Tuesday February 26

I'm writing this entry on Wed morning. When I got
back to the trailer last night it was too cold to do
anything but climb under the covers. More details
tomorrow.

Rode the bike into Fort Davis this morning and had
breakfast at a little burrito place. Ordered the
"trash can" (the works). Great.

Not far from the campground is a group of hills
covered with expensive houses. Looking through the
binos I thought I saw a castle on the top of one of
the hills. Drove up closer and took a pic,. I have
no idea what the story is.

In the afternoon drove to the McDonald Observatory.
Stardate on Public Radio with the lovely voice of
Sandy Wood is produced here. Took a tour of giant
telescopes, saw a video feed of live pics of sun
flares. The observatory is here because it is one of
the darkest places in the US. In the evening they set
up 5 large telescopes and focus them on interesting
things and you can stumble around in the dark from one
to another seeing nebulae, galaxies etc. And
something special last night. Some time in the last
20 years some entrepreneur launched 27 satellites
hoping to make killing in satellite telephone.
Unfortunately for him, people found cell phones
cheaper and more convenient. So, your tax dollars
bought the satellites from him and our government
keeps them flying just in case. Anyway, they are
powered by solar arrays, and reflect vast amounts of
sunlight. If you are in the right place at the right
time it looks like an explosion. There was an Iridium
flare predicted for 8:04PM. About 8:03 we could just
make out a moving spot and then all of a sudden it got
brighter than anything in the sky. In seconds it was
gone.

Spent the evening at the observatory with the musical
couple from Minnesota. They lived in Northern Alaska
for years providing health care to a small community
and have lots of kayaking experience.

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Monday February 25

Drove into Fort Davis this morning to visit the
historic site. Fort Davis was staffed by buffalo
soldiers (mostly freed black slaves) after the civil
war to protect settlers and mail carriers from
Indians. Interesting idea if you think about it.
The video at the visitor's center was narrated by
Kareem Abdul-Jabaar (former college and pro basketball
star for all you athletically challenged types) who is
very interested in the history of the buffalo soldier.
The first black graduate of West Point chose to
command the Fort Davis troops. He was court-martialed
in a kangaroo trial by white officers about a year
after he got there. And the Fort Davis Buffalo
soldiers were themselves successful in destroying one
of the last tribes of Apache holdouts who refused to
go to a reservation. Confusing thing, history.

I was going to continue on today but a 30 mph wind
was blowing from the west and I didn't think I would
make much progress with the trailer and everything up
on the roof. So I unloaded the car and went back to
Alpine to buy a new camera. Found a cheapie Olympus.
It takes good pictures but has no viewfinder, only the
screen on the back. That will take some getting used
to. Tried to get into the tomato growing operation on
the way back but they don't give tours.

The couple that went on the tour of Turlingha Abajo
are here. Stopped to talk to them. He is a retired
physician, she a nurse, from Minnesota. He plays the
nykelharpe, a 13 string Swedish instrument, a cross
between a violin, autoharp and accordian. You bow it
but change string length with buttons. There are four
strings and a drone that are bowed and 9 resonating
strings. It has an eerie sound. He belongs to a
nykelharpe band in Minneapolis and they get gigs.
She plays violin but a swedish style one: the standard
4 strings but with two added resonators.

A warning for those of delicate sensitivities, the
following is a little clinical. As many of you may
know, men of a certain age begin to need a trip or two
to the john during the night. At home this is no
problem, just sleepwalk to the bathroom and back. But
in a campground there are some challenges that require
deliberation and planning. Of course, you could get
dressed and hike to the toilet, but after a few nights
of two dark voyages you've become a daytime zombie.
So, here are step by step directions for how to solve
this highly personal yet desperately vital problem:
1. Choose a campsite as far from others as possible.
2. Orient the door of the trailer away from the
closest neighbor.
3. Place the trailer so the door opens onto the most
absorbent surface: grass better than gravel, gravel
better than asphalt.
Now I think further description is unneccessary.
However, let's say a) that no amount of trailer
placement provides sufficient privacy or b) there is
no adequately absorbent surface. Then one must revert
to the tried and true pee bottle. And this has it's
own set of considerations:
1. Bottle must have an opening of sufficient size.
2. Bottle must have a very tight fitting top.
3. Bottle must not be opaque as carrying it to the
camp restroom in the morning in full sight of other
campers could be embarrasing if it looks like you're
delivering a urine sample.
I think I've about covered it. But if any of you (of
either sex) has any suggestions or other thoughts,
please let me know. This is important stuff.

The wind has died down this evening and the temp is
fine. I've got the trailer door open. I'll make my
nightly cup of decaf and sip it out under the stars.

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Sunday February 24

Drove to Marfa, a budding Santa Fe. The reason is
Donald Judd, the 60's, 70's minimalist sculptor. He
bought a property in Marfa that was a cavalry fort in
the 20's and a POW camp for captured Germans in WW2.
There are some major installations in the refurbished
hangars, mess halls etc. In the building where the
prisoners worked are 100 shiny aluminum boxes, each
nominally 4ft x 4ft x 8ft. Each has different
openings and inserts. With tall windows facing both
north and south, the sunlight created endless shadows
and reflections. The guide was a sultry and blasé
college age woman who, when she said she had graduated
from Sarah Lawrence I had a hard time keeping a
straight face. There was also a crowd of young female
grad students and some professors who had driven over
from Dallas after attending the national convention
for art historians. They had the same energy and
insider's knowledge that I remember from my Columbia
SLP days.

So Marfa has a lot of art galleries and fancy shops.
And a lot of film people. I was invited to the local
cine palace to watch the Oscars tonight with a bunch
that worked on "No Country for Old Men" which was shot
here. For lunch I went to Mondo's, a down home
Mexican joint. Local people and Texas state police.
I wanted to ask them what they made of the changes in
Marfa.

