We left High Island, TX on Wednesday (4/10) headed
west. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to grandson Trever
Nichols – 21 years old today! After a
stop in Winnie for McDonald’s handheld breakfast, we hit I-10 to and through
Houston. Was dreading that because a man
from Austin I talked with in High Island said he had come through there on
Saturday and it was awful – lots of traffic and road construction. In fact, he said he would be looking for an
alternate route on the way back. We didn’t have a bit of trouble – just zipped
right through. There was some road construction
on the west side of Houston near Katy, but it wasn’t bad.
After a 220-mile drive (enough for one day) we stopped
for the night at Palmetto State Park near Gonzales, TX. I had made the reservation online and the
site I picked was pretty bad – really narrow and sidling. I called the office and got them to change us
to a better site.
After getting set up, we made a Walmart run to
Gonzales. We needed a few things and
there are not any Walmarts near the next two places we are going.
Thursday, we proceeded on – still west on I-10 to San
Antonio, then south on I-37. Before San
Antonio, we spotted one of our favorite landmarks – Woman Hollering Creek.
After a shorter drive for the day (110 miles), we arrived
at Choke Canyon State Park near Three Rivers, TX. We have stayed here before
several years ago and like it a lot. We
checked in for 4 nights and will be here through the weekend.
Friday and Saturday were mostly days of camping and
birding. Friday morning, we made a run
early into Three Rivers and ate breakfast at the Agave Jalisco Mexican
Restaurant – good stuff! Choke Canyon
State Park is separated into two units – South Shore and Calliham. The campground is in the Calliham Unit, but
on the way back to camp we rode through the South Shore Unit. There used to be
a campground in this section also, but they closed it several years ago. It was down below the dam. On the ride through, we got a good look at
one of our favorite Texas birds – a Crested Caracara. Also, Saturday near the
boat ramp we got a good shot of two Caracaras – one feeding another. They
later, one was in the campsite across the street from us.
We spent a lot of time Friday & Saturday sitting
outside watching our birds. We put out a
plentiful supply of birdseed and had lots of company both days. We saw tons of Great-tailed
Grackles, Northern Mockingbirds, Northern Cardinals, Golden-fronted
Woodpeckers, Green Jays, White-winged Doves, Eurasian Collared Doves,
Red-winged Blackbirds, and a Greater Roadrunner, a Black-crested Titmouse, an
Audubon’s Oriole, and a Brown Thrasher.
Here are pictures of some of them.
Saturday morning, we had the tail-end of a line of T-storms
come through and we got a few sprinkles, but then it cleared off beautifully. However, the wind picked up (25-30 mph) and it
got too uncomfortable for being out. It
finally died down sometime during the night.
In addition to the birds, we also have other critters
-lots of deer in the park, plus rabbits and Collared Peccarys (or Javelinas –
or Mexican Wild Hogs). The Javelinas come
around mostly during the night, so I put out my game camera to get a picture of
them. Then lo and behold, on Saturday a couple came around during broad daylight.
LaVerne doesn’t like the Javalinas – we were camping down in the Rio Grand
Valley several years ago and there were several in the campsite. She went out
and one of the larger ones charged her!
Today (Sunday) we went into Three Rivers and attended a
beautiful Palm Sunday worship service at the 1st Baptist Church – a really
warm and friendly bunch of people and we enjoyed it very much. After church we went back to the Agave
Jalisco Mexican Restaurant and had our usuals – Taco Salad for me &
Combination #6 for LaVerne! Back at camp
we sat outside awhile and watched the birds, then made a run back to Three
Rivers for a DQ Blizzard. Then it was back to get some stuff ready to go –
tomorrow is moving day again!
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