South Llano River State Park

Saturday, Feb, 24

South Llano River State Park has always been one of our favorite parks. They've been making a lot of improvements to the park over the past year, and we were anxious to see exactly what had been done. First, there's a new development at the entrance over the river.... it used to be a low water crossing but now it's a bridge! Hopefully it will withstand the next rainy season in good shape. There's also a new headquarters/store at the entrance. There are plans to turn the old building, which was the original home on the property, to be turned into a visitor center at a later date. Next, off of the parking area near the walk-in campsites, there is an amphitheater. 

It's a lovely day for a walk The birds are singing, and the air is filled with the honey-like scent of the agarita. Each of the little yellow flowers will turn in to a small red berry. Judging my the number of agarita bushes we see on the trail those birds are in for a feast!

This is a feature new to the park and it will be interesting to see what sorts of programs they'll be presenting there. It will also be available for stargazing. This park was officially recognized as a Dark Skies park in 2017.  

While the pups and I were exploring we took the completely paved pathway into the walk-in campsites. I don't know if this is new or not, but the cement walkway makes the area quite accessible, and the first campsite on the right is also paved, making it easily accessed from the parking area as well as a delightful opportunity for campers with mobility impairments to enjoy the camping experience. 

The new, color coded trail map available at the office is helpful in planning the day's outings, just be aware that some areas are closed during roosting season, and hunting season. Most times of the year you'll see not only a variety of birds, but deer, armadillo, and various reptiles. In warm weather the river is a great place to cool off too! 

This is the last stop on the trail, we'll be home tomorrow.  

Back in the The Republic/Trip Summary

March 8, 2023

Our first night back in Texas was at a somewhat unusual, for us anyway, RV park right near the freeway. Saddleback RV Park, Truck stop and Steakhouse is the ultimate package deal!  

We usually try to get as far away from a freeway as we can, but there aren't a lot of choices in Balmorhea, and after the high prices we'd seen elsewhere for bare dirt with thorns everywhere we were quite happy to see well groomed sites (meaning few if any thorns and stickers) for only $20. All pull-through, with utilities. About half the sites, those closest to the front of the park, have nice cactus plantings in the spaces between the generously sized sites. I suspect these are the original sites, with the others put in later. Yes, there's no grass, but this is West Texas, nobody has any grass! especially with the drought conditions we've had the last few years. Perhaps the rain gods will bless us with some of that wet stuff this year. 

If you're in the mood for a steak for dinner, the restaurant is a stone's throw away, and so are the fuel pumps. I must have slept really soundly as I didn't hear any trucks during the night. 

Early the next morning we pulled out for the last leg of this trip. Next stop:

South Llano River State Park. This is one of our favorite Texas parks, especially for the first and last nights out, as it's only about two hours from the house.  

We had reservations for our favorite site, #19. It's fairly private on the back side and easy to take the dogs for a walk with no complications. The sites have shaded picnic tables and fire rings, and are really spacious, with native vegetation in between most of them. 

This park is particularly focused on the wild turkeys and has an area where they roost that is closed at times to protect them from disturbances. Those times are posted in the park office and on signboards near the trails.  The bridge entering the park is under construction at the moment, as it was damaged during recent flooding, and it looks like they're building a new visitor center too. Something to explore on our next visit!

Birdwatching is popular here, and there are bird blinds available to shelter photographers who are patient enough to sit and wait for the perfect shot. I'm happy to watch from camp, as they flit through the trees around us and sing back and forth from their perches up in the tree tops. 

Here's a post on the first time we stayed here, when we first moved to Texas. It was also in the spring, but there was more wildlife than we've seen this time. 

We thought we had a neighbor camper who was practicing bird calls as the songs seemed a little more frequent than usual, but upon meeting said campers we discovered it was their parrots! Two of them, and they were doing a fantastic job of imitating the Cardinals that are native to this area. I hope they didn't leave the local feathered residents too confused!

We'll be home by this afternoon, and then the unpacking begins!

Summary:  We were on the road for 28 days and traveled 3039 miles.  Total cost (not including food as we eat when we are home!) $2105.  Camping fees: $650 and Fuel:$1504 This averaged out to $77.00 a day.  The daily average was affected by staying at our friends in Fountain Valley for 5 days.  I shopped for the best deals on fuel and paid an average of $4.22 a gallon for diesel and averaged about 9 mpg pulling the trailer.  

Comparing to our travels in 2017 we averaged $43.00 a day.  Fuel prices are up from then and State Parks are about the same.  The big difference was in private campgrounds which were usually around $50 a night currently.

