Thursday February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We got up this morning and headed across the panhandle of Florida. It must have been cold when we first came out as there was quite a frost on the car. We have nothing of note to report on the drive except for the A-10 warthog (plane) which buzzed us on the highway. We heard it after we saw it - must have been practicing map of the land flying as it went over just 50 feet above us and was going so fast we heard it (loud) after we saw it go over. Scared the c..p out of us! We got to Bushnell about 2 and found Ed and Bet's house - Deb is here also and it was good to see them all. We had the five minute tour of the house and then went for a walk around the neighborhood and met some of their friends. Betty is doing very well after her major accident in the fall - she is walking without assistance and can go quite the distance - it really is a miracle! We came back and chatted for a while and then went out to dinner at a BBQ place (Sonny's) - delicious! It reminded us of the great BBQ we had when Amy was living in Kansas. Ed took us for a drive around the town and then we came back to the house and played a game of hand and foot. We are going back after breakfast tomorrow and will spend the day with them.

Wednesday February 13, 2008

We delayed our start this morning so that we would miss the commuter traffic into Houston - didn't seem to make much difference as we hit the traffic anyway. At one point we saw a HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane and thought - oh, good - this will get us out of the traffic . . . WRONG! The HOV lanes here are a quicker way to get into downtown - not around it! After wandering around downtown Houston for a bit, we finally found our way to a highway going north and from there were able to connect back to the road we were on originally on the correct side of the outskirts. We fairly flew through the rest of Texas and Louisiana. We thought of the houses we worked on as we passed through Mississippi and were hoping that by now they were finished and occupied. We were amazed anew as we drove through Mobile at the size of the bay - it is huge! We finally stopped in Pensacola, FL for the night. We called Ed and Bet and let them know we will be with them tomorrow afternoon. We look forward to being out of the car and staying somewhere for more than one night. We saw an interesting license plate on our drive - DEDAK8BED What do you think? Mattress salesman or professional sleeper? As tomorrow is Valentine's day, we wish our family and friends a wonderful day - we will be thinking of you all!

Tuesday February 12, 2008

We got up this morning and took down the tent, stowed everything, and were on our way by 8 AM. We drove up through Marathon and then up to Fort Stockton to get on Route 10. There was a giant roadrunner statue in Fort Stockton - very cute. We traveled further down the road and came upon hundreds of wind turbines on top of several mesas - the last time we saw that many turbines was in 85 when we were out west with the kids. They are fascinating! We also saw quite a few long bed trucks - each of which was carrying one propeller of a turbine - they are really huge! We did not run into any traffic to speak of until we came to San Antonio - there was an accident and then some construction. We finally got through that and had smoother sailing as we went away from the city. We passed a large ranch by the side of the highway and there was a herd of buffalo grazing - very cool! We stopped for the night in Columbus, TX - both of us suffering from DB (dead butt)! We checked into a motel and walked the 3 blocks (it felt so good to walk for a change) to a restaurant for dinner - the only real meal we had today. We have a call in to my brother Ed to see if he will be home if we stop by to see him later in the week. We also called Larry and Sandy Levine and had a nice chat with them. We plan on stopping to see them earlier than we had planned. Well, time to relax for a bit - will try to blog again tomorrow, but one never knows if there is internet when we stop for the night.

Monday February 11, 2008

When we left the patio last night, it was almost dark. As we headed down to the campsites, a small gray fox crossed the road in front of us. We got into bed as it was starting to get chilly and read for a while before going to sleep.

We decided to take a day off from hiking today - our calves are still "mooing" and we badly need showers. We drove down to Rio Grande Village (the only shower facility in the whole park) and as we were showering, we threw in a load of laundry. We met a couple from Shipingsport (I believe I have that right), PA - he was a civilian who worked for the Army and she was a retired math teacher! We had a lovely chat with them and also an older couple from upstate NY. We were all chatting when 2 vans pulled up - filled with Elderhostel folks. They were stopping for a bathroom break. There was no one from CT, but one lady said her dad grew up in Norwich. We went back to camp and mucked out the car - it had been a while. Later in the afternoon, we visited with a woman who is going around the country for one year. She stops a various churches on her way and talks to the congregation about water for Africa - she is associated with World Church. When I went up to the restroom, I stopped at the bulletin board to check out the ranger talk for tonight - unfortunately, it was not at this site, but I noticed that the weather was for increasing cloudiness with a chance of rain and/or snow for later in the week. We decided that this would not be at all fun so we decided to head to FL a bit earlier than we had planned. We cooked dinner and then gave some of our leftover food to the lady from World Church and the rest to the camp host. We kept the snacks and water for our trip in the car. When we had sorted everything out, we asked our neighbor to join us for a chat. She is an interesting person. She is a retired gardner from the National Cathedral in DC and now lives in NH. At one time she owned a Great Pyrennes (I know that is spelled wrong) that she used to take to nursing homes as a therapy pet. We chatted until we all were starting to feel the chill and then said our goodbyes and went to bed.

