Man's technology vs Mother Nature

Before we left the " lost in time" City of Rocks State Park this morning I had the opportunity (because Mother Nature settled down her winds) to walk the perimeter of the park.  Although I  was alone in my walk I felt surrounded by spirits of another time still living in the standing stones and boulders of this land.  I realized that the technology and advances; inventions that we, mankind have created over the last few centuries cannot compare to the simple stark beauty that Mother Nature has created and continues to create  despite the worsening physical and spiritual insults we heap upon her.  The earth continues to give us warnings that we cannot continue on the path we seem destined to take in this belief that humans have manifest destiny over this planet that we call home.  I feel very strongly that in places like this park, the veil that separates our reality from whatever else may lie out there is very very thin.  To walk here helps one to become more attuned to the earth and all life on it. 

We left The City of Rocks State Park  to travel to yet another natural area:  Rock Hound State Park which is only about 40 miles south.  We visited here two years ago and it was good to "come home" again.  We were even able to slip into our previous camping site.  Looking forward to a couple of the hiking trails for tomorrow morning.  I cheated and did one today!!!!

Rock Wren ( This little guy asked to have his picture taken)

Fish Hook Cactus

Looking west from the park

Prickly Pear and Soltol Cactus

Nest for the Night

Night falling

Sun sliding down the mountain

Sunset over Rock Hound State Park

                                             

                                                   

Surrounded by gentle giants!

In reality it is almost Christmas, 2011 but driving into The City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico has been like riding a time warp which has taken us back to a whole different era.  We are in the midst of mountains, open plains and huge huge boulders piled one upon the other as if in some long ago giants used these rocks for marbles and building blocks.  This park is unique in that there is a section that is "developed" with electric and water hookups.  Further into the park is the "undeveloped" section.  Each site is set far from the next and no two are alike.  We are nestled in among huge boulders that feel sentient.  It is so peaceful.  The sun finally decided to pull away from the clouds this afternoon and I took that moment to grab my camera and head to the top of these boulders to view the vista all around me.  I took off without my walking stick which doubles for a snake finder.  I tiptoed through the grass and rocks and turned up no snakes.  It was much too cold for them to stick their noses out into the air today. 

In these final, often hectic  days before Christmas  it is a gift to be out of the city, the hustle and bustle of holiday preparing and into the land and just breathe.....  The Winter Solstice is just around the corner too and what better place to be for that long winter night then here for reflection and preparation of the New Year....surrounded by these gentle giants from 33 million years ago.

Ring of boulders in the City of Rocks State Park, NM

West side of City of Rocks

Our Guardian Raven over the rocks

Sun going down over the 33 million year old boulders

Natural basins with water in the rocks

Boulders and hills

Live Oak growing through rock

Our resting place for a few days

                                                      

Big Bend National Park to....Boondocking

The weather is warming up....thank goodness, as we were getting a wee bit stir crazy in Sanderson, Tx.  It wasn't Sanderson, it was the cold windy weather that pretty much prevented fun bike rides around the area which is quite unique and full of history.  Also, a heffy dose of a head cold that my traveling partner was more then happy to get rid of found a home in my head so I was pretty much side-lined for a few days.  After leaving Sanderson and the routine of getting up every hour on the hour to run water to keep our pipes from freezing and bursting it felt good to be a bit further west and in warmer climes.  Marathon, Tx is only about 50 miles west but the cold front that had settled like a wet blanket over the area had dried out and blown away.  After one night on  the cross-roads of old Texas and hippy wanna- be Marathon, we checked the weather forecast and traveled south to Big Bend National Park.  This is definitely a hands-on  National Park.  If you really want to see and experience this area you must get out of your vehicle, put on your hiking boots, throw on the back pack and head for the back country to really see the land; the  canyons there are awesome. With the tenacious head cold hanging on we continued our drive through this beautiful terrain and stopped at B.J's RV park. This was one of those small, closely knit little communities on gravel.  These people...maybe 15 maxium even had a covered ramada (wigwam) where they meet each day for happy hour.  This is not one of those huge spread out Stepford Wives RV parks where each front door is the same color and all the flowers are lined up in symmetrical order.  B.J's  is lived in and homey.  No frills, but we were made to feel welcome immediately and invited to come to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony that evening. These are the hidden treasures we seem to just wander into when ready to bring the day of driving to an end.  This variety of park is not the typical kind listed on the  Garmin GPS or in the vacation literature.  They just appear out of nowhere. 

