Got Moved

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 2-4-2021

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All too soon it was time to pack up to leave this morning. The total distance to move was about four miles. Since we had been sitting still for two weeks, the Castle was dragged over a few rumpled sections of the state park roads to agitate the black tank waste to make it easier to get a good dump. It seemed to have helped.

Then we rolled the three more miles to the Falcon County Park. As we pulled in we saw a new rig in the park sitting on the spot we had chosen to park yesterday. Well at least they have good taste in sites.

Sierra chose a nearby spot and we pulled across the field and got busy setting up. We have a bit of evening shade from a tree. The nearest water faucet is about thirty feet to the west. It was a major surprise when we put the level on the Castle and the Castle was dead center level right to left.

Here is our new site taken from the east side.

There are other campers of all types in the park. Everything from roll up in a sheet on the ground to luxury RV rigs.

Here is a view from the rear of the Castle to the east.

Here is a view from the rear of the Castle to the west.

We hope that gives you an idea of what free camping at Falcon Heights Texas looks like. It can be a nice area for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Fast Bird

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 2-3-2021

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During the first two mile walk this morning nothing special happened except for seeing a very fast roadrunner on one of the trails. The OFM grabbed several shots as fast as he could and here is the best of the lot. The light green circle surrounds the roadrunner in motion.

Then when we got back a new friend was ready to get in a walk so we went with him as the guide to the “interesting places” in the park. It turned out to be another two mile walk and the OFM legs were finished for the day. Herbert is a really nice fellow from Houston. He is the camper traveling with the motorcycle and tent camper which was pictured in the blog a couple of days ago.

Since we have to vacate the state park tomorrow, we headed over to the free camping next door to look around and see where we would like to set up. There are no “sites” you just grab an area and settle in for the duration.

Then we got the surprise that a very cold front is due in next week with low near freezing temperatures at night. It is nice to be in an Arctic Fox trailer for weather like that.

It has been a long time since we last boondocked for more than a couple of days at a time so this is great experience again. We have noticed several things we had forgotten about that were automatic in the past. My friend Rick is a continuous boondocker for the last few years and is at the free county park. The OFM has been digging into his helping folks box for information for the last two weeks. He has a lot of good information in that box.

So we will get moved over tomorrow morning for the start of a new adventure in trying to have tooooo much fun.

Here Kitty

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 2-1-2021

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The OFM spent a lot of time this morning trying to find us a new home since we have to leave here on Thursday morning. It seems that lots of folks have made reservations at the state parks and other places recently. So when it was all over we decided our only choice for now is the county free camping near by.

After all that work we got in some nice walking and had a special event when we got near the HQ building.

This bobcat had a kitten with her that was about twice the size of a full grown Chihuahua puppy dog. The OFM was slow with the camera and missed the baby cat. We reported the sighting to the ranger on duty. He said that they have been sighted several times around the state park in the last few weeks. Well they are still doing quite well it appears.

This park has a no hookups area for campers that want that style. It is fairly nice and each site has a shade shelter with a picnic table. Reasonably level parking is available at each site. They are first come first served but never full-up. The rest room and showers are up a short hill to the right in the picture.

It was a nice day with gentle opportunities at trying to have tooooo much fun.

Little Camper

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 2-1-2021

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The OFM found out first thing this morning, as he attempted to get out of bed, that his left knee was not happy about being kneeled on for a duration while cleaning the bathtub yesterday. So today we took a vacation from serious walking. We did hit the Ibuprofen pretty good and by tonight the knee is being more polite.

The first chore after breakfast was to gather the laundry into Sierra and head about 18 miles south to a decent laundry facility. About two hours later we were back at the Castle and putting away another two weeks of clothing. We have to vacate this campsite on Thursday morning so we wanted a fair amount of clothing ready for wear wherever we land next.

Yesterday JudithK commented “So I guess we'll be waiting to see the results of your using the waterbrushes yesterday.  “

So here is a picture, as promised, of the practice with the new Neocolor II water soluble crayons.

Personally we tend to not publish practice and study work that gets done before every piece of art, but she wanted to see it.

While the Team was out trying to get pictures of tonight's sunset, we were hearing something moving around in the brush near us. That is not a great sound in the semi-darkness in wild country. Suddenly we saw movement and took a quick picture of the critter about a hundred feet away.

We are certainly glad it was not a lion or bear.

When we got back to the campground a fresh arrival was setting up their ultra lite camper for the night. I don't think there is room for a shower in there.

Out of about 30 sunset shots we chose this one. This is the actual colors we saw. It was edited for brightness a little but not shading. Pretty snazzy we think.

After all the fun today we plan on more knee ibuprofen and good sleeping in our heated home tonight. We are tired for all the trying to have tooooo much fun today.

