A Wonderful Trip Suddenly Takes a Very Ugly Turn

Okay.  I just know that nobody is going to believe this!  But, what is to follow is the absolute truth - unadulterated - unembellished and so scarey it will make your blood run cold!  We began catching a whiff of trouble on last night's news...national news carrying word of really bad weather heading into California...national news...bad weather.  We decided first thing this morning to pack it up and try to beat the storm --- that may well have been MISTAKE #1.  We were quick to recognize the mistake when we noticed snow on all the peaks around the Palm Springs area -- beautiful, but not a good sign.  MISTAKE #2 may have been when we decided we would muscle through it anyway.  I'll give you an indicator of the what we were literally up against in the following videos:

WE ARE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE, TOTO!

HOLY CRAP! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DRIVE IN THAT!?

Okay.  So I ask you, what would YOU have done??

Well, you're probably reading to figure out what WE did so in the spirit of full disclosure I will rat out the driver!  He pushed on through the gale-force winds of the San Bernadino Valley which may have been only slightly less frightening that than driver's of said valley.  In fact Barry became so vocal and retalitory to them that I was forced to yell along with him at these idiots!  We on several occasions seriously considered deploying the air horn.

It became abundantly clear that we were not going to make much distance with snow expected on the Grapevine we decided to check back in at Valencia Travel Resort -- better than the name would make it sound and practically the Taj Mahal compared to the place we landed when THE DRIVER missed the turn-off.  (Yep, it's true, Barry made a mistake - a doozie in fact when you consider what almost befell us next - and yes this is being written very, very tiny because he didn't bring his "good' glasses or his magnifying glass so I'm safe as long as none of you blab...)

There was only one purple dot in our camping map book and with great expectations we drove the mile down the dead-end road in Gorman on the Gapevine - mostly because by now Barry had declared, "I'm not driving back 20 miles to Valencia.  I'll stay in a rest stop if I have to!" (I swear it.  It's true.  Every word.)

We pulled into the nearly abandoned Pyramid Lake RV Resort - you gotta watch those "RV Resort" designations... I have to tell you, in total horrified honestly that I was terrified from the moment we pulled up to the gate.  My mind danced with visions of CSI episodes or Anthony Perkins in Psycho.  Not kidding -- I began to believe Barry wasn't EVER coming back when the door to the "office" burst open and Barry came scuttling out followed by a small older Asian woman in a very large, puffy parka.  Barry's mouth was twitching like his lips were beset with St. Vitas dance and that's always a sure sign that trouble is brewing.  She keyed us through the gate, enthused, much too enthused if you ask me at having "customers" and making me more certain than ever that a homocidal conspiracy was in the wind.  You think I joke but take a look for yourselves:



There didn't appear to be anything living in this place...




I'm not sure this really communicates the ominous feel of the place...

 I'd sort of laughed at Barry for bringing his giant Roger Rabbit gun on this trip but believe you me I was grateful to have it while he was outside hooking up the rig to electrical outlets that appeared so decrepit I was pretty sure he'd fry when he touched plug to outlet.  You'll note that I kept safely secreted inside the rig while he braved more than just the elements:

Yes, this is the LOCKED position!

Now I'm sure you're wondering why we felt we could go no farther - well you just have to look at the Cal Trans/DOT site to note that they had traveler advisories up throughout central California on I-5 due to extremely high winds - no RV's or permitted loads advised.  Well, we're not COMPLETELY stupid. We did that once already. 
Barry reentered the rig while I was filming the video that follows and gave me The Look. (Of course, I was NOT the one that missed the exit....)  but being the genorous and loving spouse that I am I immediately offered to soldier on down the hill in search of a better site.  This offer drove Barry immediatly to the Woodall's Book which listed Pyramid Lake RV Resort as a 4-W outstanding choice.  The ratings must have occurred somewhere in the last century!  I asked Barry if he was going to attempt to get our $36 rental fee back and he said, "Are you crazy! I'm just going to ram the gate and get the hell out of here before the Deliverance brothers show up!" So while I sat shotgun (literally) he raced around unplugged, unhitched, fired up and we literally fled for our very lives!  Closest I've ever been to a real live horror movie.