RV touring has changed considerably since covid.  Fuel prices are up and campground fees are up.  The biggest change was the need to make reservation for nightly spots.  I made reservations for this trip starting in September 2022.  It is frustrating as it removes flexibility while traveling.   

White Tank Mountain Regional Park

White Tank Mountain Park, near Waddell, Arizona, is to be our home while we're here in Arizona visiting friends we haven't seen for several years. It's a "mini reunion", and lots to catch up on. 

Our site is in the Family Campground, one of many small groupings of campsites distributed along a winding road through some of the most beautiful Sonoran desert we've seen. 

The cactus and shrubs are beautiful, even though the area has been short on rain fall for quite awhile, and the birds are plentiful. Some of them have the strangest voice! I'm hoping the visitor center will provide names for them. They're rather bashful so I haven't been able to get a photo yet. 

Shall we dance?

There is a network of trails throughout the park, all clearly labeled on the park map, and ranked according to difficulty. The signage leading hikers to the trails and intersections along the way is clear and the map in the brochure exactly matches the Google map, so there's no confusion. That's probably the first time I've seen that happen! 

There's a brief description of the human history of the area here. And the White Tank Mountain Conservancy has more detail on the history on their website. 

Considering the numbers of birds happily singing their spring songs around our site, many of those birds new to me, I thought this would be a good time to try out the Merlin app I had downloaded a few months ago. It's a product of the Cornell Lab, and I've used some of their online resources before with good results.

The app, how it works and how to get it, are here. It took me a little while to figure it out and get my Cornell account set up, and then I went to work recording and trying to identify one of the really strange, gravelly calls I had heard frequently. Bingo! It's a cactus wren. 

Immediately after I played the third recording the system had offered as a possible match to my sample one of the wrens swooped in, landed on our retracted flag pole and started calling back to the electronic voice he had heard. I felt really bad that I had to disappoint him (or her?) but there was an answer from across the campground loop so I hope they met up. 

There are multiple ways to identify birds using the app, so I think I'll get a lot of use out of it after little more practice. 

There is a wide variety of wildlife in the park, and each has its own preferred "hours of operation". It wasn't until evening, coming home from one of the gatherings in town, that we saw a pair of coyotes near the road. They are smaller than those is some areas. These two had gray-tan coloring, and looked quite healthy, and calm, as they know they are safe within the park. Several times during the night we heard them singing. There seem to be several of them around the area, including several young ones that are still learning all the notes. Their presence probably accounts for the fact that we haven't seen many rabbits, chipmunks or other types of rodents.

We've had a good time here, walking the trails in the morning and then going in to Glendale to visit friends from the "old days" when we lived in Orange County, CA. Lots of stories to be told and things to catch up on.  We'll be leaving Monday for Indio, CA. to visit family. Our trail hikes led us to an area thick with ancient petroglyphs....see the next post for photos of those. 

The Old Timers Club

The Arizona and New Mexico album is here

 

Goliad State Park and Another Lesson Learned

Monday, March 29 

We left the house after lunch had a beautiful two and a half hour drive down hwy. 183 to Goliad. The sky was overcast but the patches of wildflowers along the road brightened up the view in spite of the overcast sky. 

Once we entered Gonzales County we began to see a lot more cattle in the pastures than we see up in the Hays/Travis area. We’ve been through here before but never noticed how many Brahma ranches there are, with a few short horns and miscellaneous breeds thrown in for color. With their cream colored hide they added a nice contrast as they munched along in those wildflower patches. 

Arriving at Goliad State Park, check-in was quick, our campsite, #13, is one of 21 spacious pull-thru’s in the Karankawa Camping area. It’s an appropriate name, as the Karankawa were a tribe that lived in the area. 

We ran through the usual set up routine, unhitching, connecting water and power etc. then leashed up the pooches for a walk around the loop. . . noting as we went which sites would be highly desirable, which wouldn’t and checking out the little screened enclosures that are also available for rent. 

They would be really nice for tent campers during the peak bug season. There are three other tent areas but none of them have these little screened enclosures. 

Set-up complete, we took the dogs for a short walk around the loop. We were probably gone from our site for about 15 minutes.

 As we rounded the corner, putting our site in vision, we heard running water, and as we got closer noticed water cascading like a little Niagara Falls all along the passenger side of the RV. 

Steve immediately shut off the water supply and unlocked the door, both of us expecting the worst. It seems "somebody" was on our side this time though. 

