People, Places, Things

Day 61 and 62 of our travels: Yesterday morning we started our trek homeward, so it's time to look back on a few of the interesting experiences and delightful people we have met while on the road.  The following, all things we’ve NOT covered in earlier blog entries, are in reverse order of when they happened, most recent first.

 

Spring is clearly in the air here in Texas.  The last week temperatures have been in the low- to mid- seventies, and more wildflowers are in bloom every day.  Today as we’re on the road we’re seeing really colorful, large swaths of bluebonnets, pink primroses, white poppies, red and yellow blanket flower, lavender creeping phlox, and bright orange Indian Paintbrush, in addition to lesser native wildflowers.  I wish I could convince John to stop at each of these beautiful scenes so I can take photographs, but then it would take us a month to get home… 

We just spent 7 glorious days in Goose Island State Park, Rockport, TX at one of the prettiest campsites we have ever had – large, private, covered in beautiful, contorted live oak trees and surrounded by more trees and dense shrubs.  We had total visual privacy, as do many campsites at this remarkable park, and to our immense delight, we had a little natural alcove in the trees and shrubs perfect for setting up bird feeders and water; that enabled us to watch up close some very pretty and unusual birds, as well as some that we normally see at home.  Goose Island State Park is a major destination for birders due to being on a major fly way for migratory birds, so offers daily bird walks with expert “Bird Hosts” as well as many opportunities to view birds on your own.  While we were staying here, there was a large group of French-speaking birders from Quebec, Canada that stopped at our campsite for about 20 minutes to watch the unusual birds coming to our little feeding station set-up, which was pretty neat. 

This park is located across the bay from The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, home to alligators, deer, peccaries, feral hogs, snakes, armadillos and many permanent bird residents as well as a serving as major way station for migratory birds of all kinds, especially whooping cranes. The latter is one of the Aransas Preserve’s major claims to fame, since whooping cranes are on the endangered list.  We spent a beautiful day walking trails at this park and driving the lengthy one-way nature drive in the park.  

Earlier in our trip, while in Galveston State Park for two weeks, we met a wonderful couple from Iowa, who happened to be camping in the site right next to ours, in their 1965 Airstream.  They were such interesting folks, so much fun to talk with.  They had both been Peace Corps volunteers in their youth and have had such varied life experiences since then, including farming, involvement in politics, teaching, traveling. They have 3 adult children, one living in Sweden, one in Nicaragua, one in France, and they had just returned to the US following a three week trip visiting other family members who live in New Zealand.  She was celebrating her 75^th birthday while in Galveston; I imagine he was around the same age since they said they met and married while in college.  As we were talking about the various experience we had each had in our lives and travels, he summed up the way we all were feeling, by saying: “Isn’t it wonderful to be able to live such a rich and fulfilling life!’

On our way to Galveston, we ran into an unexpected delay, when the main highway that we had to take (absolutely NO alternatives), was closed off for the town’s Mardi Gras parade, just as we reached it.  The parade was not scheduled to begin for another hour, and traffic was piling up behind us at an incredible rate.  I’m sure some people were angry and frustrated at the unexpected delay, but many just decided to go ahead and join the parade audience, as did we.  It was a fun little local event, small floats sponsored by local farms and businesses, audience and parade participants calling to each other by name, lots of thrown “bling” and just generally an unexpectedly good time of people-watching.

What if my bike has pontoons?  THEN can I go beyond this point?

We’ve seen some pretty funny signage as we drive and in the parks where we’ve stayed; I only wish we could have photographed them all; then I could publish my own best-selling “weird signs” book.  Still, here are two that I did get.

Aw shucks!  Now what will I do with this bag of chickens I bought to feed the alligators?