Davidson Woods

March 19 - D’Hanis Texas (Near San Antonio)
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
We retired from Laredo yesterday and moved north to this point at the edge of the Texas Hill Country north of the South Texas Plains. We knew the weather would be cooler and welcomed the cold front that blasted past us last evening bringing wind, heavy rain, and a bit of medium-sized hail.

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTWe retired from Laredo yesterday and moved north to this point at the edge of the Texas Hill Country north of the South Texas Plains.  We knew the weather would be cooler and welcomed the cold front that blasted past us last evening bringing wind, heavy rain, and a bit of medium-sized hail.  Laredo had been warm and muggy.  How about that, muggy in the desert.  We enjoyed the town.  even if it is a bit rough and tumble.  The old town is today largely Tejano.  The Gringos are all in the suburbs.  We spent time in both areas.  Our first outing took us into the old downtown and to the waterfront behind a somewhat unkempt looking neighborhood.  Just before dawn we looked for a trail head off of Water Street and there noticed young toughs sitting in cars watching.  They were all federal agents.  I finally asked one if he knew where the trail was.  He didn’t but said there was a trail through the marshes.  He asked Anne if she was scared.  She said yes.  He said nobody had crossed lately and that they wouldn’t bother us anyway.  That did not make her feel more comfortable.  We waited until day light became strong before heading into the trees. There we wandered about river marshes and palm groves in search of seedeaters.  We found instead yellowthroats, mockingbirds, and wonderful Audubon’s Orioles.  Eventually we reached the end of the trail at a ravine formed by a tributary to the border stream.  Across the ravine were more federal agents eyeing us.  We turned back.  Reaching a particularly fine patch of reeds I said to Anne that if there were any seedeaters about, this is where they would be.  We looked all about and after a pregnant pause, I spotted a tiny bird clinging to a tall reed at one edge of the clearing.  We looked close to see that it was indeed a White-collared Seedeater.  Over the next hour we saw almost a dozen and watched them call, feed, and court.  One hen was ready for action, but the nearby cock would not perform.  He must have thought it was too early in the season.  We enjoyed grand views of this species so rare and local in this country.  We may never again return for that show. We were camped at Lake Casa Blanca International Park, a Texas state park at the east edge of Laredo.  On Sunday all of Laredo was there.  We were surprised because usually when we arrive at a campground on Sunday afternoon everyone is leaving.  Instead, we joined the queue to enter the park.  In the evening we joined the natives to watch the sun set across the lake.  A lovely young woman spoke with her uncle in Spanish.  I greeted her as a winter Texan and she said that she was a native Texan but just moved to Laredo from the Washington D.C. area.  How about that?  She was delighted to be in Laredo.  My impression is that most of the people of Laredo are happy to be there, especially the Tejanos.  Despite the heat. We hiked about the park on weekdays.  There, away from the border, we encountered a large canine corps.  I confronted the officers to find they to were part of the border patrol conducting monthly training.  We went one way down the trail and they the other.  Here you can’t get away from the border even away from the border. Our GPS unit has been giving us fits and we bought another.  Now we have one for the motorhome and one for the car.  That may be a luxury, but it will be a blessing when the old one finally dies.  I’m ashamed to say we have become dependent on it.  It is so 21st Century. We’ve also become dependent on the Internet and with none in camp we visited a fine and lovely branch of the Laredo City library three times during our week’s stay to communicate and buy airline tickets to San Francisco for a spring visit to our son.  A disappointment in Laredo was no NPR radio and no radio station with Rush Limbaugh, but, unlike at our previous stop, we had American speaking television stations.  Thank goodness for little things.  Anne has yet to see the final episode of Downton Abby.  Don’t tell her what happened. We left Laredo happy but decided to change plans and go north to the vicinity of San Antonio.  Anne and I realized we had never seen the Alamo.  Today we visited that shrine of Texas - I took my hat off as ordered - and downtown San Antonio and another of the five Spanish missions in the area.  The Mexicans invited American settlers to Texas to increase its prosperity and they sure did.  Today with some 1.3 million residents it has a splendid downtown thriving with commerce, industry, and tourism. Lunch was along the Riverwalk, of course.  The natives were shivering, but we knew we had to eat outside there to watch the stream of tourists on the walk and in the endless stream of tour boats in the channel.  Everyone should see the Alamo. 
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

