Critters

We've seen a lot of wildlife since we have been here. Wild turkeys, white tail deer, raccoons, and even a live armadillo. There are also a lot of ducks hanging out at the reservoir but just mostly coot which are not good eating so we haven't seen any duck hunters. We've seen a lot of turkey vultures but everyone that has been here before says there are a lot fewer of them around. They think the ranchers poisoned a bunch to keep their baby goats and lambs safe.

They have mostly goats on the range around here because its pretty slim pickings and very rocky ground -- not very good for cattle.

We are hoping to get out and fish at least once more before the end of the year. We might be having some bad weather coming. Everytime they predict bad weather here it just ends up being a sprinkling of rain and a lot of wind. I know farther east of us in Texas they have had a little snow and ice but thankfully not here.

We had a great feast of grilled turkey and all kinds of good eats here at the campground on Christmas eve. There is a party planned for New Years Eve but we will see how many actually last until midnight. Last year at the campground in New Mexico the party only lasted until almost 11pm.

Devil's River

We tried going fishing on Thursday but the boat motor wouldn't start so we had to take the boat in and supposedly we just needed a new battery. We finally got the boat on the water Saturday launching out of the boat launch in Rough Canyon. This canyon is in the part of the Amistad Rec area called Devil's River. The Devil's River comes from somewhere in north central Texas and runs into the Rio Grande. The high cliffs along the Devil's River are beautiful. We got close to the shore of one of these cliffs and you could here the water from a spring running into the river. You couldn't see the water at all -- it was just behind the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. I'm not sure if the water -- it kind of sounded like a small waterfall --is visible when the water level in the river is lower. The river water is very clear because it is fed by many of these kind of springs.

We are used to fishing while gulls circle overhead looking for an easy meal. Here the turkey vultures circle overhead and I took a picture of them down by the water. It's been a little cool lately but now its finally warming up more and getting into the 60's and almost 70 by the end of the day.

We will be having our Christmas feast here in the park on Christmas Eve. We have a small fiberoptic xmas tree and have gotten our first batch of Christmas cards so it feels a lot like Christmas --even without snow or cold. Also, they don't sell real Christmas trees down here -- must cost too much to transport them. They are getting ready to sell fireworks though -- I guess everyone likes to blow them off for New Years Eve. Thankfully its not allowed in the park -- its too scary with campers parked so close to each other -- but it will be fun to see them blown off out in the desert.

Seminole Canyon Rock Art

We went to Seminole Canyon State Park and took the tour to see the ancient rock art. My mom and stepdad came down to Del Rio for a few days visit. We did a few days of site seeing around the area. The canyon tour was the most interesting site we have seen so far. It's a mile or so hike down into the canyon and over to the cliff dwelling where all the pictographs were drawn. The cliff dwelling is fairly long but not very deep -- just enough to keep the elements out. The ranger that led the tour was very knowledgable about the history of the area.

They estimate that the art is over 4,000 years old which makes it the oldest rock art in the country. They don't really know what the drawings mean but they are amazing once you understand how hard it was for them to make the paint. This area was a stopping off point where small family groups of ancient peoples stopped and rested for a week or so. The area has some springs and a little woods with a few desert animals and plants that they made use of but it wasn't enough to last very long.

The weather down here has been barely in the 50's but it looks like its been much colder farther north and "snowier"and not much warmer farther south so we are staying in Del Rio for another month and maybe the whole winter.

Judge Roy Bean

We went to the "town" of Langtry which is about 60 miles west of Del Rio. This is where Judge Roy Bean lived -- the only law "west of the Pecos". There is a restored opera house and a saloon that he had built. The opera house was actually where he lived -- not sure why he called it an opera house. We walked through a really nice cactus garden that showed off all of the different trees, bushes and cacti found in this one area. Judge Roy Bean's buildings are free to tour and so is the cactus garden. There is also a visitor center, souvenir shop, a few houses and a small bare bones RV park and thats about it for Langtry. I thought Langtry's Visitor Center was as interesting as the restored buildings and it also had the best visitor information for the whole state of Texas that I have seen so far. Big Bend National Park is about another two hundred miles west of Langtry. There really is nothing much in between Del Rio and Big Bend except these tiny little towns like Langtry.

