another front yard
 | [Ken 03/28/2016] I've discovered that 200 miles per day (+/-) is just about right -- at 62mph that takes Faith just under 4 hours. Any longer than that and I get pretty stressed-out from squeezing that big ol' Freightliner steering wheel to hold my lane as semi-trucks whoosh by doing 75! Today we went a little bit longer, however: 201 miles. But we wanted to get to this waterfront site in Pensacola, just off Escambia Bay. For tomorrow, we kayak! WooHoo! |
a special visit
[Ken and Deb 03/27/2016] Perhaps the nicest thing any of our family could do is to seek us out while on-the-road and stop in for a visit (especially when it means driving all the way from Colorado!). While Robby was in New Orleans to photograph the wedding of a mutual friend, he and Emma stopped by our home for a visit (and some Jambalaya). FaceTime notwithstanding, it was great to check in with them in real time! What a great pleasure it was.
We enjoyed touring the city and hanging out with you guys for a couple days. But tomorrow we must head off in opposite directions. Our paths will not cross again until our visit to Denver at the end of June. Happy Easter, and safe travels, guys!
We enjoyed touring the city and hanging out with you guys for a couple days. But tomorrow we must head off in opposite directions. Our paths will not cross again until our visit to Denver at the end of June. Happy Easter, and safe travels, guys!
 | another front |
[Ken 03/25/2016] We arrived in "NOLA" (New Orleans) yesterday. Stopped here on our way to our next SOWER project which is a tad across Mobile Bay. Deb found us a great RV Park just off Lake Ponchartrain, so we even have a site with a water view! Best of all, we are only five minutes from downtown New Orleans.
We took advantage of the geography to tour a bit of the city this afternoon. As the calendar would seem to indicate, it is Spring Break in these parts and we found ourselves in the middle of an "event" in the French Quarter. Actually, it was pretty tame. We are having dinner with friends tonight, and a walking tour of Magazine Street tomorrow (with Robby and Emma). Tomorrow evening we will have the opportunity to attend the wedding of a couple friends from Colorado, Jon and Kate; Jon and I used to work together in the old days.
WooHoo! Isn't this lifestyle amazing?
WooHoo! Isn't this lifestyle amazing?
 | brazos bend |
[Ken 03/19/2016] “Pretend that it is 2015 ... Close your eyes and tell me the first thing that comes to mind when somebody mentions “Texas….”
I was joking with Deb, confident that a year ago she would have mentioned the Alamo, or described an arid, dusty, barren land of red dirt and endless roads marked by barbed wire fences lined up into the horizon. I prolly would have, too. But on this afternoon, we were riding our bikes through Brazos Bend State Park. The park is definitely not arid. And there are no barbed wire fences. It is Texas sized wetlands. Parts of the park reminded me of Congaree Swamp in South Carolina.
We were riding on groomed trails through lush and blooming flowers and trees separated by dozens of peaceful lily pad covered basins and pools. And alligators. The Spanish moss was blowing gently in the north wind against a deep blue sky. A cardinal flies by. A plethora of wildlife did not seem to mind that we were there. Well, mebbe the alligators did mind.
A group of ducks are resting on a low railing (it's always good when you have your ducks in a row). Tiny flowers along the trail were blooming in yellow and pink and white. The alligators were a dark, dark slimy-green. The impressive biodiversity did not end. We rode for hours through this amazing bottomlands habitat filled with reptiles and birds. And dragonflies - there were lots of dragon flies. It was stunningly beautiful, especially considering that it was the last day of winter.
A group of ducks are resting on a low railing (it's always good when you have your ducks in a row). Tiny flowers along the trail were blooming in yellow and pink and white. The alligators were a dark, dark slimy-green. The impressive biodiversity did not end. We rode for hours through this amazing bottomlands habitat filled with reptiles and birds. And dragonflies - there were lots of dragon flies. It was stunningly beautiful, especially considering that it was the last day of winter.
Like our visits to the World Birding Center down in the RGV at Bentsen Palms, there were birds everywhere. This time they were wading birds -- too many to count or photograph. The alligators saw "bird food" (I think we were interrupting their dinner). But Deb and I saw egrets, great egrets, coots, white ibis, blue heron, snowy egrets, “red-billed-walks-like-a-duck-but-is-not-a-duck” birds, and even a tri-color heron. I ran out of film taking pictures of it all!
Did I mention the alligators? There were alligators everywhere! (I almost ran over one on my bike! - oops). Hungry, hungry alligators ... mouths open and perched for attack.
We have been in Texas for just over 100 days, and the most amazing thing about this vast state is the variety and abundance of beautiful birds. It is a surprise to us to find Texas so suitable for so many different species. It never occurred to us, I guess. The big wading birds fill up my Fuji lens really well -- I sure wish that I had a better camera when given such photographic opportunities as these! Photographing the Snowy Egrets (below, bottom center) was my favorite.
In our time in Texas we have visited eight of Texas' 54 great State Parks. Each one has been a gem. A couple of them we have ear-marked for return visits. And then there are the other 46 we have not seen yet!
 PS. Deb wants to be sure that you know there are lots of alligators at BBSP! At the end of the day there were seven cars left in the parking lot without drivers! BE CAREFUL! |
an announcement of critical importance
[Ken 03/18/2016] I was notified today that a sizable bald spot has appeared on the upper back of my head. A lengthy photographic study revealed that it was not a rumor; I am becoming hair-challenged. A committee will be formed immediately whose sole agenda will be to address this devastating issue.
In the meantime, I will be wearing lots of baseball caps.
