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.

Port Oconner to Matagorda

Today we left our dreadful anchorage early and proceeded on the GICW to Matagorda which has the nicest marina we have seen in Louisiana or Texas.  The overnight anchorage was just off the GICW and the tugs came and went all night.  Today I didn't carefully read the guide books and took the old GICW on the chart instead of the new route across Matagorda bay.  The old route has silted in and is shallow in a couple of places.  Because our draft is small we were are to continue by slowing down in the shallow spots.  This also let us watch the parade of Tugs and barges parallel our path.  We joined into the parade behind a 7.8 Knot tug and in front of a 5 knot tug. 

A pod of 4-5 Dolphins escorted us as we started this morning.

Drill rig and paralleling tugs/barge.

more tugs and barges.

San Antonio Bay

We went from Matagorda bay to San Antonio bay.  Lots of very shallow bays here.  I cut the corner too close and we got stuck on a sand bar.  Helpful fisherman pulled us off after I tried using the push pole.  Then we anchored and dingyed to a aptly named shell bar.  This is like a sand bar but made up entirely of shells.  I found a partial Pelican skeleton that I am bringing back to my brother who has skeletons in his front yard. 
A pair of Dolphins swam along side the boat for 5 minutes, Frances was able to get some pictures.

Tonight we are in a dreadful spot.  Anchored right next to the GICW.  What I thought would be a good spot was too shallow and it was too late to get another.

Matagorda Bay

We left the marina at Palacios this morning and went across Tres Palacios bay and Matagorda bay.  These are shallow (to 10') bays and the SE wind kicked up a small chop.  We entered the GICW at Port Oconner but then turned out and made out way to Matagorda Island.  This island is now a Wildlife management area.  It used to be a park but now has no ranger, no water, no bathrooms, but it does have dock space for 10 boats.  In WW2 was used as a training airfield ( for the army I think) and bombing range.  We are the only ones here tonight.  Several Flats boats came by this afternoon.

Lots of drill platforms in the water.  this is a larger one, most are a platform with a single well head and pipes.  Expand this one and look behind the platform there is a forest of them in some areas.

 This is a big one, can't tell if any people are on it but it is bright at night.  when we were far away it looked like a junk pile.

What happens to an concrete airfield when its abandoned for 30-40 years.  Fran is standing on asphalt pavement, look to her left for a concrete pavement, its plants in a rectangular grid where the expansion joints are.

All by ourself at Matagorda docks.

In Palacios on the Dock

Drove to Palacios today and launched the boat.  In their South Bay small boat harbor.  Their web site describes the showers as nearby, but they are really a 2 mile drive.  Luckly we have the truck and drove over.  Turns out to be the worst shower so far.  On to Matagorda Island and Bay tomorrow.

We have had shrimp in Florida, Louisiana, and now Texas.  Without a doubt the Texas shrimp are the best!

Museums

Spent the last couple of days visiting family and going to Museums.  The Witte in San Antonio has full size reproductions of dinosaurs as well as a few bones.  One of the full size ones has feathers for a skin! The Texas Memorial Museum in Austin has lots of fossils covering the history of the world from bacteria to present.  The Witte has a very well done exhibit on the way people lived in south texas in the past.  Here is me with a reproduced skeleton of a flying dinosaur,  they have lots of fossils of this type from hand size to the big one (wingspan of 40').  Lots of Texas is made up of limestone and thus they have lots of fossils, compare to Washington state that is mostly Igneous rock and no fossils.  The museum in Austin is in fact built with limestone blocks that have very visible shell fossils all over it.  A very appropriate material for the museum housing dinosaur fossils.  I am also struck by how few fossils sometimes are used to reconstruct an entire animal. 

the description of the above

Tomorrow we are off to the coast to continue our adventures in boating.  Going to start in Palacios and look at Matagorda Island and San Antonio bay.

 

On Land in Texas

We are on the land in Texas.  Staying at my sisters house in San Antonio.  Last Blog we were in Rockport but the weather forecast was for very strong winds and thunderstorms so we bailed out and came to San Antonio.  We have been visiting relatives in SA and Boerne. 

For a week my mother was in the hospital but is now home and very much better.  While she was in the hospital the siblings that were in SA stayed with her and Dad.  Siblings not here were in touch via cell phone texts.  Even though we had someone with them, things still got messed up in the hospital and with the doctors.  Some one alone in the hospital could easily get overlooked.   The take away is that when you have a loved one in the hospital you need to have someone there all the time and keep asking questions of the staff and pushing the doctors. 

Looks like weather is moderating so that we will return to Texas gulf coast this friday.

A homeowner remodeling in Boerne.

 Bluebonnets in a field near Boerne.

RV camping in Rockport Tx

Tonight we are in Shady Oak RV park in Rockport Texas.  This after a two day road trip from New Iberia (Delcambre) Louisiana.  We spent the night in the driveway of Russell Humble, Frances cousin, outside of Houston.  To get there we went through Houston rush hour traffic which was not much fun.  To get to Rockport we went the long way to miss a repeat of Houston traffic, and passed by Round Top Texas.  Now this is a very small town with 3-4 antique dealers, but this week they are having a antique show all around the area.  There were probably 500 vendors at more than 15 different places and thousand of shoppers.  Its a 4-6 day event (depending on location) and quite the big deal.  We stopped for BBQ and Fran said we had to at least look at some of stuff so she did.

Tuesday night, or our last night in Louisiana, we had a thunderstorm and lots of rain.  Here I am packing up to travel, lucky I have rubber boots because there was 2-3 inches of water all around our boat.  Well I guess water around the boat is not that unusual.

Swamp Tour

Today we took a swamp tour.  A two hour boat ride through lake martin.  This lake has been surrounded by a dike so that it does not dry out.  Thus it preserves the bald cypress/ Tupelo tree swamp habitat. 

Where yesterday the alligators were very shy and didn't let you come close, these seem to pose for pictures.  We stopped counting about 6.  Also saw baby ones, and snakes.

A big area in this lake is set aside as a Rookery for birds and it was packed.  From the perimeter road you could see hundreds of birds.  These are breeding and will fly away in june-july.  roseated spoon bills, great egrets, small blue herons, snowy egrets are what we saw.

Bayou's in Vermilion Bay

Since there are not suitable marinas here in Louisiana we are staying 3 days at a RV park.  Today we took a boat ride, launch in Delcambre (pronounced del-camp)  down the Delcambre canal to the GIWW (intercoastal canal) plus a couple of side trips out various bayous or canals.
George at the Helm.

This is a type of marsh grass that is very bamboo like and grows a 6-8' tall.

Down one of the canals from the GIWW to the Vermilion bay there are fish camps that have a rig to put a funnel shaped net into the water to catch fish. 

Down one of the bayous we saw a lot of alligators....but wait, how do you know you have seen one.  If you see a stick that moves and then goes under water when you get about 50' away.  So we saw lots of alligators but really didn't see anything.

The wakes from barges in the GIWW washed out a bank exposing shells, so we stopped and Fran picked up some. ( I need to get a better method of getting back on the boat from the bow)

 

 

 

Boating in Louisiana

There are lots and lots of boats in Louisiana.....but not our kind of boat or boating. 

First on the drive we notice the cemetery's are mostly crypts above ground, here is a typical one.  I had only seen this before in New Orleans and wanted to see it again, so now we don't need to go to New Orleans.  The drive thru New Orleans was brutal, lots of traffic going very fast and after we discussed it we realized neither of us wanted to go their at all.

So on to Houma where I had researched a RV park with a boat launch.  Turns out I had chosen badly, RV park was a bare parking lot.  We spent one night here.

 

 

Next we found a marina except that they don't have provisions for transient boaters.  But we talked them into letting us stay on their dock with no services for the launch and park fee. Gave us a dramatic sunset.



 

We did spend a day boating, going up a bayou and also out toward the gulf into Terreebone bay.
Fran got a great picture of white pelican's.  By the way we saw white pelicans on banks lake in washington state where they sometimes spend the summer.

This is outside Houma, which is south and west of New Orleans.  Fish camps are quite popular, now fish camp sounds like a simple shack, some are but some are quite elaborate.  Most are raised up on piles to get above the storm surge from hurricanes.  All have some water access to a bayou with a dock.  The more elaborate ones have a hoist to raise the boats up out of the water to prevent marine growths.

Lots of Boats..either commercial fishing boats from 20 to 100 feet long for shrimp, fish, oysters.  Or private fishing boats, skiffs, flat bottoms, to center consoles with 300hp outboards.  But no marinas like in Washington state or Florida thus our boat doesn't really fit. 

We are now near Delcambre ( pronounced Del-camp) and again my research has been wanting.  The rebuilt town marina does not have restrooms or showers but only dockage, electricity and water.  But since we don't need electricity and water why don't we just anchor out...but wait, there are no good places to anchor out even with all the water. 

So for the next couple of days we will be waiting out weather forecast of thunderstorms in a RV park.

Road Trip and RV park

Yesterday we pulled the boat out of the water and started another road trip.  Today we are near Crestview Fl, 45 miles from the westernmost florida boarder.  Outside the motel we stayed at last  night they had a sculpture of a alligator.  They almost lost a customer when I said to Frances, look they have an alligator. Back to central time zone.

At RV park in RV mode.  Frances showing off Quilt she is working on while we boat and drive.

On the road again

From LaBelle we returned to Ft Myers to the Paradise Marina.  Monday was a day of more sightseeing and provisioning.  Then this morning we pulled the boat out of the water at Rosen park and began driving.  Destination is outside of Houma La.  Tonight in a motel and tomorrow we start staying at RV parks.

Caya Costa to Central Florida

Yesterday we went from Caya Costa to Downtown Ft Myers.  Caya Costa preserves the original florida barrier island, no resorts, but it does have palms and what the resorts try to copy in landscape.  We transversed the GICW, crossing lots of shallow bays, to downtown Ft Myer' revitalized riverfront area. 
Grebe parked next to $$$ yachts in Ft Myers, just where she belongs.

Todays trip went from the coastal region to interior river.  A couple of firsts for Grebe, Lock and Swing Bridge.

Frances and George in the Franklin Lock waiting for more boats.  The Ballard Locks in Seattle have a lift of 15-20 feet.  This lock had 2 feet!

Next a swing bridge, we use the radio to ask for opening. The guy goes out to the road to see when to stop cars, puts the car barrier down, then walks to the center of the bridge to operate the swing mechanism.

Tonight we are at a free town dock in the central Florida town of LaBelle.  Had a great dinner at Log Cabin BBQ after a very hot walk.  Pretty popular place, by 5:30 they were out of Beef (at a BBQ place) and by the time we finished our dinner they were out of the bananna pudding.  But just opened up Coconut cream pie.  The walk to and from dinner was under the amazing oak trees, covered in spanish moss, ferns, and "elephant ear" type plants.

 

The town dock is next to a bridge, we watched a truck full of oranges go by.  Tractor Trailer sized, open top, packed with oranges.  I am pretty sure these are for juice, the ones at the bottom are for sure.