Travel Report – Page 3 – The Hermits' Rest

The Motorhome’s a-Rockin’

Today after the usual leisurely preparations, we drove down to the Rockport area to camp at Goode Island State Park. I now wish I’d booked it longer, since it will rain tomorrow and be pretty cold Sunday. Nonetheless, I bet we can find ways to see birds and use the cameras! Something other than sparrows! Yes!

Like blurry Pelicans! Only bird I saw before it got dark.

It’s a nice drive here, and I love all the small towns and large oak trees we see. There were birds. Here are “a few” vultures on a tower. The next tower over had zero vultures.

We are getting good at setting up the motorhome quickly, which is good, because we lost a half hour of light when the staff at the truck stop we visited to fuel up repeatedly got our ZIP Code wrong or programmed to pay for the wrong pump. I’d stayed inside and went to lie down on the bed and ended up having a nice nap.

The water and electricity are on the “wrong” side at this campsite, but we managed to pull the hose and power cord over with room to spare. And with no trees, Lee had no trouble hooking up the satellite receiver. I only had a few minutes to look around, but I’m pretty excited about all the water surrounding us. There’s a lot of wading and swimming bird habitat!

You can see we’re in the last site before the end of the island.

Right now, though, the wind is so strong that it feels like we are in a boat. This is a heavy vehicle, but we are rocking. The waves are really attacking the bulkheads, too. By morning the tide will be lower and maybe it will be calmer. We will see!

Sometimes It’s Hard to Leave

But then it’s good to be back

That’s the story of my day. Lee and I were enjoying our time together in Blanco and almost decided to stay until tomorrow, but we dragged ourselves home. That’s probably for the best, given the strong winds blowing in that early cold front.

I still managed to get in a walk to the only trail I’d missed on this visit, which allowed me to enjoy the resident non-native geese.

And since I figured out Bluetooth on the upgraded camera body, I can now share images from it and the phone. I’m glad I took it on my walk, and look forward to trying the other lenses. I just took the standard one. It took nice tree photos. I was captivated by cypress and sycamore trees.

I also enjoyed leaves, lots of leaves.

Berries? Want to see berries?

Here are other interesting sights and some new ones for me.

And finally, I can share that I was happy to enjoy the windy morning (very few birds), but a bit sad to say goodbye to Jennifer, even though I know I’ll see her at least a couple more times before she moves away. Sniff.

The dogs were glad to see us, as was the human resident, when we got home. I should have more than just photos tomorrow. At least it will be photos of something that is not next to a river.

One More Good Day at the River

I’m not kidding. If I lived on one of these Texas Hill Country Rivers like the Blanco, you’d find me every day sitting under a huge bald cypress tree looking at the river life, marveling at the life within the moving water.

I spent a great deal of time this morning just watching fish being fish. It makes me miss my aquariums.

Look at these bluegill beside a cypress.

The morning was magical in many ways, from the light shining on grasses to meeting some interesting Master Naturalists and birders. That’s one reason I love visiting state parks! It’s so much. Fun to talk about what birds and plants we have on our land.

I did find birds farther down the pump house trail, where my binoculars let me enjoy the crown of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, who also sang his entire repertoire for me.

I also managed to find some palafox and skeleton flowers, which was a pleasant pink surprise.

After that walk, I uploaded everything to iNaturalist until I was invited to lead a nature walk by some fellow campers. We went on the trail that goes under the highway, and I showed them the things I found yesterday as well as finding new plants and a Greylag Goose.

Later in the day I practiced taking pictures with Lee’s newest camera, once I got some help with the settings. Another reason it’s nice to see old friends again. I’d share photos, but they aren’t showing up for me.

I also have no photos of the enjoyable potluck dinner this evening. I got to meet some very interesting newer members and their fun kids and dogs, and enjoyed catching up with others. I’m glad I was able to be more social and really get into some meaningful exchanges.

I’m really going to hate to leave tomorrow, but since the temperatures are going to drop I will need to go bring in some plants. I’ll miss the fish, though.

My Weird Relationship with Screens

How do you manage screen time for yourself?

Look, I’ve been earning my pay looking at computer screens, well, since they were invented (though I did work as a copy editor and proofreader using pencil and paper for a while). And I was an early handheld device adopter—playing Bejeweled on my Palm Pilot was a great stress reliever during my divorce.

