Leaving Caprock Canyon

Sunday, May 11

I got up before dawn because I wanted to see the sunrise for one, our last day. And, incidentally, the only day you could see a sunrise--the previous day had morning clouds to the east and the sun took a while to rise out of them.

The dogs and I walked to the bathroom, where I (illegally) snuck Zack into the stall with me. If I'd left him outside he'd have yip-yip-yipped the whole campsite awake!  We got out before we were caught--only one person was in there, taking a very long shower with a radio on.

The sun rose as we were walking back to camp. Not spectacular, but gorgeous as usual.  We dawdled around awhile, birdwatching and celebrating my Mother's Day with marvelous gifts (the write-upside-down pen I'd wanted, a waterproof notebook, the book Mi Casa, Tu Casa, and a tortilla press!!!), then ate a quick breakfast.

The funny thing about bird watching at the campsite is that I kept thinking I was seeing something exciting--

Only to see another painted bunting. How weird a world can it be where the most vividly colored bird in North America is just "another stinking painted bunting"?  But I did see a Lazuli bunting--unmistakeable!  One up for me!









Then I tried an experiment I'd proposed the other day. If I started in our back yard and walked northward through the brush, I proposed I'd hit the canyon in a very short while.




And I did!  I followed the deer trail and soon found myself facing a canyon and a trail going down into it.  Luckily for all of us, the trail going down wasn't something a person could follow while wearing hiking sandals over socks, which is what I happened to have on my feet.  I turned and started back.


And soon realized I hadn't marked the deer trail very well.  I knew I was close to the campsites because I'd heard people clanking around just a few minutes before, but just then I could hear nothing but traffic on the road.  I headed a little too far toward the road noise and--












Ow!!!
In my hurry I'd stepped right into some Texas equivalent of the "jumping cholla" of the desert southwest.  This is a spiny plant whose segments break off and lodge into the fur of a passing creature. Or in my case, lodge into the socks and pant legs.  All I had to get them loose was a pair of binoculars and my bare hands.

Luckily the Texas variety wasn't round and all-over spiny, like the Arizona varieties. It had a spine-free handle at one end. I picked off at least six and most of them hurt like heck as they came out.

Walking more carefully, I soon was within sight of our neighbor's campsites. I'd gone too far to the west . Not wanting to walk up in a neighbor camper's backyard, I veered east and slunk in the grass and mesquite bushes back to our own.

All told, I wasn't out more than twenty minutes. But I'll never ever attempt such a feat with sandals on again!

Time to pack up and leave. So sad.

Bird Summary - * = first for me!
roadrunner
*burrowing owl
Bewick's wren
Mississippi Kites, lots
Cliff swallow, hundreds
painted bunting
*Lazuli bunting
sandpiper unk.
cardinal
*Bobwhite
Tern, probably Forster's

After a pretty quick hookup of the car at the visitor center, We left at 11:46. It was, of course, a gorgeous sunny day--not a cloud. Maybe a bit of Texas high haziness. So lovely a trip it was!

Return trip
Ten minute gas stop at Decator; we got 35.198 gallons.  Odometer at 37446 but since we didn't mark it down the previous time, the number is meaningless.
Arrived home at 5:06pm with trip odometer at 616.3 cumulative.  When we'd unhitched and parked it was 5:27. I think we're getting faster at the job.
So just to sanity check the previous numbers, that was a trip of 311.3 miles starting  11:46 ending 5:06 minus a 10 minute gas stop --310 minutes or 5.3 hours or 5:20. Average of 59 miles per hour. Not bad.
The google map time estimate must be off because we spent a lot of time stuck in traffic between Denton and McKinney.

NOTES:
1. Don't overestimate on the food. We took way, way too much.
2. When traveling west or returning from the west, consider routes that avoid US-380. There's a whole lot of businesses building up just east of Denton. Consider taking Sam Rayburn southwest to I-35 northwest--if the construction ever completes--or go up to Sherman and take US-82 west from there. Anything is better than stopping at a million traffic lights on a Sunday afternoon.
3. If you're going to take your wallet out of your purse and put it in your day backpack, then leave your purse at home, dummy.  Don't grab a near-empty purse off the counter and head out to get Whataburger for supper. Luckily I noticed the missing wallet before I got onto the highway.