Sunday February 10, 2008

Another day, another hike. Today we hiked the Lost Mine Trail - 5 miles and 1100 feet elevation change. The photos come from our hike today - the views were awesome. Legend has it that there was a hidden silver mines in the hills, but there is no evidence that this could be so. The good thing is that the trail out was uphill and the way back was down - so much easier! The weather was also more cooperative - slightly cloudy and a wonderful breeze. We were amazed to see a roadrunner near the top of the trail - somehow I thought they were just in the lower desert regions - obviously this is not so. We also saw several deer - two of them were fawns - very cute. We had a lovely chat at the top with a couple from Atlanta who have been gone since August. They spent a month in Death Valley and are just wandering around until they have to be home in March. Our calves are really getting toned with all the up and down hiking. We came back to camp in mid afternoon and read for awhile before dinner. We are now sitting on the patio and watching the sunset - a little different tonight as there are more clouds. They say there is a chance of rain tonight - if it rains, it will be the first time in the park. The folks that we met on the trail yesterday just came up on the patio - they are going in to dinner at the lodge behind us. We also saw our tent neighbor from this campground - he is treating himself to dinner here also. He has been gone all day and said he went into Presidio to grocery shop, wash his car, and do laundry. Here, that kind of thing takes all day as it is at least 2 hours to the nearest reasonable sized town and then 2 hours back. There are more tent campers in this park - because of the windy switch-back road to get here, the larger campers are not allowed - nor could they manage to get around the sharp curves - so we have tenters and small caravans.

Saturday February 9, 2008

The photo on the right was taken from the patio as the sun was setting last night while we were blogging. There is a notch in the mountains here called the window (hard to see in the photo as it was getting dark) and that is the hike we took after breakfast this morning. We hiked for 6 1/2 miles with an elevation of nearly 1000 feet (Dad finally figured out how to use the GPS) - unfortunately it was mostly downhill going and uphill coming back when it was hot, but it was a great hike and we enjoyed the views. Much of the trail was made by the CCC and we walked through some small treed areas. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of a mountain lion, but all we saw were white tailed deer and a multitude of birds. In the window itself, the stone is well rounded - there was a small creek running, but I am sure that during high water there would be an awesome waterfall. We didn't get too close to the edge because of the smoothness of the stone and the immense dropoff into nothingness, but we did climb up to a viewpoint above and got an awesome view of the desert below and the distant mountains in Mexico. We met a couple that we had seen before in the other campground and we sat together and shared a bench as we ate our granola bars and fruit. They are RVing full time - we didn't ask, but assume that they have no family ties. The photo on the left is of a century plant with a flower stalk from last year - it was all dried out and rattles when the wind is blowing. We got back to camp and decided to sit in the shade and read - did not want to wear ourselves out on the first day here. There are other days and other hikes. We didn't hear any wildlife last night and we miss our resident roadrunners although there are a couple of small birds who show up when we are doing food preparation - I'm sure they have been successful in the past in stealing some tidbits from people who have not been paying attention.

Friday February 8, 2008

Well, we did a lot in Alpine yesterday. We left Mc Donald's and went to the laundromat where we washed and dried our clothes. We then went to the library resale store where we dropped off several books that we finished in the past week. From there we went to a hardware store and Dave picked up a compressor to fill our mattress after we move. Our last stop was to the grocery store where we filled our cooler and got a few more dry goods. We drove back to camp and got there just at dark. We had a quick dinner and walked to the ampitheater to catch the ranger talk on Dinosaurs and Fossils of Big Bend. The ranger giving the talk was excellent - very energetic and animated. We really enjoyed the talk. We got back to our site and read for a short time before going to sleep.

We heard both the donkeys and the coyotes last night! Got up to a chilly morning (33), but it soon warmed up as the sun came over the mountains. We had breakfast and then set about breaking camp. When we had everything in the car we went up to the camp store and jumped in the shower. It felt so good to get clean! We then drove out the Chisos Basin. The campground is exactly as you would think - in a basin surrounded by beautiful mountains. We set up the tent and then of course, we had trouble with the mattress. The compressor that Dave bought in Alpine had several holes in the hose so of course we couldn't get air into the mattress. (I was about ready to go back to the thin mats on the ground). Finally, we tried the adapter that goes to the car from the new pump that Bean's sent us (that didn't fit the mattress) - it worked like a charm! By the time we got the camp put to rights, it was time to make dinner. We had a chicken and rice dish with mushrooms and almonds, broccoli for a veggie - came out great. We now are at the Basin patio (chilly, but not too bad). The two photos at the top of the blog were taken from our new tent site. The one on the left is our view when we sit at the picnic table - great view for dining. The other is the view from the front of our tent - also very easy on the eyes. We look forward to doing the hikes in this area - should be spectacular scenery. I'm not sure what the night sounds will be here - the warnings here are for bear and mountain lion as opposed to coyote and javelina in Rio Grande. Unfortunately, we have already heard the ranger program for tonight so we will either read or catch a movie on the computer.