The Grandkids Found Us Again.

Our grandkids came to visit for a couple of days and brought their parents along. They had a whirl wind two day tour of South Texas. Our first stop was the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. We felt like we had the zoo to ourselves, since it was a Thursday morning.

After the zoo, we drove to South Padre Island for fun on the beach. It was a beautiful warm day, but the water and wind were a bit nippy. The kids didn't mind, they loved jumping in the surf and digging in the sand.

While Shawn and Kelly and the two girls went across the border to Mexico, we hiked with the boys around the Santa Ana Refuge. They loved the Hawk Tower and Canopy Bridge.

We had just enough time to take a tram ride around the Refuge. This made for a full day. When the family returned from Mexico safely, Jacob and Logan were ready for another hike back to show their sisters the Hawk Tower.

TIRES! TIRES! Everywhere!

Before

Patrolling for illegal use of refuge land, including dumping, is one of our duties at Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR.



After

  Last week we had an opportunity to clean out on old tire dump found on one of our western tracts, San Francisco Banco. We spent a couple of days transporting the 375 tires to a suitable road for pickup on the northern boundary.

We were very thankful that the weather was cool since we blundered into Africanized Bees nesting in a tire. The bees were very slow moving because of the cool temperature. Kurt was the only casualty with only one sting. The next day we worked on another project while the NWR Fire Crew exterminated the nest. Finally we met the tire recycler who loaded the tires onto his semi trailer to be fed to their huge grinding machine.

The many lizards we met living around the tires were much friendlier than the bees. Virginia couldn't resist picking up this large collared lizard.

Happy New Year From the Valley!

Immediately after Thanksgiving in Austin we returned to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in the Rio Grande Valley. This is our 4th year volunteering for Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR. We were warmly welcomed back by our supervisor, Scot. Our jobs are similar as in previous years.


CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THIS IS?

Kurt was trimming and cleaning out under a Mexican Olive tree near our RV pad when he came across this odd object. At first glance he thought it plastic, maybe a fishing lure. Then it wiggled. Could it be a scorpion? No. After research, this ugly four inch long dude turned out to be a Sphinx Moth Cocoon. We learned that the hard curved casing extending from the head (left) is actually it's tongue. We placed it in the care of the Refuge Visitor Center, who photographed it. We are awaiting it's emergence into a large moth.

Two Weeks in Florida

Leaving our rig at the Escapee Park in Livingston, we flew to Miami. Our first week we stayed on Key Largo at Anchorage Resort and Yacht Club.

On the southeast side of Miami, along Biscayne Bay, we visited the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and toured Charles Deering's winter estate.

A day was spent at the Everglades National Park. From the Flamingo Visitor Center, we took a boat ride into the mangrove swamp and saw many birds.

We came across this large American Crocodile. The Florida Everglades are the only place in the continental United States where you can find crocodiles in the wild.

From our Key Largo condo we drove the 100 miles south to the end at Key West. This is a slow, beautiful and interesting drive crossing many bridges and narrow keys. There are lovely views of the water and beaches on both sides.

Ernest Hemingway called Key West home for ten years. He lived in this house from 1931 to 1939. He found peace and also, great physical challenge in the turquoise waters that surround this tiny island.

This is the Little White House, inside the Truman Annex. It was the vacation retreat that presidents, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy used during their administrations.

Our second week was spent at Fisherman's Village Resort Club in Punta Gorda. Virginia's sister Cathy along with Cathy's husband, Jim, joined us for the week. Together we visited the Edison & Ford Winter Estates and Sanibel Island.

One of the high points of the week was time with Aunt Florence in Sarasota.

Continuing Our Trek South

After leaving Branson, we spent four nights at Maumelle Army Corp. of Engineers Park outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. This park was very nice and also was designed to accommodate big rigs. We saw the sights of Little Rock, including the State Capital Building, the Presidential Library and the Zoo. From Little Rock it was a days drive to East Fork A.C.E. Park in Wylie, Texas. We stayed about a week and visited with family and friends.

Continuing south to Jim Hogg A.C.E. in Georgetown, Texas, we visited our daughter and her family.

On Thursday we took our two Granddaughters to a Pumpkin Patch in Elgin. Later, Hannah and Julia enjoyed being able to carve their own pumpkins at our campsite. It was a very fun day.

Saturday was our day with the boys. We took them to Evergreen Farms in Elgin.

We all had a delightful day taking a hayride and a train ride, eating a picnic lunch and playing Pumpkin Slingshot and Pumpkin Hunt. Jacob and Logan really enjoyed being big boys and riding with Grandma and Grandpa on the "Tractor" Train.

Departing Georgetown on Monday, October 22, we made the 4 hour drive to our home park in Livingston. This is our first time to actually stay at our home address at Rainbow's End ESCAPEE Park.

While here we were able to pick up our mail from the Mail Center rather than having it forwarded. We even got to vote in our home precinct instead of voting absentee ballot. We discovered that there is no usable TV signal here, but there is an ESCAPEE library on site with DVD's to borrow.

Branson, Missouri

We arrived at Table Rock Lake State Park on Friday, September 21. This beautiful Missouri State Park has some sites with full hook-up, 50 amp electric and a long level cement pad. The park is located just south of town.

We visited Wilson Creek National Battlefield, just south of Springfield. The Battle at Wilson's Creek in 1861 opened the Civil War in Missouri. There is a Visitor Center, Museum and a five mile auto tour loop.

One day we visited the brand new Dewey Short Visitor Center and took a guided tour of the Table Rock Lake Hydro Electric Dam, which was built in 1952.

While in Branson we visited the Titanic Museum as well as seeing the Acrobats of China show. We spent time with friends from Santa Ana, Joe and Barbara, who have a beautiful home in the hills. We toured the city and the College of the Ozarks with them.

Escapade 2012 - Sedalia, Missouri

We attended our first Escapee Escapade the week of September 16 at the Missouri State Fair Grounds in Sedalia. There were 1011 in attendance and 574 rigs. Five one hour time slots were available each day where you could choose from an assortment of session topics. The evenings were completed with live shows from Branson presented in the fairground arena. We saw Yakoff, the comedian, one evening and the tenor George Dwyer on another. On Wednesday evening, we were entertained by an Escapee led Hamo-rama. We were pleasantly surprised to meet up with some friends and fellow Escapee members from Santa Ana, Sam & Betty, Keith & Gail, along with Bill & Michelle. It was a very busy and informative week.