Great Thanks for Life - Thurs., Nov. 28

Happy Thanksgiving to you, your families and friends. Enjoy your day of thanks.

Many thanks for:
1. Bob who is the love of my life going on 32 years.
2. Mom who raised me to be an independent, enthusiastic, spontaneous person - children live what they learn.
3. Our two sons, Randall and Michael, who have chosen different paths, but both are happy and well adjusted.
4. Our families: brothers, sisters, in-laws,  nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, step-children, and step-parents. Much diversity can be found in one family.
5. Our lives in Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and Texas...we have lived in beautiful areas in lovely homes. We have hiked, walked and explored all of them.
6. Our current home on wheels allowing us to live "on the road." Life is now a big "road trip."
7. Our jobs: It's nice to have food, gas, heat, money to go out to eat, to travel and try new things.
8. Our health: This allows us to keep doing what we love.
9. Wildlife outside our windows. Love to watch the birds and squirrels. On our road trips we have also seen deer and bison outside our windows.
10. Our cats: They are so entertaining and so loving. I can't imagine a home without cats.
11. Beautiful weather, like today, expansive blue skies, high swirled clouds, cool temperatures, and a slight breeze.
12. Natural beauty: flowers, waterfalls, autumn colors, mountains, deserts, rivers, the ocean and canyons.

13. Food to sustain us.

14. The mental capacity to make choices in our lives.

This morning, Bob, Randall and I walked 5K (3.1 mi.) around Crownridge Canyon Natural Area. Bright blue skies with swirled, white clouds framed the day. 

After our walk, we had Thanksgiving Dinner at the RV Park Rec Hall. 100 people socialized and ate. Very nice meal with our RV Park family.

Here are photos of our day...

Bob & Randall - Crownridge Canyon

Randall & Bob - Crownridge Canyon

Me with my warm hat - fleece flaps cover ears & neck.

Gorgeous day!

Love the lines of the clouds.

Fall colors.

Bob & Randall - it's cold out!

Thanksgiving at the Rec Hall.

A whole table for just desserts.

I hope you all are happy and thankful for your lives.

Travel Bug out.

For the Birds - Tues., Nov. 12

Not working for four days in a row has given me new energy. Three days in a row, I have been walking. Today, I revisited Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands a few minutes from our RV park for a 5K (3.1 mi) walk.

I had a late start to my day because I didn't go to bed until late, then the cats woke me up at 4:00 a.m. Long story short, I finally slept until 1:00 p.m. The Audubon wetlands close at 4:00 p.m. I hustled over there by 2:30 p.m. and I had 1-1/2 hours to walk, take photos and leave.

Each time I go to the wetlands, I strive to find different birds, i.e., ones that might be passing through or ones I haven't seen before. Today, I felt lucky to see two new birds for my list: the Northern shrike and the ruddy duck.

A definite cold front is passing through south central Texas. The wind was chilly, but it was a sunny day. I had on a T-shirt, fleece sweater and jeans. The temperature was wonderful for walking. Tonight, however, the temperature is supposed to drop to 34 degrees and there will be a wind chill making it feel even colder. The propane furnace will be running tonight!

Anyway, back to the walk. I enjoy walking in nature so much. The more I do it, the more content I am in my life. Beautiful and interesting scenes keep me going back.

Mitchell Lake Audubon's "office" and gift store.

Take a close look at the bird house below. Does it remind you of the office building above? Pretty cool bird house.

Audubon bird house.

A small bit of fall color: seed pods.

Looks like an invasion of UFOs.

Bird blind

Bird Pond.

Northern shrike - note the hooked upper beak.

Mourning dove.

Least grebe.

I want to hang out here!

American pelicans.

Northern shoveler

American avocet

Great egrets

As I walked (or ran) along, flurries of fritillaries flew up from the bushes beside the trail. In the photo below, I found four fritillaries, one open and three closed. Can you see them?

American avocet eating.

Ruddy ducks - I've never seen these before.

Northern shrike.

Because I love taking photos, I knew 1-1/2 hours wouldn't be enough for my 3.1 mile walk in order to make it back to my car by closing time. Every time I stopped to take photos, I ran for a couple of minutes to make up time. If you know how much I hate running, you will then know that I love taking photos that much more.

I made it back to my car at 3:59 p.m. At home, I had checked the location and time of "Gravity 3D." It started at 4:30 p.m. and I knew I could make it there in time. I hopped in the car and had freeway all the way to the theater. Just before I got out of the car, I was going to grab my credit card so I wouldn't have to fish for it at the ticket window. Epic fail. I forgot to put my credit card or cash in my fanny pack before I went walking. So, no movie today.

Tomorrow, I plan to walk in the morning, see my hairdresser at 1:00 p.m., and meet Bob to set up an account at a Texas credit union. U.S. Bank, where we have banked for years, is not in Texas.

Update: Jim and Peri whose 5th wheel was totaled by the flooding in San Marcos, Texas, now have a new-to-them 5th wheel and are all moved in. That was really quick. They found a used 5th wheel (in almost new condition) in Marble Falls, Texas. Congratulations, Peri and Jim!

Travel Bug out.

Tuesday Afternoon - Oct. 22

Weather in San Antonio is perfect. Daytime high is 78, lows in the 50s. With our repaired screen door we can leave the front door open and the kitties can "hunt" birds and lizards with ease.

Cats "hunting" birds and lizards...thoroughly engrossed!

Before I finish the afternoon, let's back up to this morning. Bob headed off to work a little later this morning as he took a break from working out at the gym. I wasn't far behind as I headed out for a 5K (3.1 mi) Volksmarch at Salado Creek Greenway.

