After being home for a couple of months, (except for our Island View escapades), we got on the road again Sunday!! We plotted our adventure and thought that we would have our first overnight stop near Alexandria. We blew by that and made it to South Toledo Bend. We covered 320 miles in 6 hours. We are boondocking tonight at the Sam Forse Collins Recreation Area, one of the best views you don't have to buy.
We got out and about for just a bit in the cold. It was well worth it, having a Bald Eagle fly by. We spent the rest of the daylight hours admiring the view from the comfort of our heated home on wheels.
We thought it would take us 3 days to get to Austwell, Texas, but instead, we made it in 2 days. We travelled 7 1/2 hours on Monday and are the one and only camper at Austwell City Park. Just the way we like it.
The temperature this morning was 35 degrees. When we got to Austwell City Park it was in the 70's. The warmer temperatures had a few mosquitos swarming. Not to worry, we had our very own bug control, a Vermillion Flycatcher.
We wrapped up the day admiring a beautiful sunset.
After a good night's sleep, I got up early to watch the sunrise. What a way to start the day!
Shortly after breakfast, we had a 45-crane flyover. We heard them long before they got here. This is our kind of place.
We sighted Long-billed curlews and a Loggerhead Shrike while hanging around camp this morning.
We spent most of the day at Aransas NWR. We saw all kinds of cool stuff and took way too many pictures. Some of the highlights were:
Lots of Hawks
A photogenic hog
2 different Reddish Egrets fishing
2 different groups of Whopping Cranes
Sandhill Cranes
Rosette Spoonbills
Whopper size Gators
And it wouldn't be Texas without an Armadillo
When we went to the city dump to get rid of our trash, we found a few Caracaras hanging out with the vultures.
The afternoon was spent processing all those pictures, then grilling some grub, and watching a gorgeous sunset. It has been a wonderful day!
Wednesday, we got up at 5 a.m., drank a couple cups of coffee, and was at Aransas NWR before 7 a.m. We had breakfast then headed out with Joe, the refuge manager, and Janet. We spent the next 6 hours, traveling about 50 miles, looking for birds on some of the restricted areas of the refuge. It was like a roller coaster; except we were riding on bumpy roads that haven't been used for a while.
One of the unique sightings of the day was a Red-tailed Hawk that looks nothing like we have ever seen before.
Joe saved the best for last when we got to the St Charles Bay and saw 4 Whooping Cranes, one of them was a youngster.
We took a ride this afternoon and checked out Magnolia Beach.
We spent the Thursday riding around Rockport scouting around looking for a place to call home for a month. We decided on Bay View RV Park, where we stayed a few years ago.
While we were out and about, we stopped by The Big Tree to see if there were any cranes there. Boy, were there. There were about 20 Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, Rosette Spoonbills, and lots of other species of birds. This is the biggest conglomeration of Whooping Cranes that we have ever seen. A very cool sight.
We got back and did a little bit of birdwatching at Camp Austwell.
Friday, we were planning to move to Bayview RV Park in Rockport to a nice site overlooking the lake. When we got up this morning, it just didn't feel right. We decided to stay in place at Austwell City Park and move to Magnolia Beach for Christmas.
We spent most of the day at Aransas NWR. We saw very few people, but plenty of critters and such.
After we left the refuge, we took a ride to Rockport to check out a few more RV spots. While we were out and about, we drove by the wildlife viewing area in Lamar, Texas. There were all kinds of exciting finds, including a Whooping Crane Family up close and personal, plus lots of other sightings! We also think we have found our home for the month, (starting next week). Stayed tuned.
After getting up at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, we thought we would get out and about early, but that didn't happen, we were our usual 10ish. We went to scout out the low hanging limbs that are in our route to St. Charles Bay RV Park. We now have peace of mind that we have enough clearance to get Rap through.
We stopped by and picked out our spot at the RV park then checked out the Lamar Wildlife Viewing Area and found 26 Whooping Cranes. A few more than yesterday.
We went back to Aransas NWR and did a short hike before the rain started. The rain had the deer out and about.
We talked with some nice folks at Jones Lake watching deer, a wild boar, and lots of waterfowl.
It sure has been nice to have this campground all to ourselves. But tomorrow is moving day.