March 12 - Falcon Lake TX
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
Our rig is parked below a Texas Ebony Tree in the campground of Falcon State Park in southern Texas. This weekend has brought a crowd of mostly fisher families to enjoy the grand reservoir above the Falcon Dam. The old town of Falcon is long submerged along the old banks of the Rio Grande River. The new town of Falcon is a bit east of here. It has never recovered from its relocation.

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTOur rig is parked below a Texas Ebony Tree in the campground of Falcon State Park in southern Texas.  This weekend has brought a crowd of mostly fisher families to enjoy the grand reservoir above the Falcon Dam.  The old town of Falcon is long submerged along the old banks of the Rio Grande River.  The new town of Falcon is a bit east of here.  It has never recovered from its relocation. We’re in a wet desert now of Mesquite, Sage Brush, and various kinds of Acacia.  The birdlife includes Cactus Wren, Black-throated Sparrow, and the Cardinal-like Pyrruloxia.  We found rarer birds below the dam at the strange little town of Salineno.  Peccaries (now called Javelina) wander in small herds about the campground to entertain us. The weather last week started off hot, but rain brought much cooler nights starting in the middle of the week.  Today the mercury rose from about 40 to 90 during the course of the day.  Now at dusk the thermometer says 74 and is falling fast. Coyotes howl distantly in the thorn scrub that surrounds us.  Mockingbirds perch on the Spanish Dagger Yucca plants scattered across the sandstone plain here above the flooded river valley.  Gas wells are scattered about the park and its surroundings.  A compressor station adjacent to the park packages the product for shipping.  Fracking was invented here and gives us cheap gas.  Hurrah.  Ranching is another popular industry here.  Beef makes good use of land unsuitable for other kinds of agriculture.  It almost grows itself for free.  Of course, feeding it some corn at the end makes it prime and tastier.  Other business here is international trade and border management.  Several of our neighbors operate radar balloons that adorn our skyline.  They try to interfere with some of the international trade. Spring is coming.  The deciduous Mesquite began leafing out about two weeks ago and now the low hills are lime green.  Several of the acacias are in bloom drawing bees to the pale yellow and fragrant flowers.  Anne is studying the butterflies.  Only a few fly in this season, but most here are different from those at home. Tomorrow we move to Lake Casa Blanca State Park at the edge of the City of Laredo.  Residents here say Laredo has become a Mexican town and is best avoided.  I’ll tell you next week if that seems so to us.  Some 85 miles north of here, the city promises even more extremes of temperature and a drier climate.  It is closer to home even as we follow the south border of Texas east to west.  Along this section the border is really north/south, so we are heading north toward home.  We will go farther away only when we approach the Big Bend region.  Meanwhile we enjoy the local customs.  Here all of the radio and television is Spanish language.  Anne is severely disappointed to have missed the last episode of Downton Abbey.  Don’t tell here what happened.  Internet is sparse and sporadic.  I’m hoping to upload this note this evening, but if not then at some later time.  We’re hoping for better communications, at least, near Laredo.  The beef should be good too.
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

March 6, 2015 - Mission Texas
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
We leave Mission this morning. Once a sleepy town on the Mexican border, Mission is now part of the popular Lower Rio Grande Valley. This includes walled and well watered communities that are similar to gated communities in southwest Florida, shack communities of recent immigrants, vast farms where the corn is now in some places a foot tall, grazing lands, salt scrub, and a miles long commercial strip along US Route 83. Between Brownsville and Mission there are about five miles between each Walmart.