Appropriately dressed for the morning chill in blue jeans and a sweat shirt, I completed the walk in 40 minutes. Not many other people were out and about. I passed six walkers, eight bikers passed me, and I nodded at three joggers going the opposite direction.

Flowers along the trail.

Salado Creek Greenway Trail.

After a shower at home, Bob and I had a date for lunch at Asian Fire restaurant. We wanted to acknowledge our two-year anniversary of being on the road. A recap of last year had us reminiscing fondly about our seven-week road trip to Mesa Verde National Park (N.P), Black Canyon of the Gunnison N.P., Yellowstone N.P., Black Hills of South Dakota, Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Badlands N.P. and sites along the Oregon Trail.

Our other major adventure last year was a six-week vacation, sans RV, to Australia. Use of accumulated Hawaiian air miles and three weeks of timeshares made the trip possible. We did have rental car, car insurance, food and attraction expenses in Australia, but credit took care of that. Words don't do justice to the fantastic time we had. We spent a week at each destination and saw as many waterfalls as possible. Our last week in Australia was dedicated to traveling The Great Ocean Road which wasn't originally in our plans. All I can say is, some of our best memories were made on our ocean road driving trip - glow worms in the forest at night, koalas in the trees, gorgeous king parrots eating out of our hands, and spectacular ocean scenery. 2012 was quite a year.

Oh, there was one other trip of the not so fun kind. But those wounds are healed and our plans for 2013-2014 have changed accordingly. We are in stay-in-Texas-work-and-pay-off-debt mode.

Speaking of which, we are now officially Texans with Texas license plates and driver's licenses. Yee haw!

More work has come my way...the insurance office wants me back tomorrow and Monday and our RV park office has asked me to work the next four Saturdays (in addition to Thursday and Fridays). Yay, love that income!! Robert Half Office Team also offered me two jobs, but both were hours I couldn't accept. One was 4-8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the other was Mon-Fri 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. When it rains it pours.

Here are photos of what the cats were "hunting" from inside our 5er...

Quite a large lizard!

Beautiful pattern.

White-winged dove.

White-winged doves.

 And then late afternoon arrived. Cat nap time!

 Sunnie and Bowie.

Thanks for spending the day with us. This is typical full-time RVing for us and we like it. Our current mind-set is we could be full-timing for another 10-15 years! Yeah, baby!

Travel Bug out.

Movie Review: Captain Phillips - Sun., Oct. 13

Rain once again changes our plans to Volksmarch. The remnants of a tropical Pacific cyclone have made their way to south Texas. It looks like Oregon in winter outside, gray, gloomy and rainy. Luckily it's still warm, but not what we want to walk six miles in.

Plan B: see "Captain Phillips" with Tom Hanks. Excellent decision. If you've been boondocking or out of touch with current movies, time to catch up.

"Captain Phillips" is the true story of the Maersk Alabama's harrowing experience with Somali pirates. Tom Hanks is superb in his role as Captain Phillips. He had his crew follow orders to hide on the ship and gave them clues via radio on how to cripple part of the pirate crew. The movie provides suspense, thrills, intensity, and also mayhem on the part of the pirates.

The four main Somali pirate actors were chosen from Minneapolis' large Somali population. Barkhad Abdi, who plays Muse, decided to audition with three of his friends: Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdirahman, and Mahat M. Ali. None of them had ever acted before. The result of casting the young Somalis adds a degree of authenticity to the supporting cast.

Bob and I both give this movie five out of five stars. If you want a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, see this one.

After the movie, we went to 54th Street Grille for dinner. Bob had chicken fajitas and I had Coyote Chicken. Good stuff. Here are a few pics.

Decor of 54th St. Grille

Bob waiting for dinner.

Bob took a good photo, don't you think?

This evening after laundry, we watched "60 Minutes" and "Amazing Race." Bob is now watching the Cowboys vs. Redskins.

Have a great week everyone. Travel Bug out.

Different Audubon Sightings Today - Tues., Oct. 8

My plan for this morning was to take my car in to a Ford dealership for an oil change and state inspection so we can get our car registration changed to Texas. Yesterday, I was told by the Ford service department if I came in at 8:00 when they open, I would be first in line. Got there at 8:00 a.m., was told I was 5th in line and it would be at least three hours before they would get to me. No worries, mate. I told him I was off to do a six-mile hike and I'd be back at 11:30 a.m. Nope that wouldn't work, I was informed. Their techs go to lunch from noon to 1:00 p.m., so I should come back at 1:00. Okey dokey.

Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands walk was close by, so I headed there. As usually my walk there took longer than usual due to looking for birds and taking photos. Word from the Visitor Center was that roseate spoonbills are around. I've never seen one, so I was on the lookout.

After the Audubon walk, I had lunch at home, then headed over to Grande Ford. They did an oil change and the safety inspection. Found out my battery could die any day and I need two new tires. The battery is going back to Costco as we bought it late in 2011 and it's a 100-month battery.

I did see some great birds today, but no roseate spoonbills. Click on the photos below to enlarge them. I checked the identity of the birds with the staff in the Visitor Center.

First part of the walk with morning dew.

Juvenile red-tailed hawk

House finches

Orb weaver spider

Another view of the orb weaver.

Dragonfly.

Blue-winged teal.

American avocets

Killdeer

The mysterious pod plant - staff had no idea what this is.

Blue-winged teal.

Green-winged teal and lesser yellowlegs.

Feather with dew along the top edge.

Great egrets roosting.

Pretty butterfly.

The butterflies were nuts for this plant!

Vermilion flycatcher - center (click to enlarge)

American pelicans.

Interesting markings.

This cow was adorable.

Tropical or Couch's kingbird.

Juvenile red-tailed hawk - look at that wingspan! The end.