Red pencils. Proofreader tools. Photo from Pexels.

This is to say, I have a good bit of screen experience (of course I have had television since Lassie was on every Sunday). I can’t avoid computer screens as long as I have paid employment in my field of tech writing, but I can try to limit phone use. Hey! I could stop blogging on my phone! Yes! No. It’s fun.

I used one of these babies. Monochrome display! Photo from Pexels.

You’d think my nature hobbies would help me escape screens, but the phone comes with me to take all my photos. But, hooray for me, since I’ve taken to leaving my phone outside listening to birds on Merlin Bird ID, I can’t doom scroll for many hours. Weird but it works. Of course, the phone thinks I’m looking at is and racks up time that makes me look glued to the phone, but I’m not!

And of course I read a lot and do all those crafts. So I’m okay with my screen time. Oh, and I make sure not to open up my Finch self-care app more than 2-3 times a day. One can get sucked in.

Apparently I **have** used Finch every day since I got it, though.

My point? I don’t think looking at screens is a terrible problem for me. If I’m learning, earning money, interacting with friends, or seeing the beauty in the world, screens do me good. My area of caution is to not read or watch content designed to upset me or insult me. I read one or two posts a day from my incendiary friends (both left and right), then I just move on as soon as I see where content is headed.

That’s it. I just stop. Over generalizing about groups or factions? I keep moving. Mean? Skip. Blatantly wrong but not open to other viewpoints? No response. It works. Now I mostly see trees, horses, chickens, yarn, jokes, and for some reason makeup for “mature” skin (which I don’t wear). Just don’t engage unless you think you can accomplish something.

Enough of that. I would have shared how nice the spot we are staying in at Blanco State Park is, but by the time we figured out the latest issue with Seneca the motorhome and I finished working, it was dark. Ugh. The chassis battery is dead. We could recharge it by starting the generator, but that hasn’t worked for months. Have I mentioned that recreational vehicles are prone to breaking? Yes. It’s true.

So yay, we are camping with no air conditioning! So primitive! And no TV! (too dark to set up the system). No, we are just fine, other than the occasional acorn dropping on the roof.

I’m Sufficiently Learned

Another day in scenic Aggieland at the Master Naturalist meeting for this year is in the books. I even went outside and looked at the incredibly manicured grounds for a few minutes. The highlight was a few drops of rain falling, but just a few. There were so many dressed-up young people in never-ending maroon outfits that I had to flee.

I had to be sure to do the name for the spurge correctly, since I took a class on how the taxonomic system for all forms of life is currently set up. I learned a few nuggets, so it was worth going.

Other interesting sessions I attended were about jellies (correct word for jellyfish) and grasshoppers. I discovered I didn’t know squat about the jellies except that they sting. Now I know all the types in Texas and will never swim in the ocean again. On a positive note I had fun and met nice women.

I knew slightly more about grasshoppers, but thanks to the fabulous Brandon Woo, who can really spit out those Latin words, I am confident I can identify broad types of katydids, crickets and our grasshopper buddies. I took lots of photos for future reference.

Sam K introduced Brandon. Two weird but brilliant guys.

After the most-welcome lunch break, during which I picked up this piece of art, it was back to learning.

I took a two-hour class on andragogy (adult learning) that my friend Mike M has been working on. I’d seen it before but was interested in how he refined it and hoped to glean some useful ideas for my work, which happens to be teaching adults, after all.

Out of context, but these young men presented their work on an “algenator” device that cleans algae out of ponds. They were pretty precious.

I did learn a few things, and marveled at the extent to which Mike prepares each of his classes, including this one. Even if my style is different from his, I can learn a lot from how he interacts with students and presents information. That’s why I took two sessions from him.

His handout showed bright colors, white space, and QR codes for more information.

It’s been a very good conference, and getting to talk to new people and get to know old friends better has also been a highlight. The only bummer was the food service, which was merely okay. We all enjoyed the banquet and honoring members who reached milestones in the past year.

I’ll be glad to head home tomorrow and see the animals and human family!

You Know I’m an Introvert, Right?

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m 100% an introvert. Well socialized, they tell me. I mention it often, as my links in this paragraph show, but it still surprises folks. Being an introvert (and hermit) always gets put to a test when I go to do things in large groups. I need my recovery time.

