Wed, 11/2/2022
We made poor time traveling over the South Llano River State Park, but that wasn't really an issue. We just weren't in a hurry. Plus, we both were at the worst stage of our RSV symptoms and didn't feel like moving fast. We didn't leave until nearly 11:00, then we took a longer route south and then west because I didn't want to drive on the hilly little, two-lane road over to the gas stop at Comfort.
So we went down 281 and across to Boerne, which is an awfully trumped up tourist trap. Nice if you're into that sort of thing, but full of hill-country junk and German beer and such nonsense. I wouldn't go out of my way to go there--except possibly for the candy store.
After getting on I-10, it was predictably nice and even had an 80-mph speed limit for a while. We probably never got up to that speed because the hills out there are seriously long and slow. There's no way you can maintain speed in an old RV pulling a jeep, even our Massive Mammoth had to struggle. But it was an easy drive.
We topped off the gas tank at Junction--not a habit of ours, but we wanted to be ready to make good time when we headed back home after a few days. There we left the Interstate and headed down to the park. I'm not accurate in my notes as to when we arrived, because when I looked at my phone it said 1:30 and then when, parked at the campsite, I looked again, it said 1:48. So did it really take us 18 minutes to circle through the park and get to our campsite? It's not that long a circle, either--Molly and I just walked it in ten minutes--but then again, Ed was going five miles per hour. I kept having to take the Jeep out of gear, stop it and start it again in first gear to keep from passing him.
It's a really nice park, but sadly, full of the usual Texas a**holes. During my Molly walk, I passed by a man sitting outside his camper, just a few feet past the huge sign that said "This is a dark sky park. Please keep outdoor lighting to a minimum." He asked where I was camped and when I pointed to show him, he said, "be sure and keep a lookout for my flag when I turn it on!" I muttered, "oh. Sure." and went on, but I doubt if he heard the disgust in my voice.
I am very curious to know if the rangers might say something to him about it, especially if he leaves it on past ten p.m., which is when "peace and quiet" hours start.
Molly and I took a short walk and then returned to get her claws trimmed. After that we went out again, at around 5 o'clock to finish our walk. The trails that led to the "turkey roosting area" were all chained off with signs saying "open from 10am through 3pm", which is a polite way of saying, keep out at night.
So we stayed on the road and there we saw the biggest armadillo I've ever encountered. He was a monster beast. But he didn't see us, so on we went.
Then down the road to the day use area, we encountered white-winged doves, tons of them. All over the road. Shortly after they flew away (politely, so we could pass by), we saw a flock off turkey skulking in the underbrush off to one side of the road. I counted eight heads, but there could have been more.
When we finally headed toward home, we met another armadillo, which upset Molly unduly. This was a normal-sized one. But she really wanted to eat it. Poor puppy!
No comments:
Post a Comment