Davis Mountain State Park

Hi all, Dianne here.  The Traveling Whippet-Mobile headed north from Lajitas about 100 miles, to the higher elevation of the Davis Mountain State Park.  Several weeks ago, around April 9, the Texas State Park folks had called us to inform us that they were closing Davis Mountain State Park because of the serious Rock Hill wildfire that was burning thousands of acres in this area.  We cancelled our reservations and were contemplating a "Plan B" until last week, when we found that the park had been reopened.  We promptly made new reservations for the same dates.

The wildfires in Texas are no joke.  There has been little or no rain in parts of Texas since last September.  We know personally that it did not rain the entire four months we were in Mission, except for scattered drops one night (that didn't even wet the pavement).  

As we drove north from Lajitas and entered the area around Marfa, we encountered acre after acre of blackened landscape.  Here's a link to a Reuters news story about the Rock House fire.  One of the four photos in this story shows a temporary sign "Loose Cattle" along the roadway.  We passed that sign as we drove to the state park, and I thought at the time I'd never seen a sign like that before.  Turns out, the fire had burned fences and let loose the cattle!  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/18/us-texas-wildfires-ranchers-idUSTRE73G2I220110418

The small town of Marfa, Texas (best known for its mysterious lights) also has one of the beautiful court houses that can be found in towns all over Texas:

This photo Roger took at our campsite at Davis Mountain State Park (#16) shows just how close the fire came to burning the entire campground down.  This burn area is only a few feet from our picnic table.  We understood why the park was closed!  The Rock House wildfire burned for about three weeks.

We took a short drive on the skyline road the next day, and saw an area of the park that was not so lucky as the campground.  The park's radio building was completely burned, as well as the entire hill surrounding it:

As we walked around the burned area, a park ranger drove up and started snapping photos of the burn damage.  We talked to her a bit, and she explained that the wildfire roared this way from Marfa in 26 minutes' time, and that they had only a half hour to evacuate the park!  Marfa is about 22 miles from Ft. Davis, so that means the wildfire was traveling around 60 miles per hour!  

They evacuated to the McDonald Observatory, and from that hilly vantage point could "Watch our whole world burning," as she put it.  Her home was spared, but she explained that two park employees lost everything they owned in the fire.  

The wildlife here is amazing, even though part of the park has burned to a crisp.  The three deer in the opening photo walked right up to our motor home to eat some brush at our site.

 There is a bird observation area, with a covered shady nook with benches overlooking several types of bird feeders.  While here, so far I've added about 18 birds to my life list!  Some of the more interesting ones include the black-headed grosbeak (shown), blue grosbeak, rose-breasted grosbeak, a female summer tanager, black-crested titmouse, lesser goldfinches, acorn woodpecker, and many more.  I think we have good timing, because this is bird migration time in Texas, so some of the birds we've seen are just passing through on their way north.  The observation area is set up mainly to observe the Montezuma quail that frequent here, but I have not seen one.

I hung my hummingbird feeder out when we arrived here, and within ten minutes a flock of black-chinned hummingbirds were swarming it.  I've had to re-fill it each day since we arrived.


Roger had his own close encounter of the animal-kind when walking Bandido.  I'll let him fill you in on that one!


Roger here....  Bandido and I were taking a short walk back to the motor home from the bird blind.  We passed six javelinas that were wandering around a parking area.  Bandido did a little growling, but did not want to get close.

A few minutes later, while approaching the motor home, I noticed one of the javelinas at our water connection.  He seemed to be nudging and chewing on our water filter.  When we (Bandido and me) got closer, we saw that water was spraying in all directions.  He had damaged the filter to the point of causing a leak.  Poor thing.  He was just trying to get some water, but he needed to move on and I needed to stop the leak.

As Bandido (very subdued - the big chicken) and I approached and challenged the javelina, it stepped aside, turned toward me, and started a staring contest.  Look at those eyes -- I don't think he liked us.  Mr. Javelina was saying, "Hey, I found this water and I am not leaving.  I will charge if you don't leave me alone."   Bandido was saying, "No problem, let's go Dad!"