Deliverance: The Sequel Starring: The Tourbus Adventurerers

Just a note, by the way,  repeated texts to our much beloved children brought not even an inquiry except for our much heralded first-born who texted back to lay claim to the rights of the slasher movie that was sure to  be made by Hollywood.  He didn't claim the house because he knows Bud always beats him to that.  What the girls were doing is beyond me.  We are okay now, though.  Sitting in Bakersfield (and, yes, that IS an improvement - a big one) watching the weather and praying we get home tomorrow without further incident.

DATELINE: Ft. Stockton, TX Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Well, we're on the road again - homebound this time.  And in a miracle most would have ruled impossible - I drove!!! Not kidding.  Barry was hooking up, I was pulling in the sides and jacks and he told me to go ahead and "start her up!"  So, being the obedient and obliging spouse that I am - I did!Not only that I drove it right on out of there! Now mind you Barry didn't ever even sit down - yeah, I agree, not very trusting.  He stood right beside my chair but I did it! 

Reenactment of Actual Events

IN THE INTEREST OF FULL DISCLOSURE, I WILL ADMIT THAT I WAS ONLY ALLOWED TO DRIVE THE 200 YARDS TO THE MAIN ROAD.....Still....I've achieved the status of DRIVER!

DATELINE: South Texas Birding Adventures Continued...

While still eluded by the Buntings and Green Kingfisher, we've had quite a day!  Probably put on over 5 miles on the Jacarundi Trail at Santa Ana (yes, the place of last night's death march) and still didn't see either bird but did have a pretty great time with the Armadillo!!  Seeing a an armadillo in Texas is no big deal as long as you don't care if it's dead!  I mean it!  These suckers have some kind of death wish or Lemming-like tendencies because you seem them dead everywhere.  It was my specific wish to see a LIVE armadillo and sure enough just as we were pulling in to the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge there was one at the edge of parking lot just waiting to dash out into traffic and his impending death:



YEP, a little scared...me, not the armadillo

Here are pictures of the forced march - beautiful scenery - virtually no birds but armadilli everywhere:

While we got our exercise out on the trails of Santa Ana we got our birding fix this morning at two 'hole in the wall' places in Weslaco, TX.  No offense or anything but Weslaco is a bit of a 'hole in the wall' itself.  One of the big items on last night's news cast was a the rating of area eateries for health violations.  Barry about laughed himself silly -- it was pretty disturbing -- but I digress.  This mornings birding began at the Frontera Audubon Thicket.  Not much to look out from the outside - the first time we checked it out two days ago there was even a dead cat in the driveway, but it turned out to be just a fabulous warren of trails, boardwalks, and feeding stations that had a really excellent variety of species. 
 We sat for a very long time just getting such a kick out of huge flock of Chacalaca at the feeding station.  I'm going to try to include the video Wick took of these dinosaur-like guys mobing the feeders.

Chachalaca Feeding Frenzy

Now after seeing the Chachalaca at the feeders tune in to see Beth in action!  The boy Chachalaca's in particular seemed to be quite attracted to the call!  They fanned their tail feather's and got all up in it!

Chachalaca Whisperer

Okay, the next place we went was the Valley Nature Center, in a city park in Weslaco, TX.  Honestly, we were a little afraid to go in.  Looked like thugs hanging around a derelict building in this run-down area of town - well okay, it was all kind of run down but you get it, right?  Anyway, this little Nature Center was FABULOUS!  Incredible little displays sort of like the Alexander Lindsey museum at home. Once you walked out onto the trail you were literally surrounded by the most amazing numbers of birds.  We got particularly good views of the Great Kiskidee but the real "show" was the mating calls of the Chachalaca.  Unlike other places they were very secretive.  Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say they were "MODEST."  I only thought I knew how to talk to these birds - you gotta hear this to even believe it! Wow.  Nothing to see in the next video - apparently they were all behind closed doors - but, holy cow! They were noisily engaged.....

