There is a stretch of old railroad bed running between Weatherford and Mineral Wells that has been converted into a hiking/biking/equestrian trail. I used it to ride into the city this morning. Jenny has returned unscathed from her reunion. We did laundry at the washing machine museum and are preparing for our early departure tomorrow. Palo Duro canyon is 7 hour's away.
I got on the water fairly early. There were some clouds. That was nice. I went clockwise around the shoreline. It was 6 miles. Today is Saturday so there were a few fisherpeople out. The temps have been Grand Canyon like. I was going to do something after lunch but after being outside for a few minutes I canned that idea. Jenny is reunioning with her girlfriends. They sent me this pic. I believe this is the first time I've ever had to avoid prickly pear on a portage to a put-in.
There is a ribbon of hardwood forest running south out of Oklahoma that is called the western cross-timbers. It's weird to be driving through mesquite and prickly pear and then abruptly enter a dense hardwood forest. This park is in the cross-timbers. On a vaguely related note, part of this park was 'Camp Wolters'. 40,000 helicopter pilots were trained here before going to Vietnam. This site was chosen because of the dense forest. Kinda like Vietnam. I had an epic bike ride this morning, most of it was through, the no longer used, army property. Jenny has taken the car to her reunion and the last time I looked it was 110 outside. It's 91 inside. The MP AC just can't cope.
We are here to get Jenny in a position to attend her annual highschool girlfriends reunion. This year it is in Ft. Worth. About an hour away. Mineral Wells is named for the well water here that has high levels of calcium, magnesium and sulfates that give the water a strong flavor and odor. It was apparently a big tourist draw for many years beginning around 1900. Our campsite is a short portage from the lake so ill get my boat wet. There are good bike trails so i'll get to ride. Jenny is taking the car tomorrow so ill be bike bound. Here's our campsite.
John came over for dinner at the MP. Jeanne had duties that kept her at home. I drank way to much. I blame that entirely on John. Mineral Wells tomorrow.
John and I launched the kayaks at a city park this morning for a tour of the local waterway, the Concho River. There isn't really any flow. The water is impounded between several dams. We were on the water for 2 hours. During our outing one of Johns daughters was in labor. I was impressed with his casual, relaxed demeanor, concerning his impending 5th case of grandfatherhood. It might be something in the water out here or maybe the fact that he helped raise 4 daughters. There are several parks along the river. One of them has a park bench dedicated to John. It's the John Begnaud memorial bench. When we paddled by, It was appearant that the bench was a favorite perching area for the local birds. San Angelo has a lot of public art. Scattered throughout downtown are 45 painted sheep. I don't know why.
After my bike ride we did laundry. The first laundromat was rejected due to its 'bad vibes'. There are, in my experience, few laundromats, with good vibes. We finally found one with acceptable vibes and did the laundry. We linked up with John & Jean Begnaud for dinner at a blues club downtown. The band was absolutely fabulous. Indescribably good. After 3 beers Jean got a call from one of her daughters. Her water just broke. Party over.
This parks central feature is a Corps of Engineers lake. Tha dam they built is enormous. The lake is completely dry. 0%. There is no lake. As part the city's solution to the city's water worries the powers that be have determined that the mesquite tree is sucking up precious water. Their solution--kill um. Throusands of acres were sprayed by helicopter with some chemical that has killed the mesquite trees. It's pretty ugly. In spite of that, this park is pretty cool. There are over 50 miles of bike/horse trails. I started exploring them this morning. I broke no ribs. Today we went into town, had lunch, explored a little and (yuk) went to the Super Walmart. Tomorrow I'll give my impressions of the city. I like it.
Yesterday, a herd of javalinas moseyed through our campsite. I went outside and tried to maneuver them so that I could get them all in one picture. You think herding cats is difficult? Try herding javalinas. Today we hiked the only trail we hadn't hiked yet. So we are done exploring this park. The hiking pic has the Indian Lodge in the background. The lodge was built by the CCC in the 30s.
We sort of chilled today. Neither one of us feels 100%. We've been going pretty hard for over a month so a few down days might be in order. After lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Ft. Davis we had ice cream.
Here's the deal. Jenny has her annual high school girlfriends reunion toward the end of this month in Ft. Worth. We are slowly making our way to that part of Texas. Today's drive was only an hour and a half. We are trying to avoid commercial RV parks and there are not a lot of choices in West Texas. We're here for 3 days then It's Abilene for 2 then San Angelo for 3 then Mineral Wells. Jenny will take the car and leave me at the park at Mineral Wells and do her reunion. After that we finally head West. Just to change the subject, Jenny has been creamed in solitaire by her ipad.
