Travel Report – Page 23 – The Hermits' Rest

Through the Woods We Go

Today’s travel day took me and Lee from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Valdosta, Georgia. Before we left, I got in a walk to a park behind the hotel, where I saw a couple of interesting plants, many non-native. I also enjoyed watching dozens of high school baseball players getting ready for a national tournament. No wonder it was loud last night.

Much of the day featured interstate highways through commercial forests. It took longer than we expected, because there was construction and a big delay due to a horrible accident where a semi truck appeared to have slid sideways a long way off the road. Not a happy start.

Occasionally I got to see some non-forests, like in Mobile and other coastal places. Mostly it was trees. Good thing I like them.

I worked much of the day, including before and after the drive, but I got a lot of knitting done, too. This little jumping spider decided to join me and hop all over my project. I sure enjoyed watching it moving its eyes and mouth and checking things out with all those legs. I think it was a paradise jumping spider (Habronattus coecatus) but I’m not sure.

The trip got more interesting when the GPS took us off the interstate near Quincy, Florida. We then embarked on a magical hour or so traveling through small towns and beautiful rural properties of north Florida and South Georgia.

We went through long stretches of road where it seemed like the trees were reaching out toward us to envelop us in green. With the draping moss, the overgrown old homesteads being taken over by immense crape myrtles, and the wooden fences…I felt like I was in one of my dreams of being home. I was so entranced in the deep woods that I forgot I had a camera. It was so Gothic. There was even mist rising from bogs. This is some beautiful country.

It’s places like this, far from my everyday world, that remind me of why the Deep South is so beloved by people from there, despite the legacy of hardship for so many, despite societal changes. It’s so peaceful, quiet, and still. It engulfs you.

And here we are in small-town civilization (Valdosta)

Tomorrow we see more of Georgia before heading through South Carolina. Some of the trip will feature back roads. But today created plenty of moody memories to get me through boring highways and lookalike suburbs.

Non-Controversial Travel Day

Thanks to all who read my entry from yesterday. It got the most “likes” since I started the blog, but no comments. How weird! And I only got supportive comments on other platforms. I appreciate it. But today I’m not controversial.

I saw many more great egrets today. What a great start.

It’s time for our annual trip to our condo in South Carolina, the one where I forgot to get a two-bedroom unit. Oops. We decided to try a new route and drive three days of equal length. That’s a lot easier on Lee. I took today off from work, so I knitted and enjoyed the scenery, which consisted of many small towns, forests, rivers, and fields.

The highlight of the trip for me came after we hit Interstate 10 in Louisiana. That means we got to cross the Atchafalaya swamp. It’s my favorite. My second favorite sight was getting to see rice being harvested and all the birds following the harvester. There were WAY more great egrets than the dozen I saw at home this morning, plus large green of what appeared to be white-faced ibis in the mud flats. It was gorgeous, but you’ll have to accept my egrets and herons from this morning, because I didn’t take photos.

When we got to Baton Rouge there was a traffic jam, so we took surface roads to our hotel. We saw many fixer uppers (I think we were actually in a low-income part of town), then fixed up houses, and suddenly were in a good neighborhood. Fascinating.

The hotel is fine. It’s one with a big central courtyard that echoes a lot, but I enjoyed the nice landscaping and creole stylings. We enjoyed the overly generous free happy hour drinks then had a darned good meal for hotel food! Salmon and shrimp pasta. The staff were all so dang friendly, too.

Plus it rained a little! I hadn’t seen rain in well over a month. It was a fine day. My car is wonderful to ride in. No controversy.

Listening?

What do you listen to while you work?

The prompt for today was easy. I listen to things at work, but not music or podcasts. Here are the things in the background when I’m working from home:

Dogs barking. The most annoying sound. Love the dogs, not as fond of being notified every time a cow moves.
The ice maker. This went away for a while when it moved up to my bedroom (and was turned off at night) and in winter, when the residents don’t need so much ice for basic survival. It hums, whirs, and clatters along quite briskly.
Swallows. They may not be breeding, but they are still swooping into the semi-enclosed area outside my office and yelling at each other.

That’s not so bad. I like to write in quiet, so I think I’m pretty lucky.