We had a short cold snap and actually saw a few flurries in the air. You should have heard the locals complaining about the cold. The possibility of snow (even flurries) was news worthy for days. The only thing we thought was newsworthy was the power outages we experienced. The power has gone out twice in the area including our campground and of course it hit when it was the coldest. We can run our furnace on battery power so we managed to stay warm. This also means no water so we have learned to keep water in our tank as back up.

So far we like it here. I found the library -- I have a Texan library card now. We are still trying the local restaurants -- slowly -- we don't go out to eat very often but haven't found anything good yet. Luckily, I really don't have to cook all of the time. There is a couple staying at the campground that make a little money on the side by cooking up breakfast twice a week -- eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy and either french toast or pancakes, coffee and juice all for a "donation".

Pecos River Canyon

Friends we made in Door County, fellow workampers, stopped and camped with us over Thanksgiving. They took us to see some of their favorite sites around the Del Rio area. They volunteered one winter with the National Park Service here at Lake Amistad.

We went north about 40 miles to the Pecos River boat ramp and rec area that is part of the National Park Rec Area around Amistad reservoir. One picture shows the boat dock and ramp with the bridge (hwy 90) over the Pecos River. The other water picture shows, although not very well, where the Pecos River dumps into the Rio Grande. I also tried to get the Ocotillo cactus that is blooming in the picture. It is the dead looking branches on the right with tiny red "flowers" at the tips. This boat ramp is the least popular of all along the reservoir because its so far out and because it is a long steep walk from where you launch to where you park.

The other picture of of flowering Purple Sagebrush. It only blooms after a rain and if it is also warm enough. We had a little rain and poof two days later it was blooming in a few places. The blooms only last a day or two but it was very nice to see something blooming in the desert in November.

We had a great Thanksgiving feast at the park. The park owner cooked up 4 turkeys and a ham and everyone in the park brought a dish to pass. I made wild rice just to have something from Minnesota on the table. Everything we ate was very good -- even the cucumbers in vanilla pudding.

Rough Canyon

We have tried two different boat launches on the lake. One called Black Brush is close to the RV park but when the wind blows its hard to fish here because its so open. The other launch we have tried is called Rough Canyon. Its about 15 miles north of us. Rough Canyon is along the Black River which dumps into the Rio Grande at Lake Amistad. It is one of many canyons along the river. The Black River is very nice to fish and has some beautiful homes and condos being built along it. The walls of the canyons range from flat to very high so there are some fairly scenic places.

We are happy to be back in the desert again. Although we miss seeing the mountains in the distance that we saw in New Mexico. We can see Mexico from our campsite, way in the distance and it looks like there may be mountains that way but we won't be finding out. Acuna is the Mexican town on the other side of the dam. From the sound of it, it is a pretty large town of around 200,000 but the little tourist area that you could walk to across the border has pretty much shut down. The need for passports, the economy, the rumors of drug violence, and the H1N1 flu scare pretty much killed it.

We are getting to know Del Rio and have found groceries at the HEB are a pretty good deal. HEB is the big grocery chain in Texas. They have an amazing array of fresh, dried and canned chili peppers. I just wish I knew which ones were milder and how to use them in some recipes. After a year of being full time RVer's we are getting faster at settling in and finding decent shopping and services. I'm starting to really appreciate one stop shopping, banking, pharmacy, hair salon and optical departments at Walmart. We do like to find local places to buy from but sometimes its just easier to go to Walmart.

Del Rio, TX

We are finally settled in Del Rio, TX. It's located about 160 miles west of San Antonio. We found a nice new Rv park with huge sites called Broke Mill Rv Park just west of Del Rio and close to the lake. It is good to be done traveling after almost 3 weeks on the road. It was nice to take our time getting to our ultimate destination but it's even better unhooking the boat and starting to fish again.

Lake Amistad is the lake we are fishing. It was created by a dam across the Rio Grande by the border with Mexico. If you want to buy a Mexican fishing license you can fish both sides of the lake. There is more than plenty of water on the American side to fish so we won't be fishing the Mexican side. The water level is high for this time of year which is nice for fishing and the water is still pretty warm. Jim found out how warm it was when we put the boat in the water and it started to sink. He jumped in the water -- we were still at the boat launch -- and dragged the boat back to the boat trailer while I madly cranked it up out of the water. He had put the boat plug in the wrong hole so it took on water quickly. We still managed to go out fishing after we got the excess water out. Jim caught three smaller large mouth bass that fought like they were much bigger. So, over all it was a good day even though it was a Friday the 13th.