We had noticed when we put the jacks down that the rig was about an inch low on the passenger side, and that saved us a lot of potential problems, as the water ran out instead of into the interior. 

A connection on the pump under the kitchen sink had apparently blown apart, probably loosened on the rough road we’d just traveled over. Even though Steve had checked it before we left it couldn’t hold up to the vibration. 

We spent much of the remainder of the afternoon blotting up water (good thing we had a lot of towels available!) and running fans under the cabinets. 

We were prepared to turn around and go home when we first saw the situation, but it turned out to be salvageable. It took us three tries to get here (having had to cancel the first two reservations) and we certainly didn't want to have to give up now that we were finally here! 

Lesson learned here:

ALWAYS turn the water off before leaving the site for any length of time! 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon recuperating our nerves and checking out the immediate neighborhood. 

It turned out we had a lot of neighbors, tiny ones, tree trimming neighbors.... otherwise known as leaf cutter ants. 

There is a large colony of them, permanent residents I'm sure, not campers, just a couple of sites down. 

The woman in the campsite next to us pointed them out. She was taking photos of them climbing up and down the tree in another site.  They are fascinating little creatures and they worked all day at gathering their leaves. 

Their colony is quite extensive, and mostly looks like a dog has been digging from a distance. 

Close up you can see the entry hole and the fine soil they kick up. This colony is probably where the ants are taking the leaves they clip, on which they will grow microbes to feed their young, as far as 8-10 feet under the surface!

Not to be outdone by all the industry of the ants, we were also visited by a pair of wrens. 

Not just visited.... they wanted to move in! We sat in camp relaxing, enjoying a couple of "adult beverages" and noticed birds dashing in and out around the front end of the trailer, so we paid closer attention and discovered this pair was doing what a pair at home had attempted. . . trying to build a nest on our propane tanks!

They were swooping up under the tank cover, a large plastic covering for the two tanks that made the area nice and dark which is their preference for nesting. 

We dislodged them twice but they kept coming back so finally Steve opened  up the top piece on the plastic tank cover so it would be light inside and that stopped them. Well, actually, I think they moved over to a rig that had just arrived. Oh well, that's nature at work!

Tomorrow we'll visit The Presidio La Bahia where the Fannin Memorial is located. This will be a jump directly into the middle of the Texas battle for independence.

*Follow up note - the fans seem to have taken care of the interior moisture, and so far a check of the insulation from the underside seems to show no damage. 

Frozen February

January may have flown by, but February seemed to go on forever.....at least while we were frozen in. That brief bit of snow we had last month was just a starter apparently, as this month we had a dose of real winter.  

This "cold snap" started out as a crystalline wonderland, with fences and tree limbs sparking in their coats of ice. The boys were here for the first day of the icy weather and they had a ball exploring the ice encased tree branches, pulling chunks of ice off of the frozen bird water pots, and admiring the various textures of ice. As we toured the yard there were a few science lessons too, like, why does the heater (heat pump) have ice on it? Papaw explained that, and soon we all went inside to defrost our hands! 

Over the next couple of days the weather turned much colder and much less picturesque.  Our specific location hit 4.8 °F at 7 a.m. on the 16th. We had two days of extreme cold, and soon after, it warmed slightly and we began to have snow, which was much more picturesque than the ice. The dogs really had never seen snow as deep as we had with this storm, and they thought it was great for romping in, though they never wanted to stay out for very long. 

It was interesting to go out early in the morning while the snow was fresh and check out the various tracks..... birds mostly, and small mammals. Watch decided to follow one set of tracks into the woods - odd little feet with something dragging, which after consideration we decided was probably a cat or skunk. We have all manner of small critters living in the bushes at the corners of the property so it's hard to know for sure. 

As the demand for heat increased the electric grid suffered and we began rolling blackouts, that stressed the pumping capabilities of our community water supply, and then that failed too. Yea - back to the "good old days", preparing meals by the light of candles and lanterns,  buckets of water for washing up and stored water for cooking. 

Actually, many people had it much worse than we did, so not complaining too much on this end!

I'm sure the folks up in the Dakotas and other northern states think we're wimps down here, but really, no one here has the gear necessary to be really comfortable when the temperature hits 4 degrees! 

Central Texas homes aren't adequately insulated for one thing (we usually want to keep the heat OUT, not in!) and no one, except maybe a few hunters, has clothing that's suitable. 

We won't even talk about how to drive on snowy roads, and what to do to be prepared for really cold weather. Even tow trucks are often not equipped for the road conditions we had. 

