.  The cranes mate in April after they have migrated north, but one couple decided to start practicing the mating dance a bit early and put on a nice show for us.  The 3 hours of foggy wandering was worth it!

Of course, there were other interesting birds to look at that day, like the Long-billed Curlew:

 

 

 

 

Back at Goose Island, the pelicans lined up for handouts at the fish cleaning station:

 

 

 

 

Oysters are a big business on Goose Island, and the empty shells are saved all year in huge piles around town. In the spring, the shells are bagged and placed in the water to create a good environment for new oysters to mature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turkey buzzards soaring overhead are quite a  common sight, and although it is not nice to pass judgement,  the turkey buzzard has to be one of the non-prettiest birds around! This one was wet from the fog, which did not improve its looks.

 

 

 

 

And then it was time to keep moving on, to Galveston.  Before we started traveling around Texas, we did not realize that Galveston was an island, and quite a popular island as it turned out.  We arrived before spring break, when the traffic was not too heavy and we could easily get around town.  We left a couple days after spring break started and it was quite a different place.

Our first stop on the island was the Elissa, a restored iron barque (3 mast)  ship built in 1878 in Aberdeen, Scotland and used as a merchant marine vessel for almost 100 years.  The ship stopped in Galveston twice during that time, and once brought bananas from South America into port. We watched the people doing maintenance on the ship’s masts with a bit of awe.

 

Next stop was a duck boat tour of Galveston where we were able to see some nice homes in town and on the water.

 

 

 

We also visited the Rain Forest pavilion, where birds and monkeys roamed free while the bats and other critters were more contained.

 

 

 

Galveston was our last chance to visit the beaches of the Texas Gulf Coast.  We stayed on the west end of the island, in an RV park which was across the street from the beach and where the colorful houses were built on stilts to stay above flood waters.  The nice beaches were less crowded and there were always birds to enjoy.

 

On March 11, after more than 2 months on or near the Gulf Coast, we made a hard left turn and headed for Houston.

 

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Our winter in Texas, Part 5

Posted on May 25, 2019 by admin

Harlingen, Texas, is the home of the original plaster model  used to create the Iwo Jima War Memorial which is on display at Arlington Cemetery. The plaster has been treated to withstand the weather and the dry Texas climate is ideal for it.  The model is in a small park that also houses an Iwo Jima museum. The statue is huge and the details are very impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

We visited two more birding centers during our stay in Los Fresnos and these are a few of our favorite birds:

Gail’s favorite, the Spoonbill and a Crested Caracara:

 

The flashy little Vermilion Flycatcher and the Anhinga:

 

 

Yellow-throated Warbler and Yellow-crowned Night Heron:

 

We visited the site of the last battle of the Civil War, Palmito Ranch.  It is now a quiet farm field with some story boards to explain the battle.  The battle was fought more than a month after the end of the Civil War, and there are several theories as to why the Union general chose to attack when he knew that Lee had surrendered. There were more than 100 unnecessary casualties and the Confederate army won the battle.

 

 

 

 

Our last day in Los Fresnos was February 25; it was time to start heading north again.  We wanted to cram in as much as we could so we visited a small beach close to the Mexican border that we had not been to before.  On the return drive, we went through an immigration checkpoint and one of the officials told us about a nearby sanctuary that was known for its birds.  We decided to check it out and we are so glad we did.  The bird watching was pretty minimal but the area was wonderful.

Sabal Palm Sanctuary is a former plantation on the banks of the Rio Grande.  The Queen Anne style home, built in 1892, is well preserved.  The grounds are nicely maintained and there are trails through the palm trees to the Rio Grande.  Hanging moss and thick undergrowth line the trails and it is like stepping back in time. Sabal Palms are the only palm trees which are native to Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

The last place we visited that day was Oliveira Park in Brownsville, which is a roosting spot for a flock of wild parrots.  The parrots come in at dusk and make such racket! The park is used by neighborhood kids for all kinds of activities and the sounds of kids playing  sports and parrots calling to each other filled the warm night air.

 

short parrots

Click the link to hear a short clip of the noisy parrots. It might take a bit to load the clip on your system.

 

 

The day was a perfect end to our stay in south Texas.

More to come as we head north.

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Our winter in Texas, Part 4

Posted on May 19, 2019 by admin

Los Fresnos became our most southward RV site and we stopped there because of its central location to many interesting areas to visit.  Two important battlefields are located nearby as well as South Padre Island and several major birding areas.

