It's good to be in Texas

I don’t know if I’d get complete agreement from Kat, but I still maintain If it weren’t for the Northwest and family there now, I’d live in Texas. Texas just doesn’t disappoint.
We got a fine welcome in Monahans Sand Dunes state park. We were treated to one of natures displays of thunder and lightning. Because it is Texas we could see a storm coming and we got bulletins on TV that there were storm warnings near us. The usual “stay inside and take cover” stuff. Then we started getting tornado warnings just west of us. So we took some precaution, but we could see it out the window and on the TV weather radar so I don’t think we were in danger. We did get to see the lightning and listen to the thunder for at least a couple of hours as it passed to the north. And we did that for a while from the vantage point of a large sand dune. It was a good welcome!
As most of you know it was in Ft Wolters near Mineral Wells that I went to Primary Flight school and taught Warrant Officers training. And In 1967-69 we used to go to the Graham TX bus depot and get steak dinners. I think for $1.99 we got a steak that pretty much covered the platter and left no room for trimmings. One of my goals while in the area was to see if the bus depot was still here. I didn’t hold out hope I could still get a steak for $1.99. But I thought we might find it anyway. Well, we looked around and ask the nice ladies at the Museum and Chamber of Commerce. But 39 years is a long time and they couldn’t help much and I might be all wrong to begin with. The best we can figure is the bus depot is a youth center now. But it didn’t seem right to me. In the end, I still have my memory, so I say “the dream still lives.
When we checked into Possum Kingdom Lake state park, ranger Carolyn had us “just go pick out a spot and come back in the morning and pay”. I haven’t paid by the honor system in a long, long time. That was the second time we’ve been told to do that. But I can tell you for sure and for certain that in most parks you can’t even get in the gate to look at a spot without paying, getting finger prints taken or leaving a body part or your first born. But, we’re at PK lake where I spent some time years ago. I can’t find that spot either. But then it is a big “dog-gone” lake.
Last night I heard Kat calling “duck-duck, duck-duck”. I turned to see two ducks approaching from the lake. She already had the bread out. But the story here is that these ducks fit the theme. They were a pair of really well mannered Texas mallards. Not the strange looking and weird acting ducks we had at our apartment complex in Oregon City. We had a group of three ducks there that I seriously wanted to put out of their misery. I just couldn’t figure out how to do it without some tree huggin’, duck loving, stump eating Oregon environmentalist jumping out from behind a bush just after I did the deed. But they were rude, raucous and ravenous. The pair here were just as polite, quiet, and nice as they could be. We took a bike ride after Kat fed them and they were still here when we got back. So we gave them some more bread and bird food. They just kind of hung around ‘till dark and slept or followed us around. They haven’t come back this morning yet. Maybe later? I hope so. They were cute, polite, and just good old Texas ducks!! And they did come back! For two more days.
Late one evening we had a skunk walk very near our site. I was saying don’t turn here! Don’t turn here! Fortunately he kept going straight into the woods. Usually the skunk you see are just road pizza. But aside from all the road pizza we’ve seen on the trip we have seen lots of wildlife. Elk, mule deer, white tails, armadillo, bunnies and jack rabbits, wild turkey, two unidentified and very quick snakes, and a fleeting glimpse of a bobcat, not to mention three very dangerous, but cute, 8 week old Shih Tzus (sp?) being sold in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Mostly we have seen lots and lots of birds and added several to our list of those we have seen. Kat has really taken to watching the birds and trying to identify them using our Nat’l Geo. bird book.
I went fishing at PK lake. I brought along my light weight trout gear on the trip and they have a promotional policy of allowing fishing without a license in state parks. So I gave it a try, to know avail. I might have had one little bump, but that in all likelihood was the bottom. Then we had two ladies occupy the site next to us and Alice ( I got her name later) started getting out her fishing gear. I went over to inquire about set-up and stuff, and she said her son used spinners. She showed me one of hers (spinners that is! LOL) and she went off fishing. In a little while I went down to the dock and Alice was fishing, so I watched a bit and she caught one and lost what looked like a big one. So I went and got my gear and a couple of spinners and gave it a try. Alice and I caught a few fish before we were interrupted by lightning and Kat. Like I told Alice when the storm started blowing up, if I don’t get out of here, I’m going to get the “dickens”. I did! Kat wasn’t too far behind the thunder and lightning. Alice took all the fish for breakfast. “It Worked for me!” because I’m just not too much into cleaning and eating fish. I think they were Sand Bass but I’m not too sure. They were small, but it was fun!
The storm turned out to a good‘n! Thunder, lightning, hail and very heavy rain. This may be where I picked up the expression, “raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock“. That’s how it was. The RV was sitting in just a little bit of a depression and in the morning we had quite a bit of mud under us. We had to hose off chairs and outside rugs and stuff and then we tried to pull out and couldn’t. We were on the slightest of inclines but it was just to slippery to pull out of our spot. I had to get out the shovel and move a little mud and wait just a bit for it to dry some. Then we got out with some more sliding. But getting stuck in a 30’ RV is not what you want to do. No damage though. But we did have to do some more cleaning. At our first stop after driving a while we got out and were checking around and Kat noticed a big glob of mud on our tail pipe. It had fallen down from the frame. But we both had to laugh because it looked like a big ole cow had somehow taken a dump on our tail pipe. And we’re still dropping dried up mud.
Mineral Wells seems to be doing quite well. They’ve got a new Wal-Mart, a nice new High School, and athletic fields, and lot’s of new stores. I wouldn’t hardly know the place from 1968. Just a few landmarks that haven’t changed. We drove by the old wood frame three story apartment building Janene (not Jeaneane) lived in while I went to flight school our first time down here. It’s still in use. It looked like it might be some sort of foster home. We spent the night at Wal-Mart. Now we’re a little north of Mineral Wells in a nice RV park with a pool and golf course. Will stay here for a couple of days and then go back to Mineral Wells state park and then on to Ft Worth.
And it was a tough decision but we did not buy the Shih Tzu. Cat spent some time in Wal-Mart looking for all the things we would need. We figured at least $350 before damage. And we would need a dog sitter in Ft Worth. So it was a no brainer. No pets for us. Secretly, I think we were both close. But then we came to our senses.

