More Gulf of Mexico, TX

This is pure Texas Gulf equipment. Those are PVC holsters for fishing rods. Ofter they are mounted across the front grill of trucks. We have seen some golf carts creatively equipped, too.
The University of Texas Marine Science Institute is located in Pt. Aransas. We have attended presentations there every Thursday evening during Jan., Feb., and Mar. the last two years. The topics are fascinating and range from what what fish to eat and not eat to invasive plants.
These five turtles live in the pond steps from the front door of our coach in Gulf Waters RV Resort, Pt. Aransas, TX. This is the only time that we have seen them all together.
This egret or his relative visited our pond almost every day. We also enjoyed two coots, whistling ducks, and a Great Blue Heron.
Ted went deep sea fishing and got this photo of a shrimper.


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Kathryn, Linda, and Eva are three of the friends that we made last year and returned this year. The photo of their husbands didn't turn out.
This is the Visitor's Center at King Ranch, about an hour from Pt. Aransas. We went with Kathryn and Page and Eva and Dick.
We took the bus tour. These egrets eat the ticks off of the cattle.
Check out the fence. Note there are wooden posts with metal ones in between them. This is to strengthen the fence. The wood doesn't bend. The metal does, but doesn't burn. This keeps big bulls from simply walking through the fence, and allows some time to replace the wood in case of a wildfire.
This is a Caracara.
A Rio Grande Turkey (different from the more familiar Eastern Wild Turkey) is sitting on a tree branch.
When engineers came to dig oil wells on King Ranch, they got tired of having to get out of their vehicles to open and close the cattle gates, so they invented the Texas Bump Gate. The truck pulls up to the right side and pushes on the wooden bumpers at the bottom of the gate. The gate swings open without anyone leaving the vehicle.
Pretty nice office for the ranch's vet.
Eva's husband, Dick is listening to Lolo, a fourth generation King Ranch cowboy. He was the first man to ride 'Assault' King Ranch's only triple crown winner. He is standing in the shop where King Ranch wove their own saddle blankets until their weaver retired.
We were not allowed to get out of the bus at the King family home because it is still in use by visiting family members. This photo of the side door is the best I could do.
There are a row of these houses near the family home. They are overflow housing for the 150 King descendents.
Note the resemblance of the stable to the Alamo. Mrs. King had them designed to honor the Texas shrine.

Gulf Waters RV Resort, Pt. Aransas, TX

This isn't the best photo, but it is of our new favorite fast food place in Texas. Whataburger is a chain that was started in Corpus Christi and the food is really good. It is only second to Steak n' Shake in our opinion and that is saying something.
HEB is a Texas grocery chain. Their plus stores are quite amazing. The vegetables, fruit, and meat are wonderful.
We are very impressed by this package. Customers can see if eggs are intact without opening the carton. Each egg is date-stamped with date by which they should be used. Note the product name in Spanish. This store carries magazines in Spanish, too.
This is one view from our coach at Gulf Waters RV Resort, Port Aransas, TX. Last year we were at a site on the other side of this pond. The Gulf of Mexico is about two blocks through the RVs in this photo. We walk or ride our bikes on the beach almost everyday. The sites in this resort are owned by individuals. We are renting one of those sites. There has been a pot-luck. a bonfire on the beach, and a pre-Super Bowl party. This Short-billed Dowitcher was about six feet from our door. There are two Coots in our pond. They are hilarious. When a Coot comes from a near-by pond, our Coots skim across the water chasing the intruder away. You can see their determination in their bird body language. We have seen an Egret twice. There are three large turtles that sun themselves almost daily at the edge of the pond. We have seen the Great Blue Heron twice and today we saw seven pelicans for the first time this year. We also saw the first Man-o-Wars on the beach today.

The University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Pt. Aransas holds lectures every Thursday for Winter Texans. They are always full. Two weeks ago the subject was "Why Choosing US Fish is Healthy for You and the Economy." The presenter was a recent PhD grad. We learned a lot. Mexico and Canada, the US, Australia, Scandanavia, Western Europe, and New Zealand have very strict safety and environmental standards for wild caught and farm raised fish. The rest of the world, not so much. Much of the fish in our supermarkets and restaurant chains comes from Asia, with no regulations. All fish sold in the USA must be labeled with country of origin. We are now checking labels in the fresh fish cases and on frozen packages.

Last week, a retired oceanographer talked about his many trips to the arctic. Absolutely fascinating.