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTWe leave Mission this morning.  Once a sleepy town on the Mexican border, Mission is now part of the popular Lower Rio Grande Valley.  This includes walled and well watered communities that are similar to gated communities in southwest Florida, shack communities of recent immigrants, vast farms where the corn is now in some places a foot tall, grazing lands, salt scrub, and a miles long commercial strip along US Route 83.    Between Brownsville and Mission there  are about five miles between each Walmart. Anne suggests that we are safe here because the U.S. Border Patrol is in our campground 24/7.  She neglects to point out that the boys sit in an armored portable lookout tower.  Our rig is not armored.  Still there is the lovely river between us and old Mexico. Two days ago we visited the historic old pump station in Hidalgo.  There is a section of “the wall.”  Along one section a vertical concrete wall on the Mexico side of the levee forms the barrier.  Near the pump station it is a twenty-foot high steel fence that looks very impressive.  It being handy, Anne and I took pictures of each other standing in front of it.  What I did not notice until afterwards was that two people were climbing the fence as we stood in front of it.  Anne unknowingly caught one in her shot of me.  How about that? We backed off to give them some room.  I expected that when they slid back to earth they would walk down the street and blend into the local population.  Instead they ran into the tall grass along the levee and dove to the ground.  Bad move.  I suggested to Anne that if they were wearing the proper clothing, they would blend right in.  Instead they crawled around in the grass.  Meanwhile other tourists, birders as it turned out, approached us.  We chatted with them and I suggested we move off.  I don’t like it when people creep about in the grass behind me.  Moving back down the road a border patrol van approached, and another tourist chatted with the agent.  I would have said nothing planning to observe the phenomenon.  Before we left there were a half dozen official vehicles behind us.  Clearly the “migrants” were not Mexicans and could not afford a “Coyote.”  They didn’t know what they were doing, poor boys.  Who knows what our ineffective government will do with them.  Probably let them go. It is a shame.  Enact a reasonable guest worker program and legalize drugs and the border will be easy to protect.  Imagine how much the boats, helicopters, vans, trucks, high lifts, ATV's, bicycles, walls, and fences cost.  How much to pay the thousands of border agents.  What a waste! The birding was good here and a week was not long enough to visit all they places we had planned.  The temperature ranged from cool to hot in contrast to that at home where cold and snow continue.  We chose a campsite with a tree overhead.  That gave us shade and some bird poop.  We walked about the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park and Andalzuas Park finding birders and the usual cohort of south Texas specialty birds.  Cave and Cliff Swallows appeared one morning indicating the coming of spring.  On fields of newly sown corn we found a flock of the rare Mountain Plover, a bird we have seen only twice before. With all 1099’s finally in hand, I finished preparation of the income taxes.  Turbotax finally priced me out and I returned to paper forms this year.  These have become increasingly tedious with instructions such as subtract B from A and if C is less than G add to D.  Now we have to find a post office. The environment has changed as much here as it has in Florida.  Once the Rio Grande was a large free roaming river that nurtured this region with rich sediment and abundant water.  Today it is caged and only a token flow reaches Brownsville.  The flood plain forest has turned into thorn scrub woodland.  Our next stop is a state park on the Falcon Reservoir which provides fresh water for all of the Lower Valley.  We’ll be on higher ground off of the delta of the Rio Grande River.  I expect to see cactus wren and quail.  The nights will be cooler and the days hotter.  Our camp will be back a bit from the border which is in the middle of the lake, but we’ll be seeking birds downstream along the stream.  I’m sure the border nonsense will be with us until we leave Big Bend Park.  Unfortunate.  At least after this we will be in more remote regions.  This week near Roma and next week at Laredo.  I remember and old song about that town.
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

South Texas Sunshine February 25, 2016
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
We’re in a large RV park that reminds us of the Siesta Bay Resort near Fort Myers. Palms, flowers, and noisy blackbirds grace the grounds. The temperature is now 74 degrees and a fresh breeze feels cool. We have been exploring woodlands, marshes, and scrublands of the lower Rio Grande Valley and enjoying the associated subtropical flora and fauna.

