A New Year and the Joys of Winter Camping

Possumhaw Holly Berries

It is 2013 – the world survives into another year!  I never doubted it though there were those dire end-of-the-world predictions. Texas is certainly starting off the new year with much needed rain.  I think we are all hoping this will be a wetter year for the western states and a cooler year for all.  2012 being the warmest year on record is not something to have repeated in 2013.

Rainy winter day in Palmetto State Park

We are living a little closer to nature since we sold the house and went on the road.  A small RV is not exactly living off the land but it is not quite the luxury of a house either.  Much of the time we do have the comforts of electricity and water, but I think of them now as a bonus where before I seldom thought about them at all (except maybe during hot summer months when we paid the high bills.)
 

'Hanging out to dry...'

The main reason for choosing our new lifestyle - the ability to live and be outside most of the time - becomes more challenging in winter. Although Texas winters are mild by most standards, winter rains do make camping and hiking more effort.  The RV is often humid and cramped with wet boots and clothes and towels hanging to dry.  Maya’s little feet have got to be sore from being dried off so many times a day.  And we all are a little colder than we like. Still, the rain is good for the drought – if not always good for our mood…  But there is nothing like a walk between the showers observing the beauty the rain brings to lift our spirits.

Fallen Prickly Pear Pad

We have been bouncing around a little to try to stay warmer and/or drier the best we can.  After a wet week in San Antonio we headed for the coast with a stop over in Palmetto State Park.  Rain can be hard to outrun and it really caught up to us at Palmetto.  So we decided to hunker down for a couple of days until it let up.  We do have rain pants and jackets so we managed to hike some in spite of it all.  It was good to see the swampy areas of the park filling back up with much needed water after such a dry season. 
 

 

Dwarf Palmettos and swamp receiving much needed rain

 

Lichens love rain too!

Soggy man and dog...

Not Dead Yet...

Black Vulture at Palmetto State Park

Call off the vultures, the blog has come back to life!  We are now able to post photos again.  Blogger got the problem fixed.

I'll catch you all up to what's been going on and where we are as quick as I can.

Technical Difficulties

We hope to have some new posts up soon.  There have been problems with inserting the photos.   

In the meantime, we are headed for the Texas coast.  We will catch you all up with our adventures soon...

South Llano River State Park and Turkeys...

Young turkeys crossing the campground headed for roosting area

Junction, Texas is about 2 hours west of San Antonio and we have travelled past it many a time on our way from San Antonio to visit family in Odessa over the past 15 years.  That stretch of I-10 is long, fairly straight and you can go 80 mph for much of it.  But not so in our RV - rather than a 5 1/2 hour drive, it is more like a 7 hour drive. We decided to break up our Christmas trip both coming and going by stopping at South Llano River State Park just 3 miles south of Junction.

Red Oak still in color on Buck Lake

This proved to be a great decision on our part allowing us to have a little quiet time both before and after all the family gatherings and Christmas celebrations.  We were able to arrive well rested and calm and then afterward we had a few days to hike and rest and get that calm back.  The restorative powers of nature are amazing.
 

South Llano River

Prickly Pear Cactus in purple death throws

One of the coolest things about this park is that from October 1 to April 1, a portion of the park is a designated Turkey Roost Area.  As many as 800 young turkeys winter here.  They need  proximity to the river for water and the thick growth of oak, pecan and other trees that extend to the water’s edge for their nightly protection.  During the day the turkeys roam the area and nearby ranches ‘scratching’ for food and then return to the park to roost at night.  

Turkey track

Cardinals in bird blind area

 

There are also several miles of both hiking and biking trails near heavily wooded warbler and vireo habitat.  Besides the turkey roost area, there are two nice bird blinds in the park.  The enclosed blinds have comfortable chairs and benches along with pictures, bird books and lists to help identify what birds are there.  We even saw an armadillo taking advantage of the water feature in one of the bird blinds.  You will only see the turkeys from October to April, but this is a great park for birding year round.

Approaching the 'Roost'

 

 

 

David and Maya enjoying the pecan log bench

 

Back to Guadalupe River State Park and San Antonio

Red Oak Leaves

People say that Texas doesn’t have a fall season, but my contention has always been (in South Texas anyway) that we do have a fall but it is the two weeks before Christmas and most people are just too busy to notice it. This year we have not been too busy to notice.  When we returned to Guadalupe River State Park this week the fall color was just begging to be noticed. 

Mullein or Cowboy Toilet Paper

Guadalupe River State Park has always been a favorite place of ours.  Just about 30 minutes from San Antonio, the park is the only developed public access point to the upper Guadalupe River.  The river flows wild, rugged and undammed within the park.  

Honey Creek State Natural Area

Honey Creek State Natural Area adjoins the park and is open on Saturday mornings at 9 am for guided tours.  The clear, spring fed Honey Creek meanders through the area on its journey to the Guadalupe River.  Education, research, protection and appreciation of the site are the primary missions of Honey Creek State Natural Area and that is why access to the site is limited to guided tours only.  David and I used to be guides at Honey Creek and gave some of those tours.  So we urge you to take a tour in the upcoming year if you haven’t already.

Appetizer at Dough's

While staying at the park, we went into San Antonio almost everyday to visit, Christmas shop and attend a few parties.  It was so great to meet up with the ‘gang’ at Tycoon Flats, eat at Pasano's, Dough and Chuy’s with friends and visit the San Antonio Botanical Garden.  Our Christmas shopping is almost done, the stockings are hung and it is time for us to head to Odessa to spend the holidays with family.  We will be back right after New Year’s.  There are still so many friends we haven’t seen yet.  But we will see you next year.  We promise!  In the meantime, have a Happy Holiday!