Buckhorn Lake Resort, Kerrville, TX

We arrived at Buckhorn Lake Resort outside of Kerrville, TX, located in the Hill Country, early afternoon. We had heard about how nice it was and wanted to see for ourselves. We don't usually feature where we are staying, but this place is unusual. This is the office.
Here is the view as you enter the resort. The windmill is only decoration.
This is the social hall and is used for serving breakfasts and dinners.
These are private homes with RV parking.
Here is another private residence under construction. There appear to be several others also being built. The resort has a pretty creek for fishing, very roomy RV sites, pool, tennis court, buddy sites, and just about every amenity you can think of, including massages and facials and an RV weighing service. There are two park TV stations that provide current information. Our pull-through cost $37.00. It can be seen from I-10 at Exit 510.

Las Cruces, NM

The Visitor Center of White Sands National Monument is architecture worth seeing. It was built by the WPA between 1936-1938. The short video about the monument was well worth watching. The monument is about 44 miles Northeast of Las Cruces on I-70.
This charming gate leads to a picnic area near the Visitor Center.
The "combed glass" in this lamp was made by drawing a common hair comb over the painted surface of the glass.
The ceiling in the Visitor Center is made using vigas (large logs), savinas (poles at right angles to the vigas, and cobels (decorative carved scrolls on which the vigas rest). The tin lighting fixtures can be found even in the restrooms.
The white sand is gypsum that has been eroded from the near-by mountains. It is not abrasive to touch. It feels liked powdered wall board which it almost is.
This was a photographer's paradise. Ted got a new camera and lots of "toys" for it at Christmas. We are both experimenting and learning.
Vegetation has adapted by sending down roots to the soil many feet below. This may be only to tops of very tall Yucca plants.When the dunes move on some plants are so estabished that they hang on to the sand around their root system.It takes 17 mph winds to get the sand moving. This is not rock. It is soft sand.
Plants provide cover for the many nocturnal animals that inhabit this environment.
The only evidence of their existence during the day is their tracks.
Another photo opt that I am sure a better photographer could improve upon.
This is the top of a cottonwood tree that survives buried in the gypsum sand. Amazing. You can imagine the size of this thing.
The interdune area provides vegetation for many animals. There is no water here. All animals must get all their water from their food.
The stark whiteness of the sand emphasizes shadows and textures.
Not Malibu. This is the top of a 60 foot dune. Near-by we saw kids using a saucer sled to enjoy the snow-like hills.
On our way back to Las Cruces we stopped at the White Sands Missile Range to see the museum. Ted trained in missiles during his army enlistment. As a measure of readiness, one of the exercises he participated in was shooting down a drone on this range. This is a V-2 that was captured from the Germans after WWII. It was the beginning of the space age in the United States.
The missile in the center of this photo was the one that Ted worked on when he was in the army.
What a beautiful end to a fun day.
Basilica San Albino Church in on the Mesilla Historic Plaza in Las Cruces. The old statehouse sits on a corner of this plaza. It was where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang. He would have seen the original adobe version of this church.

Palm Desert, CA to Las Cruces, NM 1-6 through 1-7-2009

Our week in Palm Desert with my cousin Beth and her husband, Bud Youle was as much fun as last year. It is terrific to have our own personal tour guides who know the local places to eat. We left this view from our coach on January 6th for Gila Bend, AZ.
Since I have been across I-40 and I-10, I wanted to see I-8. We took a two lane road into El Centro where we caught I-8. We saw lots of date palms, the Salton Sea, and the Blue Angels practicing over the Imperial Valley. I missed a picture of a very tall oil tank with "Sea Level" marked about half way up the side at El Centro. This photo is the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area.
Having heard so many people say they spend the winter in Yuma, I wanted to see it. Ted says that it looks a lot bigger and more appealing than when he saw it about 20 years ago. You must have to stay and get to know the place to understand the appeal.
Can't you visualize Randolph Scott, if you are our age or older or a movie buff, riding toward these peaks in Arizona? We saw a huge military transport flying low and very close to another mountain range. It went through a pass that looked way too narrow. This was on the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range.
I never tire of the misty look that mountains can have. Many of you already do this, but today I finally connected my computer to the Internet while we traveled. It was wonderful to answer emails and to look up places that we passed and learn about what we missed. It was fun to check elevations and name the topography. I also researched the next stop for places we might want to see or interesting places to eat. Now Ted is designing a computer desk for the passenger seat that will fold down when not in use. This is Picacho Peak near Tucson. It is an interesting shape for this area. I drove from Gila Bend to Tucson. I asked to be relieved because I remembered the construction that was going on last year. The concrete barriers that narrow the lanes make me nervous as a passenger, let alone as the driver. Since Ted felt rested, we skipped our planned stop in Benson, AZ and drove onto Las Cruces, NM. It was almost 4:30 pm when this photo of the Organ Mountains was taken. This is the office/club house of Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces. Since we skipped Benson, we will have tomorrow to be tourists.