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTWe’re in a large RV park that reminds us of the Siesta Bay Resort near Fort Myers.  Palms, flowers, and noisy blackbirds grace the grounds.  The temperature is now 74 degrees and a fresh breeze feels cool.  We have been exploring woodlands, marshes, and scrublands of the lower Rio Grande Valley and enjoying the associated subtropical flora and fauna.  We have added three birds to our life list, Blue Bunting, Northern Jacana, and Groove-billed Ani.    That is a good number for a year and it is only February.  Of course adding birds becomes harder and harder. The border is close but we have been stopped only once by the U.S. Border Patrol.  We have been buying water here.  The tap water seems rather alkaline, tasting a bit of mud and metal. Chlorination makes it worse.  Water stations are all about so I guess many people prefer to pay a quarter per gallon for the little water needed for drinking and cooking. It seems all of Minnesota is now in South Texas.  I hope somebody turned off the lights. Pretzels, seltzer, and rye bread are hard to come by here.  I never realized our taste had become so regional.  Grocery stores are few and far between.  One chain, H.E.B. has stores in every town.  Walmart provides competition. We’re three weeks in “the lower valley” making a short hop each Sunday.  Last week we stayed at Brownsville.  There we drove to the beach and walked three miles south to the mouth of the local river.  Across the way were Mexican fishermen.  We waved across to each other, we across the Rio Grande River and they across the Rio Bravo.  A flock of lovely Bonaparte Gulls sat on the water nodding their heads to catch small creatures.  The border meant nothing to them. The entire region is part of the river delta and old channels are everywhere.  Sections of these channels are full of water and thus oxbow lakes or resacas as they are called here.  Three species of kingfishers perch along these waters.  Elsewhere in this country there is only one species.  That is a good reason for visiting south Texas in the winter time. In some ways this area resembles south Florida.  The weather is warm and sometimes moist, palms and flowers adorn the parks, and much Spanish is spoken.  In others it is completely different.  Cold snaps are sharp and the humidity can vanish, the woodlands are thorn scrub, and the Spanish is Mexican not Cuban.  Security is more of an issue, but we don’t feel particularly threatened.  The climate will become more and more arid as we move west.  During these three weeks we are  making short moves each week.  Brownsville last week, Weslaco this week, and Mission next week.  Each move takes less than an hour.  This part of Texas is warm in February and has the largest potential for rare birds.  The move from Brownsville to Weslaco and then on to Mission are east to west.  The Rio Grande runs southeast but here flows east and then slightly northeast to the Gulf of Mexico.  But west of Mission the river comes from the northwest and into dryer and dryer country.  We will move into the desert to find cactus and cactus wren.  Interesting changes in scenery are coming. We pack two plants, a Kalanchoe made from a cutting of a plant of my mother and a clump of bromeliad that makes us think of Dad Woods.  They are both showy in bloom now.  Texas weather is good for them. Our voyage continues well with few problems.  Today we took time in the afternoon to visit a tire shop with the rig.  One tire had been loosing air.  A valve stem had failed and was replaced.  My back caused me grief last week but seems to be behaving now.  After the root canal in Kingsville, we need no more medical issues. We follow the news loosely.  No state budget in Pennsylvania yet.  The Democratic governor wants to increase spending and taxes.  The Republicans want less of both.  They offered to keep the status quo but no deal and still no budget for 2016. I see Trump won some more.  An unhappy editorialist complained that the candidate is too cheerful and contrasted his praise of the uneducated who support him with the President's bitter criticism of residents of small towns in Pennsylvania (of whom I am one) when he was a candidate.  It seems likely that Mr. Obama really does hate us, but Mr. Trump shows no obvious prejudice.  Sure the Democrats suggest he is racist because he opposes illegal immigration, but his manner, words, and patterns show no particular prejudice, and he seems decent and welcoming to all.  The conservative editorialist complained of this and of Trump's universal popularity despite his not being a "true conservative."  I'm sure that is disappointing to him, but that is not what is disappointing about Trump to the Republican Party elite who hate Trump because he is not one of them.  None of this makes him unpopular with me, but I have trouble taking him seriously.  He could be a reformer, but will he be?  Some of his statements and suggestions are downright silly.  Does he mean them, or does he make them to win the election?  That is somewhat dangerous either way.  If he wins, how will he govern?  Not by platitudes, I hope.  He might be a good manager, but what policies will he pursue?  I guess we should look to see what "platform" he espouses.  Perhaps he has a web site.  I guess it is time to look. I fear that he could be a playboy president in the manner of Berlusconi of Italy, but that may be my prejudice.  I believe the Donald to be a much better man than the Silvio.  Let us hope so!
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

