Day 2 Of Our First Outing

Our second day had us loading up our kayaks.  It was pretty windy but the tide was rising and we knew that this would be the least windy day we were here.

We put-in in a shallow area outside the park.  If you know where Big Tree is, we were at the corner before turning left toward it. 

Putting-In

I’ve never kayaked in choppy water before and it was a little unnerving.  We headed to a cove that is owned by the park.  This is an area behind a locked gate where we lead bird walks. 

Waters are much calmer in this cove!

This cove was sheltered so the wind and waves weren’t bothersome.  We didn’t see many birds but we enjoyed paddling around for a while.  This Black Vulture was perched on top of a dead palm tree at the back of the cove. 

We knew the wind would be picking up even more so we started back to the truck.  We weren’t very far from the truck (about 1/2 mile) but with the really strong current it took some very strong paddling to get back.

Heading back to open water.

We returned to the trailer, unloaded the kayaks, and made a quick trip to Walmart for a few forgotten items. 

Even though we love eating out, we wanted to cook at least one meal at the trailer while we were here. Our first meal - grilled salmon, mashed potatoes (I made them at home and brought them with us), made with lots of butter and even more bacon, and steamed veggies. 

 Perfection!

I never order salmon in a restaurant because they can never cook it as well as Mark can.  Everything turned out great. 

This is Site #104.  It’s a nice site. 

We would get it again.

When we got back to the trailer Mark discovered that the hot water heater wasn’t working on either electricity or propane.  Turns out, we had blown a special thermal fuse inside the heater. He simply removed it to get us back up and running. 

Quality and craftmanship does matter.  When we bought this trailer, we knew it couldn’t compare to our HitchHiker.  As they say, “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore”.  This is the best quality travel trailer we could find in this size.  We’ll eventually get used to it.

The current Bird Host site was very close to ours, and they had put out a variety of feeders. We saw both male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks there. The males are stunning and their red breast is responsible for the first part of the name. Both males and females sport the giant bill that is responsible for the second park of the name. As with many bird species, the females are less colorful than the males. Their muted plumage helps to hide them when sitting on a nest. The first picture shows a male, while the second one shows both a male and a female on the same feeder. 

We finished our day with a quick trip to the shoreline.  We found Black Skimmers flying over the water and "skimming" for a meal. 

We also found a Clapper Rail walking through the marsh grass. These are normally very secretive birds, but this one was pretty cooperative. 

Day 3 - Our third day had us up early and heading for the ferry in Port Aransas.

  

Our First Outing - Goose Island State Park, Rockport, Texas

We finally made our first trip in our new travel trailer.  One observation is that it is certainly easier going from a smaller to bigger rig than the other way around.  We have a few things to work through.  Such as where to hang the wet towels in the bathroom.  I have a feeling we will be buying many Command Hooks.

Someone forgot “his” toothpaste and someone else forgot “her” moisturizer.  But we only had to make one trip to Walmart so I would say this was a successful trip.  Plus, we went ahead and bought several Command Hooks while we were there.

Leaving Home 

We headed down to Goose Island State Park just outside of Rockport for 4 nights.  

First sign of the ocean.  

Tide is out. 

Going up the Copano Bay Bridge to Goose Island. 

And down the other side. 

How fast can a Brown Pelican fly?

This one was doing about 50 mph! 

Checking in.

The headquarters staff remembered us.

It feels different being a paying customer versus being a volunteer. 

Our site. 

Unhitching.

It’s been over 20 years since we owned a travel trailer instead of a 5th Wheel!

Once we got set up, we headed back over the Copano Bay bridge to our favorite Mexican food restaurant in Rockport (Los Camales).

The food was as good as always and we were ready to get back to Goose.  We spent a little time trying to remember where we had put things in the trailer before taking a stroll around the park to do a little birding.  We ran across a couple that remembered us from last November when we were here as bird guides!

We arrived just after a cold front that had caused many northbound migrants to drop into the Texas Coast to rest and feed before continuing their journey. 