The Pack Came By

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 1-31-2021

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We started the day with a very nice 2 mile trail walk. Pictures were taken along the trail to take our readers on a trail for a change. But other things kept on happening today so that story will come along soon.

We hit up the Rio Grande City Walmart for groceries and gas this morning. Gas was $2.089 a gallon which is good price for this area. It is a 70 mile round trip to the Walmart.

A really good idea while using the waterbrushes yesterday came to fruition at Walmart. They had a very heavy small quantity measuring cup on the shelf for about $3. We wanted a heavy container to put the waterbrushes in tip up between uses. Otherwise the tips get too wet between uses when painting and have to be dried some and then used. The OFM likes to just grab and go. The container had to be heavy enough that the very clumsy OFM would not easily knock it over. We hope this one does the job!

On one of the trails around here a day or so ago, we spotted a prickly pear cactus growing from the crotch of a tree. It is about 8 inches tall and looked very healthy. Now if the OFM can remember where it was we can check on it again.

Sunset tonight was very bright but we were coming back from Roma when the sun was going down. So we stopped alongside the road to grab a picture of whatever was offered to the camera. Once again the mountains are in a starring role.

And now as we start page three, the pack showed up for the first time this year. The OFM was sitting inside near the open door of Sierra when there was a little commotion near him. A glance showed that the roaming javelina pack of the campgrounds had returned to our campsite for a change. It looks like a couple of adults and the rest are equivalent to a human teenager.

A late arrival was left front leg limping badly but was still holding its own on the eating front. They even put up with the OFM opening the screen door to take a few pictures. They are obviously used to the camera being trained on them. And the campsite got a thorough cleaning of all food particles.

Yep it was a good day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Sierra Gets Old

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 1-30-2021

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We got in a nice two plus miles of walking today with part of it in a section we had not yet been to this visit. A bit of trail was attempted but the extremely heavy dew set was getting the OFM's shoes wet so we ducked back to on the road.

At the end of the cabins and large picnic area is a fence to keep visitors out of the Dam property. They originally had just the barbed wire fencing but some vandals a couple of years ago pulled a bunch of it down. The new wire even has nice new signs identifying the area.

After the fencing repair they hauled rocks in for a few months to put a better physical barrier to vehicles busting into the area. Those rocks run down to a point that at full lake level has them several feet below the surface of the lake. We could not see just how far the rocks stopped from the low water level.

It was not a cool day out here today. It has been a pretty warm “winter”. Our thermometer is kept in the shade on the picnic table so it does not get any solar direct heating.

But check out his reading taken about 1530.

And one more big event. Sierra turned 100,000 miles this afternoon. Here is a pic of the odometer just before we took Sierra to town.

We do not know exactly where it will lead to but the water color pencils and colored pencils started a new page in the cactus coloring book today. We are fairly sure it will lead to a nice time of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Unknown Objects

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 1-29-2021

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The OFM tries really hard to SEE everything around him. He actually does a pretty good job most of the time. However this next event was a couple of days ago. It happened behind the fish cleaning facility near the boat ramp.

We have been here many times over the years and the OFM has no reasonable excuse for it taking so long for him to notice these items.

The pipe in the circle is not really hard to see once proper attention is paid to actually looking at what is in front of him. The next picture is a close up of the pipe. We could not tell why it was there or its purpose.

When we stated to move away to the trail entrance, the OFM suddenly froze and stared. There is another pipe in there he said. Here it is.

We still had no idea what they were for. But on moving around a bit we found a spot clear enough to identify what the pipes are for.

They are lantern hooks like at some of the campsites.

Now what used to be there in the now overgrown scrub brush is well beyond our ability to guess. However we do plan to question some of the old timers around the park to see if they know what used to be there.

Finding old things in a state park is normally a pretty neat way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

New Trail

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 1-28-2021

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This is what yesterday's scene looks like by daylight this morning. Not nearly as nice as the sunset picture is it?

We got in lots of walking today and all of it was in 2 mile or less spurts. Sure enough the OFM joints seemed to handle a lot of exercise with rest intervals much better.

Our first walk found a trail to the lake front on a finger off the main body of the lake. It starts from tenting area and meanders like a good trail should until you can see the lake ahead.

When we got to the water we could tell this cove is shallow. But when we headed west to the rocky point the water was much deeper on the west side. This might be a good place to try a bit of fishing.

From there we took this picture that looks east toward the end of the lake finger. We walked a bit of that beach area but it was a bit too soft for comfortable walking.

After returning to the tenting area, we meandered around looking for new pictures that needed taking. There none to be found that we had not already taken before. So it was just a nice 2 mile walk around the area and back to the Castle.