February 10, 2016 - Kingsville TX
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
We’re within the boundaries of the famous King Ranch though not on ranch-owned land. That is now in parcels but the ranch continues to be larger than the state of Rhode Island. Today cattle are only a part of the business. Remember the movie Giant? Oil and gas are a big part of the business. Today half of the land produces sorghum and cotton. Tourism also provides big dollars. We bought a birding tour and hunters pay thousands of dollars to sport here where the game is managed to insure abundance and large racks.

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTWe’re within the boundaries of the famous King Ranch though not on ranch-owned land.  That is now in parcels but the ranch continues to be larger than the state of Rhode Island.  Today cattle are only a part of the business.  Remember the movie Giant?  Oil and gas are a big part of the business.  Today half of the land produces sorghum and cotton.  Tourism also provides big dollars.  We bought a birding tour and hunters pay thousands of dollars to sport here where the game is managed to insure abundance and large racks. The weather is clearly that of south Texas.  We turned on the heater this morning but this afternoon the thermometer read 79 degrees.  The climate is reflected in the vegetation.  Palms, Live Oaks, Bunch Moss, and Spanish Moss indicate warmth and humidity.  Many of the trees are deciduous, but some of these are already coming into bloom.  Spring is coming.  On the ranch tractors are pulling 30 meter wide disc units across the fields to prepare the soil for planting.  We watch the machines to see what birds are chasing them.  We’re enjoying the south Texas “specialties” including Green Kingfisher, Great Kiskadee, and Green Jays.  Much fun.  We’re chasing “accidentals” from Mexico that we have not yet seen.  So far no luck, but several good birds are in Brownsville now.  Will they be there next week after our arrival? Our travels go well with only minor crises.  I had a dental emergency last week and enjoyed a root canal in Bay City.  We have to make a long drive back there from here on Friday to have a new crown mounted.  Our other equipment, including the motorhome and gear are doing well.  Our winter pilgrimage along the southern border of Texas continues.  We admire the state of independence here.  The Lone Star Flag is prominently displayed.  It brings to mind the Texas rebellion and its annexation by the United States.  We wonder if that had not happened.  Today the border would be farther north and the contrast between the two nations would be not at the Rio Grande but on the land.  Desperate people would be there trying to leave Texas instead of trying to enter it.  We are very thankful for the blessings of differences in culture and institutions (or documents) that make this so.  We as gringos may enjoy the quaint and colorful Mexico across the border.  Those on the other side crave our peace and prosperity.  The Pope who seems to be strangely naive is coming here at the end of the week to ask Mr. Obama to tear down this wall.  He seems to think that open borders will somehow solve the problems of the world.  Those of us behind it seem to think that it insulates us from them.
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

January 30, 2016 -Palacios TX
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
I write here after a long pause. I came to think nobody was looking at these blogs. But, the suggestion was made that I resume posting. So, here goes.

We finished our holiday duties and I completed manufacture of a dining room table for the Eisenburgs of Brooklyn. Anne and I made another trek to visit the kids and see our grandson. Then we returned home and prepared and provisioned the motorhome while the winter weather held off for a bit longer. Thanks, I guess, to this year’s El Nino.