Our years in Oregon, particularly eastern Oregon, where we lived near Crater Lake, gave us a pretty good background, so other than having the electricity out for a time, and the subsequent loss of water service, we weren't terribly inconvenienced.

We had plenty of stored water, and our rain storage tanks came in handy too. Of course, we didn't have to get to work like many people did, so we just hunkered down, enjoyed the view of sparkling snow and ice covered trees outside the windows, and tried to stay warm. Defrosting the bird water pans 2 or three times a day was one of the primary tasks. Not only did they ice over quickly, the ice was thick! almost two inches thick on the coldest days. 

In preparation for the coming "cold front" Steve had managed to get both of our generators working and weatherproof the RV, and he did everything he could think of to protect the household plumbing.  All his efforts paid off. We had no broken pipes when everything thawed out. Apparently not many people could say that. The hot topic of conversation on our neighborhood Facebook group was plumbing parts. People who were working on their own plumbing were trading them around and giving tips as to which, if any, hardware store in town might have what was needed. Plumbers were in hot demand too, as some of the issues were more complicated. 

The temporary loss of water and power utility services has certainly given all the talking heads a lot to chew on, and they are taking advantage of it, with everyone pointing fingers at everyone else. I'll let others take care of that. Our challenge is cleaning up the split trees and shrubs, and the puddles of mushy frozen foliage that used to be our landscaping. 

All the gardening pros advise "wait two weeks before you do anything" to see whether something is really dead or not. Ug. It's pretty obvious for some things, and having to look at dead twigs for two weeks is rather depressing. Every one of our large prickly pear cactus clumps shed a large number of pads. I don't know if it was the weight of the snow, or simply that they became too brittle to hold up the weight of the pads when they froze. Two of our favorite large shrubs had major limbs break beyond hope of recovery so they've already been taken care of, now there's just a broken cedar tree to tend to. 

Even so, our week of winter (that felt like a month) has quickly moved us into spring. We had a high of 81 just a few days after those days of intense cold!  Now we're back to more normal weather in the 70-50's during the day.  The balmy weather has all the birds singing like crazy, so it even sounds like spring!  We had masses of robins in the yard just a few days ago, busily harvesting worms or insects in the grass.

My wish last month to have the cedar wax wings hang around was granted. They're still a nervous lot, seldom sitting still long enough to get a good photo, but I've managed to determine that the flocks that are massing around the edges of the watering pans are juveniles, not the adults I photographed in January. 

My first clue was that they were smaller than the ones I saw in January, and then when I finally got the binoculars on one I noticed they didn't have the little red wing tips. It turns out that feature shows up during their second year. 

They're such funny looking little things, with their bandit masks and bright yellow tail tips - quite striking close up but very plain from a distance. They don't nest in Texas, I've learned, so the flock of young ones will probably be moving north soon.  

Every time I approached a window to take a photo they jumped and the whole flock instantly headed for the tops of the trees. It's characteristic of the waxwings to roost high up in trees. . . safe, but not helpful for photos! 

They often had to fight for space in those trees, as the whitewing doves and robins had also moved in - their large numbers made for a huge increase in demand for bird seed and water. It's amazing how much food and water a flock of songbirds can consume. The squirrels help do away with all that bird seed and water too. They pretty much hid out while the weather was so cold, but once it warmed up  they made up for lost time. 

Now that things have defrosted and the mud has dried up a bit we're on to the garden planting and tree pruning stage of spring. Planning a summer trip is also in the works! 

Where did January go?

Wow, this month certainly flew by! Even without traveling we seem to keep plenty busy! After neglecting this blog for so long I vowed to post an update at least monthly until we're able to hit the road again, so here's what's been happening at the ranch this month. 

We started out the month with The Great Bambi Adventure.

This problem was a holdover from late December, when I looked out the back window and saw a fawn drinking out of a bird water pan. I was shocked! 

In the 10 years we've lived here we've not had any deer in our gated and fenced yard other than two or three that managed to sneak in while we opened the gate to drive out, and we were able to chase them out immediately. 

For convenience we started calling the fawn Bambi (though we think it is a girl, and Bambi was a boy). Bambie apparently arrived shortly before her mother, which I saw slip through the gate as I was going to my car to leave for town.  

This doe was smarter than our previous visitors, and in no time she managed to hide in the brush. I didn't know at the time she was following her fawn, so when the fawn showed up at the water pan and I saw the mother around the corner I knew we had 2 deer in the yard - Yikes!  