Lots of people moving to the area because of the
climate. Lots of real estate signs. One said "We
sell tranquility one acre at a time."

On the way to Fort Davis, 21 miles of desert, there
was a hawk dead in the middle of the road. I stopped
and pulled some feathers off it. It's talons were
enormous. In the distance I could see what looked
like a warehouse that stretched out for a half mile.
It was a greenhouse that grows tomatos. Up close it
was about 40 feet high. The tomato plants grew up
cages that stretched floor to ceiling. I'm going to
try to get a tour tomorrow.

Staying tonight in Davis Mountains State Park.
Beautiful, shady, and the bird people from NH are here
as well as a guy from Missouri I got talking to in Rio
Grande village 3 days ago. Cooked up another pot of
dinners for the week. I've been adding chorizo the
last couple times. Very nice kick. Went for a bike
ride and saw bunches of fancy houses built on all the
hills.

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Saturday February23

Packed up this morning and went on a Ranger walk to an
abandoned agricultural village. People lived in
Terlinghua Abajo from the late 1800's until the early
1930's. Mostly Mexicans who had lived in other areas
of Northern Mexico. Pretty much subsistence farming.
The guide has interviewed people who lived there.
There are some broken down adobe structures,
foundations, a cemetary, and whats left of a complex
irrigation system. What is particularly interesting
is that the population of this village was about 80%
of the people who lived in the western Big Bend area
but there is almost no documentation or history. The
history of this area, as of most others in the US has
been written by Europeans.

Left the park and drove through Terlinghua/Study
Butte: barren land, very dusty. Motels, restaurants
and tour guide businesses that cater to people coming
and going from Big Bend. Everything looks windblown
and out of business, except they're not. But there is
almost no pavement other than the roads. Parking
lots, driveways, side streets are all just sand. And
it was very, very hot.

Drove about 80 miles in a might wind to Alpine, TX, a
town about the size of Rutland but with a good size
university. I'm staying in an RV park behind a
Quickmart. But cheap and it's got great showers and
wifi.

My camera has died so I won't have any more pics until
I can get another.

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Friday February 22

A beautiful drive to Cottonwoods campground at the
other end of Big Bend and back on the Rio Grande.
Heard a great Ranger speak about the military history
of Big Bend. TRUE FACT ALERT: In the 1859 camels
were brought to the Big Bend area to provide support
for the military, under the command of Robert E. Lee,
who were here to fight the bad Indians and even worse
Mexicans. The Civil War interrupted things and
afterwards, the government wanted nothing to do with
anything Bob was involved with. So the camels just
roamed the area. Some were caught and sold to
circuses.

Someone at the talk asked the Ranger about the
infamous wall that is going to protect us from all the
horrible things that might cross the Rio Grande in the
night. He said the wall will not extend through the
National Park. There will be a series of high towers
that will have some exotic electronics that can
distinguish between animals and humans and even
between humans carrying backpacks and those not. He
did his best to keep a straight face.

I kayaked upstream into the Santa Elena Canyon. Had
to get out and drag it through some shallow water and
rapids but it was worth it. The canyon rises 1500 ft
on both sides and narrows to 50 feet in places. I
paddled as far as Fern Canyon. It's on the Mexican
side but is ok to explore (explain that, Homeland
Security). Also very tall, but no water and even
narrower that Santa Elena. The float back downstream
was a breeze.

Cottonwoods Campground is so called because it is full
of cottonwood trees. The campsites are on raised
areas of ground between the trees and the area is
regularly irrigated to feed the trees. It was a
little like Venice today as they had turned on the
taps last night.

Met a couple of serious birdwatchers from New
Hampshire who travel around the world trying to nail
birds for their lifelist. They are in this area
looking for the elusive rock wren. Mrs. BW told me
she took a trip to Newfoundland with the VINS bird guy
specifically to see a grouse that lives on top of Gros
Morne.

I'm really tired of men, generally within 10 years of
my age, who need to tell me all the things they've
accomplished, the places they've been and whatever
else they can fit into a monologue before I can find
some pretense upon which to escape. Are these all
lonely guys? Do they think they're accomplishments
are so interesting? I've been spoiled by the PCC boy
staff.

A very nice couple from Missouri almost has me
convinced there are great things to do there in
addition to eating BBQ in Kansas City.

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Thursday February 21

Not a big activity day. A day for ruminating. I
treated myself to breakfast at the Chisos Basin Lodge.
Buffet style, including biscuits and gravy. Came back
to the campground and hiked down into a canyon where
the water treatment system used to be, was told there
was big bird action there. It was pretty but no new
birds. Spent the afternoon sitting at the campsite
enjoying the view, the sun and the breeze. Once
again I was reminded how primal feeling the wind is
for me. My earliest memory is a sensation more than a
movie. My family was camping and I was lying under a
tree. I can still feel the breeze and the contentment
of that moment. There is some combination of wind,
temperature and sunlight which evokes that memory.

Went back to the lodge to buy some groceries. Met
Bruce Hill who started a yacht sales business in
Shelburne now run by his son. On the way out the
door, an odd looking young man in kitchen clothes
pointed at my car and said that was his home state.
He then regaled me with a tale that involved high
property taxes, selling his house in Burlington and
being bored working in Big Bend. I finally got away.

Later in the aftenoon a lovely British accent asked if
it could disturb me. A relatively young retired
couple from the UK traveling in the US for a year.
Big time sailors who instead of yachting around the
world, fell in love with our fair country when they
came to visit a daughter in college. They want to buy
kayaks and seeing mine figured me for an expert. They
are on their way to Alaska.