This male Baltimore Oriole was striking with its bright orange body and black head. 

One of many warblers was the Black-throated Green Warbler. 

The male Indigo Bunting is an unreal shade of blue, with a big silver bill. 

One of the most sought-after birds in the male Painted Bunted. It looks like a child was given a variety of paints and told to create their own bird. Amazing colors!

Next Time: Our second day had us loading up our kayaks.

Gotta Stay Flexible

We didn’t get the new RV out for our shake-down trip as planned this week. 

The contractor called to say he was ready to put down our new flooring.  We have learned that when the contractor is ready to go, we have to be ready too.

Also, the weather man was predicting horrible storms with hail and high winds.  Those storms turned out to be calm winds, no rain, no hail and pretty nice days. 

When we bought this house, we noticed the flooring in the kitchen/dining area had been put down incorrectly.  There were gaps and the edges did not come together correctly.  We debated on whether to totally replace the floor or try to pull up the current flooring and see if it could be put down correctly.  In the end we decided to just go with all new.

We met the contractor at Home Depot on Tuesday and picked out what we wanted.  He delivered and unloaded it all at the house.  The next day they showed up at 8, as promised, and got to work.  

Old flooring did not extend

under the washer and dryer.

Much nicer!

Old flooring did not extend

into the pantry.

Baseboard still needs to be painted.

The new floor is almost the same color as the old floor but, all the joints fit together like they should!

This contractor also put in our new doors.  I was very glad to get this project finished.  I was getting tired of seeing wax paper taped to the window!

Back door

Still needs some painting and plugs put over the screws.

We bought doors for the front and back.  They are Benchmark by Therma-Tu.  The blind is inside the window and is easily raised or opened by a lever.  They're pretty cool!

Front Door with blind closed.

I know I’ve said this before but, after a little painting around the new doors and baseboards and our new refrigerator that is supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, the kitchen really will be finished!

What's The Worst That Could Happen?

Here’s a question for you:  What is the worst thing that can happen to you when you’re in a boat? 

Mark ordered our kayaks from Kerrville Kayak and Canoe.  The owner, Corey, is very nice and helpful.  The kayaks arrived a couple of weeks later.  Can you tell which one is mine?  Orange of course!

The Guadalupe River runs through Kerrville.  There are several put-in spots along the river.  We chose an area where we have birded many times.  Flat Rock Park is only about 30 minutes from our house.  I had physical therapy in the morning so we weren’t able to get to the river until noon.  Being a Monday, we had the whole river to ourselves.

This is a beautiful area.  In some areas the river is clear and shallow enough to see the bottom.  

 

Mark brought out one of his older cameras and got some nice bird pictures.

 

Double-crested and Neotropic Cormorants

There were plenty of turtles sunning themselves.

Right next to where we launched there is a bridge with a feeder stream that looked like a nice, cool area.  So, after about an hour in the river we headed that direction. 

 

We had no idea how far in we could go but it turned out to be a really nice place to spend some time. 

Mark led us in.

We get all three kingfishers here (Belted, Ringed, and Green).  Kingfishers excavate burrows in sandy riverbanks. The burrow consists of a horizontal tunnel with a nesting chamber at the end and are usually about a meter long.

We had been seeing both Belted and Ringed Kingfishers flying back and forth in front of us.  We came around a bend in the stream and found the textbook example of an area they would be nesting. 

We didn’t see the Kingfishers go into any of the holes but a couple of the holes looked freshly cleaned out.

There were plenty of turtles in this area too!

We came to the end of the stream and headed back under the bridge to take out. 

I led us out.

Our 2.5 mile paddle

We got back to the boat ramp and loaded my kayak first.  We started loading Mark’s kayak and were quite surprised by how heavy it was. 

Our kayaks are sit-on-top kayaks.  They are easier to get in and out of when you’re in the water and the inside stays dryer.  I stayed completely dry during our 2-hour trip.  Mark commented that he had more water in the bottom of his boat than he was expecting.

