Before we retired, a friend sent me a list of "16 Surreal Places to Visit in the United States." After four years, we have visited ten of those places. Some are little-known wonders like Thor's Well in Oregon. Others we have heard about all our lives, like California's Sequoia National Park. Only one of the locations was in Texas, and it was time to check it off our list. So we headed toward Dripping Springs today. If you look very carefully, you can see Denisa sitting on a rock under the waterfall. She's that tiny green dot close to the right edge of the photo. That dot helps to understand the size of this surreal place.
Our search for "dripping springs" was a little more complicated than our list led us to believe. After doing a little research, we discovered the actual location was Hamilton's Pool, a few miles outside the town of Dripping Springs, Texas.
Administered by Travis County Parks Department, we also found that reservations are required most of the year to control the size of the crowds that show up. But in the middle of the week during the winter months, the $11 reservation fee is not required. But the $15 parking fee is required all year round. A quarter-mile walk led us beside Hamilton Creek.
An unusual turquoise color, the creek is lined with large old bald cypress trees.
But the star of the show is the waterfall at the end of the trail that is encircled by a collapsed grotto. A circular path rings the inside of the grotto, allowing us to take pictures from all angles.
We could even walk behind the falls.
That inviting pool is off-limits because of high bacterial count. That wasn't a problem for hikers in January, but we're guessing that would be very disappointing for hot hikers in July. It was truly a surreal place for a great hike. We can check off another location from our surreal list!
We found out that our Travis county parking pass allowed us entry into other county parks that usually charge admission. So we made the short drive to do some more hiking at Reimers Ranch. This is a family ranch that was sold to the county several years ago so the general public could enjoy the area's rock climbing and hiking.
The Pedernales River flows through the ranch, and the steep rock cliffs that surround parts of it would make a very scenic float on a warmer day.
We weren't the only ones on the trail this afternoon. We looked down to see a curious floating green line that was marching up the trail with us.
These industrious ants have cut grass blades and leaves into carry-able sizes, and were toting them back to their home in long lines.
We hiked from one end of the park to the other, and then back. We took the low trail next to the river, and then we climbed the steep terrain to return via the cliff trail. That would give us over six miles of steps today.
It feels so good to be back on the trail, wandering with some of God's tiny wonders (like ants) and discovering another of God's surreal wonders like Dripping Springs!
Man, it feels good to be on the road again! We are really enjoying our stay here at Pedernales Falls State Park! As we started down our first trail of the year, our hearts just felt right. It reminded us that we love traveling full-time, hiking in new and beautiful places on a regular basis! This was our first view of Pedernales Falls from our first hiking trail in a while.
Of course we wouldn't be satisfied with that view from afar. So we headed down to the rocky river bed for closer views of the falls that string along this section of the Pedernales River.
Parts of this hike involved jumping over water to get to the next rocky outcrop. Denisa caught Mark in mid-air as he made this jump.
Visitors aren't allowed in the water of this three-mile section of the river because of the turbulent water. We thought that might be a new rule, but the ranger said it had been in place since the 1970's.
With temperatures 15 degrees warmer than usual for January, the water did look inviting even in the winter. But we were content to stay high and dry today. Mark caught Denisa jumping over another rivulet in the left side of the picture below.
It sure feels good to be back on the road, wandering God's wonders again!
We love the Texas state park system--especially this time of the year when it's easy to get a camping site on the spur of the moment at great places like Pedernales Falls! As we continue to show pictures of our rock scrambling along the river, we have to brag on this state park system. After traveling all over the country, Texas is one of our favorite states because of its awesome park system here.
They charge a daily entrance fee at their parks, and normally we wouldn't like that. But we buy the annual state park pass every year, so we don't have to pay that daily rate. At $70 per year, we always get our money's worth out of the pass.
In addition to free passage into all 90 state parks, it also gives us half-price camping on the second night on four different stops during the year. Texas is a big state, so anyone driving through the state will definitely get their money's worth from buying that annual pass if they like state parks.
We pause for a moment, to point out that Pedernales Falls state park also has a nice bird blind. We enjoyed sitting and watching the birds come in to feed and drink one evening.
This is definitely cardinal country, as we saw many of these signature red birds (and their not so brightly-colored females) around the feeders.
We also saw woodpeckers and a titmouse. But while we scatter pictures of birds (and other critters) that we took in the park, we should continue our dialogue about changes that we just found out about in the Texas state park system. Starting in February, things are going to change.