Finished reading "Freedomland". Another in the best
thrillers of all time. Sort of a slog. A semigood
story involving black/white relations in what sounds
like Newark, NJ, a mom who claims her car and young
child were stolen a young black man, etc. No more
thrillers for a while, so:

ATTENTION PCC PEOPLE: I've started reading "Travels
with Charlie" that came with my lantern. Did you know
that the intro was written by Jay Perini of Middlebury College?

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Wednesday February20

Went this morning to do laundry and got talking to a
couple from Michigan, Tony and Pam, who were bemoaning
having brought their kayaks and not doing any
kayaking. We said goodbye and I went back to my
laundry. About ½ hour later they came back and Pam
offered to drop me and Tony 8 miles up the Rio Grande
so we could float back to the campground. Went
through groves of bamboo, two small canyons and
dragged our bottoms (of the kayaks) through very
shallow rapids, floated down long stretches of calm
water and saw lots of birds and turtles. What a
treat.

Caught up with the Big Bend bird guy, Ranger Mark, who
convinced me that I had not seen a Flame colored
tanager, as they have been sighted in Big Bend only 4
times in his memory. It was probably a vermillion
flycatcher that wasn't fully breeding plumaged. I
also saw some spotted sandpipers. They have no spots
in the winter. In Vermont we only see them with
spots. Also saw today, white-throated swift, black
phoebe, tricolored heron, canyon towhee, pink-sided
junco.

Drove to Chisos Basin in the middle of Big Bend. You
climb steeply for about 5 miles then drop into a basin
surrounded by high craggy mountains. It was the first
big tug for the Suby and trailer and it did fine,
slowly, but fine. There's a very fancy lodge and
restaurant here, a small store that carries Splenda (I
was running very short) and Folgers coffee (I bought
some of that too, I was desperate). The campground is
below the little village and out of sight. As I drove
in there was a small herd of eight or nine Javelinas
including two babies grazing on some grass. I stopped
the car to take a picture just as a person walking a
dog came around the corner. The dog started barking
and the Javelinas took off. It amazes me how many RVs
travel with a little shit dog. Many have two. There
are all kinds of signs confining dogs to paved areas
only. I want to drown every one of them.

My campsite is at the edge of a cliff and looks west.
The sunset through the sharply outlined peaks was very
fine. The moon came up full and I could just see the
beginning of the lunar eclipse. It was about ¾ in
shadow when clouds rolled in.

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Tuesday February 19

Met a retired, divorced kayaker from Green Bay, WI.
He's been traveling for 3 years. Spends spring and
fall in Green Bay volunteering at a Nature Center. He
seems to be living pretty high off the hog as they
say. I asked him how he manages. He has a state
pension, state paid medical insurance and Social
Security.

We decided to try to paddle down the Rio Grande
through the Boquillas Canyon and paddle back, about 14
miles altogether. When we went to get a river permit
the ranger looked at us like we were crazy. Nobody,
apparently, tries to paddle back against the current.
We told him we were pretty experienced and he just
nodded. We got on the river, went about ¼ mile then
just for fun turned around to try to paddle upstream.
We almost didn't make it back to our starting point.
So we kayaked about ¼ mile upstream before we lost all
energy and floated back to the takeout.

So we wouldn't feel completely defeated (and not
willing to drop the river permit back off after only 2
hours) we hiked to the hot springs, about 6 miles out
and back. I've posted a picture of a view from on top
of a bluff but it just doesn't do it justice.

Saw a white tailed dove. Also saw a bird with the
brightest red head and orange chest sitting on a tree
on the Mexico side of the river. The Golden Field
guide has a Western Tanager that looks a little like
it. Doug, the divorced kayaker, had a Western Sibley
(a bird guide, for you nonavians) and the bird seems
to be a Flaming Tanager, uncommon in the southern US
and northern Mexico. Pretty cool.

The moon looks pretty close to full. It's about 65
degrees and a very pleasant breeze. My campsite is
surrounded by trees that grow to about 15 feet high
then go looking for each other. I'm under a canopy of
leafless branches and the moon is shining through
them. There's a lunar eclipse tomorrow and I'm headed
up to the high point of Big Bend where there is a
campground and a lodge which is suppose to make a
great breakfast.

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Monday February 18

Woke up to the coldest morning yet, frost on the car
windows. It was too cold and too dark to make coffee
so I went to Shirley's Bakery, actually now owned by
Don. THey boys there told me that Marathon waxed and
waned as far as becoming something. It was now on the
wane.

Drove to Big Bend National Park and Wow. Cliffs,
mountains, canyons, cacti, desert. I'm in the SE part
of the park, right on the Rio Grande. Went for a bike
ride to an overlook. As I rode in a young Mexican boy
scurried away, down the slope, hopped onto a horse and
rode across the river, which is only about 25 yards
wide. Sitting at the side of the parking lot was an
assortment of homemade souvenirs for sale with a small
sign in very poor English asking that people buy the
stuff and leave money in the jar as they are very poor
and 9/11 has cut their tourism to 0. Sitting on the
Mexican bank were 5 or 6 other people and a number of
goats. Before 9/11 people waded back and forth across
the Rio Grande to shop, see relatives, sell trinkets
or eat Mexican food. Now, even though you could
almost jump across the river, there are no official
crossing points in Big Bend. The 4 little towns right
on the river have died.

Took a short hike to some hot springs. Someone built
a spa on the banks of the Rio Grande in the 30's
hoping to make it big in the healing trade. All
that's left are a few abandoned buildings and the
foundation of the bath house which acts as a tub for
the hot water that bubbles up. One wall of the bath
separates it from the river. So you can get in the
100 degree water, jump in the cold river and back into
the bath. Two families from Marseille were soaking.
One teenage daughter speaks four languages fluently,
they all spoke English well enough to have a
conversation. And I let them know that Mareseille is
on the Atlantic (it's on the Meditteranean).

