Author: tophatpat

Buccaneer SP, Waveland, MS            Ground  Zero for Hurricane Katrina

Here we are at Buccaneer SP for 8 days of rest and relaxation. Bike riding is great here; it’s flat! But, the wind does blow. Today, I got 9 miles in; the aches and pains of beginning again are gone. And, my lungs are getting stronger.

Penny is doing some painting on the trailer; it is really becoming transformed with the detail to the landscape in the foreground. She is amazing! Other campers stop to talk about her work and compliment her. Rain is forecast for tomorrow, so she is hoping for good weather the rest of the week to continue the work.

She is just as creative in the kitchen, making a meat pie from scratch. So delicious and enough to eat off of for a couple of days!

Buccaneer State Park, Waveband, MS, 306 mile jump

We slept well; the town was quiet. I attended 7AM Mass while Penny wrote letters. I was glad she did not attend with me. There was no singing and the sermon was monotone.

Saying good bye to Texas, we entered Louisiana and stopped at a welcome center where we learned about the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area (ANHA), “home to the nation’s largest river swamp. One of only a handful of actively growing river deltas in the world, the area runs about 150 miles north to south, and its width varies along the course of the Atchafalaya River. The ANHA contains a complex ecosystem that houses more than 85 species of fish and 270 species of birds, from songbirds to waterfowl.”*

Atchafalaya: it starts like a sneeze, ends like jambalaya: “uh-CHA-fuh-LIE-uh”!

The Mississippi River flows parallel to the Atchafalaya about 30 miles to the east and flows through the ANHA for about 40 miles as the crow flies, but meanders for many miles to traverse that 40. It amazed us that the Interstate between Lafayette and Baton Rouge is suspended over this swampland, another marvel of human engineering and technological power. America is great! There is lots of room for improvement, but much effort has been expended to protect our “places where natural, cultural and historical resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape.”*

A few miles down the road, we came to Hammond, Louisiana, where we completed the figure 8 we have drawn on the map of the USA over the last two years! An amazing accomplishment, our hearts filled with gratitude for all the grace bestowed on the road of exploration. Leaving Grand Rapids, Michigan, in October 2015, traveling south along the Mississippi River and stopping in Hammond for lunch on our way to our current campground, Buccaneer State Park. From there we moved east along the Gulf Coast of Florida, falling in love with Live Oaks and seabirds. Then up the East coast, marveling at the Blue Ridge Mountains and Smithsonian Museums. Then back to Grand Rapids completing one half of the 8. If you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you’d know the story of the second half! Otherwise, use your imagination! Hint: it’s a lazy 8.

Anyway, here we are at Buccaneer SP for 8 days of rest and relaxation. Bike riding is great here; it’s flat! But, the wind does blow. Today, I got 9 miles in; the aches and pains of beginning again are gone. And, my lungs are getting stronger.
*ANHA Pamphlet

St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Beaumont, Texas, 340 mile jump

It was a long waltz across the remainder of Texas northeast to Houston where the Super Bowl will be played tomorrow. We had veered about 200 miles off a direct course towards Florida, but the time in Padre Island was serene and restful, just what we needed! Houston was a maze, switching from one interstate to another several times before finding I-10, our route east through Louisiana. Once again, we marveled at the state of the infrastructure. Massive pillars holding up ramps connecting one freeway to another in a spaghetti junction of highways. Again, the roadbeds, landscaping, and artistic murals, fencing and landscaping were very impressive.

We planned to sleep free tonight; I had been thinking that a church parking lot would be more restful than a Walmart or Cracker Barrel. So, after grocery shopping in Beaumont, Tx., we found St. Anne’s Church. It had a school and other buildings creating a campus like atmosphere. We parked in the center of this complex and felt comfortable and safe.

We listened to the Zags win their 25th straight game; they are now number one in the nation!

Padre Island NS

The highlight was Acoustic Cafe with breakfast and the visit by the window repairman to mend two rock chips in the Ram’s windshield. Otherwise, we stayed inside out of the wind and read/napped/read/repeat.

Padre Island NS

Penny and I rode together this morning the same 9 miles I rode yesterday, plus a side trip to investigate the boat launch. The winds were blowing, but just getting started. It was a more enjoyable ride on a number of levels.