I have to admit I felt a little bit of discomfort as I picked up a rock to defend us (me and my dog).  The stare-down continued for longer than it should have.  Then the Javelina trotted away.  Score one for me and the chicken-dog.


In Bandido's defense, another javelina approached the campsite just a few minutes ago.  Dianne was outside with Bandido.  This time our brave dog growled and barked, no doubt protecting Dianne.  Good Dog!

Dianne again:  There are two pet photos of the day.  The first one shows how Bandido likes to treat "Mommy" like a chew toy.  When he's scolded, though, he'll give me a big hug:

I think the title of this photo should be "Big Hug from a Big Lug."

Eight Mile Hike + Javelina Redux!

Hi everyone... Roger here.... A few days ago (one of the sunny days) we took an eight-mile hike around the outer circle of Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park, with a couple of diversions along the side trails. We knew this would be a long trip so we actually carried a picnic lunch to eat along the way.

The first side trip was a 1.8 mile walk through the cactus-filled scrub to the Rio Grande River. We took a couple of shots of the giant cactus along the way, including a new species (for us) that was long and spindly.

It's interesting to see how the cactus grows through the scrub trees using them for support. An abandoned two-story

building (no window panes) was the focus of the view of Mexico at the Rio Grande lookout. We wonder what the building was, or is. I expected the Rio Grande to be a little smaller and muddy, but it was pretty clear and deep, at least from our viewpoint.

The only person we saw on the side trip was an ever-present border patrol agent.

We heard a car door shut at a nearby dirt road and then watched the agent hack his way down to the river. Hmmmm? Looking for illegals or finding a place to pee?

The second diversion from the loop walk took us to the Hawk Tower.

The cool path to the top was along a winding walkway that ascended about three stories. We did not see any hawks, but we did have a great view of scores of ducks that were diving for food in the lake below.

The lake was one of several resacas in the park. The resacas were at one time curves in the Rio Grande River, that became curvy lakes when the river changed its course.

The Rio Grande River has changed its course since the international boundary was established. We took a picture of one of the boundary markers next to a dried up portion of the river. The marker was in the state park, several hundred yards from the current location of the river. Were we in the U.S. at the time or in Mexico?

A puzzlement!

When we re-entered the eight-mile circle after the hawk tower, we began looking for one of the trams that are scheduled every forty-five minutes. We intended to ride back to the park headquarters. Every time we reached a tram stop, we decided to move on to the next one rather than sit and wait. (We were heading in a direction so that we would see the tram approaching us when it came.) We finally reached a tram stop where we decided to wait. We sat for a few minutes, looked down the road, thought we saw the next stop and decided to hurry on down to that stop. (Why, I don't know.) As we approached the stop we saw the tram coming toward us. OH NO! What we thought was a stop, was just a gathering of birders (telescopic cameras in hand). We waved at the tram as it went by knowing that we would be walking the rest of the way back. Oh well.

Throughout the hike we saw several more javelinas, including a piglet with its mom. They are fun to watch as they snort and nose around for food. The thing that is not so much fun is dodging the poop that they leave EVERYWHERE.

As we walked along, I composed a second verse to the Javelina song (to the tune of the Macarena):

Sometimes they poop in the middle of the roadway.

Sometimes they poop in the middle of the pathway.

The poop gets squished in the tread of your sneakers!

Pewwww. Javelina.

Dianne here: (eye-roll + groan)....

how can I follow that?

The two bird photos this time

were a Great Kiskadee

(the yellow-breasted bird)

and a shot of a clay-colored

thrush that was causing some

excitement among

the birders at one of

the stations who were all set

up with their scopes and cameras.

I don't have a scope set-up,

so this is the best shot I could get of it.

Roger again: When we got back to the RV Resort, Dianne informed me that I would have to walk the state park pass back to guest services, because she was done! No reason to argue. When she's done, she's done.

(After suffering through Roger's javelina song again I thought that was the least he could do!)

Hey, Gringo-Dog, Those are Mexican Cows!!

Hi all -- Dianne here.

The title quote was "Nacho" the chihuahua showing Chaplin the cattle adjacent to the dog park here at our new location.