The part of the campground with hookups is pretty
small. So a lot of RV's use generators when they
can't plug in. I'm in the no generator part. I
walked through the generator area on my way to the
bathroom and it sounds like a hive of drunk baritone
bees.

It's warm tonight. I'm seeing the first bugs of the
trip: little moths flying around the

lantern.

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Sunday February 17

I'm in Marathon, TX tonight at the Marathon Motel and
RV Park. From the road it looks like it's out of
business. But I'm sitting in front of a fire in a
beautiful adobe courtyard with an outside outlet and
wifi. For we involutary celibates, this is as good as
it gets. And it only cost $10 to camp.

Paddled up the Pecos River this morning hoping to get
to high, narrow Dead Man's Canyon. But the wind
became so strong as it funneled down through the
Pecos Canyon that I turned around and headed back
towards the Rio Grande. Didn't have to paddle, just a
course correction now and then. At the Rio Grande I
turned left and paddled a couple miles to more cave
paintings that can only be accessed by boat. Met a
couple other kayakers from San Antonio. Air Force.
Law and order types. Said Bye. When I got back to
the boat ramp, two dachshunds with life jackets on
jumped out of a fishing boat.

The other side of the Rio Grande is Mexico and the
border between the two countries runs down the middle
of the river. I was told by a few people not to get
too close to the Mexican side as the Mexican border
police are so pissed at what's going on with illegals
that they have become a little unpredictable when they
catch an American.

Marathon looks like it's trying to be a mini Sedona.
Little galleries and chichi coffee shops (none open
this time of year). There was only one grocery and
you could buy wasabi and pickled ginger.

Saw canyon wren, golden-fronted woodpecker,
mockingbird, white crowned sparrow, pyrrhuloxia, lark
bunting, cactus wren.

This area of Texas reminds me of Newfoundland. Miles
of spare, treeless ground. Canyons that look like
bays on the SW coast. I feel very comfortable here.
The night is clear and the ¾ moon is right over head
throwing shadows into the trailer.

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Saturday February16

One of the joys of traveling is discovering the myriad
ways institutions have of foiling the public's
insatiable desire for toilet paper, I've seen bunwad
as thin as tissue paper and as narrow as the width of
4 fingers. I've seen dispensers that forced Rosemary
Woods style contortions to retrieve. Today, at
Seminole Canyon State Park in the great state of Texas
I think I've found the world champion. The paper is
as delicate as gold leaf and about the width of a
dollar bill. But the real genius is the delivery
system. The roll doesn't have a cardboard core. It
has been slid onto an oversized arm that deforms the
whole cylinder and doesn't allow it to rotate, even
using two hands. And with a full roll there is
almost no room to slide the paper backwards over
itself. Another of the top ten reasons Texas should
be sold back to Mexico.

Woke up to the worst weather yet, cold, rainy, windy.
Couldn't keep the stove lit for the wind so I drove
over to the visitor center that was a little out of
the breeze. Had my coffee and waited for the rangers
to decide if there was going to be a morning tour of
the cave drawings. The walk was cancelled so I headed
west. Stopped at a high bridge over the Pecos River.
It was magnificent. To the south I could see where it
emptied into the Rio Grande and to the north the river
ran through a very high canyon.

I drove on to Langtry and the combination tourist info
center and Judge Roy Beane Museum. He was the "law
west of the Pecos" in the late 1800's. A saloon owner
deputized as a judge to bring law and order to the
instant towns created by the workers building the new
railroad. He held court in the saloon and the actual
building is still there.

The weather was getting better as the morning
progressed so I turned around and headed back to
Seminole Canyon State Park to see about the afternoon
tour. We walked down into the canyon and along the
solid rock river bed. Then climbed stairs to the Fate
Bell Cave (Fate Bell was the landowner who sold the
property to the state). About 4000 years ago a
nomadic group of people lived in the area and spent a
significant amount of time in this well protected,
enormous overhang of rock. The paintings stretch for
about 100 yards along the back wall. There's even
some graffiti from the railroad workers who had a camp
nearby in the 1880's. No one knows what happened to
this group. An anthropologist, specifically a
coprologist (one who specializes in the study of
coprolites or petrified poop) studied their shit and
published a diet book based upon what he felt was
their very healthy regimen.

Talked to my first left winger on the trip. A
grandfather camping out for the weekend with his two
grandsons. He has a 1958 trailer that he refinished,
shaped like a teardrop but just big enough to stand up
in. He lives in San Antonio and really likes Pat
Leahy, gives money to him and is on the special donors
email list. He's annoyed with Pat because,
apparently, the senate just passed Bush's intelligence
bill. I've got to find a newspaper.

The wind has come up very strongly again. But it is
clear and a beautiful sunset. I've got the Toaster
door open with the Coleman lantern swinging on a
hanger I concocted to provide light when there's no electricity.

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Friday February 15

Left Laredo pretty early. In Carizo Springs I visited
Dixondale Farms, the largest and oldest onion plant
business in the US. Mrs. Onion showed me around the
packing facility and Mr. around the fields. They grow
onions from seed and pick them for replanting. They
used to grow whole onions but couldn't make any money.
They have a big mail order business and do
drop-shipping for, among others, Johnny's Seeds in
Maine. TRUE FACT ALERT! Onions are sensitive to the
length of the day. Short day onions grow in the south
with about 10-12 hours of daily sunlight. Long day
ones grow in the north with 14-16 hours of sun. And
never the twain shall meet. Seeds to plants, however,
are not day length sensitive so Dixondale grows onions
for all areas of the country. I walked a field that
had just been tilled over looking for orphans and ate
my fill of little sweet raw onions.