It was an easy day of walks and talking with folks from all over the USA. That is a good way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Mexico Sunset

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 1-27-2021

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The OFM Photography Team was sitting on a long unused wooden bench deep in the south Texas brush waiting for a spectacular Mexican sunset when they started up. One coyote pack was somewhere off to our north and sounded like a large pack with several juveniles in it.

When they finally took a break another pack to our south started up and was very loud also. In fact we did not recognize any youngster type yelps in the southern pack. Hopefully they would not decide to meet halfway at our resting bench. So we were very quiet and listened carefully.

Naturally this late in the evening other critters were out and about. Some critters were down the hill in front of us rooting around tearing up bushes and who knows what. Those were likely a javelina pack. They shouldn't be a trouble unless they had little ones with them.

Sure enough in a few minutes more as it was getting darker the brush along the trail we had followed to this perfect spot to take the picture, started emitting unfamiliar sounds quietly as something starting looking for supper.

By now the OFM imagination was running wild. He was afraid we might be at the wrong spot at the wrong time with all this wild animal activity so close by. But he kept watching the sunset waiting for the right moment. Occasionally a picture would be taken and examined on the camera screen to see if it was the one. NOPE.

Then he remembered it was time for the night predator snakes to start moving around also. Naturally since the OFM was out of practice for this kind of adventure, he did not bring a flash light. The moon is bright, he will not need a flash light. Yea right.

So the sun finally went down enough. He took a few frames to be sure we had at least something to show for getting eaten by a coyote pack. We carefully tip toed out of there trying to look like slop that no self respecting critter would attempt to eat. The most reassuring thought he had was that it had been three decades since the last mountain lion encounter in the area.

We finally made it back to the Castle safely. Then the photos were edited and the shot came out very nice we think. Maybe it was worth all the worry.

And that is how we closed out a day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Bagged Mirrors

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 1-26-2021

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A question for our blog readers. Why are lots of the vehicles in this park bagging their mirrors? We know the answer but it seemed like a neat question to ask.

We hit the road walking right at sunrise this morning and the sunrise looked more like a sunset.

Then just a few minutes and yards down the road this is what the sunrise had changed into.

The Teams should have taken all this as an omen that it would be an incredibly busy day. The first couple of mile walk went well with lots of neat little things to notice. The OFM has been having trouble with the walking in this rolling terrain with his joints by the time we get to three miles in one walk. Then they seem to never recover during the rest of the day. So today we targeted two walks of about two miles each separated by a few hours of “rest”.

It seemed to be a good solution but the day was so busy we ended up with three walks of about two miles each but rest between each one. The third one was very interesting. We walked with a friend and his new blue heeler 6 month puppy. One huge ball of go go go.

We got lucky this morning also. An opening in the campground for a week popped up exactly when our current stay runs out. We quickly reserved it and now we will be here until February 11. It fits into our planned meander in early March to Grandkid land perfectly.

Skipping all the rest, we will now go to this evening and a big pot of stew, not stoup, stew for sure and it was great. Two boneless pork chops cut into bite size chunks, bell pepper chunked, a carrot thinly sliced, chunk of onion, black bean w/out added salt, freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Simmer for a good while and at the last add minced garlic to taste. Simmer to blend the flavors and serve with two flour tortillas for scooping. WOW WAS IT GOOD. And enough for two more meals.

Between all the walking and visiting and dog adventuring it was a fantastic warm day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Lost and Lost Again

 

Adventure Location: Falcon State Park, Texas

Adventure Date: 1-25-2021

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Coyote packs are howling off and on this evening out in the brush. We are hoping there are no more lost or "turned around"

folks out there since it is now dark. The coyotes can sound neat from at your campsite but out lost in the seven foot tall brush after dark they don't sound as nice.

The Teams have been here four days and twice we have helped “turned around” folks to find their way back to the correct part of the trail system.

Here you are wandering along the trail having a wonderful time looking at everything. Birds are going every which way and your binoculars can't seem to keep up.

You are really enjoying the walk in the wild when suddenly you encounter this wye and you have no idea which way to go. You are only six feet tall so you cannot see through the thick brush nor see over the brush for anything to orient yourself.

You get lucky and along meanders the OFM. He orients you and away you go. Sure enough the next day he meets you again lost in the brush again even though you stayed on the trail. The OFM greets you warmly and helps you again but this time recommends that you get a copy of the trail map from the office to carry with you.

Over the years this has happened several times in different parks. Some places can get plumb dangerous to lose you orientation and spot knowledge. Think Guadalupe Mountains NP and many others.

Each part of each trail in this park is started and ends with a sign similar to this one.

Several places among the trails are signs showing you the layout.

The trails are dots and the roads solid lines. The developed trails are the ones shown on the map. If you are on a trail not shown on the map, it is called a volunteer trail likely started by a deer or javelina headed for water or food.