Chuy's -- Merry Christmas!

 

BBQ in Luling and Palmetto State Park

Christmas decorations in downtown Luling



Besides good Mexican food, we have also missed Texas Barbeque.  Since we were headed back to San Antonio for a few Christmas parties and get togethers with friends we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have some good BBQ along the way. We had always wanted to visit Palmetto State Park and the city of Luling was just a few miles away from the park and famous for really great BBQ.  In fact, Luling is on the official “Texas BBQ Trail.”  I had not realized that Texas had a BBQ Trail.  So that was the plan and we worked up our appetites as we drove along I-10.                                

 

City Market Barbeque

Our lunch served on paper

We stopped in downtown Luling at the City Market.  Downtown was decorated for Christmas which added to the charm.  The family-owned City Market has a back room where the BBQ pits are located and where you place your order.  After weighing out your BBQ, it is wrapped in paper and you carry it out to the large tables that you might be sharing with other customers.  There are no forks in this place so lots of finger licking and napkins are in order.  The ribs and brisket were cooked to perfection and we did not go home hungry.

 

Yeah, it's messy but really good!

Full and happy we headed to Palmetto State Park and had a nice afternoon hiking the trails and enjoying this ‘cozy’ park.  Located just south of I-10 on the banks of the San Marcos River, Palmetto is practically in the small town of Ottine.  The geology of the park makes it very unique for the area.  Layers of rock and clay trap a lot of the ground water making the park very boggy.  This abundance of water makes a perfect habitat for the Dwarf Palmetto Palm (thus the park’s name), which usually grows farther east.
 

Dwarf Palmettos in the park

David and Maya in the 'swamp'

 

David, Maya and I hiked the trails and boardwalks of the park enjoying the feel of being in a swamp.  It was the perfect time of year to visit.  I’m not sure we would have wanted to be there during the heat of the summer and mosquito season.  Although we didn’t see or hear any evidence of the ‘Swamp Thing’ that supposedly roams the park, that was OK by us.

Water tower that pumped water from an artesian well

A sign put up by 'Swamp Thing?'

A Cold Front and Stephen F. Austin State Park

Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas

After our camping companions at Buescher State Park left for home Sunday afternoon it became incredibly still and muggy - the calm before the storm.  A cold front started to blow in about 7:30 pm and during the night acorns and small branches rained upon our RV.  Maya did not like it one bit, so she was very restless during the night with all the noises, rain and wind. Needless to say it was not a good sleep for any of us. The next morning brought more rain and temperatures in the 50s. Night temperatures at Buescher and the Hill Country area were to drop into the mid to lower 20s for the next several days.  It looked like the weather would be a little milder to the south and east so we headed for Stephen F. Austin State Park near Sealy, TX.

 

David and Maya in front of Stephen F. Austin's cabin

Stephen F. Austin State Park is just off I-10 in the little town of San Felipe de Austin (named to honor both a patron saint of Mexico and empresario Stephen F. Austin).  David and I got a very good review of our Texas State History at the historic site in the park.  San Felipe was founded in 1824 where the Old San Antonio Road crossed the Brazos River and the first settlers were the Old Three Hundred families who established Stephen F. Austin’s first colony.  The settlers had been lured by land as cheap as four cents per acre but soon Mexico won independence from Spain and things started to change.  Dictator General Santa Anta seized power in Mexico in 1833 and his tight control spilled into Texas - trying to stop immigration to Texas, limit settlers’ weapons, impose high tariffs and abolish slavery.  Of course this did not go over well with our early Texans. 

To greatly condense our Texas history, after many failed negotiations Stephen F. Austin was jailed in Mexico on charges of sedition.  Not long after some of the first armed conflicts began, Sam Houston started to raise an army, U.S. volunteers arrived to assist in the Texas fight and then the siege of the Alamo began on February 24, 1836.  Texas Independence was declared on March 2, 1836 and on March 6 the Alamo fell.

The settlement at San Felipe de Austin was next in the path of General Santa Anta and the town was burned during the Runaway Scrape to prevent Santa Anta’s army from taking it.  The people of the town were very conflicted.  Many were the original settlers and had lived in San Felipe for 15 – 20 years. They had made their life in San Felipe and everything they owned was there. The newer settlers were more eager for an adventure and a fight for Texas independence.  I guess there is nothing new about about conservative and liberal politics.  Well, most of you know how it all ended – Santa Anta was surprised by the Texans at San Jacinto and the Mexican Army was defeated.  There were several years of unrest, rebellion and skirmishes with Mexico but Texas became the 28th state in the Union on December 29 of 1845.

Along the Brazos River at Stephen F. Austin State Park

After spending a great morning visiting the on-site museum and wandering the grounds of San Felipe, we returned to the campground and hit the hiking trails.  The park has over 5 miles of trails that meander through the bottom lands by the Brazos River.  It is a rich birding area and we saw a huge vulture roost, many crows, red shouldered hawks, lots of sparrows and many pileated woodpeckers.  I just love those woodpeckers. At night we were serenaded by great horned owls.  Although our nights were in the upper 20s, our days were in the 60s and the abundant sunshine really helped warm us as we hiked and birded and had a great time exploring the park.

Vine growth, river bottom land near Brazos River

 

Vulture Roost