Lake Whitney TX - Another Thousand Trails Preserve

This was our first stay at the Thousand Trails Lake Whitney Preserve and we found it to be enjoyable although there were not too many others in the place. There are quite a few RVs parked on sites seasonally probably owned by folks from Dallas/Fort Worth or other nearby cities.  Unlike Medina Lake there is water in Lake Whitney, but it too is about 10-15% below normal levels due to the extreme drought in the region.  The down side to the lake having water is there are no campsites directly on the water and it can only be accessed by a walking path across Corps of Engineers property maintained by Thousand Trails staff.

Spring was happening in a big way as we neared the end of our two-week stay here. There were lots of birds so we put our feeder out to see who would visit. and we were rewarded by seeing a new to us species, the Black-crested Titmouse, a Texas only bird that is a little larger than the familiar Tufted Titmouse and is characterized by its blackish "tuft" as seen below.

Black-crested Titmouse looking a little angry?

And since Spring was bustin' out all over, we got to see some early Bluebonnets, the Texas State Flower, beginning to flex their buds and blooms.

These are right in the park along the entry road and were not evident the first week of our visit.

We are not sure what the occasional red flowers are.

We found about 4 plants at the edge of one of the campsites and picked a few blossoms Cathy will try to press.

Backyard birds such as the Cardinals were abundant and enjoyed the seed we set out.

And something we do not see often, Crows seemed to appreciate the seed too albeit they are a touch greedy!

Lake Whitney State Park is just a few miles from our park and they have water frontage, but no sites with modern hookups on the water! 

This lake is also less than full as can be seen by the mark left at the normal waterline.

The small town of Whitney doesn't have much of distinction but this house caught our eyes and thought it worthy of a photo.

OK, This is a test. There is a bird in this picture, can you find the Roadrunner?  It is pretty well camouflaged.

Here is a Roadrunner running away from us.

And here is a pair keeping their distance as well.

You will just have to imagine this photo rotated a quarter turn to the left for it to look normal! I cannot figure out how to make Google's Blogger properly handle a vertical format image! Anyway these unknown bushes were beginning to bloom in the woods too.

Not only are the squirrels large, they have an interesting brown coloring to their underparts.

The squirrels could not figure out our squirrel proof feeder so had to content themselves by rooting underneath for fallout.

And finally a keeper photo of the Yellow-rumped Warbler that clearly shows its namesake characteristic!

Lake Medina TX - The Dry Lake

We stopped here primarily to put us in proximity to San Antonio to visit with Cathy's brother, Bob and his son, Chris and family who live in the San Antonio metro area.

We were here in 2004, our first year on the road, and it was a different place then. I am including photos I took of the lake then and what the same spot looks like today as this area of Texas is seriously affected by drought.

An old fireplace and chimney remain standing near the water's edge within the Thousand Trails property. Here it was in 2004 with a lake full of water behind it.

And here is the same place in March 2014.

Here is another view near a tent camping area with a distinctive oak tree in the foreground taken in 2004.

And the same spot this year!

One of the neat features of this park is the herd of resident deer which this year seemed to have an abundance of bucks strutting their stuff including this 6-point guy!

And this 8-point beauty. This was taken through our windshield directly across from our parking space!

And this, another 8-point specimen.

For the most part the deer are oblivious to human presence, but one doe seemed interested in Dixie on our walks. She would rise up and watch Dixie very closely, even advancing toward her at one point.  Here two younger bucks engaged in typical behavior headbutting in preparation to serious combat in upcoming mating season. 

And Dixie wouldn't hurt a flea!

We met Bob and Chris for Barbecue Lunch on a rainy afternoon near New Braunfels TX.  Kyla, 9 and Caleb, 6 were there too. The name of the BBQ place is Coopers and the food was very good. The old highway sign for someplace named Cooper was above the group for the picture and the reflective sign played havoc with my picture so the men seem to have an aura around them! 

Cathy's cousin Dotty Bogart and her husband Bill were staying in Kerrville TX, about 60 miles from Lake Medina and we met them and Chris and his family there for lunch. Here then are 3 Tebos, Chris, Cathy and Dotty.  Don't know why Chris is so tall!!!

This time, Chris' wife, Jenna accompanied them for the day and we were able to take this family group picture.

Jenna likes James Avery Jewelry and they stopped at a factory complex near Kerrville for a look, but I don't think anybody bought anything.  Kyla and Caleb had a great time playing around the fountain at the entrance to the factory store.

One last look at Medina Lake in 2004. It was originally built in 1912 as an irrigation project to benefit local farming activity.  Today cattle are grazing in the bottom of this area formerly covered in water.  Locals say the lake has gone dry cyclically and will fill again.  Meantime "lakefront properties" are at bargain prices!

Port O'Connor TX -- The End of the Road

Although we stayed in Port O'Connor on the Gulf Coast of Texas for six weeks, arriving there on January 20, we really did little more than hunker down to stay warm as the weather was cool, damp and at times stormy for most of the time. We were parked at Beacon 44 RV Park essentially in the middle of the town, but about a mile from the water's edge. The owners were gracious and frequently hosted pot luck suppers. We enjoyed one such that featured Roast Pork, Roast Beef and Roast Moose.  All were equally good tasting and hard to tell any difference between the beef or the moose.

The town identifies as being at the end of the road and it is indeed. It is about 35 miles one way to Port Lavaca where there were regular shopping opportunities but made us plan our forays accordingly because of the distance!

On a mild day we were able to visit a ghost town, Indianola, which at one time was a major port town south of Galveston. Many German immigrants arrived here in 1845 and were stranded after their agents went broke and abandoned them.

Storms and fires effectively destroyed the town and the harbor by the time of the Civil War. In 1856 several shipments of Camels arrived at Indianola as part of the US Army Camel Corps experiment to replace horses and mules with camels as the primary pack animals in the southwestern portions of the nation.

Nothing of the original town remains other than a stone purported to be from the original courthouse.  Several historic markers identify various points of interest.

Brown Pelican and a Ring-billed Gull resting on some old pilings at Indianola. 

The same two as above but joined by a cormorant and another gull.

This Egret was looking for lunch as we drove past.

At Beacon 44 RV Park there was a nice central pond where one could fish (catch and release) and that was home to several domestic ducks like these. Also were the ever-present mallards and some interbred hybrids.

On the drive to Port Lavaca, we saw Red-tailed Hawks on nearly every utility pole. While at Indianola we also saw a Roseate Spoonbill fly overhead but coud not drive the car and take a picture at the same time!  So all we have are Hawks to share.

We left there on March 3rd and next stopped at a Thousand Trails Park northwest of San Antonio TX. Details and photos from that stop are in a separate posting.