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park is the site of a May 8, 1846 conflict between the United States and Mexico. This was the first major battle in the dispute that soon turned into the Mexican-American war, fought over where the border between the two countries should be drawn.  There is a museum and a paved path around the battleground.

 

 

 

 

 

But, of course, we found interesting birds to photograph while there.

 

We went to South Padre Island several times and found it to be nothing like the north end of the island. The south end is a populated town and a big tourist area, and we are so glad we got to experience the north end with its miles of uninhabited beach.

There are lots of birds to watch in the South Padre Island Birding Center, which has a boardwalk out to the edge of the ocean: (Black-necked Stilt below)

 

We have seen Coots all over, but did not know what their feet looked like until we saw them walking on land.  The Coots and Gallinule get our vote for ‘Most Interesting Bird Feet’:

Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Green Heron:

 

White Ibis and, Gail’s favorite, Roseate Spoonbill

Next door to the Birding Center is Sea Turtle Inc, an organization that rescues sea turtles in distress and returns them to the ocean, if possible.  Some turtles have injuries that do not allow them to be released, and those guys get big tanks to live in.  Some turtles have even been fitted with prosthetic flippers so that they can swim again.

 

South Padre Island also has a Sandcastle Trail.  The visitor center has  outdoor and indoor  sandcastles on display to start the trail and then various business around town have created their own sandcastles.

 

We did walk on the beach a couple of times ….can’t pass up a beach.  On our last beach walk on South Padre, we met a WWII pilot and his wife, in their 90’s, taking their daily stroll.  Pretty amazing to get to talk to them.  We also found several Portuguese man o’ war washed up on this beach.  They are beautiful,  but very toxic.

 

We visited Brownsville several times and enjoyed visiting the Historic Brownsville Museum, housed in a 1920’s Spanish-colonial train depot:

 

More to follow.

 

 

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Our winter in Texas, Part 3

Posted on May 12, 2019 by admin

The coast of Texas is sheltered by barrier islands, and Padre Island is the longest island at 113 miles.  The sand is hard packed and easily navigable by foot, bicycle or vehicle, which means you can drive for miles at the edge of the gulf.  We heard about an area 25 miles south of where we were parked, where the currents bring in lots of shells.  The area was called, appropriately,  Little Shell Beach and Big Shell Beach and was a fun place to visit.  About this same time,  we discovered that another couple from Montana (the first MT folks we had seen in Texas) was parked near us.  We decided to take our two vehicles to find shells. We timed our trip so that the tide was out mid-day and the weather was nice, and off we went.

This is why we took two vehicles:

It was a gorgeous day and the beach did have a few soft spots and some beached logs to navigate around, but it was a great day for an adventure. After a few miles we were the only people on the beach.

 

The beach area this far south is not maintained and so we found all kinds of interesting debris.

At around 25 miles, we started to notice we were driving on a crunchy surface and that told us we had arrived at our spot.  The area was amazing; the beach was pretty much covered with layers of small shells and pieces of polished shells.

We did find some Big Shells as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Bruce flew the drone to capture some nice shots.

We stayed a few hours, picked up shells, ate our lunches and then headed back.  On the way back,  the tide was already coming in and we had to drive through water in a couple of spots.  Time to end our adventure!

The end of January brought to an end our stay on Padre Island and we moved into Corpus Christi to take care of the necessary things in life.  Tom and Kathy (our new MT friends) joined us for a tour of the USS Lexington:

 

We also had a great day at South Texas Botanical Gardens, where we got to see gorgeous flowers and feed and meet all kinds of resident parrots:

We  got to pet their resident iguana, who loves to have his sides scratched.

 

 

 

 

 

A chance conversation with a local biologist, who told us that more of the  tropical birds  could be found further south, determined where we headed next.  South we went!

First stop was Arroyo City, where we parked along Arroyo Colorado. Tom and Kathy followed and we enjoyed several pleasant evenings sitting outside on our lawn chairs and watching the fireflies around us. The Arroyo was used as a shipping channel and a fishing area so there was always something to watch.

We were parked a few miles outside of Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge and we visited there for several days. We hiked some of the trails, took their guided tram tour and thoroughly enjoyed the blind at the bird feeding station.  It is there that we first saw Green Jays, Altamira Orioles, Groove-billed Anis and so many more colorful birds.  Cardinals also became a part of our time in the south, they are very plentiful and stay mostly hidden, but have a distinctive call that we came to instantly recognize when we heard it.

Male and female Cardinals, Long-billed Thrasher and a Green Jay are the last 4 pictures.