Its been beautiful here since we arrived with temps in the low 80's. We haven't been this warm most of the summer. It is not as dry here as it was in New Mexico but it is still considered desert. The weather here is only about two degrees cooler than the southern gulf coast of Texas so it should be very nice all winter.

We've been told it is very safe here as long as you don't do anything stupid. The drug war violence seems to be in El Paso to the north and Laredo to the south of us. For whatever reason its not a problem around here. I hope its true but if not we will just move out.

Traveling Across Texas

We managed to get through Houston on a Sunday morning. Thank goodness because the traffic during the week is indescribable. We then spent two nights about 80 miles or so west of Houston. We took a day trip with just the truck down to the Gulf Coast. It was only about an hour and half from where we camped so we quick drove down to catch some really nice warm sunshine. We took some pictures of the piers there with beach and palm trees in the background.

We were going to head up toward Austin to an RV dealer that does warranty repairs on our brand of 5th wheel but they suddenly shutdown their business. We ended up going to San Antonio and staying at a very nice "luxury RV park" for a week. We wanted enough time in San Antonio to have a mobile RV repair service come to our rig and fix it. The guy came right out and took less than 2 hours to fix it. The repair was a very minor adjustment on some grease fittings for the axles. He also gave us plenty of advice on the best way to get around the city to see the sights.

We went downtown and saw the Alamo. Jim took some good pictures of it. I posted the best one. We love to see American historical places and this one has been nicely restored. We also strolled along the riverwalk. It is surprising how narrow the "riverwalk" sidewalk is -- not sure how people don't fall in on busy weekends and especially when it gets dark. It is very pretty and there are great hotels and restaurants right alongside it.

We will be heading west from San Antonio to Del Rio next and probably staying there for the rest of the winter. It will be nice to get out of San Antonio -- very nice town but the traffic is something else.

Memphis

We stayed in Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park in West Memphis, AR which is on the other side of the river from Memphis, TN. We got to watch barges go by right from our campsite. At night the barges would come so close to our shore that it looked like you could jump right on one.

Another workamper couple that we worked with in Wisconsin met us down here and we rode with them to check out Beale Street. We ate some fabulous Memphis barbeque ribs and pulled pork at the Pig on Beale Street. We also tried them again at BB King's but the BBQ at Pigs was better although BB Kings restaurant has a very famous banana bread pudding with caramel sauce which is served warm and is truly wonderful. We listened to some live blues music while at BB King's. A band played that was led by a 15 year old boy who could really play the blues on guitar. He was amazing to watch and it sounded great.

We stayed in at Tom Sawyer's for a week and then headed south through Mississippi. We spent a night south of Jackson and had to give our bikes away. Our bike rack broke and we had no way to haul our bikes. We gave them to a nice retired Navy man at the park we were staying in and he was very happy to get them. The bikes were old, the seats were tearing and they had some rust. If we figure out another way to haul bikes we might replace them.

We spent two nights in Louisiana waiting for the rain to stop. It was in the high 80's and raining so the humidity was incredible. We ate great cajun food -- gumbo, etouffe, fried shrimp, crawdads and catfish. Next stop Texas.

Fall Colors in door County

I finally was able to get a good enough WIFI signal to download pictures to the blog. We left Door County as the color was just past peak. It was beautiful but cold. We left on Monday the 19th -- almost the last to leave the park. The owners gave us a nice send off. We headed to Illinois and didn't stop until we got down to I-80. That was too long of a drive for one day. We only like to drive 3 or 4 hours a day and up to 250 miles in one day.

Sometimes there isn't a decent campground so we have to drive farther than we would like. We need to find campgrounds that have 70 foot pull through sites so we don't have to unhook the boat or back up. Come October in Wisconsin the campgrounds are closing down so we had to get to Illinois to find one.

We also have to stick to the interstates or major state highways because we are so long we need truck stops for fuel and rest stops. It seems like everytime you count on a rest area being open along the freeway -- its closed. We made it through Illinois in 2 and half days avoiding the route that takes you through St. Louis. We went through a corner of Missouri and then down in to Arkansas. We stayed at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, AR for a week. It is right across the river from Memphis -- 10 minutes to Beale street. I will try to download a few pictures of that adventure in the next blog.