The doe managed to jump the gate at some point (the only place low enough for a deer to jump over) but Bambi was too small to jump that high, so she became a resident. We were faced with quite a dilemma - if we left the gate open the dogs would wander out and more deer would probably wander in.  What to do???

It became part of Steve's daily morning walk around the property to open the gate and then try to flush the fawn out and work it down the driveway. The fawn always managed to dart sideways and hide in the brush again. Finally we put up a temporary fence that created a path to the gate and with a little strategy succeeded it moving Bambi out. Seeing that little white tail heading down the driveway was one of my happiest days! It seems to have joined the local herd with no problems, and we're certainly hoping we don't have a repeat of this adventure! 

In the middle of January we had a bit of snow. 

It's been several years since we had enough to even accumulate. This storm delivered a nice amount of snow that gave the grandsons a chance to throw snowballs at each other, and enough to melt slowly into the soil. 

We've had a very dry winter so I know the wildflowers will appreciate that, and the Magical Giraffe that lives here seemed to appreciate the view too. 

I think everyone can identify with having "too much stuff", and when we moved here we downsized considerably in regard to space to store the "stuff" and still have access to it....so.... we've created a couple of new storage buildings. The crew working on the newest project showed up the day after the snow, so it was a rather chilly enterprise, but they didn't seem to mind.  The company we use for construction is  DNA sheds and they are GREAT! 

Rather than an off-the-shelf shed, we can plan the configuration exactly the way we want it, door sizes, windows or not, etc. It's amazing to watch them put one up. 

They bring the parts mostly cut to size, paint the exterior pieces laying on the ground, assemble the walls, but on the  wall panels and trim, and poof! there's a building! All done in one day. They built one for us last summer, attached to the RV parking area. In this photo all the trim strips have been painted and are drying while they finish the walls and put on the roof.

They finished both of the small storage sheds we wanted this time in one day. Now Steve is paneling the inside of one and installing lights, then we can move in all of the items that are crowding us out of the house!

The lack of water for wildlife this winter has been pretty noticeable - I think that's why the deer wanted into the yard. We always have a nice variety of migrating birds for that reason too, and this year is no exception

.

I looked out the kitchen window a few days ago and that water pan was covered with cedar waxwings, all busily dipping and sipping. 

They're a very nervous bird, and it was hard to get a clear photo. It didn't help that the many robins who also wanted a drink kept chasing them away. 

Cedar waxwings love the little berries on the juniper trees that are so common around here too, so it's a pretty comfortable environment for them. They are a beautiful little bird, with such fascinating coloring and pattern, I wish they would stay around a little longer but we seem to always be just a stop along the way to somewhere else.  

The robins are still here though, by the dozens! and soon we'll have young cardinals, finches and then the buntings to watch.  

Lake Bastrop camping trip

Planning ahead is critical nowadays when making campsite reservations. We've learned that attendance is up in campgrounds across the country, so we check the calendar and reserve far ahead of the targeted dates. It usually works out pretty well for us, but especially in Texas, where the weather drives folks to sites with water access, it's especially important.

We planned a week-long camping trip with the grandsons for shortly after school was out for the summer, and decided to go back to Lake Bastrop South Shore as it had worked out so well for us in the spring. Again, even after making the reservation way back in March, the site we preferred was not available for all of the dates we wanted. Fortunately we had scoped out a number of other sites last time we were there, and one of the sites we had like was available for the whole week.

Our home for the week, site #12, is fairly private, has lots of shade, and easy access to the canoe/kayak launch area, a grassy park-like space called Lewis Point Commons.  The boys took advantage of the shallow water to admire the little fish, splash around in the water and play in the mud. (My only wish is that the park have a laundry facility as they really like mud!)

The mild spring weather is rapidly turning to summer, but there were still wildflowers everywhere, and our site had a nice view of a little meadow filled with lemon balm, coreopsis and coneflowers. With a bit of the lake as a backdrop it made a really pretty scene.

With a week to enjoy the park we had a lot planned, and we had fun doing it all, with a lot of relaxing in between!

The boys had never been in a canoe before, so they were really excited about the opportunity and by the end of the week 7-year old Jaxen was developing some pretty good paddling skills.

Raylan (not yet five years old) is a bit too short to manage the paddle, but he's growing fast! and he had a good time watching the wildlife in the water and on the shore.

Raylan does have a difficult time sitting still for very long, so we worried about how well he'd do in the canoe. Steve did some research before the trip and created a stabilizing pontoon-like system to keep the canoe from tipping too much. I think it gave the boys a secure feeling just to see it, it worked well, and we had no problems at all. It's easily removed for transport too.