Today, however, I worked to the sound of music on hold, as I patiently waited AT&T out. I knew if I just let them yammer on and try to sell me shit, they’d eventually realize they’d been charging me for a broken modem that they no longer service and come groveling back. I did a lot of deep breathing, attended an online conversation with friends, and just kept saying Okay when I was put on brief holds for 2.5 hours. I ended up getting refunds for the broken equipment back to the beginning of the year, no charge for my hotspot that I use in the RV because it’s no good at home, and $55 a month off our satellite tv for a year. HA!

I was so busy today the only photo I took was my fingernails.

I’m glad that went well, since I messed a bunch of other stuff up and was displeased with my lack of attention to detail. I messed up an Airbnb reservation, but if I PAY ATTENTION I can end up making money. I just need to wait two months.

Then I realized my reservation for my next Myrtle Beach trip was for only a one-bedroom condo. I was just sure it was two, because I didn’t look hard enough. There goes my visit with my stepsister, who needs a good bed. I’m gonna visit with them somehow in the not-too-distant future. Or else. And I doubt my other friends will want to visit either. Not much privacy.

There’s a reason I’m not in charge of business stuff usually. I can’t keep all the details straight.

In better news, the reason I skipped blogging yesterday was that I drove over to the ever-expanding suburbs to see my friends Susan and Brian, who were in Texas to meet their newest grandchild. That was a happy reunion. The baby was doing well and had bright, white hair. Really cool. We ate at a nearby Pan Asian restaurant. I got phô and sushi both. Heavenly.

Susan and I are trying to look friendly across a table.

Mostly we talked and talked. It was good to talk and talk in person rather than on Zoom. Susan and I are old friends with much history and much in common, so there’s much to cram in during just one meal. Brian did get in a few stories, too. It was quite cathartic. New grandparents have to do a lot of tongue biting, you know. I did do listening last night, so I’m barely sticking to my topic.

I did take another photo. Spotted Cucumber beetle (*Diabrotica undecimpunctata*) — a major agricultural pest.

Other than that, I’m still having trouble with the heat, as are the animals. The horses are very jealous of shade patches and are grumpy. Fiona is especially full of territorial kicks. No listening there. At least the Zyrtec is helping Apache.

Things to Wonder About

Still I’m a little surprised that I managed to get in so many interesting observations when camping under an official “heat dome” phenomenon. I think what helped was that some of the interesting things showed up right next to me.

This little feller was conveniently on my hand this morning. It’s a bronze jumping spider.

It also helps to be around people who are as excited about nature as you are. Our camping neighbors were very excited that one of them had found a live cicada. Then, when he went to show us, it had just emerged from its old exoskeleton. He kept saying, “THAT WAS IN THERE??” It did appear much larger.

Resting up before starting to screech endlessly.

And here’s another beautiful sight to wonder over. This guy, a skink, was two feet from the RV steps. I really appreciate all that nature coming over to show itself to me.

And finally, I didn’t have to go far to see woodpeckers, either. A downy showed up. I like these little birds almost as much as the incredibly entertaining yellow-bellied sapsuckers (they are the smallest woodpecker). My photos weren’t great but I got to see it well through binoculars. The red-bellied male came over so often that I got the feeling he was used to us.

I had to go a little further to get butterfly photos, but there were lots at the campsite, too. I just got all lost enjoying the giant swallowtails meandering around. Here are a few others I saw.

I can’t help it. Buckeyes are too pretty to omit.

I am excited enough just to see new or unusual plants, but some of the other things I ran into filled me with awe. There’s just a lot of STUFF to see if you look around, and you don’t have to be at a park or zoo to see things that bring wonder.

There are wonders right at home, too. This evening, we were watching fledgling barn swallows trying out their swooping and diving techniques. They were small but agile. At some point, we couldn’t believe our eyes. One of those little birds was a large butterfly! It flew with the birds, swirling around like it was one of them. I think Kathleen and I were both dazzled. Did we really see that?

No photos of the flying display, so enjoy this rainbow scarab beetle.

Yep, it pays to be observant, even when you’re just relaxing behind the house. It pays to look around in the water trough, too. That’s where I found the beetle.

Stay safe, Texas friends. It’s HOT.

Just the Highlights

Oops, it got too late for me to share much about today, but it was another fun but hot one at Fort Parker State Park.