Presently, campers make reservations for a specific date, and are guaranteed a camp site in the park. But they don't have any idea what site will be available when they actually pull into the park. This is great for full-timers like us that show up during the week and get our choice of great camp sites where we can stay through the busier weekend. But starting February 2019, the reservation system will work like the national reserve America (and most other state park systems). Campers will reserve a specific site.
This will make it trickier for wanderers like us that seldom reserve, and much prefer to just show up. Another change is that the annual pass will now give unlimited half-price second nights--rather than limiting it to only four.
So the changes mean good news and bad news for us. But we will continue to buy Texas's annual state park pass, as we have really enjoyed their parks for the last four years. As we wander south for the winter, and then back north each year, there's a lot of Texas real estate to cover. This state has some of the best run state parks we have found in the country!
Things change, but one thing has remained the same for us--it sure feels good to be wandering God's wonders and enjoying the birds and rivers that call this part of Texas home!
It's hard to believe, but we are starting our fifth year of traveling around the country in our motor home and wandering His wonders! We have traveled from coast to coast and north to south in this big beautiful country, so we are obviously experienced RV travelers. But for some reason, we are making mistakes like a couple of newbies!
On our second day on the road, we drove three hours to get to Abilene, Texas to visit our niece and nephew. This is when we made newbie mistake #1. We forgot to take a picture of them! So just imagine a picture inserted here of a cute couple standing in front of their lovely country home--that's Jennifer and James.
Later, we realized that the only picture taken was of Denisa trying her hand at axe-throwing. They have a target set up in one of their barns, and Denisa soon found out she was no good at this new sport. For her to attempt to throw a sharp object should be counted as mistake #2.
Each time, as soon as she let go of the axe, she automatically ran to the side to take cover. That's evidence that she wasn't very accurate, when her instincts were to run for safety as soon as the axe left her hand.
We were so excited to visit with Jennifer and James and family, that when we first arrived we just jumped out of the motor home and went into their house. We had a great day with family, and it wasn't until night-fall that Mark remembered mistake #3. We had never put the tow car into park and pulled the key. So all day long, the car was sitting in the drive-way in the accessories key position, running down the battery. We were lucky that it started the next morning when it was time to leave.
We had a great time at their house, and we're already looking forward to the next time we have reason to stop by Abilene, Texas. But they needed to get to work, and we needed to get down the road, so we headed south. That's when we discovered mistake #4. Mark always maps out our route before we drive in the motor home. He looks for low over-passes and checks google maps to be sure the roads look safe for the motor home. But our mistake #4 was driving off that morning without doing any of that pre-planning of our route. We were just glad that the lowest clearance bridge was 14 feet (instead of 13), and that Ranch Road 962 on our path was paved and reasonably wide.
We stopped in the little town of Brady, Texas, to get our annual Texas safety inspection completed. That's a necessary step that must be done before we can get our Texas vehicle tags renewed. The staff at Auto Techs was very friendly and efficient, and we would recommend them. But that's where we made mistake #5. Part of the safety inspection is making sure that all the blinkers, horns, wipers, and lights work. When Mark turned on the car lights for the inspection, he forgot to turn them off. So as we towed the car the rest of the three hour trip, they continued to drain the already weakened battery. When we arrived at our destination at Pedernales Falls State Park, we were taking pictures of the views across Texas hill country.
But when we unhooked the car to drive to our new campsite, the car wouldn't start. Mistake #5 would mean that one of the local park rangers had to give us a jump start so we could drive to our camp site. He would have never guessed that we had been RVing full-time for four years!
So, even though we have been making mistakes like a couple of newbies, our day actually ended fine. We realize that after being off the road for two months, our full-time travel skills are just a little rusty.
When we got back to the Oklahoma panhandle after our ski trip, we were greeted with beautiful weather. That was good news for all those trips out to the motor home, carrying back all the stuff we had unloaded two months ago. We had parked the motor home here in November!
Our strategy to avoid attracting mice during this storage time was to remove every bit of food. We had also scattered dryer sheets around, plugged in electronic mice repellent, and bought two different peppermint scented mice-be-gone products. It might have also helped that the new ranch dog patrolled the area on a regular basis. If we thought she was responsible for keeping the mice away, it would be easier to forgive her for chewing up our tow bar cover . . . and our sewer connector . . . Denisa's bike pedal . . . In the picture below she is trying to figure out how she could chew up the bird feeders.
