Category Archives: Southwest trip

Galveston Beach

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"Galveston, oh, Galveston,
I still hear your seawaves crashin,…"

On the way to Galveston Beach State Park, we took the ferry across the Houston ship channel.

Halfway across, we downloaded Glen Campbell’s "Galveston" and listened to it the rest of the crossing – and thought of it as we walked the beach that afternoon.

Just after checking in, we saw this neat White-tailed Kite just outside the office. We hope to see others this weekend.

After setting up, we walked the beach barefoot (the water was refreshing but not swimmable) and saw this Willet, which got Penny’s attention.

These Sanderlings were fun to watch. The second photo shows them and the Willet.

It is time to bone up on shorebirds, again.

Au Revoir Louisiana

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After thawing ourselves and the rig out at Fontainbleau State Park where we took a long walk and saw this Bald Eagle along with a number of American Coots, some Common Gallinules, and numerous kinglets and warblers.

Here are a few other shots from our stay.

We headed westward on I-10 for a night at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles, LA. It was dark as we set up and Penny had her first encounter, this trip, with an armadillo. They drive her nuts.

Before leaving Thursday, we took a long walk and paused by this young Long-Needle pine tree.

Off to the Lone Star State. Happy trails to you all.

Some Louisiana Birds

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By Louisiana standards, it was a bit chilly as we headed out birding yesterday.

We took a leisurely walk yesterday and saw dozens of birds, including this shy Yellow-rumped Warbler who along with his cousins, was foraging with the underbrush. Not that easy to spot until he moved. Can you spot him?

Fontainebleau State Park is located on the northern end of Lake Ponchartrain and home to many shore and water birds like these cormorants, one of whom has a nice meal in its beak.

The Loggerhead Shrike often sits quite patiently for prey and photos.

And you never know who or what is hidden in the Spanish moss. Good birding my friends.

 

 

A Cold and Windy Trip

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January is always a dicey month, weather-wise and we took an extra day to better prepare and to give me a chance to check Grow Compost for the other rare gull that has been hanging out there. Sure enough, driving in for a quick check, I spotted the Glaucous Gull – a life bird among the chickens and Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.

Thanks to our friend Terry with a last minute sanding job on the icy driveway, I positioned the Interstate in downtown Montpelier and early Wednesday morning, we launched for Pennsylvania. It was a long trip but uneventful although the tractor-trailers on I-81 were their usual challenge — many of them and all moving fast.

We visited Sally’s brother-in-law in Charlottesville, Virginia the next night and after a long drive and just beating a sleet event, we hunkered down during a tough storm that shutdown the region. Two days later, we are at Fontainebleau State Park in Louisiana still battling sub-freezing nights but the forecast is great. Yesterday, we took a cold walk and saw dozens of Eastern Bluebirds and other neat birds, including this Red-headed Woodpecker who was feeding with his buddies.

Today is a thawing-out day for the rig and for us. We intend to stay here for a few days after a long trip and wait for the 70 degree temperatures tomorrow.

A Week To Go

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Next Tuesday, my friend Sally, my dog Penny, and I plan to launch for the Southwest. It will be nice to escape the winter ice and snow and hope for a better year ahead, after the tragic losses of 2016.

The trick will be to get down our icy driveway and out of the snowbelt.

This is the first SW trip with the Interstate van and I know I have a lot less storage space than the truck/trailer combination. We are trying to be smart about choices of clothing and gear but we may well be sending excess stuff back to Vermont or buying things that we left behind. It will be an adventure in becoming more efficient.

The plan is to stay in motels the first few nights since the rig is winterized and we are too old for cold icy Walmart overnights. Been there, done that. About day four we will be in Louisiana and can catch our breath, thaw out the rig, and get ready to head west.

We hope to spend time in Texas (Goose Island SP, Big Bend NP), Arizona, and California – hooking up with relatives and friends in the San Diego/LA area.

This morning, our driveway was glare ice – the worst I’ve seen in 15 years here. My friend Terry showed up mid-morning with a dump truck and a load of sand and right now, the way is clear for launch. I’ll watch the weather closely to try to get below the Mason-Dixon line without winter driving conditions. So stay tuned for some hopefully not too exciting trip reports — I’ll try to save the excitement for the bird species we see. Wishing you a good 2017 ahead and hopes that the new president will surprise us with some good judgement and decisions. Peace my friends.

Six Weeks To Go

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Having gone to bed and then awakened early to the horrific news from Paris, it was good to be nudged out for an early dog walk by Penny. I had heard a rifle shot while it was just getting light so we put on our orange and went out to face the elements. Snow pellets and wind greeted us.

We stopped for “cold noses selfie” along the way.

On the way back, I noted that the back of the house is looking wintry – no solar today.

I couldn’t help but think, “It’s still six weeks before we head south” but remembered that we have a quick trip to CA next week which get us out of cold, grey Vermont for a bit.

The bees, who had a good fly day a week ago, are tucked in and with luck, ready for a long winter.

I only heard a nuthatch during our walk but found a mob scene at our feeders, led by five brassy Blue Jays. Chickadees, juncoes, woodpeckers, nuthatches, even a brownish American Goldfinch were sharing the suet and seeds. The dog warmed up fast with her accustomed place by the wood stove.

Meanwhile the Airstream sits down by the road, looking a bit forlorn, as we await the departure. It’s winterized, empty for now, but I suspect waiting, like us, for travel to warmer climes.

