Mammoth Rain-Eater

                         I need the seasons to live to the rhythm of rain and sun.
                                                                                      -Sophie Marceau

Thursday, 6 April 2019 --  Home to Purtis Creek State Park

We took 75 down to 190 east. When it met up with I-30, we took I-30 west back to the I-635 loop. Then US-175 south to Eustace, then FM-316 north to the park. Google told us to take a little "county road" over to the park, but that would be silly. Take our precious RV down little one-and-one-half lane road with no center stripe? And overhanging tree limbs. No!
1. Planned distance: 104 miles
2. Map time estimate: 1:41
3. Adjusted estimate: not done
4. Actual distance: 103.5 miles
5. Actual time:  1:58
6. One quick bathroom break on the (very broad) shoulder.
7. Average mph trip: 53
Bonus random statistic: time from arriving at gate until setup complete: 1:43. Nearly two hours!  Of course part of that was chatting with the park personnel.

Was the 190 East/I-30 West detour worth the extra miles? In my mind, yes. 190 is a new road, wide and clean; I-30 going west didn't have traffic, potholes or road construction; and we missed the glut of traffic through Garland. But we did have to pass through Mesquite--yuck.

Google showed a "little" road construction on US-175 just as it started, but I would by no account have called it little. It went on for miles, with narrow lanes and intermittent concrete walls on the right. With regular drizzle and occasional showers pelting the windshield. But it was bearable because there were no big trucks.

[Going to switch to present tense now since most of this was written at the time. If that annoys you, gentle reader, so be it.]

So here we are, camping in the rain. With thunder. With lightning. And likely to rain more tomorrow, although the chance diminishes through Monday and it should be clear on Tuesday. When, of course, we will return.



We have electricity, water, food in the fridge and plenty of shows recorded on DVR.  Loud, obnoxious shows but Ed is having a great time. And I'm doing what I do, fiddle fart around on the computer.

The only thing we don't have in abundance is Internet connectivity. I hope I live to be able to afford a data plan that lets me use my phone as a mobile hotspot. Even if I only get enough internet time to check the weather radar, it would be worth it. But an hour a day to read blogs and do research would be really nice.

The only worry I have is that it may not stop raining long enough to take the dogs for a walk with dry feet.  They've--and we've--already tracked enough wet feet in here.

Here are a couple of vultures drying off before their nightly roost.





So far I've seen two cardinals, a fairly large (30?) flock of unidentified birds flying north, and that vireo that i can never quite see--the one with a song that begins and ends with a chip!  Chip!  Vlurry-vlurry-vlur-chip!

Okay, I actually did see it--I went out in the off-and-on rain to be sure. There were two or three of the White-Eyed Vireos out foraging and singing at each other.  I got to watch one for a while--could see the white wing-bars, the yellow underneath, the heavy-ish vireo bill, and while the eye wasn't dark, I wasn't really close enough to see the color of the eye, plus it could have been a second-year bird.  And I made recordings of the song that clinch the ID.  It's a white-eyed. (And one of the most common birds around here.)

Nothing much to say about the rest of the day. We had instant noodles--doctored with added shrimp and vegetables, fish sauce and soy sauce--for supper, watched some comedy shows, and went to bed. This will be hereafter known as the "trip of the Impractical Jokers episodes." I don't know how much is real and how much is acting, but it's absurdly amusing. The sort of thing you don't want to laugh at, but you do.