We got some good exercise reloading things like the piano keyboard, our clothes, the books, the shoes, and all our food. When we were finally packed and ready to go, then the weather delayed us a couple days. It was clear in the Oklahoma panhandle, but the Texas panhandle got bombarded with six inches of snow.
We had to wait for the roads to clear before we could take off. But we finally hit the road again--exactly two months after we parked the motor home at the ranch in November. Now we're on the road again, heading south to get away from this white stuff!
Just a few miles down the road, we crossed the Texas state line. If you look carefully, there are six different oil well pump jacks in the background of that picture. Welcome to the state of Texas, full of cowboys and oil wells!
As we drove through the Texas panhandle, we were glad to see that the highways had been cleared. With temperatures in the 60s in the forecast, this snow won't last long.
We were on the road for three hours before we stopped for the evening at the Pioneer County Park along the shores of the Salt Fork of the Red River. We got some exercise walking around the park and down to the water.
The entry of the campground also houses a state rest area. Denisa learned a lot about our new home-town of Wellington, Texas from reading the information at the rest area. For example, the most famous crime in this area happened in 1934 when Bonnie and Clyde missed the detour sign and plunged off the end of the bridge being constructed at the time. Their car ended up in the river pictured above, and they shot up the local family and the police that came to help them . . . That 1934 bridge has now been replaced, but the kiosk pictured below uses some of its metal supports. . .We are in a Collingsworth County campground, accidentally misspelled with an extra "g" on the official papers in 1876 that intended it be named after James Collinsworth. . . This area was bought by a family from England, who used terms like "cow servants" instead of "cowboys" and misspelled words like "ranche" and named the nearest town "Wellington" after an English aristocrat. . . So much local information to learn!
While Denisa was learning local history, Mark was hard at work. Looking at the forecast ahead of us, we should be able to stay out of freezing temperatures as we drive south. So Mark took advantage of the beautiful afternoon to de-winterize the motor home. He flushed all that pink anti-freeze out of the water lines and Denisa is pretty excited about having running water in her home again.
We love learning about new areas and getting some good exercise on a pretty day. It feels really good to be back in our home and on the road again, wandering His wonders!
After three days in the mountains, we celebrated New Year's Eve with a crazy bunch of people we love!
Even though we were in the middle of the Mountain Time Zone, we decided to celebrate the Eastern Time Zone new year's and then go straight to bed.
After all, we all had to get up early the next morning. From our balcony, we could watch Copper Mountain's New Year's Eve firework show that started at 10 p.m.
But then we decided to play another round of games. Before we knew it, it was midnight in the Central Time Zone. So we welcomed in the new year for the part of the country where all of us usually reside.
We were having too much fun, and an hour later we finally all agreed that we really had to go to bed RIGHT AFTER we celebrated the Mountain Time Zone's new year. We took this family picture, all of us wearing our "Hello 2019" hats.
We were getting a little silly as the night got later. This karate version of the family picture shows that it is definitely time for bed!
Staying up until midnight, we only got six hours of sleep before our alarms went off the next morning. We were on the road early, when the thermometer on the car read -1 degrees. We've never seen a negative number on the car's temperature gauge before, and we can't say that we ever want to see it again. But the mountains around us were beautiful with their covering of snow.
Between Copper Mountain's 10,000-feet elevation and the mile-high city of Denver (5,280 feet) the first part of our trip today was downhill. We would have had more change in elevation if we had to go over that mountain in front of us.
But instead, we drove right through that mountain. This is the opening to the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel along I-70. At a little more than 11,000 feet in elevation, it's the highest vehicular tunnel in the world. We cruised right under the Continental Divide in this tunnel that continued for 1.7 miles through that mountain.
The biggest obstacle on our drive homeward was visibility. Our windshield washer fluid was completely frozen up. That means that there was no way to wipe off the snowy road grime that passing cars were throwing on our windshield. The grime would freeze, making it almost impossible to see.
We stopped at a gas station, already filled with other travelers with the same problem. They have a large display of windshield wiper fluid outside, so this must be a common occurrence. We were glad when we got off of the wet roads that continued through Denver. We were even gladder that the icy roads through Kansas have now melted. It was a 7.5-hour trip back to the Oklahoma panhandle on New Year's Day. But we are glad to announce that our group of eleven people had no ski injuries, sickness, and no travel problems. That's a great beginning to the new year! It will take us a couple days to do laundry and repack everything back into the motor home so we can be back on the road again. But for now, we wish you a happy new year, and pray that 2019 will bring you all happy trails.