Wait! What? That's What a Mating Chachalaca Sounds Like?

Off to Brownsville and the Sabal Palm Grove tomorrow for our last shot at an Ocelot. 

Dateline: BIRTHDAY DAY! HOORAY!

Around 7 this morning we were awakened from a sound sleep in our comfie motorhome bed by a literal riot of bird noise.  We all came bailing out of our rigs and rushing around the campground, initially in robes, only to discover the much-coveted sighting of Red-crowned Parrots had come to us!  What a 'Happy Birthday to Me' start to my day!  They were top of the list of things we wanted to find and they were rocketing around the campground like they had been specially ordered!  So cool.  After we recovered sufficiently to get organized we headed out for the World Birding Center at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.  We weren't 5 minutes into the park before our loving and devoted son, Scott, called to announce that we were headed toward the Rio Grande and were advised to 'not be stupid!!' In fact he may have even said, "Turn back you idiots or I won't be able to help you!"  There may have been an additional discussion of who was to get the house should we be abducted by the cartels..I can't be sure given the next set of events.

We entered Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park, took a little tram ride around the birding sites and immediately charged back to the concessionaire to rent bikes - yep - bikes - yep....Barry on a bike.  I know you can all picture me on a bike but, really?  Barry on a bike??  We were in Texas though so no helmets were required.  So, I guess it was still reasonably cool -- well, you all be the judge:

Barry and Beth - Look Who's Thrilled...



Wick & Gwen

I cannot possibly emphasize enough how great a place this was.  No one fell off their bikes, no pants cuffs were caught in chains, nobody was run down in the tour...this was a perfect day and boy, by howdy did we see birds!!

I'm going to give a partial list, a couple of pictures taken in a genuine photo blind and, wait for it....what was termed a "Lifetime Sighting" description!!!

First time sightings for us included: Altamira Oriole, Great Kiskadee, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Black-crested Titmouse, Vermillion Flycatcher, Green Jays, Clay-Colored Thrush, Chachalaca, Cardinals, and Pyrrhuloxia.  These are all beautfiul birds - I mean it! Beautiful!  Look 'em up!  You'll be amazed! The most amazing thing of all though was getting to sight a very, very rare Black-Vented Oriole....I mean it!  Incredible!  We and everyone else we could find to tell was very impressed!!  We are still being eluded by the Green Kingfisher and the Indigo Bunting but we will soldier on tomorrow.

Black-Crested Titmouse and (below) Green Jay and Redwing Blackbird

Well, the day wasn't over and it WAS my birthday so we made our very hot and sweaty way back toward the Rio Grande to see if we could catch the Santa Ana World Birding site before closing...that may have been a part of the problem...We scooted in about an hour before sunset thinking we'd just look around and get the lay of the land for tomorrow's itinerary....It was beautiful too...

I mean did you have any idea that Texas had swamps like this?  I can only say that we were lured out onto the trail with the waning daylight.  Yes....we had read the sign stating that the park closed at dusk.  Yes...we had seen the locking gate as we entered.  But, and for of those of you who know her, you'll be amazed, Gwen led us out on this tiny little misadventure.  We had read that Santa Ana contained our best shot at sighting an Ocelot (YES! An Ocelot!) and that our best shot was on the Jacarandi Trail at dusk-ish times, so...off we went.  After what seemed like miles everybody stopped to peruse the sign (yeah, okay, maybe should have done that first).

It's How Much Further??!!??

Oh boy!  Barry went into instant doom and gloom mode.  We then had a forced march ala Bataan out of that place.  I'm not kidding here...I have the blisters to prove it!  Might have helped had I worn something other than sandals today but...who knew I would be escorted at virtual gunpoint out of the joint.  We saw lots and lots of poop, which I wanted to photograph for the blog but nobody was waiting for me and I was already the last man in the line and thus the target of any hungry Ocelot's who happened to be waiting in the brush - so no poop pictures.