Bought gas at a minimart with a drivethru grocery.

Stopped in Del Rio for lunch. Had the best taco ever,
the "Super Taco" with two flour tortillas, chicken,
beef and guacamole. Got chatting with another
customer who said that Del Rio is a baseball town.
Lots of leagues all summer. The best players cross
over to Mexico on the weekends because they can get
paid for playing on semipro teams.

Camping tonight at Seminole Canyon State Park. On a
mesa, bordered by a small canyon overlooking miles and
miles of high desert. Saw a cactus wren. The wind is
very strong and it's getting chilly, though I'm quite
comfortable in the Toaster. Tried to make coffee this
afternoon and the wind kept blowing out the burner.
Had to reposition the trailer to get the back end out
of the wind. Success.

Went for a bike ride, criss crossing the old Southern
Pacific road bed made in 1883 connecting New Orleans
and San Francisco.

Just remembered a story from the Alamo. When Santa
Ana laid seige to the Alamo he sent a messenger with
the terms of surrender. The commander of the Alamo
forces rejected the terms and sent back the message
"Come and get us" or words to that effect. Reminded
me of our own Texan George W's "Bring it on." Maybe
it's the water.

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Thursday February 14

Headed towards Laredo and stopped in Alice to visit
the Tejano Roots Music Hall of Fame. It was a little
cinder block building with a big sign in front. But
noone showed up at opening time and the taco stand
person across the street didn't know anything about
it. I called the number in the tourist brochure and a
lawyer's office answered and said they'd had the the
number for a year and had gotten lots of calls for the
museum. A mystery.

Stopped at a really out of the way Mexican restaurant.
I was the only anglo. There was a spanish language
soap on the TV and pure white country on the
loudspeakers. The food was ok.

Got to Lake Casa Blanca International Park in the late
afternoon. It's in the middle of Laredo, convenient
to the airport and convention center. But I did see
my first roadrunner: and odd looking bird that doesn't
go "beep beep". Also saw a black throated sparrow.
Took a quick drive into Laredo and it was like going
into a foreign country. The downtown is totally
Hispanic. There are two bridges right in the middle
of the city that cross the Rio Grande into Mexico.
One is for walkers and people were streaming back and
forth.

Laredo has a 16 day George Washington's birthday
celebration. This is the 110th year. This weekend
there's a carnival (rides and such).

The weather this afternoon was hot. Low 80's. All
the shops had air conditioning on. It's very pleasant
tonight. A nice breeze. I'll sleep with the door open.

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Wednesday February 13

It was cold when I woke up. Made coffee and watched
the sunrise. Went on another bird walk and saw
pie-billed grebe, black bellied plover, bufflehead,
snowy plover, forster's tern and a peregrine falcon.

In the afternoon it warmed up to the middle 60's. I
went for a long paddle up the intracoastal waterway.
There are islands made of the mud dredged from the
waterway, very small and covered with houses. In the
distance are oil platforms and a huge refinery. A
couple large barges went by. The intracoastal
waterway is dredged to about 7 feet deep and the
channel is not very wide. The large barges regularly
knock over the large wooden piles that define the
edges of channel. The whole Laguna Madre is about 2.5
miles wide and outside the Intracoastal Waterway,
which runs up the middle, it's only 2-4 feet deep.

Chatted with a retired couple from Durango, CO, the
first people I've talked to who were camping in a
tent. They are big canoers but just bought an
inflatable double kayak and were giving it a tryout.
It looked huge but weighs only about 65 pounds.

Spent a while talking to Titus from Anchorage. He's
31, grew up in Homer, AK and started working on
fishing boats in junior high. A gentle man trying to
figure out what he wants to do when he grows up. He
and his wife, Desiree, are heading towards Bryce and
Zion and we might reconnect there.

Cooked up another big batch of noodles, chicken and
veggies, food for the week. I always have a much
better relationship to food when I'm on vacation. The
constant gnawing yearning to eat disappears. I've
lost another notch on my belt.

Heading out tomorrow for Laredo. Remember Allen
Sherman, My Son the Folk Singer:

(Sung with a Yiddish accent)
As I wandered out on the streets of Miami
I said to myself this is some fancy place.
I got me a room at the old Roni Plaza
With breakfast and dinner included of course.

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Tuesday February 12

Went on a bird walk this morning with a volunteer
couple, married 58 years. The other couple along have
been married 52 years. The volunteers really knew
their stuff. This is their fifth year here. The
first thing they showed us was a closed circuit tv
picture of a barn owl nesting with two young in a
crevice in a storage shed at the park headquarters.
Through the morning we saw sandhill cranes, mottled
ducks, white faced ibis, savannah sparrow, caspian
tern and lesser yellowlegs. The guides had been in the
Everglades doing bird walks for the national park for
ten years before coming here. They were told to stop
doing the bird walks so that there would be complaints
from campers which would, hopefully, put pressure on
the higher-ups to increase funding.

In the afternoon I went for a short paddle to an
island to see white pelicans. Then an enormous
thunder cloud appeared. We had a little rain, lots of
hail south of us. As soon as the front passed the
wind came up and it's still blowing strongly. I went
into town and did laundry.

Realized some time last night that I have been
freaking out about the drop in the stock market and
the consequent drop in my own asset picture. Trying
to get a grip now. We used to joke about my father
that he was only happy when he had something to worry
about. I seem also to need to find something to worry
about but it doesn't make me happy. Kathleen Ready
suggested I start meditating again. Paddling seems to
help.