I enjoyed watching people launching kayaks from the Navasota River boat ramp

The big thing was getting to see my favorite nightjar, the Chuck-Will’s Widow, in person. These birds are very hard to see, but it moved when I came upon it on the nearly empty trail I took today. I got photos that you can actually tell are of a bird! These guys blend in with leaf litter and are more active at night, so I lucked out. They are loud but shy, like me.

I just remembered I saw one at the ranch, sitting on a fence post. I can’t believe I forgot. So this means two sightings!

Other highlights were a sweet fawn and a lot of fun trees.

And we had a nice chat with two couples who fled Austin for a more rural life, like we did. It was fun sharing stories. More tomorrow.

Can You Camp when It’s Super Hot?

Spoiler alert: yes, you can. Even I can, with good planning and a little luck. I got through today with only one little bit of heat dizziness. Hooray.

First, we booked a trip to a shady park and I was careful to try to select a shady campsite. I did, though I sacrificed a lake view. We are next to the lake, but there’s brush blocking the view.

The lake is about a foot past the big trees. I like the bent one.

We were actually able to sit outside much of the afternoon, thanks to the shade and a brisk breeze. I got to knit and read, and of course look at and listen to birds. There’s a red-bellied woodpecker that comes by often, and I even got photos where you can tell what it is!

But my smartest way to deal with the heat and still have fun was to do all my “hiking” while it was still relatively cool. Now, don’t think I went out before I had my coffee. I’m not that driven. But I was out by 9, and went three mikes or so. Yes, much of the time I stopped every few feet to look at a plant or butterfly, but I did get 54 exercise minutes!

I went through some very pleasant and shady paths, and though there were few wildflowers, like yesterday, I did find some beautiful new flowers. My absolute favorite is this one, which is one of two plants, both that can be called butterfly pea. Or pigeonwing. I hope I get iNaturalist help with it.

So beautiful. I can sorta tell where it got its Latin name, *Clitoria mariana.*

The other flowers I enjoyed, maybe mostly because of their name, were the trailing fuzzy-beans. What a cute name. In fact, there are multiple fuzzy-beans in North America. Huh.

It’s a vine that grows very long tendrils.

It was a fun plant day, for sure. Here are other highlights. A couple are a little blurry because the phone was running low on battery so I took pictures fast.

The trail I took led to the old Springfield cemetery, which is in the park. Springfield is the place that used to be where the lake is now. It has some old graves, ones with interesting features, and some unmarked ones. I thought it was interesting that some of the Black workers who built the park are in there, from the 1930s. There were not many integrated cemeteries then.

After the cemetery, I got on the road, but still found lots to look at. I knew I’d gone far enough when I realized I was at the park store. That’s a ways away from the campsites. I rested in the air conditioning there and enjoyed teaching the employee about iNaturalist and Merlin Bird ID. I can’t help it. We had fun.

My hiking boot fell apart when I took it off. I’ll try to get it fixed. It’s only 28 years old!

Lee and I relaxed and watched a movie this evening. Camping is so good for us both. I treasure these times of relaxation and being surrounded by nature. By the way, I passed no one on any trail. Bliss!

Hey I’m in Mexia, Sorta

What’s Mexia (muh-hay-yuh)? It’s one town over from Groesbeck, the county seat of Limestone County, Texas, since the previous county seat it under a lake, which I’m right next to at the moment. That’s right, the middle of nowhere, Texas, just a different nowhere from where I usually am.

Actually, Lee and I are on this month’s camping trip, which is to Ft. Parker State Park. It’s very pretty and woodsy. It’s history is interesting. Ft. Parker is where some young woman was captured by Native Americans and liked it. She was not happy to be “rescued” by “civilized” people. This park is right near it, and was built, as were many Texas parks, by the CCC. What’s interesting is that the dam and buildings were built by black members of the CCC. They re-used most of the wood they cut down to build the buildings. It sounds like they had lots of fun on their off-duty times.

It’s just as hot here as it is at home, but it’s shady. We have a beautiful campsite. I was impressed that Lee got us backed in perfectly between two trees.

Of course, I could not keep myself from going on a walk. I meant to just go around the camping area, but I ended up going down a beautiful trail. I got to see where people can go kayaking and swim, too.

There was a cool floating bridge to go over, and I ended up at a pretty bird blind kind of dock, from which I could see lots of great egrets roosting. I also saw some cormorants.

