Who is Stephen F. Austin? and a change in plans!

Note: We're including some blogs from the month of April that were interrupted when we had to make a speedy trip to Oklahoma to help after Denisa's Mother's house burned. So we are catching up with "old blogs" while we are still helping out in Oklahoma.

We've been camping at Stephen F. Austin State Park for a couple days, so we probably should find out who this guy is. We don't have to go far, as a road-side park just a mile from the entrance to the park has a statue of Stephen F. Austin, surrounded by some nice bluebonnets.

It's a rainy morning, but we decided to take a bike ride to find out more answers. We found that Stephen F. Austin is known as the "Father of Texas" and the state capitol city of Austin is named after him. 

Stephen F. Austin was responsible for settling this part of North America that was part of Mexico in the 1820s. The first 300 families arrived in 1824 to start a new life near the Brazos River. He promised each family 177 acres for farming and 4,428 acres for ranching.

The Sam Felipe de Austin State Historic Site has a new museum that opened in 2018. We were disappointed to find that it was closed on Monday and Tuesday, the two days that we were visiting this area. But the state park office told us that the outdoor displays were open all the time, so we parked our bikes and took a walk through the outdoor buildings of Villa de Austin.

Built just last year, these replica structures were constructed on the land that Stephen F. Austin organized into the town of San Felipe de Austin.

Then he oversaw the surveying and paperwork needed to file the deeds for hundreds of settlers that came from all over North America to make this new area their home. We were impressed with the workmanship to fit the logs together, as they used building techniques from the 1830s in this new reconstruction display. A gutter made of a hollowed log guides rain water off the roof into a wooden barrel. It is important to gather and save every drop of moisture possible in this area of east Texas.

Villa de Austin included several houses, a hotel, a farmstead, a school, a courthouse, etc. It also included a period garden and new fruit trees that were blooming a pretty color of pink. We were enjoying our walk around the outdoor exhibits when the museum director showed up and asked us to leave because they were closed. It looks like we were given the wrong information from the state park office, because the outdoor displays are NOT available on the days they are closed after all.

Before we were asked to leave, we found out the end of the story on Stephen F. Austin's town. It thrived until shortly after the Battle of the Alamo. Then the colonists were in the path of the advancing Texan and Mexican forces during the early days of the Texas Revolution. To avoid having the Mexican army use their homes and property to their advantage, the colonists set their town on fire and escaped on March 29, 1836. The statue out front commemorates that night known as "The Runaway Scrape." 

Now that we feel we have a good answer to the question of, "Who is Stephen F. Austin?" it's time to head on down the road. We've done all the trails at his state park, and trespassed at his museum, so it's time to hit the road again. We have a three-hour drive to our next state park, so we are breaking up the trip by stopping in at another state park--Fort Boggy. At one time a fort was here, to protect early settlers in the 1830's. But now the only thing left for visitors to see is the small lake.

This small state park has a few trails, but no RV camping sites. So we decide to stop in for the 1.5-mile hike around the lake. Denisa is a sucker for a pretty wildflower picture on hikes like this.

That little wildflower was about the same size as the tiny turtle we found on the trail. 

We parked the motor home at the entry parking lot, and used our bikes to check out Fort Boggy State Park. After a steep ride up to the lake, it was a nice downhill ride back through the woods to where we were parked.

With the high price of diesel, we are hesitant to stay at campgrounds that require us to drive a long ways off our route. The next state park campground is about ten miles off the highway. But Fairfield Lake State Park got such good reviews that we decided to spend a couple days off the beaten path to explore it. We got parked into our nice cement pad in the Post Oak campground, and we were looking forward to exploring the trails.

This is also a great lake for kayaking and we were anxious to get out the kayak again. We can see the lake from our camp site. This is going to be another great Texas state park stay! But that's when we got THE phone call. Mark's brother called to let us know that a wild fire was heading straight towards Denisa's Mother's house. She made it out of the house safe, only because Mark's Mother called and woke her up from her afternoon nap. We called to make sure that Denisa's Mother was safe, and she was planning to spend the night at Mark's Mother's house. She didn't know if the fire was diverted around her house, or not. About the time the sun was setting over the lake, we got the second phone call that the house had burned to the ground. Now instead of planning for hiking and kayaking, we are researching the fastest route to get to the panhandle of Oklahoma to help Denisa's Mother through this traumatic event.