We also saw alligators and one that was having a bird for lunch

 

 

The thick brush is full of birds and that has drawn in bobcats and  rare ocelots, who make their home there as well.  We were lucky enough to spot a bobcat walking on the same path we were on during one of our hikes.

 

 

 

 

Kathy and Tom headed to Montana at this point, but we stayed here a bit longer and then headed even further south on the Gulf.

More to follow.

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Our winter in Texas, Part 2

Posted on May 11, 2019 by admin

Some of the Port Aransas bird areas are still under reconstruction, but we were able to enjoy several of the smaller walks.

Beach activities became our every day life and the sunsets and sunrises were awesome.

 

After a week in Port Aransas, we decided to go Total Beach, and so we moved a few miles east to Padre Island National Seashore. Here we lived on solar power and woke up and went to sleep to the sounds of the ocean.

Beach walks (and picking up trash)  and bird watching were the only tasks we had all day! Great Blue Herons, which are a rarity in Montana, became our every day companions.

 

Bruce was able to use his drone to get  some high altitude pictures.

Ghost crabs, in all sizes,  were a source on entertainment and there were so many of them scurrying around at times that it looked like part of the beach itself was moving.

 

We even performed a rattlesnake rescue on the beach.  A large trash container had been emptied and when it was put back, it landed on a rattlesnake.  We came upon the trapped snake and were able to lift the container enough that the snake was able to wiggle out.  Not sure if he said thanks, but his tail was wagging a bit.

 

We did have to abandon the beach one night and camp at the visitor center parking lot when a big storm came in.  The storm pushed the tide up to the sand dunes and under our coach.  It washed out some of our leveling blocks and we had to move mats, equipment and the car to higher ground.  We stuck it out one night but then moved the next day, along with most everyone else on the beach.

More to come.

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Our winter 2018-2019 in Texas

Posted on May 10, 2019 by admin

We were looking for a warm spot to spend the winter and ended up with so much more. First of all, Texas is HUGE! No surprise there.  We came into the state at the far northwest corner on November 10, 2018, at El Paso.  We went to several museums in the area, but the most colorful and fun place to visit was the ‘Sugar House’, one man’s 30 year project to build a beautiful home for his wife (he used painted cement).

 

Next stop was Hueco Tanks State Park, where rock depressions capture rainwater that has been used as a watering stop through the centuries and where we found peccaries roaming, instead of deer and buffalo.

 

 

 

 

 

Traveling eastward, we had a beautiful fall hike on a trail in Guadalupe Mountains National Park,  that took us to an old cabin in McKittrick Canyon.

Next stop for us was Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, which will be in another post.  We headed north a bit to Roswell and then spent Thanksgiving at a wonderful little state park, Bottomless Lakes.  It is here that perhaps the ‘birding bug’ started to bite us when we got to watch a little bird called a Least Bittern hunt along a creek bank.

After Thanksgiving, it was time to move south again and we found a wonderful spot to camp near Monahans at the Sandhills State Park.  We loved the park, camping amidst the sand dunes, but did not think much of the surrounding area – all oil well related and you could smell petroleum in the air.

We took several barefoot walks in all that sand, which stretched for miles.

And then it was further south, to the wonderful Big Bend National Park, which will have to be in another post.  We stayed in tiny Terlingua, just outside the park, and that town is built around  the adobe ruins of an old mining town. Some houses have incorporated an adobe ruin into their new house.

 

 

 

 

At the very southeast edge of Big Bend we did get to cross the Rio Grande, via rowboat, and visit a little Mexican village,  Boquillas,  where we had a nice lunch and Gail rode a donkey for the first time.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas was spent in Von Ormy, TX, in a little park outside of town.  Not much there but did have some great hiking trails along a river bottom.  We shared potluck supper with fellow RV’ers.

 

 

 

 

New Year’s Eve in San Antonio won the ‘Noisiest New Year’s Eve EVER’ award.  Between the fireworks and the gunfire, it sounded like we were in the middle of a battlefield. But, there was a nice sunset. We spent December 31st touring the Alamo site.

 

Now we headed straight to the coast, to Port Aransas, a small town southeast of Corpus Christi,  that is being rebuilt after being severely damaged by Hurricane Harvey in August, 2017.  We stayed at a nice park aptly name ‘On The Beach’ where we were just steps away from a lovely beach.  Our home is the first RV you see in the picture, which was taken from the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

Sandcastle building was sometimes intricate and sometimes just pails of sand dumped on top of each other.

We also found that bird watching is a big deal on the Gulf Coast,  and there were probably a dozen birding sites in the small area of Port Aransas.  And so we got the bug:

More to follow!

 

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