Yesterday was the first full day of the 2025 Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting, so I was around people from 7am to 10pm. This should explain why there wasn’t a blog entry! By the time I got back to the sad hotel, I just wanted to collapse.

I did see some nature. This cloudless Sulphur stood still!

Today is the second day, and I’m skipping a session to hide in a corner and write. Perfect for regaining energy.

Still, yesterday was a lot of fun. The highlight, for sure, was a visit to the SM Tracy Herbarium and the other collections in the huge former warehouse it shares. I’d been there before, but it’s so fascinating, and this time we were shown each collection by one of the people who work there.

This is a freezer to kill bugs on specimens.

The fish specialist pretending to be the herp specialist was my favorite, because he showed us his new gulper eel specimen and a video on these fascinating fish. The gulper eel is now my favorite. It will be yours, too, if you watch the video.

I made a new friend and we carpooled both here and to an afternoon session on old growth forests, where it was hot, but I learned about how to measure a tree (at 4.5’ and with a special diameter tape that I now want).

When we got back I talked a lot to vendors and bought a replacement for my missing binoculars, plus enjoyed a second viewing of my friend Mike M’s presentation on “eco-grief.”

Still thinking about what metal art to buy

It’s been fun hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones. The dinner presentation was a sweet tribute to where volunteering can take you, then we tested out the new bar in the convention center. It has a great view. I only had ginger ale and bitters, since I had to drive to the hotel, but conversation was good!

Dinner speakers, including good ole Sam K. He’s a great ambassador for us.

Getting More Naturalist-y

I still don’t feel too great since my bruising on various appendages is setting in, so I took it slow this morning until I had a nice early lunch with my friends Lynn and Don. We had interesting semi-Mexican food and just chatted. I told them, as I’m telling you now, that last night I had a dream in which some little kids did something funny, and I laughed so hard that I woke myself up! That was a new one.

The Master Naturalist Annual Meeting is in a fancy hotel and conference center on the Texas A&M campus, which means you are required to say “howdy” a lot and whoop. Eh. But it’s a nice place.

I attended a session or two but mostly enjoyed the vendors, which include at least three talented artists, one on canvas, one in metal, and one in super-realistic machine embroidery.

I’m going to get metal art for the motorhome, because it’s all stuff Lee will really like.

I don’t have photos of the machine embroidery, but I was very impressed with the artist, who modified used machines to do much more intricate designs than they originally would have. She seems like a big bundle of talent and skill!

The other thing I was impressed by was a series of poster sessions by young scholars in the natural sciences. I had a great time talking to them and asking them questions about javelinas, goats, and bats, among other things. They were all very articulate!

It’s been good seeing my local friends and some old pals, and the next two days will be more packed with activities, so I’ll rest up now. Tylenol is helping, but I’m just sore.

All By Myself

I’m all cozy in a hotel very close to a University campus. So it’s not quiet. I’m pretty tired from all that bleeding and stitching yesterday, so you’re not getting much to read tonight.

I did do a BioBlitz at Lick Creek Park in College Station today, but it was very low key because I just wasn’t ready for big crowds (auto correct made the word “crowds” into “briefs”) and talking. So I wandered around and looked at the saddest collection of wilted plants I’ve ever seen in the wild.

It’s hard to find diverse plants when everything is brown and droopy.

I found a few things and would have seen more if I’d been in the guided botany walk.

There were irrigated pollinator gardens around the nature center. I hoped to get lots of pollinator photos, but the butterflies seemed more intent on mating than sipping nectar. And the mid-afternoon sun makes phone photography hard. You can’t see the screen, so you miss a lot. I tried taking distant photos and cropping, with poor results. So the four types of skippers and the many Queens remain uncaptured.

I only heard four birds, too. But, it was a day outdoors and I did chat with a few like-minded people. No complaints.

Thanks to all who checked in on me. I will endeavor to not fall this weekend.

Exploring to the Extent I Could

It was a pretty darn good camping day. I even got to do more traditional nature activities than I did yesterday. After coffee I’d planned to hike at the other unit a few miles away. Instead I went on a fun hike with my new friend Sue along the trails named after birds here at the main camping unit at Choke Canyon State Park.

Sue’s a solo nomad camper, with just her dogs. I admire that! We have a lot in common, including horses, so we had a lot to talk about.

However, the scenery frequently left us wordless, because there were so many butterflies around. There were many Queens and Buckeyes, but the best part was that there were dozens and dozens of American Snouts fluttering around the trails. It must be their migration time.