We started packing clothes and canceling the camping reservations that we had already made at the next state park. A month ago we had mapped out three more Texas state parks that we had planned to visit, but now we will have to drive right past all of them. It's a reminder to us that one morning you can be learning about Stephen F. Austin and stopping in at a park for a bike ride, and that evening you can get very bad news that changes your travel plans in a hurry.

Great Finds around Stephen F. Austin State Park

 Note: We're including some blogs from the month of April that were interrupted when we had to make a speedy trip to Oklahoma to help after Denisa's Mother's house burned. So we are catching up with "old blogs" while we are still helping out in Oklahoma.

We are moving 161 miles north today--more than usual for us on a travel day. So we often look for a place to stop half-way. Today's random stop along a random highway was at a wildlife viewing area. We pulled into the turnout (just big enough to make a motor-home-sized u-turn) and got out to stretch our legs. Denisa can walk around and stretch her legs inside the motor home any time, but that is not possible for the driver. Outside, we climbed into the observation tower, and immediately started seeing wildlife.

We could see two different alligators cruising this pond tucked between two pastures. One cruised right up to the barbed wire fence just to check us out. What a great find!

This little water refuge is a great place for birds to hang out, and we saw big white herons, as well as smaller cattle herons on the bank . . . 

and wildflowers on the ground. Mark does a great job of finding places to stop in the middle of long drives. His research has to include a place that has some interest to us, plus a big enough parking area to make a u-turn, and a smooth entrance and exit. Great find, Mark!

We had another stop today, but it wasn't nearly as fun. Mark also researches the best places to get diesel. Price is important, but he must also make sure that a large motor home towing a pickup can maneuver in and out of the station. That means that we often miss out on the cheapest fuel, as we often have to opt for the truck lanes at large travel plaza stations. They often charge a premium for diesel, but this one was a bargain today. Is it sad that we think it's a great find to get diesel for "only" $4.75 per gallon? With a 100-gallon tank, it would cost almost $500 for an entire tank. It is making us rethink our summer travel plans.

At the end of our 161-mile drive, we pulled into Stephen F. Austin State Park. We disconnected the pickup to get a rare picture of the motor home on the road without its toad.

This is a beautifully green state park, with trees draped in spanish moss. Our camping loop was made up of sites that run parallel with the loop road. Just like many other Texas state parks, this one is a great find!

After a long (for us) ride in the motor home, we were ready to stretch our legs on the park's trails.

The trails took us down to the Brazos River that flows through the state park.

It also took us to several geocache great finds. Behind the Amphitheatre, we found the "Amp it up" box.

The spring blue bonnets are at their peak bloom at the state park. Finding these beauties in the spring is one of Denisa's favorite great finds.

We also smell the distinct aroma of onion on the trails this evening. The wild onions are also at their peak now.

On our evening hike, we recognized that the trails are wide and reasonably level. So we got the bikes out the next day to ride the longer trails in the state park. While we found cottonwood trees on the cottonwood trail, we are glad to say that we did not find copperhead snakes on the copperhead trail.

Besides the moss-draped trees, we also found the white-barked sycamores on the sycamore trail. They almost made us feel like we were riding through a white-barked aspen grove.

The bikes are faster transportation to get to more geocache great finds. This one was named "When U Come to a 'T' in the Road." Can you see the geocache in plain view in the picture below?

It's drilled into an extra piece of wood that matches the wood from the bench. There's a round metal cache in the center of the block of wood in the picture below.

We like geocaches that teach us about our new surroundings. This one was named "4 Fathoms Under x4." It explains that a fathom is a unit of measure for water depth. One fathom equals 6 feet. So that means that where Denisa is standing was under 4 fathoms (24 feet) of water during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The "x4" suffix on the title refers to the fact that this spot has been 4 fathoms underwater four different times since 2017. Fathom that!

As a bonus, the geocache description also points out that the metal structures where we found the geocache were placed here decades ago to prevent erosion of the river bank during high water. 

It's another day of travel and exploring new-to-us places like Stephen F. Austin State Park where we are blessed to make great finds!

Port Aransas, Texas - some of our favorite things

 Note: We're including some blogs from the month of April that were interrupted when we had to make a speedy trip to Oklahoma to help after Denisa's Mother's house burned. So we are catching up with "old blogs" while we are still helping out in Oklahoma. 