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTI write here after a long pause.  I came to think nobody was looking at these blogs.  But, the suggestion was made that I resume posting.  So, here goes. We finished our holiday duties and I completed manufacture of a dining room table for the Eisenburgs of Brooklyn.  Anne and I made another trek to visit the kids and see our grandson.  Then we returned home and prepared and provisioned the motorhome while the winter weather held off for a bit longer.  Thanks, I guess,  to this year’s El Nino. Then, with a cold front and snow squalls pursuing us, we raced down I-81 towards Texas.  The snow caught up to us in western Virginia, and we snuggled up under the covers in our little bedroom in a Cracker Barrel parking lot near Knoxville that night.  The following morning, it seemed the entire police department was having breakfast in that restaurant, but we quietly pulled out and reached the lovely Poverty Point State Park in Louisiana not far off of I-10.  I knew that Anne would be very happy to have 120 V AC and television on that Sunday night.  Downton Abbey was observed.  The park includes the site of a remarkable Archaic Indian community that established a semicircular series of housing terraces along the Bayou Macon.  The diameter of the circle was almost a mile.  The community was evidently one of trade and exhibited great wealth.  But after some one thousand years, all that remains are the earthworks and buried relics.  We reached a lovely USCOE campground in the piney woods of eastern Texas near the City of Lufkin the next afternoon.  For most of our week there, we were the only paying campers there.  The weather was chilly at times, but the sun shined and the temperature fell to freezing only one morning.  The solitude was delightful even if we missed such things as the Internet and cell phone service. We had a childhood friend of mine and his lovely wife over for supper on our first night and then joined them for most of another day and evening in town and at their home.  One other days we explored the region, birded, and hiked about the Sam Rayburn Reservoir.  The weather seemed grand. The week over we moved due south to the low hill and town called High Island on the low strand of the barrier island east of Galveston called the Bolivar Peninsula.  A several mile wide dome of rock salt extruded to the surface to form a platform on which soil collected and an oak grove sprouted surrounded by salt marsh prairie just north of the line of low dunes behind the Gulf beach.  We met a friend there who we had first met last autumn (spring) in Peru.  It turns out she ran the Audubon preserves along the Bolivar Peninsula for more than a decade.  She took us birding and convinced us to join an international piping plover survey the next day.  So, we had a busy time birding in one of the birdiest spots in North America.  We also visited the town of Galveston that was to be the industrial center of eastern Texas.  A little thing called a hurricane visited the town in the Year 1900 and put an end to that and a few thousand of its residents.  The port and industry moved inland a bit to a town called Houston.  We went there too chasing a Groove-billed Ani and found a wealth of oil refineries, manufacturing plants, and a major port.  One looks at the infrastructure and imagines its cost and the risk of investment.  This region is hurting a bit now and struggling.  Today we paid $1.42 per gallon for gasoline and almost $0.60 of that is federal and state tax.  We are blessed at the resources that the development of fracking has given us.  I wondered what discovery would enrich our nation after the development of the micro-computer and the Internet.  Who would have thought oil?  Thirty years ago we worried how we were going to heat our houses in the future. Today we crossed the Houston Ship channel by free ferry.  For those three miles our motorhome towing auto achieved a rate of an infinity of miles per gallon.  I looked both ways but was very glad not to be captaining the vessel across that busy waterway. We did burn gasoline continuing down the Texas coast.  The land was low.  Most is in ranch and farm land.  The soil is rich but moist.  Pasture and lawns were adorned with crayfish tubes and fire ant mounds.  Both critters need air above the water.  The weather forecast for this week is mild until mid-week and then chilly again for a day or two.  No freeze here though.  Not even a frost.  The mosquito I see flying in front of the television should be happy about that.  There were plenty of insects on High Island and a few came in despite our efforts.  Tomorrow we will search for a bird we have never before seen.  Here we tour and bird and enjoy the mild weather.  We’re very glad that Texas is now part of the United States and that so many Mexicans want to come here instead of leave it.  Odd what a difference is culture and institutions can mean.  So easy to forget it when one is born on this side of the border.  Our next stop will be in Kingsville in big ranch country.  Then we reach the current border region.  More adventures ahead.  
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

