Changing Plans -- Again and Again

A cold January day on the Guadalupe River

We are back in East Texas after a road trip that turned out nothing like we planned.  Admittedly our plans were somewhat nebulous, but except for the trip out to Odessa and a quick stop in San Antonio, I don’t think we went anywhere we thought we would. Winter camping weather is always unpredictable but this year’s El Nino made it even more so.   
  

Guadalupe River State Park

 

 



 

After spending two weeks in Odessa, we nixed our plans to visit the Big Bend area because of the snow and cold and instead went straight to San Antonio where it was at least a little warmer.  Our favorite state park near San Antonio, Guadalupe River, was getting ready to close down for one of their deer hunts so we could only stay a few days.  We managed a few quick visits with friends and one nice hike in the park before it was time to leave.  We missed seeing too many of our friends!  But knowing we would be back in March for Spring Break made it a little easier to spend such a short time in the place I still consider ‘home.’ 

 

John with Cosmo and Caelyn, Cindy with new boy Finch
and David with Maya (who doesn't have to wear a coat)

 

Good camping buddies of ours, Cindy & John, met us at Palmetto State Park located a few miles off Interstate 10 east of San Antonio.  David and I have spent time camping at Palmetto for the past two winters and it has become one of our favorite state parks.  This was Cindy and John's first time to camp at the park and they brought their newly-adopted Italian Greyhound, Finch plus the two they already had for a grand total of three 'Iggys.'  Counting Maya, we had some very doggy walks.  Maya thinks she is bigger than all three of them put together (and definitely has more fur).

 

 

Dwarf palmettos bordering swamp

 

Cindy with her new baby, Finch

 

 

Palmetto is a small, gem of a park that manages to feel remote and mysterious even though it is very close to I-10. The miniature palm trees or dwarf palmettos that grow near the San Marcos River and throughout the ephemeral swamp areas of the park give a tropical, almost ‘Jurassic Park’ feeling to the place.  No wonder there are rumors of a ‘swamp thing’ that lurks around the area. 

 

 

Sunset on Lake Livingston from our 'living room'

 

 

Maya appreciates David's Christmas present of brand new hiking boots 

 

With only a week left until it was time to be back in Nacogdoches, we opted to head slowly back to East Texas and explore some new places rather than visit the coast.  From Palmetto we traveled just a little north of Houston to Lake Livingston State Park, a new place for us.  Recent rains made this park and its trails very wet and muddy but we stayed three days anyway hiking a little in the park and also traveling to a nearby part of the Big Thicket National Preserve.

Really?  Good thing David has new boots for this.

Trail Carpet?

The first winter we were ‘on the road’ we visited a different area of the Big Thicket and really enjoyed our time there.  This time we explored the Big Sandy Creek Unit which is the second largest unit in the Big Thicket National Preserve.  We hiked about 4 miles along the Big Sandy Trail which meandered through a lovely forest of beech, magnolia and loblolly pines.  The weather was sunny and 60, the land gently rolling, the ground soft and sandy underfoot with  some swampy areas near the floodplain of Big Sandy Creek – a nice hike indeed.  We did some driving around as well and located a few other trailheads for future adventures.  This part of the Big Thicket is only a couple of hours from Nacogdoches so I believe we will be returning soon.

Maya loves hiking

A great trail and a great day!

 

From Lake Livingston we made one more stop before going home.  The Davy Crockett National Forest is southwest of Nacogdoches and only about 25 miles away.  With moving, settling in and starting classes we hadn’t had time to do much exploring of the nearby forests so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do so. 