  Paddling and watching the shoreline kept the boys so occupied they didn't seem the least bit concerned about being out in the middle of all that water.

Lake Bastrop is a prime spot for birdwatching, and there are a lot of other wildlife on the water as well.

If you're into bird watching, you might like the Bastrop County Audubon Society's 8 page checklist. It's helpful in identifying birds you may not be familiar with. A Checklist for Bastrop & Buescher State Parks Lake Bastrop. 



Soon after we arrived in camp the boys spotted a turtle they named Tiger in the park next to our site. 

We found other turtles on our walks and while canoeing. The boys saw one they were just sure was Tiger, sunning himself on a rock at the edge of the water. These Red eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) are common in Texas. They have a pretty nice life in Lake Bastrop!

A round of mini golf was also on the agenda. We planned that for early in the day, before it got too hot. The boys and a great time playing and quickly learned that getting the ball in that little hole wasn't as easy as it looked!

During our last visit we hiked and biked on Heron Trail, which goes from our campground through the woods over to several cabins. It's rather rough for biking, so we tried out a different trail this time. We took Swift trail from the entrance to the campground and followed it to Loblolly trail.

These trails are wider and smoother than the Heron trail we walked last time. Steve had purchased a bike so he could ride with Jax and they enjoyed an early morning ride all the way out to Loblolly Loop. At the same time I took the dogs for a walk starting out on Swift trail and then heading for Gideon loop.

We hadn't gone very far past the intersection with Loblolly when we encountered a copperhead snake.  The dogs didn't even seem to notice it, but I wasn't in the mood to meet any more of them, so we headed back to camp.  That's the nature of hiking in the woods - you never know what surprise will meet you around the next bend in the road.

You can pick up a trail map, a campground map, and a lake map with depths indicate in the office when you check in, or you can download them from the website.


The first few days of our stay were overcast, and in the 80's but it quickly warmed up. Though I wasn't really looking forward to the heat, we wanted to try out the solar oven (instructions here) the boys and I had constructed before we left for the trip.

Master Hot Dog Chef

Solar ovens don't work too well with overcast skies, but when the sun came out we decided it was time to go for it. So, solar-cooked hot dogs were on the menu for lunch, as well as chocolate covered pretzels for desert! I'm saving the oven, and maybe we'll try some other (simple and quick) recipes again this summer.

A wrinkle thrown into this trip was our home air conditioner. It died a week before the trip. With temperatures inching into the 90's it was not a happy event. Fortunately we could just relocate into the trailer so we stayed comfortable.

The repair was scheduled for Thursday, in the middle of the camping trip, so Steve went home to take care of that, while the boys and I stayed in camp.  Kendra came out and had lunch with us, and Raylan decided to go home with her. He's usually only good for 2 or 3 nights away from home at this age, so timing worked out well. 

In the afternoon Jax and I took the dogs over to the swimming beach. We played fetch with the dogs in the water until we wore out, and then Jax and his "floatie" enjoyed the warm water. He made friends with some children from Houston, so he had a really good time that day. 

Sunday was Father's Day, and of course, thunderstorms were predicted for Sunday, so we moved our plans up to Saturday.

Skot and Kendra and Skot's parents all came out for a little fishing and an early dinner. The boys took their dad out in the canoe to show off their skills, and then he set them up for a little fishing. The back side of our site had easy access to the water so they didn't have to go far. 

Raylan was so excited - he caught his first fish!
Jax came in right behind with another catch, so they both felt very accomplished! (And they let all the little fish go back to swimming around.)

More photos of the trip in the album.

It was a great trip, and we've decided will definitely go back to this park again.

We checked out several sites with an eye to alternatives in case that's necessary when we make reservations.

Missouri Headwaters

Friday, June 16

We had a fairly long drive planned, so packed up what we could on Thursday, had a quick breakfast, and hit the trail. Stiff winds again - only from the side this time! Wow - bad for the mileage, and tiring for the driver.

This is beautiful country though. The grass is so rich, all the cattle and horses are fat. The farms and ranches are all well kept and prosperous looking. There are signs of harsh winters everywhere. . . the sally-port entrances to stores, jeeps in the driveways (no Smart cars), and snow still on the mountains that surround the valleys.

We're camped tonight at the Missouri Headwaters State Park, Three Forks, Montana.