I know that while we are traveling – or for that matter – camping, wifi will be very limited so I’m practicing photographing and posting from my iPhone using Poster. It has limits but when all you have is a spotty cell signal, it does the job.

Happy deer season folks.

Vote for the Boats

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You may recall that we sold our kayaks and purchased two super light Hornbeck boats this summer. We like them a lot but wonder about lugging them 7,000 miles, much of which is desert, for the relatively few chances we might have to paddle. I have worried about possible theft – they are attractive, unique, easy-to-remove, and expensive to replace.

I am a member of a Facebook group called “Hornbeck Boat Lovers” and decided to post my concerns and ask for advice. Most commenters said that they used bike locks and had no problems. The consensus was that it is easy to saw through the wood thwarts but most thieves were probably looking for something more portable. One guy wrote “I’ve got two locks and a sign that says ‘smile you’re on camera’ for subterfuge.”

I looked into insurance under my auto policy and I can get a policy with $500 deductibles for $100 a year. I am not sure whether to pursue that – if I lose one boat I pay $600 to replace a $1300 craft.

Lastly, I looked over our travel plans to determine just how many paddling opportunities we might have. On the way out, we might have chance at one of our two-day stops but the best chance would be at Patagonia Lake – which is perfect for birding and paddling and we are scheduled for two weeks. I don’t think I’ll try the Pacific Ocean but you never know.

Returning, we’ll have more campgrounds with chances to paddle (South Llano, Falcon, Goose Island, Village Creek). I estimate that I’ll probably paddle a dozen times and Mary will try it a few times.

Lock1kW

We have two bike locks and locking racks.

The weak link, so to speak, is the wooden cross-piece. I might add a metal strip for the trip.

The weak link, so to speak, is the wooden cross-piece. I might add a metal strip for the trip.

The boats with their covers ride well on the truck, especially when tied down to the front.

The boats with their covers ride well on the truck, especially when tied down to the front.

If we don’t have the boats, we’ll wish we did – if they are on top the whole way, we’ll probably question our decision about Yuma, AZ. However, my inclination is to bring them along. Stay tuned.

2016 Trip – Return Trip

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I remember sitting beside the Pacific Ocean a couple of years ago, watching surfers, seabirds, and our grandkids cavorting, and thinking “We’ve got nearly four thousand miles to drive back but this makes it worth it.” Well, God-willing, we’ll have that same situation in a few months.

We’ll mosey back, staying for some lengthy stays at some favorite birding state parks, and try to visit some friends and family along the way. We’ll hunker down at Falcon State Park on the border during part of Texas spring break since that park is not overrun like so many of them. We like kids but hundreds unleashed at the same time can be challenging. I should mention that the maps are developed on a neat website: Roadtrippers.com. Here’s how the map looks at this point.

TripHomeMap

And the blow by blow itinerary.

Trip_Mileage2016B-2

The yellow blocks have a significance – I’ll discuss them in my next blog post.

I hope that you enjoyed this year’s last superman, a Hunter’s Moon, in last night’s sky. It looked like this from our deck, once it cleared the tall pine trees:

Moon1W

 

2016 Trip – Westbound Portion

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As I  noted a while back, I’ve been doing some trip planning and locking in some reservations in parks that fill up fast. The initial half of our trip is to do some birding in Arizona and visit our son Robb and his family in San Diego. It’s a long haul but here is the plan:

San-Diego-Trip-Map

Here’s how it looks in a spreadsheet:

Trip_Mileage2016A-1

Getting home we have to deal with Texas Spring Break in March and will likely change this schedule along the way. We hope to stop in Ohio to see our son Rich and his family. Still a few things to sort out and it will be ready to go.

 

2016 Trip Planning

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I was watching the clock on my computer, waiting to try to reserve a site for our February visit to San Diego, as the February sites opened up at 8:00 AM August 1st (11:00 EDT). I knew that the South Carlsbad State Park was closing for repairs in mid-February so had planned a week’s stay just ahead of that closure date. What I did not know was that much of the park was already closed and that very few sites were open.

As 11:00 clicked on, I counted to ten and loaded a page I had pretty much ready-to-go but could not find any sites in the area we had stayed before. There were only about 30 sites available and as I selected one and hit return, it would be gone. I lost about five along the beachside this way and soon only a couple on the opposite side of the road were available. I got one and locked it in and took a deep breath.  I had heard of folks fighting for Florida sites as soon as they became available but had not run into this before — too much tension but ten minutes later all were booked and I felt fortunate to get one.

This site is closed during our February visit but we'll be rather close and happy to have a campsite.

This site is closed during our February visit but we’ll be rather close and happy to have a campsite.

It turns out that California has a restriction that you can not reserve a campsite more that seven months away. New Mexico has a six-month restriction. Most other states we visit do not.

I have locked in a couple of weeks at Patagonia Lake State Park in Arizona prior to our California visit and then about ten days at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park after we leave Carlsbad.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is great for birding, hiking, and desert flora and fauna. Photo courtesy of Roger Smith.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is great for birding, hiking, and desert flora and fauna. Photo courtesy of Roger Smith.

 

We wanted to get back to Arizona for birding and see the kids in San Diego so that formed the backbone of our first half. Then we need to ride out Texas school spring break which ties up their parks and hopefully visit our Ohio gang on the way home. The trip is pretty much planned (Mapquest routes, spreadsheets, some reservations) leaving in early January and returning in mid-April but very well may change. It’s nice to have a game plan and to have locked in those crucial California dates. Stay tuned.