Settling into our lawn chairs for a day of reading, the elderly man next to us was working on his motor coach. It seemed the fresh water tank was leaking. Penny commented that he wasn’t cursing or seeming upset at all. It turns out he didn’t want to ask for help. He walked over to say he used to be able to fix anything, but had a stroke which incapacitated his left arm. He said he was apologizing in advance since he was about to start cursing. I told him what Penny had just said and that I was more than willing to help him. He turned and went back to work, too proud to ask for help. After a few minutes, I approached him to offer help.

He had just paid $1900 to have the problem fixed at at RV place 50 miles away. I helped him change the plumbing to isolate the leak while preserving the water in the other fresh water tank so his wife could have her shower. He strongly reminded me of my dad; his face, bushy eyebrows, glasses, hands, and bandaged arms due to his thin skin and blood thinners. He was a German from Argentina who had settled in Phoenix thirty years ago. Godspeed, Fred!

After lunch and a nap, we went to see the Visitor’s Center and walk the beach. Just then, a marine layer of fog moved in obstructing the sun and cooling the air. We cut our beach walking short and headed back to the truck. From that point on, the weather turned from short sleeves to sweatshirts and long pants. This was not intolerable, but a change that required a change in attitude. It was still 40F warmer than Spokane or Grand Rapids!

Padre Island National Seashore            Happy birthday, Casey!

Up to watch the sunrise before 7, we found the interior temperature of 62F and exterior of 59F. We walked down the beach where we obtained a phone signal with which we hoped to call Casey, my daughter, for her birthday. No luck with a call, so we sang and recorded the “Happy Birthday” song via text; that worked!

Penny went for a morning bike ride, once again showing her superior intelligence. I waited until the early afternoon when the wind was blowing 20MPH and gusting well beyond that. But, I did get nine miles in, half of which were way more fun than the other half!

The remainder of the day was sun bathing, reading, and wading in the shallow waters of the Laguna Madre.

 

Padre Island National Seashore, Corpus Christi, Tx, 219 mile jump

That makes 1,084 miles in four days (one rest day at Boerne), but the end result is worth it!

It was surprising how quickly we came into the north side of San Antonio after leaving Bergheim CG by a more direct route.We planned to leave after the morning rush was over and that worked out. The interstate was wide and looked newly remodeled with beautiful landscaping, mosaics on the abutments, and artistic fencing across the overpasses. After leaving the high volume traffic areas, Penny took the wheel all the way to Corpus Christi. Whereupon I resumed driving through what seemed like one long pair of strip malls, one on each side of the road. And, they seemed to repeat, Walmart, Walgreens, McDonalds, Taco Belle, car dealerships, Target, Shell, Exxon, repeat. Reaching the Cayo del Oso and then the Laguna Madre, we were high fiving as we celebrated our return to sea level!

Padre Island National Seashore “protects the world’s longest undeveloped stretch of barrier island. It embraces 70 miles of sand-and-shell beaches, windswept dunes, endless grasslands, tidal flats teeming with life, and warm near shore waters. The nation’s prime nesting beach for endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, it is also globally important for migrating birds.”

Thank God for our National Park Service!

We didn’t get into the Malaquite campground on the ocean side that we hoped for, but Bird Island campground, on the Laguna Madre side of the island, allowed us to back up to the water, whereas Malaquite had a big dune blocking the view. So, we got to sit on our lawn chairs behind the camper and watch the sea birds and windsurfers while soaking up the abundant sunshine. The sun set with the help of scattered clouds made for a spectacular sunset!

We paid $2.50/night for four nights, no utilities. Our batteries, fresh water, and holding tanks did just fine. Cell phone service there was poor to none. As a result, we were able to read books and periodicals instead of our phones, a nice respite from current affairs.

Bergheim GC, Boerne, Tx

It did get chilly last night; it was 45F in here when we woke. We cranked the heaters and napped until 9AM. Penny got busy doing laundry at the new building just 50’ away. I fixed the camper door and greased equipment. After lunch, we took showers. Neither of us had a good experience; at least the water was hot! Then, it was off to town to gear up for our jump tomorrow to Padre Island.