October 2, 2015 - Forsyth GA
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
Our wanderings took us across the southern Appalachians to this point. We enjoyed our visit to Cherokee finding old friends and the Smoky Mountains. Anne and I completed a stiff climb of the Shining Rock ridge to collect blue berries and enjoy the views. Glad we can still do it.

The town of Cherokee and that of Sylva too are looking prosperous. We dined in the later with friends and listened to a band make music at the town park.

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTOur wanderings took us across the southern Appalachians to this point.  We enjoyed our visit to Cherokee finding old friends and the Smoky Mountains.  Anne and I completed a stiff climb of the Shining Rock ridge to collect blue berries and enjoy the views.  Glad we can still do it. The town of Cherokee and that of Sylva too are looking prosperous.  We dined in the later with friends and listened to a band make music at the town park.  We moved south to visit more old friends in north Georgia and camped at a secluded campsite on private land designated Shangri-La.  From there we moved east to Kings Mountain where a colonial militia whooped an English led Tory army in 1780.  We also visited Cow Pens where the United States Army met English regulars a few months later and turned them back.  They kept retreating to a place called Yorktown where they got on a boat for home.  We found our Red-cockaded Woodpeckers for the year in a national forest.  Anne slipped on a rock at a waterfall and cracked her wrist bone.  She looks sweet in a splint, but I have had to do all the cooking and clean-up.  From there we moved here and caught a flight to San Francisco.  We enjoyed almost three weeks there with Alex.  That town is doing very well except for the abundant hobos and high prices.  We made morning walks through the Panhandle Park.  No jogs while Anne has her arm healing.  We visited various points of the city and took a couple of boat rides into the Pacific for the fun and to see western birds.  We took Alex north to Mendocino and the Anderson Valley on a four-day road trip.  Great scenery with the sea, cliffs, headland meadows, redwood groves, oak woodlands, vineyards with free wine tastings, and fine dining out with Alex.  He is a gracious host. Yesterday we flew back to Atlanta with anxiety over a hurricane that sat over the Bahamas causing much grief there.  Today it seems to be heading out to sea, but flooding is forecast for South Carolina.  Today we set up our rig and made a big grocery expedition.  We’ll resume looking for birds and curiosities in north Georgia for a few days.  Alex will join us for about a week and travel with us to Louisiana the week after next.  There migrating birds should be arriving in abundance and we hope to encounter the elusive Yellow Rail before our return to the Northeast next month.  Good travels ahead.
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 - YORK SC
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970

Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENT We’re camped at Kings Mountain State Park adjacent to Kings Mountain National Military Park.  The campground is lovely with mature trees and good facilities.  Our pilgrimage across the southern mountains goes well.  Our stop at Cherokee was nostalgic.  Our friends are aging.  Imagine that.  We found even older friends of mine at Panther Brook in Georgia.  Our stay there was relatively short but provided time to walk and dine together on several occasions.  We joined the couple to attend their worship service.  That is always moving. We are here for five nights.  History brought us to this location in the high Piedmont on the border of the two Carolinas.  The battle fought nearby was “pivotal” in the Revolutionary War.  Whereas the Battle of Brooklyn was a disaster for Patriot forces, the Battle of Kings Mountain started a chain of events that drove the English from the American South.  General Cornwallis had warned the Southerners to behave, or else.  The "or else" particularly concerned the mountain people after reports of English atrocities reached them.  They knew they would not behave and so banded to avoid the "else."  When the little battle on Kings Mountain ended Dixie remained as firecely independent as the North and the English crown could not isolate the rebellious North.  The event was not pretty or glorius, but the result was profound and for the better.  So, we come here to see the place and to appreciate what was done there.  I am always saddened that the more important Revolutionary War receives so much less attention today than the Civil War.  The latter refined the nation, but the former created it. Curiously, the battle was fought within York County SC.  I write from the York Public Library.  We are here for a few days before continuing on to near Atlanta.  We will leave our rig there and fly to San Francisco to visit Alex and make a small road trip with him.  Wish us well on our travels.
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

