Winter 2017/2018

After a perfect summer in northern Idaho, we departed on September 17, arriving in South Texas (Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge) on October 27. We spent the winter at our usual campsite #10 at the Marinoff Volunteer Village. This is a great place for a long term winter stay while working three days a week for the South Texas Refuges. There are 14 large campsites with long cement RV pads, 50 amp, FHU. The laundry room has 5 washers and dryers available for the volunteer's use. All shopping and conveniences are available a short drive away in McAllen and the surrounding communities. We are now completing our ninth winter season in this setting.

                                                              

Arrival October 27, 2017

Our old friends the Altamira Orioles, aka Orange Pants,

were quick to return to their habit of

pecking on our back window most mornings.

 

Every December the city of Hidalgo puts on a Christmas Light Festival. Most of the downtown area is involved in the elaborate light displays. One of the volunteers organized a group outing to Hidalgo. The best way to see the light display is by taking the trolley tour. We were fortunate to have a beautiful December evening for our trolley tour through the city.

 

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND
We have been to South Padre Island many times, but thought it would be nice to spend New Years week at a time-share condo there. Our condo week started on New Year's Eve day. We think it was the coldest week of the entire decade. We didn't get to spend much time walking on the beach, but Kurt did eat a lot of seafood and we got caught up on our Cable TV shows. Near the end of the week we had a couple beautiful warm clear days for a walk on the beach and a ride around the twelve mile Laguna Atascosa tram loop.

Peninsula Island Resort, South Padre Island  

36 inch Black Drum caught on the ship channel

at the south end of South Padre Island

 

SERVICING THE LRGV PROPERTIES

While working we often have adventures, some fun and some not so fun. In December we challenged ourselves to take a shortcut across a "dry" lake bed in order to remove trash collected by other volunteers on the Teniente Tract. After assessing La Sal Vieja on foot, we felt it might be ok to drive to the trash pile. As the shown in the picture, after breaking through the crust, we buried the truck up to the axles in slippery black mud. We were determined to get the truck out of the lake bed...

After an hour and a half of work we managed

to get ourselves out using our

shovels and logs we cut with our chain saw.

The next day, we returned with the proper equipment

and got the job done with no problems.

Haste Makes Waste.

 

Another job completed was on the Goodfields Tract:

Replaced and adjusted worn ranch gate

Spring time arrived mid-February in the desert.

 

One of our favorite lunch time stops while servicing the Boca Chica Properties. We usually work two or three days out here each winter. The tailgate of the truck is our picnic bench.

Part of our job is sign installation and maintenance.

 

An Aerostat is on the Los Velas tract. These interesting observation balloons are used for patrolling the US Mexican border. There are currently about four or five of these in the Rio Grande Valley. These helium balloons have cameras for spotting ground activity as well as radar for spotting low flying planes. The Aerostat is flown from a tether when conditions allow. They are not flown when the wind speed exceeds 30 mph or in fog.

 We took a short day trip to Mexico for some dental work. Progresso has many fine dentists that work for a fraction of the cost of their US counter parts. This time of year they are very busy with all the winter Texans.

CORPUS CHRISTI
The first week of March we booked a time-share condo on north Padre Island, just east of Corpus Christi. Padre Island is 113 miles long. Separated by the Mansfield Ship Channel, South Padre Island is accessed at Port Isabel and runs south to Boca Chica.

La Casa Del Sol, Corpus Christi 

We took a tour of the U.S.S. Lexington air craft carrier. Commissioned in 1943, it is now permanently docked and available for tours in Corpus Christi Bay.

Padre Island National Seashore

We identified about 35 shore and song birds.

Texas State Aquarium

Bits and Pieces - Another Summer Has Passed

We are wrapping up our summer here at Farragut State Park in Idaho and had some additional pictures.

 

In June the state park offered a free class called "Intro to Disc Golf". We thought that would be a great way to learn the basics, since we had never tried this sport. We learned that the disc is thrown differently than a normal Frisbee. The rules, however, are similar to golf.

