What a Week This Has Been - March 15 - 21

Sunday morning we left S. Llano River State Park and headed to Junction to post our blog and buy the week's groceries at Lowe's Market and hit the road to Abilene State Park where we had a 3 night reservation. Abilene State Park is another 1930's CCC creation. Here the buildings feature the local red stone in its many structures.

This would be our last Texas State Park. We had two nights where it was rainy and cloudy all day and had severe thunderstorm warnings overnight.

We enjoyed a restful day we had there by cooking, puzzling, birding and going for walks along nature trails when it wasn't raining.

Our last evening at Abilene the park ranger came by advising us about the severe weather possibility and our choice of using the public restroom as a shelter.
The National Weather Service Map shows a thunder storm system (in Green), high wind warning (in beige) then the red-pink-blue area as the approaching winter storm. We traveled through that whole area.

Life in the RV is not always easy. When the forecast calls for an overnight thunderstorm with high winds, frequent cloud to ground lightening with possibilities of tornadoes and baseball size hail. . . we wonder how this will play out while living in our vulnerable little home.
The storms of life also include the news reports of the spread of the corona virus and all the anxiety it is creating. We so often felt free of those stresses since we were by ourselves in quiet nature settings and very little contact with the outside world.
Thanks to credit cards that make gas pumps easy to keep our truck filled and driving and it was a good time to use disposable gloves at a time like this.
By Wednesday we decided we better start heading northward because others were telling us about possible border closures. The day began with weather warnings of 25-30 mph winds from the south-west with gusts to 40-50 mph, not good for high profile vehicles like our RV. As the day progressed the wind from behind was a blessing and not as strong as predicted.
Our night stop was at a hilltop campground in Perry Oklahoma. Thankfully here we only had a bit of wind, lightening and rain overnight.

Spring is coming... flowering trees seen in Kansas Thursday.

Thursday's night stop was at our preferred night stop at Lewis and Clark in Onawa, Iowa. In winter type travels our concern always is to find campgrounds that are open. Lewis and Clark is open year round, has self-registration with the cost being only $11/night and a sewage dump that was open for dumping. Then it was time to winterize the water lines of the RV before we head into more cold temperatures. We were the only ones staying here that night.

Went to sleep with the sound of rain that had turned to ice and snow overnight which resulted in a later start to our travels Friday morning. We could see the truck traffic on the I-29 in the distance and decided to go for it. The road had slushy, wet and icy patches and were good by the time we reached Sioux Falls SD. The drive with moderate head winds made for frequent stops for gasoline, but the $2/gallon price was still not bad.

We arrived at Dakota Magic Casino by 4:30 with hopes of being able to find an electric hookup for the night. Their RV campground has been closed but the security guard offered us a spot with 15 amp outlet N/C. We managed fine with using our furnace and no electric heaters.

Saturday morning at sunrise we left on the last leg of our journey home on dry roads, no winds and clear skies as we near Manitoba. Rumors of the border crossing being totally closed did not feel good. After seeing all the MB vehicles heading northward we felt assured that they were still open - and would allow us to cross. After a brief stop on the US side to confirm we were Canadians we continued to the Canada customs entrance . . . only 3 vehicles ahead of us. A few more questions and we were back in Canada safe and sound.

We had already been self isolating ourselves for nearly two weeks but now will continue with that as required. Hopefully not to difficult for these introverts to occupy themselves. At least if we can get our internet reconnected sooner than planned.

Thoughts - This past week has given many opportunities to decide whether to worry or worship. Why dwell on the negative thoughts of what might go wrong or happen when you can look up to God and his encouragement. So often during the past week it was the sunshine and clear blue sky coming through the dark  stormy clouds looming around us.

This will be our last blog post for this trip. Thanks for being our faithful blog readers.

Extended Stay at S. Llano River State Park

 A beautiful sunrise picture taken out of our camper window.

After being at S. Llano SP for a few days we decided to stay longer. We checked with the office and we could stay longer if we moved to another site. This small park is a restful place with a relaxed atmosphere. It has four bird blinds that have been made by some area volunteers. The park's numerous hiking trails called to be explored even though we certainly did not walk them all.

 This park is designated a Dark Sky Park. They draw attention to wasted energy for exterior lighting that is not being directed down to the ground.

 This park property used to be a working ranch and was donated by the Buck family in 1977. Numerous old buildings on the property are still being used for campground office building, residence and the old goat barn and milking barn for storage,.

 For a change of scenery we packed a lunch and did a day trip to Fredericksburg, a very touristy German city. This place has become a popular tourist attraction. The Main Street traffic moves slowly with traffic stopping frequently for vehicles backing out of the diagonal parking spots.

 We enjoyed the Wildseed Farm and strolled their Meadows even though we were a few weeks early for the flowers. They are the largest working wildseed farm in the US.

 They have diversified and enlarged since our last visit 10 years ago.

 Jim's choice for our return drive via some FM (farm to market) roads to see the rolling countryside and a few small communities along the way. The road would have made a very nice motorbike route.

This small oxbow lake is named Buck Lake after the original owner.

We will be moving on Sunday. Check on future posts of our travel north or we may be home sooner than planned.

We are keeping well and being cautious about the world health risks at this time.

From the South Texas Plains to the Hill Country

 As our time at Casa Blanca State Park was ending we did another desert hike on a very warm Sunday afternoon.
 