August 27, 2015 - Whittier NC
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
Arrived here at the Tuckaseegee RV Resort between Sylva and Cherokee NC this afternoon to vist old haunts and meet with old friends over the next week. The mountains look green and the river below our camp is one that Anne and I have paddled several times. Its rocks have torn a few junks out of the seal coat over the teflon fabric of the craft.
Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTArrived here at the Tuckaseegee RV Resort between Sylva and Cherokee NC this afternoon to vist old haunts and meet with old friends over the next week.  The mountains look green and the river below our camp is one that Anne and I have paddled several times.  Its rocks have torn a few junks out of the seal coat over the teflon fabric of the craft. Our travels are going well.  We enjoyed our visit to Burke's Garden in western Virginia and a walk among the wild ponies at Grayson Highlands at Mt. Rogers.  We too grazed on blueberries there.  We stopped at a little restaurant in Damascus where we had dined and shared company during our hike on the Appalachian Trail through that part of the world.  Today's travels went well taking us down the Great Valley and over the Black Mountains to Asheville.  From there we had merely to struggle across the Balsam Mountain Range to here.  During our crossing we caught views of the popularized Cold Mountain that we have climbed a couple of times in our stays here.  It looked great. We may not climb that mountain this week, but we do hope to visit the Shining Rock wilderness and see if the blueberries are still in there.  This "Berryman" needs his treats.
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

August 19, 2015 Canaan Valley Resort, West Virginia
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 17, 1970
It has been a long time since we have been on the road with our Winnebago Minnie. Today finds us at this West Virginia State Park within the strange Canaan Valley, a three thousand foot high bowl along the Allegheny Mountains. Its isolation within a rim of mountains and the altitude make it a “four-season playground.” The damming of its drainage crates a maize of open bogs and rocky meadows between spruce and fir woodlands and small forests of northern red oak, beech, and red maple. Deer are too abundant and the boreal parkland provides habitat to various
Anne and Chuck's blogLoginto post comments Read More
🎨 Blog Cover Photo Helper
BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTIt has been a long time since we have been on the road with our Winnebago Minnie.  Today finds us at this West Virginia State Park within the strange Canaan Valley, a three thousand foot high bowl along the Allegheny Mountains.  Its isolation within a rim of mountains and the altitude make it a “four-season playground.”  The damming of its drainage crates a maize of open bogs and rocky meadows between spruce and fir woodlands and small forests of northern red oak, beech, and red maple.  Deer are too abundant and the boreal parkland provides habitat to various species that are unusual this far south. We are enjoying the place for its scenery and isolation.  We find birds too, of course, but August is a tough month to find land birds in the mountains.  But if there are few birds there are plenty of wildflowers and mushrooms.  This morning we made a couple of hikes between the showers and plan more tomorrow.  On Friday we will likely return to the Dolly Sods, another high elevation valley famed for its open vistas and harsh weather.  Yesterday the harsh weather drove us out. We’re enjoying time to ourselves at last this year.  Remember we spent most of our winter in Florida and California and most of spring and early summer in Brooklyn.  So far this year we have scarcely lived a month in our little house.  Now we are in our even smaller home on the road going mostly to places we have never been before.  We will also stop at Sylva near Cherokee to visit our friends there and enjoy that lovely area. So family and friends, wish us well in our travels.
⏳ Gemini is analyzing...
Select Search Source
AI Suggested Keywords
Manual Keywords

1...7 8910 11...58

Go to