The Falls day 4

Today was hiking. If you were an animal hiker you probably couldn't hike all of the trails in 10 days. This is a place that really requires several backpacking trips. Obviously, not going to happen. There is a pretty good chunk of the park that is on the other side of the river. There are no bridges but there is one low water crossing. I would not consider the water level to be low. A visit to that side of the park will have to wait for another trip. The wet spring here has really brought out the wild flowers. Hence the pictures. It's now becoming late afternoon and we are about to head into Johnson City just to say we have been there. I think we will definitely try to camp here again. Tomorrow we are at John and Jeanne Begnauds house on lake Buchanan with a few of the Aggie Group for a couple of days.

The Falls Day 3

We drove into Dripping Springs today to take care of some administrative stuff so there is nothing adventurous to report. We have one more full day here and plan on getting out on the trails tomorrow. We had Bill and Patty over to the MP for drinks and dinner. A good visit. More tomorrow.

The Falls day 2

Today was an exploring day. I rode this morning and we hiked this afternoon. It's pretty hot (96°) and I'm a mess. This park is huge with many miles of trails. If the trails I attempted to ride this morning are any indication of the rest of the trails, I probably won't be doing much trail riding. It was brutal. This is the heart of the Hill Country and the hills are made of limestone and that combination was too much for me in places. There is still much to see and do in the area. We are here for 3 more nights.

Pedernales Falls SP

Just a quick post. Our campsite has no service. Text only and it's spotty. We linked up with Bill and Patty with some effort. They live in a pretty isolated location. We will see them again tomorrow.

Day Quattro

I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling. We had an Informative lunch with Maggie today. Our trip will get underway tomorrow. We have a short drive to Johnson City with a stop for a few days at Pedernales Falls SP. Bill & Patty Carroll live near the park and we will be visiting with them. For some reason we have never stayed in that park. With all the rain South Texas has been having lately there might even be a falls to look at. I'm going to try to post something every day but what frequently happens with these Aggie get togethers is that what I should do doesn't get done and what I shouldn't do does.

SA day 3

Just some more socializing today. We did drop by Jason's house for a brief hello. We have a lunch date with Maggie tomorrow. It's 10:00 Tuesday night and there is a frontal passage on top of us right now. We are getting tornado warnings and flash flood warnings on our phones every few minutes making in nearly impossible to get any sleep. The thunder is worse because you can turn off your phone. It goes without saying that I won't be able to post anything tomorrow if we don't survive this. If I post tomorrow you'll know that we did. Here's hoping.

SA day 2

We spent most of the day at Jim & Anne's house in Garden Ridge. They hosted a traditional Memorial day barbeque lunch with Jerome and Yogi and Jenny & yours truly. Coincidentally, Yogi was celebrating her birthday. That get together broke up and left Jenny and I here for a 2 hour hot tub marathon. Jenny actually got in the water. It was amazing. We are spending the night here and will be visiting with some of our seldom seen relatives tomorrow.

San Antonio

We made it with nothing to report. Going through Houston on the Sunday before Memorial day was a good plan. Actually, it wasn't planned. In fact I was unaware that this weekend was a holiday weekend until a ranger at one of our first stops mentioned it. Tomorrow we have a Memorial day barbeque lunch at Jim & Ann's and the plan is for us to spend the night with them. They are about to leave for a stay at their house in Santa Fe. I'll try to remember to take some pictures tomorrow.

Sea Rim SP

 We drove through Sabine Pass to get here. There are Oil refineries out the wazoo, oil tanks and a construction crane forest. It was a spectacle of extractive exuberance. We have only one bar of cell service at the campground so I seriously doubt if this post will go out today. It has been raining all day. It's raining now and it's supposed to keep raining. Generally rain is good but this is Memorial Day weekend and the huddled masses yearning to be free want good weather for their 3 day weekend. We are currently under a flash flood warning but we can always get on the MP's roof. SA is 300 miles away. We will be there tomorrow and are expecting to park in Jerome's driveway.

Fairview-Riverside SP

We are near Madisonville La. Camped on the Tchefuncte river. Where do they get these names? The drive here was wet, windy and crowded. In one word I would describe it as:.................I'm thinking......bad. Yes that's it. Bad. Anyway we left Florida, drove through Alabama (Mobile was a hoot) then Mississippi  and here we are. Not too much blog worthy happened today. We hiked the 1/4 mile boardwalk through the swamp and I am currently boiling water for a Mac & Cheese dinner. Tomorrow Texas.

Chateau Le Coeur

This place is a "winery". That building in the background is the winery building. I think it's a double wide trailer. The tasting room is their kitchen. Not particularly impressive but the wine was pretty good. We bought 2 bottles, had a Charcuterie board and several other items they had for sale. It has been a pretty expensive stop. This morning began with a slight detour through Jacksonville to pick up 2 kayak paddles I left at the house we rented in April for spring break. We met up with the owners wife at a Walmart parking lot. We now have two paddles that we don't need. Our stop tomorrow is somewhere in Louisiana. We are doing one night stands all the way to San Antonio.

Crooked River SP Ga

Today is day 1 of what is planned to be a 70 day trip. Of course, things can happen, bad things. I won't dwell on any negative possibilities. Our summer plans are these: A stop in San Antonio. A visit with my remaining Aggie Buds near Johnson City. North to Palo Duro. West on Interstate 40. Meet up with John and Jeanne Begnaud in Southern Utah for a 10 day visit to 3 national parks that they haven't seen. Drive back to Lake Powell for a 5 day houseboat trip with the mob. Head further West and attend "The Wizard of Oz" at the Sphere in las Vegas. Enter California and finish last years trip that was so rudely interrupted. That would be Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Head East and drive the Maverick into the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Really, we are. Of course there are many stops in between those milestones. What could possibly go wrong. I saw that Tortoise on a short ride I took after we got here. I think he hangs out in that hole. We are in Florida tomorrow.