Magnus Goes Caving, Finally! Day 4

Sat 15 March

Arrived at South Llano River State Park with a water leak. Ed had to spend hours working on it but he thinks it may be fixed or at least bearable until we get home.  That part was awful. The drive kind of sucked too, but it was only about two and a half hours on Google. We routed through Dripping Springs and then Fredericksburg, both of which were extremely crowded and trafficky (Saturday!!!). I chose that route over a smaller road that would have gotten us to interstate 10 faster, but that road was narrow and windy and probably two-laned. It turned out that highway 290 was two-laned in a few places, but mostly four.

The drive was exceptionally windy, too. Gusts about blew us off the road many times. Next day I found out that there was a huge grass fire near Fredericksburg--lucky we missed it.

While Ed worked on the leak, I paced around and talked to Edward on the phone for a really long time. I didn't feel comfortable going off and leaving Ed working alone, but I was really of no use to him and only served to get on his nerves. So I stayed outside.

South Llano River State Park is a lovely place but very, very crowded. The signage said the campground was full, but I didn't see that. If I were counting sites full/not full, I'd have put it at 75%. But it still seemed very crowded, and for reasons unremembered, I'd chosen one of the absolute worst sites in the campground.  Most of the really good ones were occupied, but there were at least two better ones than the one I chose.

But knowing what I know about myself, I know I would have reserved one of the better ones if they had been available, so I expect they were no-shows.  Or people who made a multiple day reservation and left early or will arrive late. I've done that myself, especially at campsites that require a 2-day reservation on weekends. But I don't think that's a rule at Texas State Parks. I could check but I probably won't.

Very, very windy.  Only at sundown did it die down.  Molly and I took a short walk down the Agarita Trail before supper, then a another short walk on the Turkey Rooast trail by the road at sundown. We went around the newly renovated welcome center and would have went on to the bird blind but there were two cars parked there and I saw no point in joining them.

Yesterday's birds:  Lark Sparrow, Lesser Goldfinch, and...Golden-Cheeked Warbler!!!!

Today's: Canyon Towhee, Vermilion Flycatcher at the camp site.  Merlin heard an Inca dove.

 Also two stinking armadillos, an axis deer, four whitetail or mule deer.