One more thing. I had to ride my bike up to the lodge to make this post and that was after 2 bourbons. It was tough.
Balmorhea is pronounced (bal-more-a) rhymes with day. See how clever? Took a short ride on my bike, went for a swim, explored the bustling town of Balmorea, ate dinner prepared by Paula, threw the frisbee. That was pretty much it. We all leave here tomorrow. Here are some pics of the scuba divers and the pool.
We drove for 4 hours to link up with my sister Paula, her friend, Francis, his daughter, Allison, Kent, Paula's son in law, & his two daughters, Maggie and kaycie. This place is a large spring fed swimming pook. This trip was organized by Paula to scuba dive. The water is clear and pretty deep. Jenny and I had the group over for hor d'Oeuvres and drinks before moving to Paula's cabin for dinner.
We got up relatively early to do our hike in Big Bend. We're about an hours drive from the Basin trailhead so we didn't get walking until 9:15. It took us 6 hours to do the round trip. The hike is somewhat demoralizing because you can see the summit from the trailhead and it is wwaayyy up there. The last 100 feet is a free climb with some exposure and Jenny applied something she called "good judgement" and elected to forgo the summit. We returned to the MP mid afternoon. We decided to leave the AC off while we were gone. It was 110 inside when we walked in. It has taken 4 hours to cool things down. We leave tomorrow to meet up with my sister Paula + several others at Balmorhea SP.
Our big event was our morning bike ride in the state park. Things started to heat up pretty early so we waited until it was really cook'n. At about an hour in, we rode near some water and soaked our shirts. That helped. The trail was rated 'easy'. It was an old road. Jenny stayed on the road and I did a couple of spur trails. We were out 3 hours and did 14 miles. We hit the pool when we returned. This is a resort. Jenny even got her hair wet. After lunch we drove 18 miles into Study Butte to visit what passes for a grocery store out here. There was a little ta do at the pool this afternoon. We made a brief appearance. Study Butte has a unique mall and Lajitas has an airport. There was a sign at the locked airport gate that advised people to avoid riding bikes on the runway.
We're in a commercial park at Lajitas. We were going to stay at one of the campgrounds in Big Bend but Jenny's research convinced us to come here. The original developer of this place had to have had a serious drug problem. Gazillions of dollars were spent by this guy. He apparently thought people would want to live here. This place is really cool, exceptionally pretty but, my word, Lajitas? It's uninhabitable in the summer. What was he thinking? Anyway, I did an exploratory bike ride behind the rv park and witnessed a small flash flood. Tomorrow we will bike ride in Big Bend Ranch State Park. The park is west of Big Bend. It is huge so we will only see a small sliver of it. Here's a pic of my ride today.
We drove from S Padre and are now back in S.A. We got a call from Lu after we arrived. She had news. After several home inspections the prospective buyers have apparently found something that gives them pause. The deal is off. Our vacation is back on! Instead of heading east to take care of business, we will be headed west doing nothing even remotely related to business. It has taken me an hour or so to complete the U turn but I am writing this with an atlas in my lap. Westward Ho------
Today we had 2 major events. First, was a trip to the turtle rescue and rehabilitation center. (I made up that name because I can't remember what It's really called) We saw some turtles that were being rehabilitated after being rescued. (see?) After that was the daily trip to the beach followed by a stop at the pool followed by a nap. Big event 2 was prompted by Seth's desire to eat oysters. The truly shocking part of big event 2 was that he said he'd pay for it. The restaurant was reputed to be one of the 500 best on the island or in the country, I forget which.
Today's major event was a boat ride to observe dolphins in their natural habitat. We caught the boat at 10:30 and after chasing dolphins around for an hour and 1/2 we headed for an island hotspot for lunch called Claytons, reputed to be the largest beach bar in Texas. I was impressed by its shape. The roof looked to me like a parachute. The next hurricane it will probably be the largest beach wood pile in Texas.
The last time we were here was in Jan. The weather was absolutely horrid. We vowed to return during a time with better weather potential. We hit the jackpot! The temp is great for the beach, the water is warm and the pool is heated. We are on the 5th floor of a condo with 3 bedrooms overlooking the blue waters of the Gulf. The waves are just the right size and the Budweiser Swedish bikini demonstration team has been conducting demonstrations right below our balcony. Regrettably, I got no pictures of that.
