Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Our First RV Outing of 2022

We decided we were ready to get away from the house for a few nights so Mark checked online to see if we could get reservations at one of our favorite state parks in Texas.  S. Llano River State Park is only about 1 1/2 hours from our house and is a very nice park with lots of hiking trails and four bird blinds.

Mark got the RV de-winterized, and we loaded up and headed out on the first day of Spring (March 20).

From previous experience we knew not to arrive before the 2:00 pm check-in!  We pulled in about 3:00 pm and had no problem backing into our very spacious site. 

Our site. 

We got set up and checked out the area around our site. The very first critter that we saw was this Nine-banded Armadillo.  It turned out to be the first of many. 

Nine-banded Armadillo

We spent the next morning visiting each bird blind and walking around the park. 

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Black-and-white Warbler

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

The park has a martin house near the Visitor Center, and the Purple Martins were already in residence. 

Purple Martin

While hiking along the river we spotted this Porcupine way up in a pecan tree. 

We headed into the town of Junction for lunch.  It’s a small town with just a few restaurants. We relaxed at our site in the afternoon and then headed back out to a nearby blind for the evening. All four of the bird blinds have nice water features and not only the birds use them. This clever Armadillo sort of balanced itself on the edge of the concrete trough and enjoyed a long drink of water. 

We spent the next two days hiking around the park, relaxing at our site, and sitting at the bird blinds. 


Northern Mockingbirds are common in the park, but this one had a somewhat deformed bill. The lower mandible (lower "jaw") was protruding out much farther than usual. But the bird seemed healthy.

Northern Mockingbird

Spotted Towhee

Black-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

It was a nice, short trip and a great way to use our new, smaller travel trailer.

 

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6 comments:

  1. Randy MatthewsApril 12, 2022 at 6:15 PM

    It seems like a long time ago that we used to look forward to RV trips. We will have to get our fill by following along on your adventures. Our RV now is a cabin.
    Thanks for sharing your adventures with us.

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    1. Mark & TeriApril 12, 2022 at 7:56 PM

      This "new style" of RV'ing is sure a lot different than what we both were doing previously. It is taking some getting used to, but we think that this is how we will likely use the new RV in the future. Your new cabin in the mountains looks great! We wish that we had some cool mountains closer than New Mexico!

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  2. SereneApril 13, 2022 at 12:33 PM

    I had hoped to see an armadillo when we wandered west Texas a bit last year (was it only last year?) but we didn't. Another time...

    So many of our RV peers have given it up totally, or gone to a house and small trailer. The end of our era I guess!

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    Replies
    1. TeriApril 14, 2022 at 5:20 PM

      I didn’t think we would ever quit full-timing and now I can’t imagine ever going back to it.
      It’s just a new chapter in our lives. We’re still going to travel and much as possible. It will just be in a different way.

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  3. Randy MatthewsApril 22, 2022 at 7:33 PM

    We understand that felling 100%! I would have *never* imagined we would stop full timing so soon either, but you know what they say about never-say-never. 😁

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    Replies
    1. TeriApril 24, 2022 at 2:17 PM

      At least we were able to stop because we wanted to and not because we had to. Hopefully all of us have many more years of fun ahead!

      Delete

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