In the meantime, I will be wearing lots of baseball caps.
a visit from doug
[Deb 03/06/2016] Ken's two brothers are in a competition. They are both trying to visit every county in the fifty United States. I've heard that there are about 3,140 of them. Every once in a while, Geoff and Doug take off on unexplained road trips to odd parts of the country in order to drive zig-zag routes through a state. When you drive through a county, you add it to your "county total" and then cross it off your Bucket List, I guess. They use a website to track everything.
As luck would have it, Ken's brother, Doug, happened to be working his way down the east coast of Texas this week in order to pick up some new counties and his route took him right down the state highway where we are staying for March's project. Until two days ago, we did not even realize that he was going to be in the same state as us, let alone on the same block of a Houston suburb!
It was great to see family and a fun visit. Over a tasty meal of bleu cheese hamburgers and corn-on-the-cob, Ken and Doug talked about their father, travel, and life, in general. Doug and I talked about little dogs suitable for RV'ingl. A couple hours later, Doug was back on the road heading for the Rio Grande Valley.
Safe Travels, Doug!
Safe Travels, Doug!
WATER-bIRD WATCHING
[Ken 03/05/2016] We spent the day bird watching on Galveston Island ... by kayak. You've heard of biking trails, ski trails, and hiking trails. But have you heard of paddling trails? Deb and I visited Galveston Island State Park today where they offer trails for kayak and canoe enthusiasts, believe it or not. Each trail starts at its own coastal parking lot with a convenient [muddy] put-in point for the boats.
Once in the water, you follow a series of "trail" signs: sequentially numbered markers mounted on tall poles out in the bayou. When you get to one number you will see the next numbered pole ahead sticking up out of the Gulf, farther out. Each successive turn will have the next successive number. As long as you can find the poles, there is no problem, right? I had my compass and GPS, just in case.
Once in the water, you follow a series of "trail" signs: sequentially numbered markers mounted on tall poles out in the bayou. When you get to one number you will see the next numbered pole ahead sticking up out of the Gulf, farther out. Each successive turn will have the next successive number. As long as you can find the poles, there is no problem, right? I had my compass and GPS, just in case.
We chose the trails that advertise the most birds. And the birds were there! About a mile-and-a-half into the bayou we found ourselves surrounded by egrets, heron, gulls, terns, spoonbills, and several species that we are still trying to figure out. We even saw oystercatchers (the black-and-white birds with the orange beak in the pictures above). Kayaks are so quiet that you can sneak around a clump of tall grasses without being heard and discover a whole "bird party" right in front of you.
The waterproof <NOT!>, off-seashore maps were a bit difficult to follow at times because of the ever-changing passageways that weave in-and-out of the bayou's Tetris-like combination of sand bars and islets, so we did get "lost" once or twice. Let's face it, after an hour of paddling hither-and-yon through a bayou, one clump of grass sticking up out of the water looks just like another. The important thing is that we found our way back to solid mainland in time for dinner!
The waterproof <NOT!>, off-seashore maps were a bit difficult to follow at times because of the ever-changing passageways that weave in-and-out of the bayou's Tetris-like combination of sand bars and islets, so we did get "lost" once or twice. Let's face it, after an hour of paddling hither-and-yon through a bayou, one clump of grass sticking up out of the water looks just like another. The important thing is that we found our way back to solid mainland in time for dinner!
another front yard
[Ken 03/01/2016] It was Deb’s idea, "...Let’s take a break between projects and get away to some peace and quiet for a couple days." She found us a nice waterfront site at Lake Livingston State Park, so we drove over for a few days’ respite. We had visited the city of Livingston last December (this is where we got our Texas drivers licenses) and we thought it a pretty and quaint little town and certainly worth another visit. Lake Livingston is only four miles from the city (Livingston is where we are officially domiciled) so we could stop by and pick up our mail while here. And vote in the primary on Super Tuesday. And get our hair cut. And do some hiking and mountain biking in the State Park. Yada, yada, yada…
What surprised us when we got to our campsite number 66, is what was parked catty-corner to us in campsite 67! ...It was us! [SORT OF]
We don’t see a lot of Vectra motorhomes on the road, let alone our exact model and color. But there we were – camped right across the street was just the beast. It was way too funny!
We don’t see a lot of Vectra motorhomes on the road, let alone our exact model and color. But there we were – camped right across the street was just the beast. It was way too funny!
After chasing off a squirrel that was trying to dislodge sun flower seeds from our traveling bird feeder (he was trying to shake the crook the feeder hangs from), we got a chance to meet Gary and Amy -- a really neat couple. They had purchased their Vectra just three weeks before. This was their second trip in it. They are new to the “RVing thing” and anticipate having a lot of questions, so we exchanged contact information. We offered to help them (the best that we can by using eMail) after we all head down life's highway.
Turns out that Gary and Amy are missionaries who have just returned to the United States after twenty years of service in Peru and Argentina. They are now counseling at a school for disadvantaged kids in Waco. Tough job, it sounds (16-hour days, etc).
But like Deb and me, they are “younger” than the typical motorhome owners. They are in ministry. And their RV is their primary residence. It was great to get to know them and find out that we have much more in common than just owning the same motorhome. We look forward to encouraging them as much as we can (in their faith-based journey, as well as...) in their wonderful new life as fulltime Vectra owners!
Turns out that Gary and Amy are missionaries who have just returned to the United States after twenty years of service in Peru and Argentina. They are now counseling at a school for disadvantaged kids in Waco. Tough job, it sounds (16-hour days, etc).
But like Deb and me, they are “younger” than the typical motorhome owners. They are in ministry. And their RV is their primary residence. It was great to get to know them and find out that we have much more in common than just owning the same motorhome. We look forward to encouraging them as much as we can (in their faith-based journey, as well as...) in their wonderful new life as fulltime Vectra owners!
