Back at home

Back at home....Mountains with trees,  Low clouds, rain, temperature mid 50's.  Its great to be home!

We were anxious to get home after being away for 3 months so today was a long one with a milage of 480 miles.  Did notice that in South Eastern Washington the rest area has not only rest rooms and a pet area but a place to take horses out of their trailers and give them a walk and water.

Great to be home among the trees, but while we were gone one tipped over and broke a kitchen window and left part of itself on the roof. 

Its been a wonderful trip with many memories and we had a great time.  Now to unpack and get back to enjoying our home again.

6 days at Lake Powell

We had six spectacular days on Lake Powell.  In summary there are lots of rocks.  But they are shaped in wonderful ways.  The day before and after we stayed at the campground at Wahweap transitioning between boating and road trip.  Today we are on the road again headed for home.  We are really missing our home after being away for 3 months.  Frances is the picture taker and we have lots, here are a few.

Rocks

Fran sewing a quilt while we cruise along.

 One of the canyons we went up.  There are lots of these to explore, most have only rocks with no place to anchor (all rock) but some have a small sandy beach to tie up to.

 

Entrance to a canyon, its often hard to tell where they are.

We are using the dingy to get to a big rock that we climbed.

 

 

 

At Lake Powell, rainbow bridge

After a four day road trip from San Antonio to Page Arizona we launched at Lake Powell on Monday morning.  On the road trip we stayed at RV parks whichs worked out pretty well.  Lake Powell is very spectacular. Deep and narrow canyons,  Previously on this trip we have been watching the depth with 12' being in the channel and less than three feet getting into trouble.  Here in the channel is >250' and because there is so much up and down anything less than 50' needs watching.  Weather is cooler but still pleasant, thunderstorms but we just get close to the cliff walls and only worry about the wind.

Tonight we can see Navahoe mountain so that we have cell coverage, mostly we are in deep canyons and can only see the near vertical cliff faces.

We have been in a couple of canyons where the depth is 200' but only 25' wide with twists and turns.

Frances is taking lots of pictures, mostly rocks.

Anchorage is nosing into a sandy beach, which are rare, and putting an anchor out on the beach and tying the other side to a rock.

Today at Rainbow bridge.

On the road again....in Fort Stockton Texas

We left San Antonio this morning and are staying tonight near Fort Stockston Texas about half way to El Paso.  Got the worst milage this trip (6.5mpg)  a 20-25MPH head wind, lots of ups and few downs and wide open road ( that encourages high speeds).  Speed limit on this road is 80MPH, yikes we don't go that fast.
Wind is still blowing and rocking the boat.  High wind also makes the air dusty and limits the visibility. 
They are building a big power transmission line along side the freeway and it is in various stages of construction, so instead of watching one tower get built we get to see a bunch and can see the progress of installing and rigging to pull the wires, its pretty interesting (for me anyway).
West Texas is very big and there is not much here so the freeway exits are a long way apart and a lot of them have no services.  We are having to use the next exit book to plan where to stop for gas to make sure we don't get on the 80 mile stretch with no services.
At the RV Park

Back in San Antonio

Back in San Antonio for a couple of days.  Last visits with Family and provisioning for road trip and Lake Powel.

Pink Birds, Port Mansfield

Yesterday we took out at Palacios in a 20 knot wind that made getting on the trailer somewhat difficult.  We drove to Port Mansfield where the guide book said the Marina had showers.  But wait,  their shower was on the outside wall of the restrooms and its 60F and a 20 knot wind!  We decided that a motel was in order.  Today we took a short tour of Laguna Madre and the Port Mansfield channel to the Gulf.  Unfortunately it was a poor day for sight seeing, moderate winds, but rain and limited visibility due to low clouds, and unseasonably cool temps in the 60's. 
Individualistic condos along the entrance to the Port Mansfield harbor.

Along the cut to the gulf are spoil islands made by the dredging of the cut.  One of these had large pink birds.  The only large pink birds in Texas are Roseate Spoonbills.  We would have gotten closer to confirm the sighting, but we noticed that there were Great Blue Herons standing in the water between us and the Spoonbills.  Standing in the water not up to their knees!

Birds and Snakes

We left the excellent marina in Matagorda and returned to Palacios.  First we went up the Colorado river for several miles.  Lots and lots of birds feeding in the shallows along the bank.  Also fish camps from delapidated trailers on poles to fancy houses.  In common, a floating dock and most has big lights to shine over the water to attract insects to attract fish. 

In a first for this trip we saw two snakes in the water.  First one we couldn't examine because we were getting out of the way of a Barge and Tug.  Second one is a diamond back water snake.

The forecast wind of 10-15 knots and slightly choppy in the bay forecast was off.  Winds of greater than 20 knots (confirmed by a tug captain) make it a very rough ride across tres palacios bay.  Tomorrow a road trip to Port Mansfield, Texas.

One of the big tugs comes into the marina for a while.

Bird on the moorings for tugs and barges.  These moorings are set out so the  barges can be rearranged and to wait out weather.

Birds along the river.

Diamond back water snake.  Very pretty colors and a good swimmer.