Kurt getting private lesson.

This baby Dark-Eyed Junco jumped
out of his nest in the courtyard of the Brig.

One day in July we visited the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center in the small town of Sagle, ID. This museum has a rare collection of restored vintage flying aircraft. Dr. Forrest Bird, who pioneered the medical respiratory industry, initiated the museum. Flying and collecting planes were his passion.



Staggerwing Aircraft

Some of The Large Collection

About 60 miles west of here and north of Mt. Spokane, is a small farming community called Greenbluff, Washington. There are numerous orchards filled with cherries, peaches, apples, and pears. In July, we picked our own Rainer Cherries. We also picked up some early peaches. We loved the peaches so much, we drove back a week later to purchase a case of Coral Star Peaches. We have been out to the orchards three times now, with our last visit buying a case of apples and another case of peaches.

We were eating them as we picked them.

The cherries were at the end of the season,
but still managed to find some good ones.



August 21 was the date of the Solar Eclipse. Here in the north Idaho, we got to enjoy 92% coverage.

On one of our days off we took a tour of the Buck Knife Factory. Hoyt Buck was looking for a better way to temper steel so it would hold an edge longer. His unique approach produced the first Buck Knife in 1902. Hoyt made each knife by hand, using worn-out file blades as raw material. The factory is now run by the fourth generation.

Located right here in Post Falls, Idaho

Display of the specialty knives
in the Buck Museum.

Here we are at our desk in the
Museum at the Brig.
We have enjoyed our summer here
and look forward to coming back next year.

A Week in The Canadian Rockies

Our last day of volunteering at Farragut State Park was Saturday, September 2, so we scheduled a week at a time-share condo in Panorama near Invermere, British Columbia, for the week of September 3rd. Panorama is located on the west side of the Canadian Rockies.

 

There are four Canadian National Parks in the Canadian Rockies UNESCO World Heritage Site. The four national parks included are Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay. We also visited two additional Canadian National Parks, Mount Revelstoke and Glacier (not to be confused with the US Glacier National Park or the Canadian Waterton Lakes National Park, both of which we visited in July).

 

As an added bonus, since 2017 is the 150th anniversary of Canada's birth, all the national parks are free to the public.  

Our Home Base - Panorama Ski Resort

Two Bedroom and Two Bath Unit

Kootenay National Park

Day Trip to Kootenay NP
Stop at Numa Creek 

Bridge Along Paint Pots Hike

The iron-rich mineral springs stain the
surrounding earth red.

One of the three Paint Pots
emerald green pools.

Marble Canyon Trail

Water Cascades Through Narrow
Limestone Marble Canyon

Criss-cross the Narrow Gorge
along Marble Canyon Trail

Sighting of a Mother Moose and
Calf on our Drive "Home"

Yoho National Park

Natural Bridge

Kicking Horse River Cascades
Under the Natural Bridge

Hike to Takakkaw Falls
Takakkaw means "It is Magnificent"
in the Cree Language.

The 840 foot falls is
feed by a massive ice field.

Cave and Basin National

Historic Site in

Banff, Alberta

Visitor Center of Canada's
First National Park,
Born in 1885

Underground Cave and Hot Spring

Outdoor Hot Spring

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

Banff National Park

We took this exceptional hike in 2003 while
camping here.

Rather than hiking along the rim of
the canyon, a catwalk leads through the
depths of Johnston Canyon.

Johnston Canyon Lower Falls are accessed
through a narrow rock tunnel at the
end of the trail.

Mount Revelstoke National Park

Giant Cedars Nature Trail through
the Cedar-Hemlock Forest

Nels Nelson Historic Ski Jump
at the Base of Mount Revelstoke  

In February 1916, Nels Nelsen broke the
world record by jumping 183 feet
on the Revelstoke ski jump.

We followed a paved road to the
historic fire lookout at the
summit of Mount Revelstoke.

Numerous forest fires burn
throughout drought ravaged
British Columbia.