We are now  north of Big Bend in Fort Davis, Tx.  We were able to boondock last night (dry camping...stealth camping) no park, just a little piece of desert in the middle of West Texas.   Richard  installed two solar panels this past summer and we put them to the test last night.  They passed with high marks and that was with overcast skies yesterday!!! It was not too cold...41 degrees at its lowest.  Quiet, peaceful and restful.  We continued on to Fort Davis, Tx for tonight and will head west toward our eventual  goal of Arizona on the morrow.

Mt Santiago near Big Bend National Park, Tx

The vista driving through Big Bend

Looking for rocks for me

Prickly Pear Catcus

Big Bend National Park, TX

Drought dried Ocotilla Cactus in foreground

Our Boondocking site north of Big Bend, Tx

Horse ranch outside of Ft. Davis, TX

Heading down into Ft. Davis, TX

Cute little fixer-upper in West Texas?

                                                    

Catching up & Warming up

The first of much of the wildlife in Abilene State Park

First birds;.... of course cats!

Do not feed the wildlife....um hum..sure..

My favorite - Mr Ashes - A Siamese if you please!

Ma ma # 3

Three of the family of 6 deer pushing the felines out of the way

Heading south near Dryden, Tx toward Sanderson, Tx

Big Bend National Park about 60 miles south of Marathon, Tx

Moon over Marathon

One of my favorite residents of this RV Park in Marathon

Goodnight from Marathon, Tx

     

Where have I been?  I have been reading and enjoying to the hilt Richard's blogs and finally decided that I needed to jot some words and put up  some photos of my own.  My pictures are going to run the gamet from Abilene State Park through San Angelo and on into Marathon, Tx in this posting. Since last I wrote we have traveled from Wichita Falls, Tx all the way to Marathon, Tx.  It would seem that the further south we travel the warmer it would become.  Not so!!!  So much depends on the weather fronts coming in but more importantly it is elevation where we are regardless of the latitude.  We have gone back and forth in temp several times as we continued to travel south in Texas  but the coldest......so far has been the last four days and nights in Sanderson, Texas.  We stayed in that little dying burg for four nights to try and keep our water lines from freezing and bursting.  We were up each hour on the hour throughout the nights to run the water and make sure the water was still running.  It was rather like getting up with a baby at night but without the changing of diapers; leaving us feeling rather groggy during the day.  We are now only about 48 miles as the crow flies from the border of Mexico but it is still predicted to get down to 27 degrees tonight and even colder on Friday.  Yes, yes, I know that must sound like a heat wave in Crystal Falls, but WAY down here in the heart of Texas, it is DAMN COLD!!!

We left Sanderson, Tx this morning with the sun shining brightly high overhead and the temp rising to  a balmy 54 degrees!!!  As we traveled west only 50 miles but another 2000 feet in elevation the temp dropped 10 degrees. After setting up camp the sun coaxed us out for a short bike ride through the neat little village of Marathon, TX.  We have stayed in this RV park two previous times and one thing I absolutely love is their chickens!!  They must have the same philosophy as I had in the past about chickens.  They get to live out their lives on the hoof and not in the crock pot!!  The same four Aracanas (green egg layers) are still residents of this park. 

We hope to head down to the beautiful National Park of Big Bend in the next couple of days.   

Abilene...Abilene...

Feed me?

Me too!!

                                  
We left Possum Kingdom State Park this morning with sunshine over our shoulders.  More importantly.....no gale force winds!  We headed south and west to the Abilene State Park which is just outside of Tuscalosa, TX. This park is in northern to mid- Texas and despite all the wildfires of last spring and summer - green.  Possum Kingdom did not fare so well.  This park is full of wild life.  We have not seen any signs that state specifically "Do not feed the wild-life." We did throw out some bread and carrots to 5 White Tailed look alikes.  These deer have never seen a gun or heard a gun shot!!! They are tame to the point of being a nuisance.  After breaking the first law of a sign we didn't see, we went on to feed a beautiful feral cat.  Black, shiny and apparently very pregnant.  A little tuna fish in a paper bowl and she was up on the picnic table in a heart beat; albeit with one eye on the camper.  She definitely was much more cautious then the deer.