We had an easy drive south from Kerrville New Year's Day to our home for the next two months, Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort in Mission, TX. We made the reservation here almost a year ago, early last March, as we heard it is very popular and hard to get a site.

Our blogs will be a little different while we're here, because we'll be out of the "tourist" mode and back into the "fulltimer" mode.

Most of our activities while we're here will center around activities and things to do right here at the RV resort and its immediate surroundings. There is no lack of things to do here!

They offer free bicycles, free kayaks, pool, hot tub, miles and miles of walking trails right next door, and the best dog park we've been to since "Barkham at Markham"

in Fort Lauderdale last year.

Every day there are planned activities as well. This morning I plan to join the aerobics group, and this afternoon there is a margarita get-together that we plan to take advantage of. Next week we've signed up for a group kayaking expedition on the Rio Grande. Once we know our way around we'll take our own inflatable kayak out exploring. We have to be careful, though, because we are so close to Mexico that the border patrol is ever present and we don't want to end up in a Mexican jail!

This RV park is directly adjacent to Bentsen Palm State Park and the World Birding Headquarters. We have free access to the park and its trails and the birding center from our RV park, so we've already been over there multiple times. I walked over there twice yesterday to join the serious birders who are congregating along the levee next to the park to catch a glimpse of a rare tiger heron; the first sighting of this bird ever in the U.S.! People are actually FLYING in from Canada and other U.S. states to try to see this bird, and I can just walk over there any time I want to! If I AM lucky enough to see it, I'll try to get a photo for the blog.

I'll try not to bore my readers with bird sightings, but needless to say I'm in my element here and really having fun! I am an unabashed eco-nerd, I admit it. I can walk over and get my fill of birding while Roger can use a bicycle and ride around the RV park and its environs to his little heart's content. (Bicycles and I don't mix very well; to learn more about that, look under the categories for our Shark Valley blog from last winter in the Everglades).

I'll let Roger finish up with his thoughts on our new "home":

Check out the picture of the javelina (also called peccary)!

We have seen several of them at Bentsen Palm State Park. I made up my own little song about them to the tune of the Macarena that I sing whenever we see them and there are no other people around. It is worth the off-key singing just to see Dianne roll her eyes.

Some people call them a pecca, pecca, peccary.....

Some people call them a hoggy, hoggy, hoggy.....

Some people say that they look like Miss Piggy....

Hey Javelina!

Dianne again: Sorry 'bout that! Had I known he'd launch into his silly Javelina song, I would have hidden the computer!! He really does make up weird songs like that on the spur of the moment. Not only do I roll my eyes, there is usually a loud groan when he does this. This playful side of Roger reappeared (after a decade-long absence) about two weeks after he retired!

We have taken a couple of long walks at the state park.

The Honey Mesquite trees that are everywhere have wood that reminds me of Walnut wood. There are also a lot of Texas ebony trees. During one of the walks we did not see another soul for the entire two miles, just lonely scrub growth and the occasional birds. By the way, the bright green, yellow, black and blue birds are Green Jays.

When we saw the first one we were excited. There are so many of them that now when we see them we say, oh, it's just a Green Jay. The bright orange bird in the middle of the large Plain Chachalacas (I also have a song for them) is also pretty common down here.

It is actually not a bird at all, but an orange peel.

We had kind of a quiet day yesterday because the boys got a hold of some "bad" water. Intestinal problems ruled the day. One of us had to be with them at all times or we would have a stinky, messy motor home. They are both pretty good about walking to the door and staring when it is time for an emergency walk.

During Dianne's time with the dogs, I borrowed one of the campground bikes for a twelve-mile bike ride. Unfortunately, I did not think to take the camera (I will the next time). The lengthy bike path skirts the edge of a National Wildlife Refuge so it was an interesting ride - dark green cactus pretty much blanketed the ground only allowing a few scrub trees to invade from time to time. At one point I left the bike path and rode into the National Butterfly Park. I did not go in - probably no butterflies this time of year, oh and there was a $5 fee.

The dogs are getting some good exercise here, running, chasing balls, and socializing. The last photo shows their normal position in the motorhome.

The caption might be "why we use slip covers." They really are 35-mile-an-hour couch potatoes!