Our last blog covered some of our favorite things in Rockport, Texas, and the ferry ride that connects that area to Port Aransas. Today we continue with our favorite things theme. After the ferry ride, our first stop on the Port Aransas side of the water is Roberts Point Park where we always find fishermen.

It's the best place to see marine life up close when they come out of the water on the end of a fishing line.

We especially enjoyed the water-side park today. The Port Aransas mayor candidates were campaigning in the park, including music and a hamburger cook-out. Even though they knew we weren't local voters, we enjoyed an unexpected free lunch in the park. We would encourage the voters of Port Aransas to consider Gregory Chittum for mayor! He knows how to cook up a good burger and lemonade, and that should be a great qualification for any public servant. With a full belly, we headed to our next favorite spot--the mile-long jetty at Port Aransas.

Getting to walk a mile straight over deeper and deeper ocean waters on this jetty has always given us good views of some of the local wildlife. While we saw some dolphins, the sea turtles stole the show today. They kept popping their heads out of the water, before they dove back under water.

We also got a view of this sea turtle with two large sea shells hitching a ride on his back.

This gull had grabbed a piece of shrimp from a fisherman that wasn't guarding his bait.

Just a few feet from us, the pelicans were catching their fish, rather than stealing them like the gulls. We watched as they scooped large bills filled with water . . .

that also included a fish. We could often see the fish flopping in that bag below the beak. Nice catch!

After a satisfying lunch, the pelicans would often hop up on the jetty to dry out.

We always see dolphins when we walk this long jetty. When we were about half way, we started smelling that something was terribly wrong. We walked quickly by this rotting dolphin carcass, and we noticed that no one was fishing on this section of the jetty.

The further we walked, the bigger were the waves hitting the jetty.

We made it all the way to the end, and got the picture of nothing but water surrounding us.

This mile-long-hike is not easy. It is made from large chunks of granite that are cracked and uneven and can be slippery when wet. We are so far away that we can barely see the beach where our pickup is parked.

Back on the beach, we were entertained by these shore birds with their black flat tops.

It's a weekend, and the beach was busy here in Port Aransas. But one of our favorite things is taking a beach stroll, so we started close to the wooden pier. This long pier was wiped out by the hurricane, so we are glad to see that it has been rebuilt.

We saw a few shells, but the most interesting thing on the beach were these tiny blue jellyfish.

Smaller than a dime, they reminded us of the blue man-of-war jellies we have seen on many beaches in the past. We're not sure if these sting like the man-of-war, because we didn't get close enough to touch it to our skin.

We walked close to a mile down the beach before we turned around to walk back. The huge wooden pier is barely visible in the picture below.

Our next favorite spot to visit is the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. It's a great place to watch the local birds, and we could see at least six different types in this picture.

Among the birds that hang out at this little refuge are the roseate spoonbills that seem to be almost commonplace to us now.

There is also a nice selection of handsome ducks that spend the winter here at Port Aransas.

A sign at the entrance of the boardwalk mentions the red-headed ducks that are less common.

That red head has a swipe of blue that makes for a favorite picture.

Denisa can't help but take a picture of the candy-corn-beak birds too.

Even though the bird experts at Goose Island explained that the white pelicans had all flown north, we are guessing this one didn't get the message. It is obvious that these are big birds when we pictured this guy beside the local cormorants.

Even though the birds are plentiful, the reason that most people take this boardwalk is to see the resident alligator. He was sitting just under the observation tower in perfect view when we arrived.

After this alligator spotting, we walked further down the boardwalk, where few people walk. In fact, we walked to the very end of the trail at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.

It was on this deserted part of the trail that Denisa strolled right past this clump of greenery without stopping.

But Mark has a good eye for spotting wildlife. He saw this tiny yellow lizard hanging on to one of those green leaves.

Before we left this refuge, we stopped one more time at the observation tower. The resident alligator had moved, and was heading to a less busy area.

He swam right beneath the boardwalk, and we got a close-up view of his face. Then he went further into the tall grass where he wouldn't be seen.

As we neared the parking area, we stopped for a picture. It is interesting that there is an opportunity to pose with a woman-eating-alligator at this birding center.

We've had a good day, revisiting one of our favorite coastal towns. We had beautiful weather and we feel like we got to wander some of God's wonders today as we explored some of our favorite things in Port Aransas, Texas.