Pumpkin Patch Weekend

We had our busiest weekend since the 4th of July here at the campground. Pumpkin Patch weekend is a big deal here and the town of Egg Harbor has a big pumpkin festival. At the campground we had hay rides, a bonfire, trick or treating and a pumpkin carving contest. I was one of the judges of the carvings and Jim was a conductor on the hay ride.

It was so cold during all the festivities we had to wear our parkas and long underwear. Luckily we had kept some warm gear just in case we got caught somewhere cold. It is snowing now and starting to stick OMG!! we are leaving here either the 18th or 19th. We will be heading south via Illinois and checking out Memphis and from there were not sure but our ultimate destination is southwest Texas.

Jim was threatening to leave before our contract was up so a few coworkers put a chain around a tree and then around the hitch of our rig to keep us from leaving.

Remembering Mom

Jim's mother, Ernestine, passed away last week. We made it back to Minnesota in time to say goodbye. She was cremated and there was a gathering at the Wyoming Community center in her honor. She was able to die in her home which was her final wish and she was well cared for and in no pain when she left us. Her leukemia was no longer treatable and an infection set in that her body couldn't fight.

We can't say enough for the wonderful home care she had for the last two years. The company that provided the help is called A Time For Help. We felt comfortable traveling knowing that her helpers were there with her. Many of the helpers became good friends of Ernies. They provided some of the memories of Ernie at her gathering. It was really wonderful.

A rock garden is being created in her honor on her friend Craig's property. He owns Greenworld Greenhouse in North Branch. She had so many rocks that he could build another Mount Rushmore if he had the energy. We are very grateful that she had so many wonderful friends along with family that loved her.

We are sorry we didn't get to visit everyone while we were in Minnesota. We had to rush back to the campground to finish out our contract and get ready to head south. I'm sure we will swing through Minnesota in the future.

A New Plane

The owner of the campground bought a small sport plane. These kinds of planes are smaller than the normal private planes but larger than an ultralight flyer. You can fly "sport planes" without having to pass a tough medical exam. They fly pretty high and fairly fast just like their bigger cousins. The downside is these planes are very small. They look like they have a backseat but you would have to be a pygmy to fit in the back.

The owner bought the plane that has wheels. Jim saw the one with floats and loved it. Too bad these little planes cost over $100,000. Jim will get to take a ride with the owner and even get to fly it. We think the owner is trying to bribe us to come back next year by offering Jim the chance to go flying.

The new marina is coming along -- we've lost count of how many barge loads of rock they have dumped into the water to make the new pier.

Washington Island

We finally took the ferry across to Washington Island. You see Jim;s back as we head out to cross Death's Door passage to the island. It was a beautiful day with almost no wind so the ride over was wonderful. The ferry from Northport to Detroit Harbor carries passangers as well as cars. We opted to take our bikes and bike around the island. The island has about 6 miles of paved roads. Many people take their cars but most ride the "cherry train" for a tour around the island. You can also rent mopeds and putter around which we wish we would have done. We only biked about half the island. We didn't like riding against the wind uphill. There isn't much to really see there. Some stores, places to eat and places to stay but all very small.

We ate at a restaurant that advertised fresh "lawyers". The owners are commercial fishermen and they fry up and serve what they catch. We thought we might as well give the "eelpout/lawyer/burbot" a try. It wasn't bad -- they served it in very small fried pieces. They had many stuffed fish on the walls -- not a good idea to see what the fish really looks like that you are eating.

September has been warmer here so far than most of August. There is a bumper crop of blackberries all around the campground and they've been very tasty snacks. We are hoping to get in a little more fishing as long as it stays warm before we pack everything up for the trip south.

More Lighthouses

Now that it is quieter we went out to Cana Island Lighthouse. It is the picture of the lighthouse without water in it. This lighthouse is about halfway up the peninsula between Sturgeon Bay and the tip. It is the only one you can climb up into if you want -- almost 100 steps- we didn't opt to go up.

We also finally got to go out on the pier where the coast guard station is and the Sturgeon Bay Canal dumps out into Lake Michigan. You can see the mouth of the canal to the left of the station and lighthouse. There were also some very nice fish swimming close to the pier. They say you can even catch trout here in the spring and fall.

