Testing

Testing 123. This is a test of the emergency blogging system. If this was a real blogging emergency, you would be instructed to tie your shoelaces and run. This is only a test.

Critters here at Davis Mtns

Reputedly, there are black bears and mountain lions here.  I haven't seen any data, but my impression from reading is that the cats are very rare.  I'm guessing you could live a long life here and never see one.

One animal that is easy to see if you sit in our campground is the javelina.  The real name is the peccary, and nicknames include skunk pig and musk hog.  They are weird creatures, and not to be confused with feral hogs. They have very poor eyesight, which is remarkable when you realize they live in an area with predators such as coyote, bear, and mtn lions.  They just amble along, munching on things.  You can be walking 10 yards from them and they don't even look at you. It's like they are in their own world.  They are afraid of dogs and if they encounter one they can react aggressively.  They have sharp tusks and can mangle a dog in a fight.  So here we have to keep a close eye on our dog.

Here is one piggy that walked across our campsite:

There are a number of black tailed deer hanging around the park.  We saw these while walking the dog.  Of course the old girl wanted to light into them, which I found amusing because she wouldn't even make it up the rock ledge they were on top of.

Speaking of the dog, she is living the good life here, on the lookout for those javelinas:

I spent a half hour or so one morning at the bird feeder station.  My camera is just a little pocket jobbie, not up to the task of shooting birds, but I did what I could.  Among the birds I saw:

Western scrub jay

Ladder back woodpecker

Acorn woodpecker

Others, photos found on google

Pine Siskin:

Black-crested Titmouse:

Cactus wren:

And here's a Pyrrhuloxia, or Desert Cardinal:

Apologies to the copyright holders of those photos, but at least I'm not using them for profit.

We are headed to the area of Study Butte and Terlingua for the next three nights.  It is the western gateway to the National Park.  We will be staying outside of the park.

South Toledo Bend State Park

Yesterday we arrived here at South Toledo Bend state park in western Louisiana.  We have never camped in LA before, so now we get to fill in another state on our camping map.
http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/istb.aspx

The third full day of driving on these trips is when our nerves start to get frayed and the dog starts showing signs of discomfort. So if at all possible, we like to put our feet up for at least a day of rest after 3 days.  And that day is today, Sunday, here on the shore of the Toledo Bend Reservoir .

It is sunny with a forecast high in the mid-60s, no wind, just a beautiful (spring?) day here.  We are beginning to decompress.  However, since we don't have a fishing boat, there isn't anything to do here except sit.  There does not seem to be any significant town anywhere to go for a ride, stop at a store, etc.  If this isn't the middle of nowhere, it can't be far away.

Here's a photo of the two old ladies in my life doing what they like best:

And a shot looking up the hill at our campsite (the lake is beyond, back down the slope), and then a shot of a "raft" of ducks with a fisherman in the background.  As always, you can click on the photo to enlarge.

Tombigbee State Park, Mississippi

Google wanted to send us home from Lillian via I-65 to Montgomery, etc.  That seemed like quite a backhaul.  It probably made sense at the speed limit of 70 MPH, but as we have mentioned, we like traveling in the low 60s for better mileage.  So we took US 45 from Mobile all the way through Mississippi and Tennessee.  It was four lanes most of the way.  The Mississippi portion was fantastic.  Great pavement and very little traffic.  Tennessee was not as great but was acceptable.  If we did it again, we'd look at US 78 from Tupelo to I-55/57.

We overnighted at Tombigbee SP near Tupelo.  What a gem!  It had a small campground, full hookups for $20. We probably missed the ideal time of year to visit by a couple or three weeks.  There were still some fall colors but it was about over.  Can you tell which one of the five photos came from Terry's camera?  I can.

Nov 10-12: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

Ridiculously, we took no photos of this very nice place.  Well, just this cellphone photo of the dog enjoying being outside.

That's a typical campsite.  It's a highly-regarded park and was full on the weekend.  We had fairly chilly weather here, so we never bothered to take the tram to the beach.  One day we spent pretty much inside the trailer. Another day, we went into Destin and Ft. Walton Beach to look at RVs and buy a couple of items for the trailer.  Destin was too frantic for us, traffic-wise.  I don't mean we could not handle it.  Just that when you're on vacation, you don't need that.

Oh, the highlight of the trip was our first ever visit to one of these. (A realtor's photo of a typical one:)

Anyone from the south, go ahead and laugh at us, we deserve it.  :)
Those of us from the north, you know you've seen Waffle Houses "down south", but maybe like us you've never been to one.  Driving from one end of Destin to the other end of Ft. Walton Beach, there are no fewer than FIVE Waffle House restaurants on US 98.  So one morning we left the campground and drove to the closest one.  Breakfast was just fine, thank you. We decided it is a small version of Denny's, but with better service.   Two thumbs up.

Taking the dog to the municipal beach

We were interested to see if the dog would frolic in the surf, or what.  The answer is, "or what". :)
She had no interest whatsoever in the water.  She did enjoy people- and dog-watching, though.

Nov 3: Florida Panhandle RV journey begins, to Nashville

We figured two fairly long days to get to Falling Waters State Park in Florida.  It's about due south of Dothan, AL.  Google Maps suggested route was to go down to Champaign, IL, take I-74 east, then IL-1 down till crossing over to Vincennes, IN.  Then US-41 to the KY Pennyrile Parkway, to I-24, to Nashville.

We just took I-74 across to Indiana, then IN-63/US-41 down to Kentucky. I like driving on the "yellow" roads, the secondary four lane highways.  We only go about 62 MPH, give or take, because the fuel economy goes down a lot as speed goes up.  With diesel fuel nearly $4 a gallon, and 10 MPG, it adds up.  Anyway, the routing was pretty good.  It was a slog getting through Terre Haute and Evansville, though.

As a side note, our 70 lb dog has some arthritis, and can't just bolt up and down from the pickup truck cab like she used to.  We have to carry a ramp for her.  And you can't just lay the ramp in the truck bed, because when towing a fifth wheel trailer, the wind in the truck bed is just crazy.  Anything you can lift is too light to lay loose in the bed.  I mounted a truck tool chest up near the front, with an inch or so slack at the front of the bed.  We slide the ramp into that slack area, and it stays put. We also have a ramp for the trailer, as shown in the photo.  (Taken elsewhere.)

Back to our story, the Pennyrile Parkway was excellent.  One of those non-interstate four lanes where you have the road to yourself.  Peaceful driving and nice scenery.  Then I-24 down to Nashville.   It was a 440 mile day, which with the towing is about the max we care to do.  We had read that Camping World, an RV store chain, allows overnight stops.   And there was a CW right off the interstate at the Grand Ole Opry area.  But instead we chickened out and stayed at the KOA a few hundred yards away.  

Very nice place, and right next door to a well-known fried chicken and catfish place. Terry loves catfish, so I hiked over there and bought us a mess of fried stuff.  Ask Terry about the fried pickles.