I have always enjoyed the Snouts. A few years ago, we went to a cabin with family during the Snout migration, and I still have great memories of these little guys and gals flowing in a steady stream as we watched from the porch.

Snouts are feisty, too. We saw them chasing the larger Queens quite pugnaciously. What fun.

We did see some Monarchs, but none ever stopped long enough to photograph.

And some of my photos were bad, like this Funereal Duskywing

Other fun sights came when we went down the concrete jetty trail near the concession stand (closed due to the lake being so low there are few fishing visitors). I was thrilled to see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird enjoying the tubular blossoms of tree tobacco plants. I thought the hummers were all gone.

Anyway, it’s very pleasant to have someone to hike with, especially here, since there really aren’t all that many birds around right now. And it was warm, but not too hot.

Later, i had to take a sad football game break, since my team wasn’t doing great. I went over to the “swimming area” to look at clams and water plants. I also found some very pretty purple flowers called Gregg’s Tube Tongue (Justicia pilosella). I’m a sucker for anything that looks like a violet!

Lee and I went off to the South Unit. They didn’t even have staff at the gate, because it’s so dry that boaters can’t get into the lake easily. We explored the lake shore, which had swaths of marsh fleabane teeming with American Buckeye butterflies. We had lots of fun with them.

Next, we drove over to the dam that contains the Frío River to create the lake. I was very disappointed to find out the road across the dam was closed. I’d really wanted to look for shore birds near the dam. I did see one Great Egret with my binoculars and determined that the white birds I’d seen were buoys to keep boats away from the dangerous part of the lake. Sigh.

We enjoyed dinner outside and that was the end of a pretty good day.

Ooh! I forgot to mention we saw javelina on our way to the dam. Good thing!

Spontaining All Over Texas

Today didn’t go as planned. That’s okay. If you can’t spontain on a relaxing weekend at a state park, when else can you? I did get to spend the morning doing what I intended, which is record birds for the Big Day on Merlin/eBird and record pollinators for the Texas Pollinator Bioblitz on iNaturalist. I do so love doing competitions where I can compete with myself.

Lee had wanted to take pictures with me at the bird blind, but realized the camera batteries were not charged. So he decided to go to Corpus Christi (1.5 hours or so) to get some at a camera shop. I was promised visits to parks on the trip. So, I spontaneously agreed.

I hoped to see more butterflies, like this Buckeye

Off we went, but soon realized people need to eat. We lucked out and there was a very authentic Texas-Czech barbecue/kolache place at our first exit in Mathis. We went through many small towns today, some more decrepit than others. The restaurant had a great collection of antiques and extra friendly waitresses. The fried okra was fresh, too. A winner.

Yes, we did stop next at another state park, Lake Corpus Christi. We decided to come back and stay there for a longer trip. They have full hookups and lots of trails, plus the nicest state park restroom building I ever saw. Indeed, I took pictures. We just drove around and didn’t get out, so I only got two plant photos.

After that I saw many fascinating slums and defunct shopping centers in Corpus Christi. I saw parts of that town I’d never seen before and would have been okay not seeing, but it was like an adventure/scavenger hunt trying to locate the camera stores Lee had looked up. For future reference, there is no camera store in Corpus Christi. There are many small houses, giant empty churches, and weird downtown streets, though.

It was a relief to get on that nice wide road that takes you over some bays index onto Mustang Island, a place I used to hang out at during my early years in Texas. I’d never been to the state park there, but I can no longer say that. We did get to Mustang Island State Park (got our money’s worth on the parks pass).

I got many observations of Beachy pollinators as well as plenty of birds to record, so I was satisfied. We both enjoyed watching the ghost crabs and were astonished at how many jellyfish were washed up. There are super high tides right now, so they were almost to the dunes.

On our way home we drove the back way with no interstates. Wow. There are some desolate areas in this part of Texas. We passed many large ranches with dirt instead of grass (drought) and many others that were obviously being managed for game. The scrub is very good for hunting birds in addition to larger animals.

We also passed through Orange Grove (no oranges seen) which is where some of Lee’s family settled. It was in pretty sad shape but had some nice housing tracts outbox town. It was the last town before all the nothingness.

It’s good to be back at Choke Canyon after a nice meal of H-E-B sushi. I got 45 bird species today!