While wildflower season is pretty much over, there was still much to see on the trail. Many vines and shrubs are in bloom, so if you looked carefully, you could see much beauty. You didn’t have to look hard to see all the Turk’s cap in bloom. Those red flowers are showy (and have the sweetest nectar of any plant). The trumpet vines are also blooming, so there’s no lack of color. With the heady scent of button bush all around, it was like a sultry jungle.

There was a reasonable breeze so I didn’t overheat (and it was cooling off by the time I went out). I really enjoyed the peace. It wasn’t quiet. There were at least three kinds of cicadas drowning out the few birds I heard (mostly cardinals, white-eyed vireos, wrens, and cuckoos).

This thing is a cattail toothpick grasshopper. Huh!

I’m looking forward to heading out early tomorrow for more trails. I have a cooling towel!

Apache and Suna Try Again

As I mentioned yesterday, there was a horse show for our Working Horse Central. It was the Summer Sizzler and lived up to its name. A bit humid and hot for some of us delicate flowers, but really not all that bad.

It was a great show with many participants, including a good number of youngsters. They really did great, even when their horses weren’t cooperating. And one young woman was kind enough to lead and help out most of them. This really impressed me. That girl will be a good trainer in the future.

Here she is doing lead line on an extra cute pony. Way better than Drew and I ever did!

Apache and I did the best we’ve ever done, according to Sara. I was annoyed that I messed up the pattern in Functionality. I know we could have done better, but we each did our best. Apache did better on the Trail part, though I messed up the flag carry and he knocked over some blocks and really didn’t like the gate. Oh well. We did great trotting! Not great form or aids, but we improved.

We don’t have any pictures of me and Apache yet, because no one other than Tarrin’s son took any (Sara was helping me during the last two parts). But I took some of her. And I’m glad I did, because she and Aragorn did their best performance ever.

After their first event, I had goosebumps. It was so beautiful. She and Aragorn even got blue ribbons for this performance, over our much more experienced friend. We are all thrilled for her! Of course, our friend also did well and it was great to watch her and her horse, too. And her show outfit, which is all Spanish.

Look at his bridle decoration flying around.

The whole time was impressive. All the horses and riders have made great progress. I was so happy to see this. Tarrin told everyone this, too. It helped me see that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself!

Ribbon time. That’s our dear body worker, Jackie, with me and Tarrin.

There ended up only being two entries in our class, because another friend wasn’t feeling well and the heat would not have helped a bit. So, we’re number two this time! I don’t mind at all, because Jackie and Jambo did great. It’s so fun to watch them together.

It was a fun day other than the heat making me a bit emotional for no good reason. I’m so glad we have our community of Tarrin’s students to support each other and grow together! I feel very lucky for myself and my horses.

And we have fun. A couple of folks posted photos of their sleeping passengers on their ways home. So Sara and I shared this. I should not have let the driver fall asleep. Ha ha.

Our poor horses were certainly glad to get home. They looked pretty good, since we’d wet them down nicely before we left. I had so much nice bonding time with Apache, since he got a bit bored and agitated by himself. He was doing everything I asked of him, so it was the least I could do to walk him around and let him nibble some grass. And hey, he didn’t break any more of my toes; he just stomped on his bridle. Good boy.

Back home at Sara’s, with pretty clouds.

Here are a few random photos from the day. I hope some make you smile.

Button weed is one of the few native plants I saw at the beautiful facility.

Serene Equine Interlude

This afternoon my neighbor Sara and I managed to pack all our luggage as well as our horses’ luggage, and brought Apache and Aragorn up to the Watts Way arena for the summer Working Horse Central show. Yes, we know it’s technically spring. It sure is hot and humid right now, so all the hay toting and equipment wrangling made me sweat.

We had a very pleasant drive up to the Brennan, Texas area, and easily got our horses set up in their stalls. I’m really glad for the collapsible wagon I now have. The air was so still that we sweated here, too. I was glad when Sara’s friend, Kate, bathed her beautiful stallion, so I could enjoy the spray.

Kate left to go have dinner, so Sara is looking after Volem, the white stallion. We decided our guys needed a treat, so we took them for a walk in a pasture that was recently hayed. It was so peaceful.

Aragorn and Apache munched on grass, and Sara and I enjoyed looking at the beautiful horses here. Three were very curious about our guys, and it was fun watching them running around.

It was so relaxing to be in a quiet, very well cared for space. I think both the horses and humans relaxed!