A rustic little park, it's brimming with songbirds and other wildlife. We're tucked back in a little cove, carved out between willow bushes, wild roses, cattails, and other miscellaneous shrubs.

It was sprinkling while we set up, and while I took the dogs for a walk, but so far no real rain. The songbirds have been bashful, and I can hear more varieties than I have been able to see. I suspect there are warblers and blue birds - we've caught glimpses, but they are shy so we never get a good look. A sign in the campground warned of moose too, but sadly, we never saw any.

site of the confluence

Saturday, June 17
The day started out sunny, with the birds all trying to out do one another with their early morning song. By 6:30 it was clouding up again, but we had a bit of sun while we did a quick tour of the park trails. There are several walking trails, and the park is a long narrow one, so a short drive will also give a good overview.

We stopped first at the confluence of the Missouri, Jefferson and Madison rivers. This was the inspiration for the park in the first place. There's a lot of water moving by, but no crashing, foaming crush as there are in other similar confluences. Here, the waters just merge politely and move on.

The Missouri River has been the life-blood of so much of our country for generations, and so much history has happened along it's banks, it's certainly worthy of a park setting. We're back in Lewis and Clark Territory here, with quotations and namesake places all around us.

Our next stop was the pictograph trail. The two painted figures the trail leads to are quite faint due to time and weathering, in fact they are almost impossible to make out in the photos I took, but it still made a pleasant walk.

The signage is pretty good in this park, and the information kiosk and picnic facilities in the park are unique and very nicely done. There's a small newspaper style brochure available that's full of information too, so be sure to pick one up.

Front and side of the Sacagawea Hotel, Three Forks, MT

1. After leaving the park we stopped for fuel in Three Forks, what a nice town! They really play up the western and the Lewis and Clark history, and the Sacajawea Hotel is beautiful. We'll have to come back some time to fully explore it.

They really have done a nice job with their downtown, which looks very prosperous compared to many we've been through.  We're on our way to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, our last stop in Montana for this trip.

Mural in Three Forks, MT

Rye Patch Reservoir

Tuesday, July 27

We stop at the campground on Rye Patch Reservoir quite often as it's a good distance from our annual 4th of July gathering in Fish Springs (Gardnerville).

Rye Patch Recreation Area is on the Humbolt River. . . yes, there are rivers in Nevada. You might not know this one is here. Driving down highway 80 the scenery is typical dry and dusty sagebrush desert, though this year the rabbit brush is looking nice and bright due to recent rains. The park is about 50 miles southwest of Winnemucca, which has a very nice county museum if you'd like to learn more about the area, and also a couple of good Basque restaurants, so check those out locally.

The drought that has hit the other western states is definately taking its toll on Rye Patch. The reservoir is down so low that boats can't launch from the usual ramps, but boats under 20 ft. can launch from select spots along the shore. 
The river, below the dam, is where our favorite camping area is situated. Our favorite site, right at a bend in the river, was available so we slid in and set up in record time as it is completely level (a rarity!)


We noticed a distinct change in the shoreline this year, not only with the water receding from the banks, but the dense brush that has grown up in the silt that is now damp but not covered with water as it was before. The shoreline is pretty, with the contrast between the silvery blue-gray of the Russian olive trees setting off the green of willow shrubs, sedge plants and the three foot tall giant Indian paintbrush flowers. It would be prettier with more water though!

All I could think of is, when the river fills back up and people come here to fish again there's going to be a lot of tackle lost among those weeds! The fish will love all those branches to hide in of course, but it makes a real challenge for fishermen.

We had a classic dinner of fried trout (thanks to our fishing friends at the Ochoco campout) and then very pleasant evening enjoying the gentle breeze and almost bug free evening. Shade in the campground is provided by sever large Russian olive and other native trees, so it's cool, and the birds have places to settle when they aren't feeding out on the river. I think due to the loss of deep water at their usual fishing holes we didn't see as many cranes and herons as usual, but the birdlife around the river is still worth watching.

Next stop, our friend's place in Gardnerville, where we'll do the final packing before we head North, To Alaska! There probably won't be many updates along the way, depending on connections, but we'll catch up after the cruise.

Beaver Dick Park, Idaho

"Beaver Dick", a Madison County park is in Idaho near the town of Rexburg. The park is on Henry's Fork of the Snake River, which is a pretty good running river at this point. Deep enough for swimming but not so swift as to be a worry about safety, at least under current conditions.

Now this is what the RVing life is all about, at least in our book.  We located a spot up near the entrance, right by the river, in view of the boat ramp.