 

 

Along the Tall Pines Trail in the Davy Crockett National Forest

 

 

Ratcliff Lake in the Davy Crockett National Forest was our camping spot for two gorgeous days.  We shared the large campground on the lakeshore with only two other groups of campers.  It was quiet and remote and we took two great hikes, one for about 4 miles on the Tall Pines Trail and another hike of over 9 miles on a section of the 4-C trail.  Both were beautiful trails through upland pine forests and the weather could not have been better.  It never ceases to amaze me how being in nature is so restorative to both body and soul.  Of course good weather really helps too. The last week of our trip saw the tensions leave our bodies and the worries vacate our minds.  It was a great way to end our first road trip since settling down, even if nothing did go as planned…

Small lake on the 4-C Trail, Davy Crockett N.F.

 

 

 

 

 

Holidays: Celebrations, Snow

Fall color was beautiful in the weeks before Christmas

Those three weeks before the Christmas break from school were very hectic for us – studying for exams, doing a little Christmas shopping and preparing to take off on a month-long adventure in our RV, Silver.  However we did take some time to enjoy our first Christmas season in Nacogdoches.  A few walks in the woods enjoying the last vestiges of fall color helped calm us during exam week and checking out the Christmas decorations both in town and on campus helped to get us in the holiday spirit.

 

Along the Sweetgum Trail at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center

 

The azaleas were also blooming before Christmas

 

 

The ‘Seven Flags’ Christmas Parade in downtown Nacogdoches was the first Christmas Parade I had ever seen in person.  It was a cold night and we bundled up and found a good spot on the square to view the parade.  Most of the store windows were decorated and lit up and many downtown businesses were open.  While not exactly the Macy’s parade, it was a big parade with all the trimmings including music, dancers and lighted floats.  I think everyone in Nacogdoches and the surrounding area was either in the parade or watching it.  

 

Parade Watchers

 



A very festive store window in downtown 'Nac'

 



Another store window with a 'Darth Vader' Christmas Tree



After exams we spent a day loading up Silver for the trip.  Since we haven’t been living in Silver, we had to take a little more time making sure we had put everything in that we needed.  Winter camping requires a little more preparation since you never know what weather you will run into.  But after much checking and re-checking, we were as ready as we were going to be and headed on down the road for West Texas.  We made a couple of stops along the way to see family and friends but pretty much headed straight for Odessa. 

 

We couldn't believe how many RVers decorated for Christmas

At lot of the 'residents' at the commercial RV parks are 'winter Texans' taking refuge
  from colder climates.  I guess it makes since that they would decorate for Christmas.

 

It was good to have several days before Christmas to visit, cook and do that last minute shopping.  We had a nice surprise of my dad’s sister and niece from Arizona flying in for the holidays.  It had been several years since they had come for Christmas.  My brother and his wife hosted a fantastic Christmas Eve dinner.  Mom and dad were feeling pretty well and in good spirits so it turned out to be a very fine Christmas indeed. 

 

Christmas Eve entertainment with a little help from a friend

We had planned to go to either Ft. Davis or Ruidoso after Christmas, but Mother Nature had other ideas.  The day after Christmas Odessa had 7 inches of snow.  And eastern New Mexico got much more.  Roads were closed and it was mighty cold, so we elected to stay put for a few more days.  Just when we were thinking about venturing out in Silver we heard that more snow and cold weather was on the way.  Things were not quite working out as we had hoped – we had been envisioning a warm New Year’s celebration in the Big Bend area.

 

The 'blizzard' hits

 

As it turned out, we spent almost two weeks in Odessa before we finally took off in Silver.  Not exactly what we had planned, but driving an RV on slippery roads is not our idea of a good time.  And we still had fresh memories of last year’s trip to Ft. Davis when we were caught in an ice storm.  It was beautiful, but confined us mostly to the RV which was without power part of the time because of the storm.  Maybe we are getting ‘soft’ in our old age, but camping in freezing temperatures isn’t quite as much fun as it used to be.

 

 

Anyway, we are finally on the road in Silver and it still isn’t very warm anywhere in Texas but the 50s are better than the 30s and below.  Most likely we are headed for the coast.  We are hoping to get a few warmish days somewhere in Texas during the ten days we have left...