Boat Channel near Aranasa Pass, Texas

6/10/12

On The Road

Adventure Location: Deming, NM to Fort Davis, TX

The wheels were rolling before 0700 this morning.  El Paso had the highway shut down in two spots that caused some delay in the traveling effort for today. 325 miles later the Teams are camped in Davis Mountains State Park in Fort Davis, Texas for the night. The Castle waited patiently while the Truck went for a ride on the skyline drive.

It is hot here at 5200 feet of elevation so we chose to stay just one night.  The current plan is to go back to Rockport and wait for a grand kid to be born.  Rockport doesn’t get as hot as the rest of Texas.
Back in Rockhound State Park there was only one snake this trip and it was not a rattlesnake to my surprise.  It was a small 12”+- orange snake that was fairly fast.  In face all three shots with the camera came out very blurry.  What is the name of the snake is my question.

A pretty white flower also caught my attention late last night.  The bees were working it over pretty heavily so caution was needed while taking this next picture.

Lately the Truck has been getting better fuel mileage to my surprise. There had not been a chance to check it until today. For the 325 miles today the Truck while towing the Castle averaged over 15 mpg instead of the 12 mpg in the past. Why is not known but it is appreciated by my credit card bill.

Tomorrow will be another rolling day in the heat as the Teams head toward a new location for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.




9 comments:

  1. I hadn't realized that Rockport is cooler. I thought that Alpine and Kerrville were the cooler summer spots in TX.
    It is fun reading about you having toooo much fun!
    Happy Trails, Penny,TX.
    www.pennys-tuppence.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rockport has saltwater on three sides of it that moderates the upper and lower temps a lot. It usually runs about93 in the day and 83 at night during the summer. The humidity makes itself well known though.

      Delete
  2. Nice flower pic but I have no idea what it is. When the gas mileage is good, the trip must be all downhill LOL!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Barney maybe the altitude is affecting your truck's carburation?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jennie, no carb on a diesel truck. The truck computer does modifiy things according to heat and altitude.

      Delete
  4. The flower is a some variety of jimson weed also known by many other names.

    Part of the improved mpg may be the change from winter to summer gasoline formulation. The rest of the improvement may simply be fate or maybe that last 'full' tank was not quite as full as you thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gasoline formulations have no bearing on diesel engines.
      Thank you for the identification of the flower.
      I really enjoyed Hood Park when I lived in the area.

      Delete
  5. Ok, I thought I posted this early but we had a power outage for a couple of hours and my internet was out. I think I might have an answewr for you on the Orange snakes. Check out my blog for photos under, Critters Tab. Hope this is helpful. http://giddyupgumbo.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete