Retired Again

Day 1

We pulled out of Santa Ana NWR at about 9 am Tuesday and took US 281 north. At Falfurrias we went through a Border Patrol check point. We have felt like they were our constant companions for the past three and a half months. Will this be the last time we see them until we enter Canada? Only time will tell. Just look at the statistics for the first four months of 2012.



It doesn’t take long to get into oil-drilling country. At Three Rivers, where we turned west toward Choke Canyon State Park, there is a huge Valero refinery.



A little further on we saw this RV parking for oil rig workers. These parks are everywhere when you drive through areas where new wells are being put in.



We passed this drilling rig just before we turned into the state park.



The RV sites at Choke Canyon are really nice. We enjoyed spending a couple of days there, getting used to being retired. The temperature his 92, but it isn’t quite as humid, windy or buggy as we have experienced the past week or so.



Day 2

A wonderful, relaxing day. We did our morning run and walk, then cleaned the truck. I gave John a haircut. I had time to read some of the mail we received more than a week ago. After lunch we drove out of the park to fill the truck with fuel, then we played some two-handed bridge. Haven’t done that forever.

We have virtually no internet access, something really unusual. No blogs to read. I can’t post a blog, either.

It is really quiet here, unless you count the dove chorus, woodpeckers and grackles. I love being surrounded by nature this way. I wandered out to take pictures of butterflies. On the way, I discovered this ladder-backed woodpecker. He/she was finding food and feeding the babies that were hidden away in the pole that supports the roof of the restroom building.



We had a green jay in our site and I saw scissor-tailed flycatchers and black-bellied whistling ducks across the road. There are butterflies everywhere and some white-tailed deer. Does it get any better than that?







The temperature hit 96 Wednesday. Makes us really grateful for our two air conditioners.