We are lucky to be staying at the little apartment on the grounds. It’s almost as nice as the RV, plus Lee doesn’t have to waste a day!We’ve enjoyed the view and all the amenities, which I hope will allow us to do our best tomorrow!

What a pleasant day. I’m grateful to be able to do this with all my horse friends! I feel well prepared. Let’s hope Apache does, too.

More Waterfalls and Flowers and DUNG BEETLES!

I did promise to finish writing up my trip to Pedernales Falls State Park. Gosh, I hope you like wildflowers and scenery and stinky insects. I had lots of energy for hiking/looking at plants, thanks to sleeping so well. Ahh. Total darkness and no barking or licking makes for great sleep.

So, once I woke up on Sunday morning, had my coffee, and analyzed bird songs (so many vireos), I took off for the other nearby trails. First, I took the Coyote Crossing trail, which led deep into a very humid woodland area and crossed a mostly dry creek that feeds into the river.

There were many interesting fungi, ferns, and vines in the moist environment. I also got to see a ladder back woodpecker. Mostly I enjoyed the deep green solitude.

Once past that trail the scenery was very different, with seemingly endless swaths of black-eyed Susans and their friends. There were lots of new flowers there, and I had one of those “Linda Jo moments” when I got practically giddy over plants. But I didn’t have a fellow Master Naturalist to exclaim to!

The next trail was the one that led to the swimming area of the river. I must admit I forgot there was a river to go to, because I was so mesmerized by the flowers. The trail went down steep steps. Every time I stopped I said to myself that THESE were the prettiest flowers I ever saw.

And there were so many butterflies that I felt like Snow White in the meadow. They were flitting all around me. It was magical!

I finally got to the river, and was happy to see it wasn’t crowded. There were just a few families wading around and playing, plus a woman with a big dog.

Mystery flower. INat thinks it’s bindweed.

Eventually I turned to go back, stopping to photograph lizards and more flowers. I let the family with the dog pass me on their way up, then encountered the dad resting halfway up. I said something about taking it slow because I was a naturalist, and we got to talking about his interest in foraging. Talking to them made me not even notice the steep climb! Finally, someone was interested in my blathering.

They left to take a bathroom break and I headed back along the road, where I found some phlox and other plants that like sand.

The family drove by and asked if I would like a ride back, and to be honest, that sounded good. So I joined them. They said they were thinking of driving to the big falls, and invited me along. I’m glad they did. It was a ways down the road.

We had a fun walk to the falls. The best part was when I saw a dung beetle rolling a ball of poop across the path. Carl (the dad) got all excited, because he didn’t know we had them in Texas. That got the two boys and the wife excited, too. She took movies and we had a grand time watching the beetles while all sorts of people passed us, probably thinking we were weird. But it was educational!

We finally made it to the overlook, and it was gorgeous. We saw a wedding party, too. We were all too tired to go down to the river, but they were going to go Monday morning. I was fine just looking down. The photos don’t do it justice, for sure.

And that’s about it for adventures. The rest of the day we sat outside a lot and went in to watch movies. I don’t know what to think about the Legion of Superheroes movie. They did stay pretty true to the characters…but it was nowhere near as good as Ant Man and the Wasp. Marvel does make a good movie.

Back Home

I was glad to get home on Monday, but sure enjoyed my wallows in nature. I needed that rejuvenation. Of course, there’s plenty of nature here. Just look at the baby birds in a nest on our back door!

Too tired to peep. A storm kept them awake.

Speaking of storms, one showed up out of the blue yesterday and dumped a ton of rain in a short time. It was full of thunder and lightning. The dogs were NOT thrilled, and since I was the only one in the house, all five indoor dogs clustered around me. Penney and Carlton were under my desk. Harvey was beside my chair. Alfred was standing on the other side of the chair panting into my face. At least Goldie just stayed on “her” couch.

Eventually, Penney wormed her way into my lap and did that unbearable wiggling and trying to squirm up to the top of my head, or inside me. I’m not sure what her intent is, but it’s hairy, hot, and whiny. Thank goodness I discovered the guys were stranded in the garage so I “had” to take them umbrellas. That allowed the dogs to distribute themselves among three people. Whew.

And oh yes, I’ve had my dose of cuteness. look at Jhayati! She’s so soft! And like my dad, she’s never met a stranger. Sara is in love. I’m pretty thrilled, too.