So, did you know the answer to the question “What is the worst thing that can happen to you when you’re in a boat?

Answer: It leaks.

Yep, the reason Mark was getting wet and his kayak weighed so much was because the hull had taken on 3-4 gallons of water during the two hours we were in the water.

Even though Kerrville Kayak and Canoe is closed on Mondays, he immediately called Corey.  Corey answered the phone and said that definitely shouldn’t happen and to bring it back on Tuesday for a replacement.

We dropped the kayak off with Corey.  He’ll file a claim with Wilderness Systems, and Mark will have a new kayak soon.

Even with the leaky kayak, we had a blast.  These kayaks are much more comfortable than any we have ever rented. 

We're looking forward to our next outing.

IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE!!!

What’s here?

Our brand spanking new travel trailer.

A little back story on our decision to get a new, smaller, trailer.

After this past year with many months sitting at home in quarantine, we started considering what we wanted to do with the remainder of our traveling years.

We love volunteering.  It can be limiting in some ways (length of stay, commitments when other opportunities pop up, etc.).  It can also be a wonderful opportunity that would be unobtainable if we weren’t volunteering (access to areas that are off limits to the public, private camping areas, learning new skills, and meeting really nice, fun people).

Behind the locked gates at Laguna Atascosa NWR, Texas.

So, we made the decision to, not necessarily quit volunteering but, to change the way we volunteer.  To not commit 1 - 2 years out, and to shorten our length of stays.

When we left Goose Island State Park at the end of December, we were told that whenever we wanted to come back to lead bird walks -- even if it’s just for a month -- just to call them up and we would be welcomed back.  We had never thought much about volunteering for just a month.  That really started our decision to downsize our RV and opened up a lot of new opportunities for travel. 

We also wanted to get back to our original travelling roots and make shorter and more frequent trips throughout the year. 

Before we retired, we had a very small travel trailer for 2 years then a fifth-wheel for 10 years. 

We drove the tires off those trailers!!  Yearly trips to Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.  Many trips every year to beautiful state parks in Texas.

Glacier National Park

Once we started volunteering our travel destinations changed drastically.  We traveled to places we would have never thought to visit and stayed in some really amazing areas of the country.  The volunteer “work” was enjoyable and gave us a sense of pride and accomplishment in our daily lives.

Mark milking a cow at the Sauer-Beckmamn Living History Farm, 

LBJ State Park, Texas.

Feeding Atlantic Salmon.  Green Lake NFH

Ellsworth, Maine

But, with this past year behind us and moving into our new home, we came to realize that we really want to do more traveling.  We want the flexibility of hooking up the trailer and heading out where ever and whenever we feel like it. 

We’ve come to the decision that there is a very large world out there that we want to visit.  Even though there are some places in the world we have no desire to see, there are more than a lifetime of countries to explore.  

Without volunteer commitments we have the flexibility to hop a plane and fly anywhere we want or hook up the trailer and head down the road.

So, the decision was made to buy a smaller trailer.  One that we can quickly pack up for a week or two and head out.  We also wanted a smaller trailer in order to be able to get into areas that our large fifth-wheel just wouldn’t fit. 

We also wanted to buy a couple of kayaks to take with us and now, with a travel trailer, we will have the back of the truck to carry them

Mark built a very nice rack in the garage for our new kayaks.  

So, with all kinds of new ideas and thoughts towards destinations, we put our HitchHiker up for sale.

The day we picked up our HitchHiker, December 27, 2011: 

We ordered a Grand Design 2500RL Imagine.  

It took a few weeks to be built and delivered but that gave us plenty of time to get a new RV pad put in.

 

New RV Pad

Disregard the shed.

It will be torn down and a new workshop will replace it soon.

We picked up our new trailer on Thursday.  We have reservations next week for a 2-night shake down trip close to home.  We also have reservations for two other trips in the next couple of months. 

Hitching Up

 Perfect Fit!

Stay tuned. We will be on the road again soon!