Met a young couple from Anchorage who work there from
April to September and travel the rest of the time.
They live in their RV all the time.

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Monday February 11

Went to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, winter home of
whooping and sandhill cranes. Saw 3 whooping cranes
in the distance and another flew right overhead.
Didn't see any sandhills. Also saw a coot, little
blue heron, wilson's plover, ring-necked duck, common
moorhen, and a crested caracara. In the nonbird
category, a javelina, a sort of wild pig, an
armadillo, some very large alligators and a water
moccassin skittering across the road.

In the afternoon I drove back to the Padre Island
National Seashore and set up camp in a boondocking
area- free but no electric or water, just a couple pit
toilets. But it's right on the water. I wanted to
camp on the beach but it's too windy so I'm on the bay
side or Laguna Madre. I was just settleing in with my
book when the RV next to me turned on a very loud
generator. The camphost said that all's fair until
10:00 PM and apparently boondockers are generator
crazy. So, in the dark, I moved a ways down the shore
and found a very quiet spot. Made a hanger for the
Colerman Lantern and I'm snug as can be.

The weather is supposed to be pretty crummy tomorrow.
Might be a Corpus Christi sightseeing day.

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Sunday February 10

Rode the bike to Port Arensas. Serious beach town
with lots of bars and tattoo parlors but no fried
dough joints. Went birdwatching in the afternoon and
saw some I'd never seen before ("lifelisters" for you
non-avians): ruddy turnstone, long-billed curlew,
roseate spoonbill.

Visited with a guy from British Columbia who was 1.
About my age 2. single
3. Travelling in a teardrop 4. A birdwatcher 5. Had a
fancy mountain bike. But there the similarities
ended. He doesn't cook or have a cooler. He goes to
Walmarts and buys meals in pouches that can be
boiled. A very nice person. Lives near Banff. He
collected coins his whole life. Has spent the last
two years selling them on Ebay. One of his best
customers is in St. Albans.

Another kind camper from Bellingham, WA who travels
with an ohmmeter helped me fix the problem with the
battery in the Toaster not charging. However, the
lights of the car now flash continuously even when the
key is turned off. So I've disconnected the battery
cables and will call Junction Suby tomorrow morning.
He has a small fishing boat on the top of his truck
and an motorized gizmo that takes the boat and sets it
on the ground (and picks it back up again.)

Another pleasant evening. I slept with the toaster
door open last night and will again tonight.

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Saturday February 9

Drove down to the National Seashore on Padre Island.
There's free camping right on the water. A good place
to put in the kayak. I'm paid up here til Monday,
then I'll move over there.

Bought a Coleman lantern like we had when I was
growing up. It really throws a lot of light. I've
been spoiled so far this trip with staying in
campgrounds with electricity. Time to start roughing
it.

So I bought sushi for lunch.

Did some food shopping and cooked up a big pot of
stuff to eat for the next few days.

Finished the second of the thriller books I brought
along. A John MacDonald, Travis Gunther whodunnit,
"The Deep Blue Goodbye". A pretty pulpy standard kind
of adventure. Travis Gunther tells the story in the
first person and tries to convince the reader that he
only uses sex and violence for theraputic purposes.

Spent the afternoon on the beach. Saw a bird I'd
never seen before, royal terns: black head, a black
crown and bright orange bill, like a bad haloween
makeup job. Also saw another teardrop camped on the
beach. Bigger than mine and a great looking galley.
Nobody was home so I'll check again tomorrow.

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Saturday February 9

Drove down to the National Seashore on Padre Island. There's free camping
right on the water. A good place to put in the kayak. I'm paid up here
til Monday, then I'll move over there.

Bought a Coleman lantern like we had when I was growing up. It really
throws a lot of light. I've been spoiled so far this trip with staying in
campgrounds with electricity. Time to start roughing it.

So I bought sushi for lunch.

Did some food shopping and cooked up a big pot of stuff to eat for the
next few days.

Finished the second of the thriller books I brought along. A John
MacDonald, Travis Gunther whodunnit, "The Deep Blue Goodbye". A pretty
pulpy standard kind of adventure. Travis Gunther tells the story in the
first person and tries to convince the reader that he only uses sex and
violence for theraputic purposes.

Spent the afternoon on the beach. Saw a bird I'd never seen before, royal
terns: black head, a black crown and bright orange bill, like a bad
haloween makeup job. Also saw another teardrop camped on the beach.
Bigger than mine and a great looking galley. Nobody was home so I'll
check again tomorrow.

Friday February 8

History day in Texas. Went to the South Texas Oil
Patch Museum. About the oil strike in the Luling area
financed and supervised by a guy who made his money in
Brockton, MA. Too long a story to go into about how
he got to Texas. There are a number of wells pumping
in the middle of Luling. The curator said that with
the rise in oil prices a lot of the capped wells are
going to be reopened. Even if each only produces 3
barrels a day, that's 90 a month and $6300 at $70 a
barrell.

Had breakfast at The Coffee Shop in Luling. It looked
like any small town diner. Except it had a 4 head
espresso machine and a two shelf selection of Italian
syrups. Apparently, people from Austin are buying
houses in Luling and commuting because of the low
property values. About an hour commute.

Went to Helena, TX population 35 and falling. A
hundred years ago it was at the crossing of two
stagecoach roads and the San Antonio River crossing
for cattle herds being driven north, a populous town
with shops, doctors and the only judge for hundreds of
miles. JD Smith, a retired high school football coach
from San Antonio, showed me around the few historic
buildings left.. The story goes that a son of one of
the town patriarchs was shot in a gunfight. The
killer was never brought to justice (as the saying
goes) so dad vowed to ruin the town. When the
railroad was being planned he made sure that it
bypassed Helena and that was it for the little town.
JD showed me the home of the founder of Helena. It
was a very spacious house with 10 foot ceilings to aid
in keeping the temp at human level more comfortable.