We found diesel for $2.239 on Gas Buddy while all the other stations were at $2.399, groceries, beer. There was a riverfront park in Boerne along the Guadalupe river; it was full of exotic ducks. We asked a local and he said they were here year around and exotic probably the result of inbreeding. They were fat, too, from eating white bread supplied by the locals! Strolling along the river snapping pictures in our shorts and sandals was pretty sweet. 74F! A drive down the main street of the bustling town passed many turn of the century buildings still functioning. Very pleasant afternoon!

Bergheim GC, Boerne, Tx, 864 mile jump

Yes. You read that right; we have been motoring from Tucson, Az., through NM, and waltzing across Texas. We spent last night in a Walmart parking lot in Ft Stockton, Tx., from which we went to 8:30 Spanish Mass this morning in a small church built in 1865. Although Penny and I know a little Spanish, we did not understand the sermon, but much of the liturgy is repeated every Sunday in every Mass throughout the world. So, we could distinguish those prayers. The Hispanic congregation was warm and familial, many of them went out of their way to greet us during the “kiss of peace”. And, they presented us with pen and pencil sets with an Our Lady of Guadalupe card. While we have often been introduced as visitors in other churches, this is the first time we had been given gifts!

After church, we filled with diesel (at $2.39/gal) and drove here in about 6 hours. Our goal was to get to lower, more temperate elevations. Originally, we had hoped to visit Patagonia, Az., but when we found it was at 4000’ and we were already freezing during the night at 2000’, we decided to drive east until we got to lower ground. After 860 miles, we are at 1500’ and headed for sea level soon!

Most of the last two days are a blur, other than the church and the vast expanses of desert land interspersed with mesas and ranges of mountains through which we passed. La Cruces, NM, and El Paso, Tx., were the largest cities, both in river valleys. In El Paso, we could look across the Rio Grande into Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on the hillside and see the border fence on this side of the river. Another highlight was a rest stop in Texas having picnic pavilions with wagon wheel walls. Oh, I almost forgot! We are back into the land of Live Oaks; there is one in this picture. They are not as massive as down in the Gulf South, but it feels good to be back within their range.

The state park we at which we hoped to camp was closed. Luckily, Penny called ahead. That left us with no plan; cell phone service was spotty, so searching the web for a campground was impossible. Fortunately, as we got closer to San Antonio service improved and we found Bergheim CG near Boerne. It not much, but it’s all we need! Tired and ready for bed at 8PM CST. We will say good night and mission accomplished! It is 67F in here without supplemental heat; nice!

Gilbert Ray CG

It was 45F in here at 7AM; 29F outside. We love listening to Acoustic Cafe on Friday morning, but this time we drank our tea while listening under the covers. The little furnace has been quieter of late and got it up to 70ish in about one hour.

Our predicament is that we are currently at about 2200’ elevation; while our plumbing can survive the high 20s, we don’t want to gamble on anything lower. And, the terrain only gets higher as we head southeast. El Paso is 3,740’, and the pass over the continental divide on the way there is 4580’, so it will be much colder up there. Warmer weather is forecast; we are dragging our feet to take advantage of it.

Both of us went out for bike rides this afternoon. The continuing stiff winds and the relatively higher elevation make us feel totally out of shape. Which, in fact we are, but I rode less than three miles in a little over 10 minutes with hardly any hills and I was sucking for air. Penny had the same experience at her pace. Soon we’ll be back to sea level; then we will see what kind of shape we are in.

A couple days ago we hoped to see the sunset from Gates Pass, between Tucson and our campground. But, we got there late and found the last parking space difficult to squeeze into. As a result, we missed it by a minute. Most days, the parking lot is full and the crowds are quite boisterous, as if watching fireworks. People scamper up steep rock cliffs to find a good viewing spot.

Today, we were early and had good choice of parking and viewing spots. The Avra Valley, containing Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro NP stretches out for miles to the west to another range over which the sun sets. My thought is a good photo directly into that bright sun would be aided by clouds to reflect the light down into the shaded valley. In other words, my photos sucked. But it was an fun experience and we did come away with pre-sundown landscape shots of worth.

We are preparing for a big jump tomorrow, hoping to get to lower elevations and warmer weather. Might be sleeping in truck stops or rest areas tomorrow night. Catch ya later!