More adventures to report tomorrow.  Thanks to one and all who called, texted, sang, and emailed.  I had a really wonderful birthday.

For my Mommy's birthday, I thought I would upload the spy satellite image of her campground in order to give her a hint as to my methods of knowing exactly where she is camped. I had to reduce the image quality as part of my agreement with the NSA, so I apologize in advanced. I was just notified by my "contacts" that she was less than 1 mile away from the Mexico border today and when I called to warn her she dismissed me with what can only be described as complete disregard for her safety saying, "We have to find a yellow beaked glassy eyed drunken purple marmaduke harlot winged sap sucker." Or at least something like that. For all the times she complained about Grandma Tic's complete disregard for her own safety there sure seems to be a lot of it coming back around this trip.

Happy Birthday Mommy. Sorry I can't be there with bright yellow shirts to give you everything you ever wanted and more. Please try not to get kidnapped. None of us can afford the ransom and seeing as you took the only thing of value the family has, yes the giant tour bus, you'll likely be stuck in Mexico for sometime. Try some of that reverse psychology stuff on them, maybe they'll give up and let you go for their own safety.

Yep the loving son has hijacked the blog again.

Dateline: Birder Heaven South Padre Island, Texas

We poked the GPS to ensure our safe retrieval should we fall prey to bandits and headed out in search of several first species for each of us.  Our first stop was at the World Bird Center on South Padre Island.  We actually had four stops on our day's itinerary and only managed two so you should get a pretty clear picture of how much there was to see.  It is a new facility and had what seemed like miles of boardwalks out over the tidal mudflats.  In addition to several new shorebird species we saw turtles and bought a lovely watercolor print of a stylized hummingbird!  Happy Birthday to me!

Because David Thomason said bad things we were unable to download Wick's pictures to my HP laptop so you'll just have to look at these from the internet to see our favorite finds of this location:

 

L to R and top to bottom they are the Roseate Spoonbill, Black Skimmer, Couches Kingbird and, my favorite, the Little Blue Heron, and yes, he was THAT blue.

We then ran over to Laguna Atascosa Refuge and saw a whole batch of Green Jays, Plain Chachaca, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and even a Black-throated Warbler (RARE!!) We drove around and around but the Ocelots eluded us...

 Green Jay, Plain Chacalac (about 2' long) and the Caracara.
 

Of course the day couldn't be complete without a stop at Amazing Bobz - easily the cheesiest souvenir shop I've ever, and I mean EVER saw!  The interior was fabulous with lots of stuff we were pretty sure is illegal to possess but it was the outside that held the most appeal for me.  If you are looking for a place to spend your summer vacation dollars,  I vote for a trip to Amazing Bobz in Los Fresnos, TX.  You might want to check out staying at the "Holiday Out RV Park" which will only cost you $20 a night.  The stuff in the Amazing Bobz parking lot was free - all in all an incredible value!

 

 
You gotta admit - this place looks fun, fun, fun! Do you notice the patient looks on Barry, Wick and Gwen's faces??

Dateline: Mercedes, TX

Just a quick post to let anybody tuning in know that we are headed out birding this morning.  We spent the night in a 5-Star gated resort here in Mercedes, Texas.  As Scott pointed out while perusing our GPS tracking device, we are only one little click from the Mexican border.  We are righton the Rio Grande.  I will be clipping the GPS to my belt today so if it goes much further south send help!  Apparently there is all kinds of trouble here with kidnappings and hijackings and stuff...the father is considering carrying his Roger Rabbit gun! We are looking for Green Jays, parrots, Summer Tanagers, Ocelot, and Painted Buntings.  I have to see at least those species or risk devastating disappointment....none of us want that I know.

On the Road Again, We're Back on Tour!