Jim got a picture of some baby Cedar Wax Wings hiding in the sumac. They were too big for their nest but they couldn't really fly much yet. They were sitting on a branch waiting for Mom to come and feed them.

A New Marina for Egg Harbor

We survived the Labor Day weekend onslaught of campers. There were close to a thousand people in the campground and most were nice -- some were rude -- but at least the campground was never noisy. We finally saw some nice walleyes that were caught by a group of campers staying here. We got some great pointers on how to catch them. They actually troll in water very deep to shallow 20 to 90 feet -- very different than in Minnesota. So we put in an order from Cabelas to get a few new supplies that will help us catch them the way they do it here.

The pictures I am showing are of the equipment and rock that was brought by barge to Egg Harbor. The citizens of Egg Harbor voted to repair and expand their marina to the tune of 6.5 million dollars. They will be tearing down the old pier (in the front of the picture) and pouring rock for a new one. They will be adding five times as many slips for boats and they already have them filled. People are on waiting lists for years around here to get a slip.

While the tugs were getting the barges pushed into place in the harbor there were all kinds of pleasure boats cruising around them. It was still a busy day on the water Labor Day. The weather was perfect and there was hardly any wind so it was perfect for boating. We did hear that the Coast Guard was searching the waters off of one of the islands for a body. Someone had fallen overboard and they were searching and of course there were many boats out watching the proceedings.

Zebra Mussels

I had to take pictures of the zebra mussels we keep catching. I was using nightcrawlers as bait. The one picture shows a part of a nightcrawler thats left from the mussel attack. The other picture just shows the float -- the mussels have the hook. They clump together around a small rock or something and when food comes by they clamp on to it. We've learned that when we feel something on the line and you pull it up and it doesn't fight then its got to be zebra mussels.

People who skin dive have to be very careful. Many of them try to grab on to a rock under the water and don't realize its covered in zebra mussels. They get nasty cuts because they have very sharp edges. Even when you do catch a fish -- many times if the line comes in contact with these razor sharp mussels while your bringing in your fish -- the line gets cut.

We celebrated our 33rd anniversary -- laughing as we clean toilets and think about how we started out doing minimum wage jobs and now here we are again. We love being out and about in the campground and have met lots of nice people. We even got an anniversary card from a couple that are camping here for a month. We met them at the bathhouses (while we were cleaning)and have found them to be very interesting -- and I guess they liked us enough to give us a card. We are gearing up for Labor Day weekend and then it is supposed to get much quieter. YEAH!

My Fish

I finally caught a nice fish. It was a 20 inch small mouth bass- beautiful fish and it was very fat. I caught a 21 inch small mouth bass on Mille Lacs but I don't think it was as fat so I'm putting this fish as my biggest ever. What a relief to catch something nice after so many nasty exotic species.

The picture of the island- Horseshoe Island - is the island in the background where I caught my fish. We were fishing there because it was more out of the wind and the waves were less than 2ft. Out on the bay itself the waves were over 3ft so we didn't even try to go out there.

I love showing the big boats ( yachts) in one of the marinas in Sturgeon Bay. I also love the way they are working on the old bridge in Sturgeon Bay. We haven't figured out if they are fixing it or tearing it down. They use small boats like the one hanging in the air to work on it. At the end of their shift they hang the boats in the air - I guess to keep them safe over night.

Campground - Cabins, etc

We spent one of our days off fishing, of course. The weather was perfect and it didn't matter that we couldn't catch the fish we were seeing on our graph. We found a beautiful sandy beach area along the shore of an island where you could swim around and enjoy the water. Many boats were taking advantage of it.

We also had some friends come visit for a few days and they got to enjoy one of the rustic cabins we have at the campground. I have more pictures of the campground -- the playground which is huge and has basketball and a huge volleyball area as well as the usual playground equipment. The other picture is of the office building. You can come in and sit and read, get on your computer with free WIFI, buy some gift or store supply or play in the game room.

I also took a picture of one of the "deluxe" cabins. The rustic cabins have a bed, small frig and tiny heater. The deluxe cabins have a kitchen and bath. The cabins here are very popular. Some people who started in a tent and got drowned out when it rained have ended up "upgrading" to a cabin to stay dry. I understand that the cabins are a little cheaper than even the cheap motels here in Door County. You have to remember there are no chain hotels or motels. They are mostly smaller inns and they are all busy and on the spendy side.