I'm now at Mustang Island State Park, near Corpus
Christi. You get here by crossing ¼ mile stretch of
water on a commuter ferry. Six run at once and there
3 docking spaces at each end. And it's free. The
campground is completely paved. I discovered that you
can drive right onto the beach and camp. I'm thinking
about moving there if the weather holds. Once the sun
went down there were no people outside. There are no
fire pits. Folk don't seem to stand around and chat.
But the beach is beautiful, very few people. You can
see oil drilling platforms far offshore.

Some things I've noticed: Buses with Spanish names
that cater to Mexicans traveling back and forth across
the US border. White pelicans.

Hello to people from the Teardrops and TTT site.
MadJack, it's nice to know people still make gumbo
like in the olden days. And, Roly N,
thanks for your kind words.

There's a pretty strong wind blowing tonight. I've
bungied down the top hatch to keep it from rattling.
But it's warm enough to have the door open and the
breeze coming through is delightful. No peepers
tonight but lots of crickets.

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Thursday February 7

Woke up to a very chilly morning. But, I think my
favorite part of camping is sitting at picnic table
first thing and having a cup of coffee. There was a
thick mist coming off the little pond I'm camping on.
And I put on gloves.

Unhooked the toaster and drove into San Antonio. The
downtown is in the process of being demolished and
rebuilt. The area around the Alamo seems to be the
only area remaining untouched. Although, over the
years, many of the buildings of the Alamo were torn
down so today, only the chapel and part of the
barracks still exists. The guides were interesting
and because there were so few people visiting they had
plenty of time to tell all kinds of stories. Was Davy
Crockett killed in the battle or executed afterwards?
Did Sam Houston come to the southwest to annoy Santa
Anna and foment revolution at Andrew Jackson's behest
or was he just a drunk looking for some action?

Downtown San Antonio is a tourist haven designed by a
thoughtful planner. The river walk is pretty; a long
canal like waterway missing only gondolas. And lots
of artsy shops. Went to the Museo de Alameda, a
converted movie house. Great exhibits of Latino music
and art. The ticket person set me onto a beautiful
church with wonderful stained glass windows and a
Mexican bakery in the hispanic section of San Antonio.

On the way back to the campground on I-10, I passed,
in the distance, a strange looking building on what
seemed to be a very large ranch. Turns out it is a
Buddhist center. I tried to get a closer look but the
gates were locked. There were lots of cars. They
seem to be keeping a very low profile. No signs except
ranchy looking entrances with the words "Silver Wolf
Ranch".

Stopped in Luling, also on the way back. Had great
BBQ and took a pic of the water tower painted to look
like a watermelon. They've been having a watermelon
festival for 50 years or so complete with queen and
largest melon (no smirking) competition. The largest
so far is 81 pounds.

Another clear night and nice fire. The camphost
brought over cookies his wife had just baked.

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Wednesday February 6

Drove to Palmetto State Park outside Gonzalez, TX about 50 miles east of San Antonio.  Stopped in Hallettsville, one of the many communities in Central Texas with a strong German-Czech heritage.  I haven't been able to find out why so many settled here.  But there are many sausage makers, kolaschke bakers and beer brewers in the area.  In the museum in Hallettsville I met two older women whose grandfathers came over from Germany.  There were also, in the 30's to the 50's a very active semipro baseball league in the area and the museum contains the Hall of Fame for the league.

The campground is deserted.  Only the camp host and one other tenter all the way at the other end.  Had a nice fire tonight.  It's very clear so there are lots of stars but it's supposed to get pretty cold.

There are lots of billboards in Louisiana advertising casinos.  Every one of them has a black border across the bottom with white lettering with the phone number for Gamblers Anonymous.  Saw a huge billboard advertising a medical practice that reverses vasectomies, including a money-back guarantee.  

Tuesday February 5

Woke up this morning to drizzle and fog.  Everything in the toaster was damp.  Walked around Biloxi a little and discovered that everything is closed on Fat Tuesday: schools, museums, banks, restaurants, etc.  And by 9:00 AM the town was festooned with confederate flags and empty Bud cans.  WIth the weather looking no better I headed out without waiting for the parade.

Got into Louisiana and found everything closed there too.  Even the visitor info center on the interstate.  So I continued west.  The high point of the afternoon was sampling boudin, a cajun sausage made with rice, wheat and some sort of meat or fish.  Kilbasa it wasn't but the woman behind the counter had the most wonderful accent.

I'm camped tonight at Sam Houston Jones State Park outside Port Arthur, LA just a few miles from the Texas border.  Chatting with a couple who live only a few miles from here I got the cooking tip of the year.  To make gumbo you have to make a roux, a mixture of oil and flour and you have to cook it, stirring constantly until it darkens.  This can take up to a half hour.  But wait.  All the grocery stores down here sell bottled roux.  According to this couple, nobody in Louisiana makes it from scratch anymore.  

Finished "The Thirty-nine Steps", one of the earliest 20th century whodunnits.  Apparently, Hitchcock's movie was loosely based on this book.  My brother sent me a list of the 50 greatest thrillers of all time so I ordered a few before I left home and am starting to work my way down the pile.  I can't remember where this one was rated.

There's a pleasant breeze and no bugs.  I've got the Toaster door open and can hear some peepers.

