We arrived at Marinoff RV Campground on November 4th. We had a great season. During the course of this season, we made the decision to start a new chapter in our lives.
We watched Space X launch on multiple occasions from our RV.
MONTEZUMA CYPRESS
This cypress is over 900 years old on the Abrams West Tract. It is almost inaccessible to the public since it is now south of the Border Wall. This is one of our preferred lunch spots.
Makes you feel young.
CHRISTMAS DAY CELEBRATION
We had an all-volunteer Christmas potluck in the New Volunteer building. Santa Ana maintenance staff converted the old tram building into a volunteer building complete with laundry, full kitchen and an 88-inch TV. Maybe someday the TV will even have reception.
Lois and Merl making delicious chocolate covered Christmas Mice.
Lisa was in charge of making the beef tenderloin in the new oven.
It was fabulous.
We had a great Christmas Buffet Feast.
Time to wash off the dust from travel.
FLAT TIRE ADVENTURE
Can you see it? We didn't. While driving along the fence line on Chapa Road, the north boundary of La Sal del Ray, we ran over this with our rear tire. As luck would have it right before the end of the workday. Thankfully we had all the equipment and a spare tire we needed to get home.
The next week we drove back to Chapa Road and cut the U-Channel off well below ground level.
Lunch spot overlooking the Rio Grande River.
Watching another blastoff from our RV.
MOWING THE HISTORIC CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELD OVERLOOKS
The Refuge attempts to maintain two Civil War interpretive sites overlooking the Palmito Hill Battlefield along the Boca Chica Road (Hwy 4). The Battle of Palmito Ranch was the final land battle of the American Civil War. It was fought May 12-13, 1865, along the banks of the Rio Grande, 13 miles east of Brownville. This battle took place more than a month after Robert E. Lee surrendered.
Before
Before
After
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
We trailered a large diesel zero-turn mower along with a small gas mower and a weedwhacker.
Space X is located at the Gulf, at the end of Hwy. 4. Elon Musk has purchased most of the available property that isn't owned by USFWS and now is erecting a statue of himself.
PLACING A STATE OF TEXAS HISTORICAL MONUMENT
One of the projects we were asked to perform was to install a State of Texas Historical marker along Hwy. 4 about a mile west of the Space X launch site.
This involved digging a 30-inch-deep hole.
Installing four 80-pound bags of Quick Crete
We left the post to cure over the weekend.
We returned on Monday and placed the sign.
LUNCH ON THE GULF
After placing the sign, we had our lunch at Boca Chica Beach.
OVERLOOKING THE RIO GRANDE FROM THE ARROYO RAMIREZ
Another one of our favorite lunch spots overlooking Mexico and the Rio Grande River.
LA SAL DEL RAY
This isn't snow. This is Salt. La Sal del Ray dried up during the drought this winter and has left salt covering the shallow lakebed. We even had to turn off the solar pump that keeps the nearby pond filled with fresh water for the wildlife.
Turned around a corner and found this rafter of turkeys.
VOLUNTEER BANQUET
The season came to an end with a banquet and a big thank you to all the volunteers.
After a combined 44 seasons, these volunteer couples are all retiring.
Kurt & Virginia, Merle & Lois, Karen & Tom
We have completed our service at the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR.
We have accumulated a combined total of 14,356 volunteer hours at LRGV NWR.
We have volunteered at a number of federal and state facilities over the last 17 years:
Lake Lavon COE Park, Texas
Lake Georgetown COE Park, Texas
Wichita Mountains NWR, Oklahoma
Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR, Texas
Arapaho NWR, Colorado
Klamath Basin NWR, California/ Oregon
Camas NWR, Idaho
Farragut State Park, Idaho
Green Lake Natl Fish Hatchery, Maine
Grand Total Volunteer Hours:
Kurt - 12,111 hours
Virginia - 11,844 hours
Spring has sprung and some of the trees are blooming in spite of the long winter drought.