Paradise on the Pecos

Well you probably know by now that we did get that RV. Bigger, faster, cheaper to drive. I won’t go into details, but we sure do like it and it does everything we want it to do and a little more.
We missed Joshua Tree National Park and the Sulton Sea. It had to do with taking possession of the RV outside of California to avoid sales tax. So we went directly to Yuma. We spent a week or so there. It may not be the “snowbird” capitol of the world, but it’s got to be in the rankings. Many, many RV’s of all types and “park models“. From there we went to Quartzsite and spent a few days just parked in the desert. That’s one of the big features of our new Winnebago Sightseer. It allows us to boon dock (stay without hook-ups to water and electric) more. So that’s what we did. Quartzsite has a reputation as being the boon docking capital of the world. In January thousands of RV’s show up for an annual convention of sorts. Many vendors, RV dealers, and lot’s of crazies. We’ve not done that yet. Maybe sometime?
Then it was on to Phoenix. We spent a few days visiting and shopping with Kat’s daughter and then spent four days parked (boon docking) at the Gila River Indian, Wild Horse Pass casino. The in-laws, Blair and Vickie Steelman, came through and spent a couple of free nights with us. They are traveling in their RV too and we happened to be crossing paths. We visited with old Post Office friends Paul and Pam Harris. They are doing well and happened to be having a birthday party for Paul’s father who’s birthday was April 4. I mentioned mine was the 3rd so we got to celebrate my birthday with Paul and Pam. We drove thru the Petrified Forest,/Painted Desert National Park and now we’re in New Mexico.
We’re at what is called “Paradise on the Pecos”, Lake Sumner State Park. We just left Santa Rosa Lake state park a few miles north of here. We’ve been enjoying the sun and solitude. And there are plenty of both. No Wal-Mart, no TV, very little radio. We’re thirty seven miles out of town and town wasn’t much. The Paradise part may be a stretch, even for someone born and raised in New Mexico. I guess if you add a lake that will dry up some years to Pinon Pine and Yucca, it becomes Paradise? They’re in the middle of a drought here, and if that isn’t bad enough the wind has been blowing for thirty days. The camp host at Santa Rosa is a nice old Texan gentleman and when we first got here we needed the campground reservation phone number for N.M. We knocked on his trailer door and I said that I was “curious” about the reservation phone number. Typical of an old curmudgeonly Texican he replied, “are you curious about it or do you want it.” Kat asked if the wind was going to let up and he said “no ma’am, been blowin’ like this for 30 days and ain’t going to quit anytime soon.” Later we talked to the park ranger and he said they really didn’t have much of a winter this year. It had been replaced by “Winder”, just lot’s of wind and no rain.
But we’re here for three nights and not complaining even a little bit. Just taking a few walks, riding our bikes and feeding and watching the birds. We even put a couple of new birds on our ‘seen-it’ list. The same Texan campground host also feeds the birds. We were talking about that with him and later in the day he came over and was showing us his bird list and worked his way around to asking us if we wanted to camp host here for a month or so. He needs to go home to San Antonio for a medical procedure. I think he is concerned more for the birds than anything and ask us because we had shown interest in birding too. But we had to politely decline because of other commitments. Still it was nice to be asked. And it is something we might consider under different circumstances. Like having the car with us. But we didn’t anticipate buying a bigger RV and staying out so long, so the car is in Oregon.
Last night we were treated to a small herd of deer. I guess it’s a herd, not a gaggle or a swarm anyway. The camp host here feeds them. Maybe he has a salt lick? But there were six or seven mule deer at his site and we were nearly trampled by four others when they came by our rig heading over to be fed. Trampled may be a little bit of an over statement, but they did come by quickly and I’m glad we weren’t in the way. Maybe the wildlife makes it closer to Paradise?
We haven’t been bothered or threatened by any of the fires you may have read or heard about. So no worries! We are both well and enjoying what we do. I hope that is conveyed in my letter. Now it’s time to get on down the road.
Texas awaits!