Richard capturing the deer in a photo

Me catching Richard capturing deer in the photo

"Our" black feral beauty

Checking out the "Chicken of the Sea"

We think she is eating for "many"

We are looking forward to exploring this park tomorrow on
our bikes.  We rode a little this afternoon for the first time since we left Michigan.  It was 70 degrees, the sun was shining and it was wonderful!!!  I think a little sunshine and exercise is all Richard needs to kick this cold that caught him.

The Journey Begins - November 17th 2011

Osceola, Iowa November 19th

                                                
Richard and I started our journey to the hopefully hot and dry Southwest this year by way of a little detour.....to  Alpha, Mi to be exact.  My dear friend Agnes Bjork of Alpha had voiced a concern to  her daughter, Linda Bjork, and I quote, "I don't think Jackie really likes to camp or travel in a camper, you know".  Richard and I decided to give her a trial run in the "camper".  So, we pulled up outside her home and Linda had her ready for our little adventure.  We walked her down to the camper; had her climb aboard, and off we went for a short tour of Alpha . , along with Agnes, Linda and Linda's small moose of a dog, Ziggy (all 180 lbs of Great Dane)   I looked back at Agnes as we rolled along and her smile reached from one ear to the other!  Her final comment - "I think this is a great way to travel".  It was a fun way to begin our journey south this winter.
We left Alpha, headed west to Iron River and continued west and south  through Wisconsin and stopped in Sauk Prairie, Wi for our first night on the road.  Yesterday evening found us in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  If you have checked out Richard's blog  (blueroadsandboondocking.blogspot.com ) you already know what Cedar Rapids is well known for.....and it isn't the wonderful fragrance of Cedar!!!  Sorry, but it reeks.  Major agribusiness, Quaker Oats and a few other huge chemical using concerns are located in Cedar Rapids.  The smells coming from each one of those huge complexes could peel paint from any surface not to mention disolve the contacts in my eyes!! 
We departed Cedar Rapids this morning under heavy gloomy skies and continued our trek south and west through Amana, Iowa and came to rest in Osceola.  Just before stopping for the night, the sun made a valiant attempt to break through the gloom and managed to send down what my mother used to call "Angel slides".  She would always tell me that when the sun shattered the clouds and made streamers that touched the earth, angels would come down to visit us.  Osceola was the host of several angels this afternoon.

Sun breaking through in Osceola, Iowa

"Angel Slides" in Osceola, Iowa

                                               

April 24th ----SUNSHINE AT LAST!

Time for a Spring bath in Kansas

One more goose in the pond

Nebraska wind power

 

Homestead National Monument near Beatrice, Nebraska

 

Home made bricks on 1870 log house (home of 12 people)!!!

Super "Bug" corn picker

Rolling hills of central Iowa

Iowa fields ready for spring planting

"Albert" The Bull in Audubon, Iowa

Shed & trees

Storm rolling in over Iowa farm

A beautiful sunset tonight (The first in two weeks)

Our little park in Rockwell, Iowa

Since last I wrote we have covered quite a few miles, both on the bikes and with the camper.  From the wind swept plains of Kansas to the corn rows of Iowa we have experienced only cold, wet windy weather.  Fortunately we have stayed  just out of the reach of the tornadoes that have traveled along side us for the last few hundred miles.

We left Earl Norman at his home in Bellevue, Nebraska a few days ago  and pointed the nose of the camper north.  Today is the first day in almost two weeks that we have seen the sun shine and it is a wonderful sight!  We were even  able to get out and ride this afternoon! 

We have found several small city parks along our route that  usually have a few spots for RV's.  Most  have water and electric and are quiet and peaceful.  I would guess that come summer these little parks are always full but at this time of the year, we seem to be the only ones using them. 

We have our fingers crossed for more sun & more warm weather as we continue our trek north to the U P.