Monday February 4

Sitting on the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi outside the Beau Rivage (translation: beautiful loser) Casino.  The whole downtown of Biloxi is casinos and the eight story parking garages for the players.  I'm set up in a municipal parking lot with about 20 other RVers waiting for the Fat Tuesday carnival parade tomorrow afternoon which goes along the highway right in front of us.  The gulf beach is right behind the parking lot.  I watched folk all afternoon climb out of their cars carrying loaves of bread to feed to the seagulls.

Left St. George Island early this morning.  Great weather again.  In Apalachicola I saw a sign pointing out the direction to the Ice Macine Museum.  I couldn't resist, so: TRUE FACT ALERT!  In teh 1830's a Dr. Gorrie tried to find a way to cool down the sick rooms of people afflicted with various ot weather diseases.  He developed a refrigeration machine that made ice and it was quite the hit.  But when he tried to market it, the northern ice lobby (the companies that made money by cutting ice out of New England ponds and transporting it south) was able to keep him from finding a manufacturer.  He apparently died an unhappy man.

The drive from Apalachicola to Biloxi:  Imagine Myrtle Beach.  Now imagine Myrtle Beach stretching for 200 miles.  It was so bad on Rt 98 that ran along the water that Interstate 10, with all it's monstrous billboards, was a relief.

When I got to the Mississippi visitors center I asked about a state park I was thinking about staying at.  The info person said that the park was closed because there were still Hurricane Katrina victims living there in FEMA housing.

Saturday February 2

A beautiful day.  Mid 60's and a little breeze.  Went for a bike ride and spent the afternoon on the beach.  Interesting conversation with a young guy, wife and two kids who farm 4000 acres of rice, soybeans and wheat in Mississippi.  The rows he plants are so long that the tractor is automatically steered by GPS to keep the rows straight.

My campsite has become a meetingplace for birds with ugly calls.  I'm surrounded by grackles and catbirds.  Every now and then a cardinal manages a few musical notes but is quickly drowned out by the painful squaks of the regulars.

Invited the retired couple in the next campsite over for a fire; he, a commercial artist and she, a banker, from Michigan.  the only liberals I've met so far. 

February 1

Left Okeefenokee in the rain.  Went around Talahassee down to the Florida Gulf Coast, across a 4 mile bridge and onto St. George Island.  THe state park is past what looks like a cross between Hampden Beach and the most expensive parts of Cape Cod.  It's at the end of the island and is lovely.  Spent the afternoon on teh beach.  Tshirt weather.  Very few people.

THere are no tenters in the campground.  The RV next to me has Christmas lights hung around the campsite.  It's both eerie, because there are no people to be seen, and very pleasantly quiet because all are inside their big machines.  I'm the youngest person here.

Had a nice fire tonight.  Then walked out to the beach to see the stars and hear the ocean.

Attention PCC people: I really, really like my new lantern.  It has become the chandelier over the galley, throws lots of light and recharges quickly.

Thursday January 31

I JUST LOVE MY NEW STOVETOP ESPRESSO MAKER!  Much easier than the plastic filter cone and paper.

Woke up to a cold, windy morning.  Put on my parka and went on the 10:00 guided tour of Okeefenokee Swamp.  I was the only tourist; two guides.  Saw an alligator and black vulture (we only have turkey vultures in VT).  And there's never been an alligator attack that the guides know of.  TRUE FACT ALERT:  In the 1890's, a General Jackson bought the swamp from the State of Georgia hoping to drain it and make a killing logging the cypress trees.  As the swamp sits 100 feet above the surrounding country, he figured he could just poke a hole in the edge and all the water would pour out.  Because of some strange hydrology, nothing happened when he dynamited for the first canal.  He went bankrupt.

In the afternoon the sun came out so I kayaked Way Down Upon the Swanee River.  It's called the Suwannee now and runs through the swamp (hence Stephen Foster State Park).  The river widens to about 100 feet and narrows to just a few and I had to zigzag between cypress trees.  No one else on the water.

A camper stopped by curious about the Toaster.  She and her husband live in Portland, OR and plan their RV trip every winter to make their first stop in Al Gadona, Mexico, just across the border from Yuma, AZ to get their dental work done.  Apparently, it costs about a tenth what it does in the US and they are very satisfied with the quality of the work.

Paid $4.50 for an industrially sealed plastic bag containing 6 small pieces of firewood.  Fortunately, I found a large limb and with a borrowed ax was able to produce $9.00 more.  Had a great fire.  But there are no stars tonight and thunder showers are forecast for tomorrow.  So I connected the trailer for a quick getaway in the morning if the weather is lousy.

Wednesday January 30

A traveling day today. From Beaufort to the Stephen Foster Campground in the middle of the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia, right on teh Florida Border.  I stopped for BBQ on the way at a drive-up near Waycross and the woman behind the counter, in all seriousness, told me I shouldn't kayak in the swamp because some of the alligators are bigger than the kayak.  

After chatting for a while, the BBQ lady asked if I'd like some catfish.  Thinking she was going to offer me a taste of somethng she was cooking, I said sure.  She came out and walked me to the side of the house where there was a large sink with 4 enormous live catfish.  I gratefully declined.

There are about 45 sites in the campground and only 5 are occupied.  It is very quiet and I miss the sound of the ocean of the last few nights.

Cooked my first real meal in the Toaster.  Bought some chicken, veggies and noodles and made a goulash.  I must get some more spices as I think I'm already getting tired of salt, pepper and Frank's Hot Sauce.  The galley kitchen works well.

Had lots of time to think today.  I'm still yoyoing between being so excited to be on the road and wondering what I've gotten myself in to.  I wonder how much of this angst is simply the loss of routine not having the security of predictability.  There are so few campers here that t registragion, the range said to just pick any site I liked.  One more decision to make.  No, I'm not complaining.

The campsites all have water, electricity and cable TV hookup.