Dateline: Fort Stockton, TX

The open road beckoned, the house was entirely too big and we have hit the road!  In four days we've traveled several hundred miles, frozen our water pipes in the rig, broken the entry step and soaked in several hot tubs.  We've moved so much I feel like I spent hours on a carnival ride but so far I've not been abandoned at a roadside rest stop and there have been no threats of diminished rider status.  It might just be because I have him beaten. 

In a stunning militaristic coup, I purchased a geo tracking device for Barry's Christmas that can be clipped to my person.  It is registered on the internet with the email addresses of all the children.  It knows down to a 5 meter area exactly where it is at all times.  At the first sign of trouble I can clip it to my belt loop and be rescued no matter how deep he buries me.  It seems to be working just fine.  I'm not entirely sure my daughters would come get me but Scott (probably due to the lovely birthday celebration he just experienced) calls if the device sits in one place longer than anticipated.

We meet up with Wick and Gwen tomorrow in San Antonio and then it will be off to see the Green Jays, Whooping Cranes and Ocelots.  I am determined to see all of the above and there will be loud complaints should I be deprived of these sightings.  Tonight we are camping - well not really camping - but still....in 29 degree weather in Fort Stockton.  Let's just say it isn't the scenic wonder of the south....

Let us hear from you.  We love having you along as we travel.  Just register with a google account and you can post to the site and leave your comments.  I will warn you that I have veto power and will block anyone suggesting ways for Barry to get even.

Happy 40th Birthday Scotty!

Although this post may get me in a little trouble, I can't help myself!  Check out these pictures!  When have you seen a happier group on the face of the planet??!! Well, maybe not Scott - he kinda of looks a little constipated or maybe disgusted or maybe just embarrassed but what the heck, the rest of us were having a grand old time!

We all headed to Disneyland to surprise Scott on the occasion of his Big 40! The actual truth was that he whined and complained so long and loud about my plan to be out of town for his birthday that I had to rearrange all travel reservations for the month!  You have to understand that although my children were treated regularly to Disney trips despite our poverty as a young family, Scotty was never, ever content to just go to Disneyland - no - he always wanted a balloon, an all-day sucker, a pair of ears, a battery operated whatever and even an invisible dog - I'm telling you it was endless!  Some of our loyal readers have by now guessed that, yes, on this most prestigious of all birthdays our little Scotty was showered with every desire of his deprived little heart. 

I have two favorite stories that come out of this day.  Perhaps my number one favorite moment was the woman who upon encountering us all in line for the Buzz Light Year attraction, lets her eyes wander across all our shirts and smiling faces.  She then begins to search the area nearer the ground looking for the birthday boy...she searches and searches...finally her eyes light on Scotty's size 12's and begin the slow traverse up his entire 6' frame until they alight on his school-bus yellow search which declares "SCOTTY"  
With that she becomes completely hysterical, announcing for all bystanders, "I thought it was a child!"  Yep, hilarious.  We trapsed around both parks with incessant shout-outs from every employee and multiple 20 to 30 something males yelling, "Yo, SCOTTY, Happy Birthday!"  He, of course, loved it and each and every time, after careful consideration the rest of us would agree, "Yep! Still funny!"

My second most favorite moment was after Scott began carrying his giant wiener dog, Dwight, which was won in California Adventure for an investment of a mere $30 worth of baseballs and the compassionate pity of the cast member who provided assistance to the lame throwing process of the gentlemen of our party.  At any rate, we are standing in line at Midway Mania and Scotty is thoroughly enjoying the entertainment value of his new best friend, Dwight - Dwight is being made to sniff intrusively at others in line, star impolitely at nearby families and even life his stuffed leg against a pole.  I'm barely hanging on to my dignity when I look up and make eye contact with another woman about my age standing ahead of us in line and taking it all in.  Thinking I've found an ally, I give her an eye roll and am met by her commentary, "Well...it IS his day, you know!"

Sigh....I do think he had a good time and we know it was "ALL ABOUT SCOTTY!"

Happy Birthday Scotty!