6th Post - Kerrville, TX

After a relaxing Easter weekend at San Angelo State Park, Monday was moving day again. We left around 9:30, took Hwy 87 east to Eden, then Hwy 83 south back to I-10 at Junction, TX – right at 100 miles. It’s always amazing the sights you can see riding down the road. Just before we got into Junction, there was an Indian walking towards us in the emergency lane - in full Indian garb including a breech-clout and a full-feathered war bonnet!  Sorry I didn’t have my camera ready in time. He gave us a big wave!  I did have the camera ready to get pictures of more roadside flowers!

After a fuel and McDonald’s stop in Junction, we hit I-10 east for about 60 miles to Kerrville, TX.  We definitely left the wide-open flat range country and got back into the Texas hill country.

We checked into Kerrville-Schreiner Park about 1:15 PM and got a great campsite.  This is one of our favorite parks – we’ve been here several times over the years. The weather was great and we were able to sit outside a long while.  We put up our bird feeder pole and over the couple of days here we had a few birds – cardinals, chickadees, doves, and hummingbirds.

Well, so much for being able to sit outside – both yesterday (Tuesday) and today the weather didn’t cooperate.  Yesterday started off cloudy & cool with a few sprinkles.  It did warm up some in the afternoon, but was still cloudy.  We needed to get some new wiper blades for the motorhome, so early in the afternoon we made a run to Advance Auto Parts for the wiper blades and then to Cracker Barrel for a late lunch/early supper.  Back at camp, I got the new wiper blades installed and then it was TV (Braves game).

Today (Wednesday), started off with rain before daylight, and then rained off and on all day – sometimes heavy.  About 11:15 AM, a giant T-storm came through with wind, rain, and hail - nickel to quarter in size.  Thanking God for no damage. A little after 12:00, the rain had slacked up and we decided to go for lunch and Walmart.  We went to Billy Gene’s Restaurant and had the Chicken Fried Steak lunch special with mashed potatoes, green beans, and mixed veggies – pretty good stuff!  Just as we were ready to leave, the proverbial bottom dropped out – heavy, heavy, rain and wind.  We waited inside the restaurant for a little, then during a little slack off, I made a run for the car (with umbrella) and still got wet.  I pulled up close to the door, and then (with umbrella) got LaVerne to the car and we both got wet (me wetter).  Next, thinking the rain would quit in a little bit, we went down the street to Walmart.  Finally found a fairly close parking space, then sat in the car for about 30 minutes in a downpour.  When it finally did slack up a little, we left – decided we didn’t need to go to Walmart so much after all.  Through flooded streets we made it back to camp and we got wet again getting from the Jeep to the motorhome.  So much for today!  Later, it did finally quit raining and cleared up.  I got some stuff up and ready to go – tomorrow is moving day again. Headed back south of San Antonio.  Sorry there weren’t many pictures this time.

5th Post - San Angelo, TX

Thursday morning, we hit the road again.  We had tried to make reservations at Kerrville, TX, but the park there was booked up for the Easter weekend.  So, I had checked a state park at San Angelo, TX and they had vacancies for the weekend.  Someone famous once said that if you want to see the country, get off the interstates and travel the red roads, and that’s what we did (didn’t have a choice since there is no interstate going to San Angelo).  We left Lost Maples and for the first 15 miles we were on Hwy 337 – a little narrow, very winding, very steep up and down road through the hills to Leakey, TX.  There we took Hwy 83 north to Junction, TX at I-10.  From there, we continued on Hwy 83 through Menard to Eden.  In Eden, we headed west on Hwy 87 (a good 4-lane) to San Angelo.  It was really interesting to see the changing landscape.  We started out in the hill country, went through some desert-like country, and then through lots of wide open farm land with huge flat fields.  One of the treats is all of the roadside wildflowers in bloom – Texas Bluebonnets, Indian Paint Brush, Chocolate Daisies, plus others.

After a 185-mile drive, we checked into San Angelo State Park located on Army Corps of Engineers O.C. Fisher Lake.  It is a very wide-open park – lots of space between campsites, no trees, but lots of wildflowers and cacti.  When we checked in, the wind was very strong, maybe up to 25 mph.

Friday was a day of taking care of domestic chores.  We went out for breakfast and then to Walmart for a few needed commodities – I also got a much-needed haircut.  Friday is full moon, and for the last couple of nights it has been spectacular – especially in a clear cloudless sky.  We kept a lookout and watched it as it broke over the horizon and rose into the clear sky.  Beautiful!!

Saturday and today (Sunday) were a couple of great camping days – temperature in the mid 80’s and beautiful blue skies.  Saturday, we took a ride for a couple of hours just exploring the countryside around the lake – saw a few birds, some Texas Longhorns, and lots more wildflowers.

Today we went to Westside Baptist Church a couple of miles away for a great Easter worship service.  The people were very warm and friendly and welcoming.  Their choir (even though small – only 12) performed an Easter cantata and it was very good.  Great sound for such a small group.  All in all, we really enjoyed the worship experience.  After church we went to Wendy’s for lunch, then back to camp for the rest of the afternoon.  Tomorrow is moving day again – going to backtrack a little to Kerrville, TX. 

4th Post- Lost Malpes

After a very nice 4 days at Choke Canyon, on Monday 4/15 we proceeded on. I know that some of you are following on the Atlas, so -- we took I-37 north from Three Rivers to Pleasanton, then took to the backroads. In Pleasanton we took Hwy 16 west to Hwy 173, then north through Devine to Hondo. At Hondo we took Hwy 90 west to Sabinal, then Hwy 187 north through Utopia and Vanderpool to arrive at Lost Maples State Natural Area. We have stayed here before and it is one of our favorite places – the only drawback is that there is NO cell or internet service at the campsite (they do have pitiful wi-fi at the office). Guess we’ll be toughing it out for a couple of days.

After getting set up, we were going to put out a couple of hummingbird feeders in addition to the regular seed feeder. Oops – for some reason we had taken the hummingbird feeders out of the motorhome and also realized we didn’t have any sugar to make the hummingbird food with. So, we took a ride about 15 miles back to the small community of Utopia and found a farm supply store that had hummingbird feeders in stock. We also picked up a bag of sugar at a general store. Back at camp, LaVerne made up a batch of nectar, we got the feeder out, and within 10 minutes we had a couple of customers.

Tuesday, we did some backroad riding looking for birds and anything else we could see. Didn’t see many birds, but did see some interesting animals. I think I mentioned in a previous blog that this hill-country of Texas is well known for its exotic game ranches. Today we saw a couple of different kinds of ‘antelope’ type critters.

Also, we passed a big ranch that had a couple of Texas Longhorns, plus a breed of cattle we had never seen before. There were a couple of ranch hands working on a gate so we stopped and I asked them what they were. They said they were a breed called African Watusi. The cows weren’t really that big, but they had huge horns – not necessarily long, but really BIG around at the base. Amazing! Later, I found out that the actual name of the breed is African Ankole-Watusi.

Wednesday (yesterday) was a day of camping and R&R. It was cloudy and breezy most of the day with a little bit of a sprinkle early. Later in the afternoon the sun came out and we were able to sit outside a little while and watch our birds – not really any new ones. Still having hummingbirds, cardinals, titmouse, chickadees, and sparrows. Had a gorgeous almost full moon, then a gigantic T-storm during the night.

Today (Thursday) was moving day – didn’t have service enough yesterday to make this blog post, so I waited until we got to the next destination (more on that next time).

3rd Post - Choke Canyon State Park

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 1^st 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!