On Monday morning we left the south Texas plains and headed to the hill country seeing many miles of scrub brush, ranches and many oil and gas pumping areas. Many of the ranch lands with new tall fences are now used for exotic game hunting grounds.

The change of landscape is dramatic as we now saw rolling hills covered with trees. Our destination was Garner State Park where we stayed for only 3 nights because they were booked up solid for the coming three weeks when school break happens here. The break brings out families to enjoy their spring like weather.

The campground pavilion built by the CCC.

Great stone work with hand crafted door and hardware from over 80 years ago.

But be aware of the possibly of it flooding its banks after a heavy rainfall. Because of the hills the water can rise many feet in a very short while.

We then found a weekend opening at S. Llano River State Park and booked it for 5 nights. This park as well as the previous one are popular for river tubing because it is a shallow river moving along. 

A great spring day for a BBQ meal.

Our TexMex burgers served on a grilled butternut squash slice, smashed avocado and pico de gallo topping. Real good!

This park of 59 sites is very well managed, having numerous hiking trails from very easy to difficult and four bird blinds.

Friday morning we decided to do some hiking on the Overlook Trail. They describe this scenic overlook as one of the highest points in the park. It was marked as a moderate hike 0.7 of a mile one way. It was a short but steep hill so we valued having our hiking poles. We heard another camper comment that this trail was made this fall.

Both parks have the Rio Grande Turkey and at South Llano they have a turkey roost area which is open year round with restricted hours from October 1 - March 31 (10-3 pm).

The park road bridge handles the usual water flow just fine, but by the nearby tree debris we could tell it also floods.

From the South Texas Plains - Feb. 21 -29

Our return to Falcon State Park was also a return to rural quietness after our time in the busy Rio Grande area. In fact we chose the same site as the last time. A neighbor lady that we met the previous time we camped here from Wyoming that was staying a few sites down came over and asking if she could see our trailer from the inside. She liked it's compact size, big windows and the inside layout. She jokingly asked if we were interested in selling it? No thanks - no sale - we like it too.

While at Falcon SP we went back for a return visit to Salineno to view the birds attracted to this volunteer run feeding and watering site.

Northern Cardinal at a feeder.

We explored the community of Roma and learned about its long history dating back to its beginning in 1788 by the Spaniards. We visited the "Roma Bluffs" and learnt more about its history and architecture than any birding here. The towns and cities along the US/Mexican border have a strong Hispanic flavor.

They had a lookout where we could see the International Bridge and Mexico across the Rio Grande River.

Midweek it was time to head to our next location, Lake Casa Blanca International State Park in the city of Laredo. While many state parks are rural locations, but this one is right in the middle of a large busy city of 260,000 people. Laredo is the largest inland port of entry for the trucking industry in the US. More than $284 billion in imports and exports annually. 14000 trucks cross the border each day.

You would think that a city this size would have English radio stations. We asked and there are exactly two stations and all the many others are in Spanish.

A view of the campground from Osprey Hill Loop.

This former Lutheran Church became a park museum and now is defunct as are some other former features like the earth filled swimming pool.

Ah yes, the prickly pear cactus. . . . Jim remembers backing into one of these a few years back and needing some assistance. But they make safe places for bird nests.

The Laredo Airport is nearby so we had some noisy entertainment by a class of aviators training on small twin engine jet planes as they practiced their touch and go landings.

This Roadrunner was not shy and did not like his reflection as he looked into our truck window.

Our days have included exploring the parks features, trails, food prep during the cool mornings and of course feeding and watching the birds we attract. Are birds included in the warning - Do not feed the wildlife?

Magic Valley City Life Feb 16 -22

Watching the Manitoba weather doing flip flops it seems the weather does that here too. For three days we had weather and temps in the lower 30 C's and then a system moves in and we had cloudy and much cooler temps of 10-12 degrees C with some misty rain.

After taking in an early Sunday service here at the campground we headed to Resaca de la Palma State Park near Brownsville TX.

We had hoped to find some good birding opportunities here, but due to dryness we did not find any different birds that we had not seen except this flock of wild turkeys.

We were glad to take this electric shuttle with the driver being our tour guide in this 1200 acre park. She was very good at describing plants and trees and told us about the resacas.

Resacas are like oxbows from a river and are only called that in this area. This resaca is dry and water from the irrigation system is hard to get.

We learnt about these yellow flowering trees with their very fragrant scent are called Huisache.

At the recommendation of our campground neighbors we decided to visit Quinta Mazatlan located only a few miles away from our campground in McAllen TX. This is the largest remaining adobe home in Texas originally constructed in 1935. After the passing of the original owners the home was unoccupied for 4 years and damaged by a hurricane in 1967. It was purchased by Frank and Marilyn Schultz in 1968 and rebuilt and upgraded over the next 30 years. It was purchased by the city of McAllen in 1998. The historic home and the grounds are open to the public and is also used as a rental facility with a mission to share the knowledge of birds, plants of the natural world.

This bougainvillea hedge graces the entry way.

The grounds had trails, bird feeders, water features and 38 life sized bronze like statues of birds and animals of the area. We found it interesting and different than any of the other places we had been to previously.

This week a local farmer came with his produce truck and trailer to sell his produce at our campground. We purchased 10 lbs. of grapefruit, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a mango for $10. Not a bad deal!

At the end of the week we took advantage of the cooler temperatures to do our cooking and baking.

After sixteen days in the Magic Valley we decided to move on. We had morning coffee with two of our Niverville neighbour couples here at Tip O' Texas RV Resort and departed for new adventures down the road.