Our campsite is to the right, between the tree trunks

Surrounded by a cluster of the biggest serviceberry shrubs I've ever seen, it was perfect for bird-watching. There's apparently no shortage of irrigation water here as the sprinklers run all day and the entire park is carpeted in lush green grass, which Shiner enjoyed very much. She was also happy to finally be somewhere that doesn't have a lengthy list of things dogs can't do "no dogs on the beach, no dogs on the trail, 'must be on a 6ft. leash at all times", etc.

She rescued her favorite log in the river, chased the ball on the grass, made friends with other dogs, and basked in the sun, then nestled down in the grass and wild camomile for a nap (nothing like a dog that smells like pineapple!)

This park is named for Richard "Beaver Dick" Leigh, who was one of the last real mountain men of this valley. He was very well liked, and Jenny Lake in the Tetons is named for his Shoshone wife. She, and all their children, were killed in a smallpox epidemic and are buried nearby.

There's also a historic marker just across the highway that commemorates the North Fork Ferry, the first ferry to run on Henry's Fork, built by the people of the nearby town of Rexburg in 1888. This is a very historic location!

We originally planned on one night here at Beaver Dick, but it seemed like such a great place to just relax that we signed up for a second night. We spent the second day watching a pair of kingbirds catch bugs to feed their babies in the nest, a wooly woodpecker catching bug on one of our shrubs, and an egret fish in the river. The bugs here are plentiful, accounting for the flock of swallows and other birds that fill the are under the highway bridge in the early morning. The park does spray (natural stuff) for mosquitoes though, so we haven't been bothered at all, and there are plenty of butterflies decorating the shrubs around us. Whatever they use must be pretty selective.The park is adjacent to a wildlife management area, and there are trails that lead from the park into the wild areas so there's plenty of opportunity to explore away from the river.  The mosquito treatment also doesn't bother the cottontail rabbits. They came out every evening to graze on the grass, and to torture poor Shiner as we  wouldn't let her chase them.

Beaver Dick Park has four group areas as well as 12 individual sites. There are new vault restrooms near the group picnic area at entrance, and older ones throughout the campground. Everything is very well maintained, and we were impressed with the fact that even though the park is heavily used by local families they treat it respectfully. There is no trash around, no graffiti, no damage to any of the fishing docks or picnic tables.  There are no electric or water services available in the park so pack in plenty of water.  The best part is the price. $5 a night, or $15 for the week (5 days). Photo album here.

Deer Creek State Park, Utah

Friday – July 12

Long day today – about 260 miles. We’ve been keeping it to only a couple of hours of driving time each day, but it’s hard to get very far that way. 

We’re stopping two nights at Deer Creek State Park, in Utah. We'll be visiting sister Diana and her husband Don in Park City, but couldn't get into Jordanelle State Park until Sunday, so this is a holding place.  

Our route from Nevada, took us over hwy 50 and then hwy 6 when it split off to the north. This is really desolate country, and seemed even “lonelier” than the stretch of Nevada we’d just traversed. If it weren’t for the fascinating mountain ranges in the distance and the beautiful puffy thunderheads we wouldn’t have had any scenery at all.

Entering Utah we drove through several small, not very prosperous-looking farming communities before we finally reached the more mountainous area where the Deer Creek is located.

We arrived in the early afternoon and were somewhat dismayed to not have any map or brochure of the park offered when we checked in. When we asked if any were available we learned that on June 10 vandals burned the park office building (follow the link to the news article). Everything burned including all the park brochures. We did see the perfectly clean, recently disturbed plot of ground where tractors had cleaned up the remains of the building. So, no map, no info, we just poked our way around.

The campground at the upper level is spacious, and has a nice view of the lake in one direction and magnificent mountains in the other. The lower loop is more along the older style of campgrounds, crowded, and good for tents and small vehicles.

It's not a particularly dog-friendly park, as there are no dogs allowed on any beach, or at the boat ramps. That leaves the campground, only! We couldn't find any trails that would be appropriate for just walking, as they all lead down to the beach. 

It's a pretty good location for birdwatching, as the berries on the many serviceberry bushes around the park are ripe this time of year, and the weedy wild grasses and flowers that are also ripening are popular with many bird species. Several birds flitted through our site, and we enjoyed the activity as well as the entertainment of trying to figure out exactly which bird it was. When they move quickly it's hard to get the binocs on them.

We ran up to Heber City for grocery shopping as it's close by, and got things in order for moving to Jordanelle. A rather mundane stop, but it served our purposes. I hope they catch whoever set that fire!