Adventure 351: Choke Canyon State Park, TX/Post A

They catch the big ones here.

We woke to splatterings of rain that seemed like some angel in heaven was washing out his mouth after a teeth brushing. Sudden waves of water would fall in torrents, then nothing. This continued the entire five hours across Texas. At some points the deluge almost caused me to pull over, except that we were on farm roads, which are great, except for their lack of shoulder. We passed through quite a long stretch of oil country with more bobbing heads of pumping wells than I could count, several tongues of flame burning natural gas, a couple thousand pickup trucks, a few big rigs, and just one other fellow RVer. In other words, every one was working. The best part of the day, aside from the surprising beauty of Choke Canyon, was traveling through Uvalde. We were surprised to see active farmland nestled in the midst of oil country. Fields full of huge cabbage heads, quite tall stocks of green onions, some type of feed grass, a few growing things we couldn't decipher, and, of course, the ubiquitous cattle. It was quite pretty. I heard on public radio that the Texas beef industry runs in the tens of billions of dollars. They're having a scare right now from a tick that is biting the cattle and giving them some death causing virus. The last time this happened was back in the early 1900s. It wiped out entire herds. Our reception on public radio was spotty, so I didn't hear of any immediate cure. Hopefully, they can figure things out. We're spending two nights here in Choke Canyon, and another two in Goliad, and a final two in Gonzales before we arrive in Austin next Sunday for a five day visit. For now, we have a lovely campsite right next to the water. After we set up, we rode around the park twelve miles total, both to get some exercise in and to see the park. Besides a state park, this place is also a nature reserve. Birds are everywhere. I hope the thousand or so sand cranes we saw on the way decide to fly here. They were an awesome spectacle, grazing as they were in a verdant field of cabbage residue. Of course, there was no place safe to pull over, so we had to wave as we went by. Right now, the wind is howling at plus twenty, which it's been doing all day. We had the wind just off our port bow all day. It was just enough to kill the gas mileage, and also provide a little bit of turbulence, though the Airstream pulls itself through heavy air quite well. Tonight, there's supposed to be a thunder storm moving through, and then the weather remains spotty tomorrow. It's a far cry from the icy edges of home, the frightening blizzards of the Northeast, and the truly terrifying breach in the spillway at Lake Oroville, so we're happy.. In all, we're thankful we're safe, glad we're alive, and mindful that life is good, especially today.

 Not surprisingly, much of Texas South of San Antonio looks like this. The good news is this is also a shot of the traffic.

 However, around Uvalde, things took on a decidedly beautiful aura.

 This is our shade/picnic/wind protection area. Quite nice. Every site has one.

 The view from our bedroom window.

 Fric/Frac tucked safely into site #131.

 We rode to the end of this, but I'm not sure of its purpose.

 Imagine the lures a fisherman could lose trying coax the big bass out of these brambles.

 Choke Canyon Reservoir stretches about the same distance in both directions.

 Selfie of the day: I'm quite happy to have such a willing stoker. She pedals; I steer.

 These clouds promise to turn threatening by midnight.

Papa resting after today's small stretch of the legs.