Woke to an overcast gray sky…and I could see that it had
rained overnight by the water on the bikes.
Also by the mud I tracked into the trailer. L The air was heavy
but warm. We’ve gone from a fine layer of dust on everything to mud. We’re not in a desert environment
anymore. Grass and trees are green,
flowers are budding, and the insect world is more alive. Birds are very active…in fact, they’ve
enjoyed hopping around on top of the trailer a time or two…or three.
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Note to self: Get a guide to birds…not a book with all sorts
of information…just a simple fold out guide to birds so I know what I’m
seeing.
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Last night we set camp up quickly…we’re getting good at the
routine of it. Then we headed to the
town of Uvalde, TX, to get some things. Went
to Walmart which had a McDonald’s with free wi-fi; we sat in the parking lot so
I could post the journal entry to the blog since I can’t do that at camp. Ate supper at Jack’s Steakhouse….OMGoodness, that
was a delicious steak! And I got a couple
of birthday calls while at the restaurant.
Isla pulled an early April Fool’s joke on me and both Cullen and Ashlyn
read to me. Grady told me that he wrote
a word and, based on his description, I’m sure he was finger writing in the air
to show me what he had written. Then it
was back to camp where I fiddled around with pictures and writing postcards and
Kim set up his scope in hopes of imaging.
It proved a bit breezy for imaging but he was out there making some
corrections on his scope.
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I’ve gotten used to the warm weather…going to be tough
going back home to lingering winter weather.
I’ve been in the warmth and sunshine for over a month now and it seems
like the whole country should be experiencing the same thing. Unfortunately, I don’t think spring has
arrived in Charlevoix yet. Got another
shot of springtime goodness when we arrived back at camp last night. It was just getting dark and the spring
peepers were singing with gusto!
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So today was our first rain out day of
the entire trip. We’ve sat out a day or
two because of wind but this is the first time because of rain or predicted
rain. We came to this area because it’s
rural and there’s plenty of open riding around, but there was no riding
today. The clouds hung around through
the morning…about 11 a.m., we headed to San Antonio in the truck, which is a
trip I would not have made on the bike, anyway. I’ve been to San Antonio before
and do not have fond memories of navigating through the city. Don’t know that we would’ve made it a
priority to go through San Antonio but since we have a ‘free’ day I thought
that Kim should see the iconic symbol of the fight for freedom in the west, the
Alamo…which is located in the middle of the city of San Antonio. J Threw the
dirty clothes bag in the truck so we can do the wash when we head back through
Uvalde.
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This campground technology blackout is a
learning experience: it’s a case of not realizing how much we use it until we
can’t. No email…no texts…no Facebook!!
Can’t make or receive phone calls. Throughout
the trip we’ve been relying on Rapunzel to give us directions, mileage,
etc…can’t do that while sitting at camp but luckily I have a Texas map, so
there is that. The best we can do with
the weather while at camp is simply go outside and see what it’s doing. That’s obviously not a forecast, though. Will it continue to be cloudy?...Is it
predicted to rain?...Is there a nasty storm system heading our way?....those
are things that are worth knowing when you want to spend the day out on a
motorcycle. **When we left camp this
morning, my phone was on and we knew we had service when it started chattering
with text notifications, etc.**
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Talked to a park employee last night
and she whipped her phone out to answer my question. What?
You get service out here? Apparently
this is an AT&T campground…Verizon customers please go down the road to
maybe get a phone signal. If you want to
use a computer, you have to go into town.
I’m much better at navigating Google on my computer for research, etc.,
so the computer will go with me on every trip into town. J
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We
are officially out of the desert area…into Hill Country. First clue is that there’s grass and
trees…second clue is that they’re green.
A lush green. I think we’ve left
the muted desert colors and hot dry air behind us. Air actually felt a little humid this morning
but it might have been a leftover dampness from the rain.
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Spent
a couple of hours wandering around the Alamo. Watched a film about the history
of the Alamo starting with the late 1700’s when it was a Spanish mission. There was a living history exhibit today
which was interesting…people in character telling what life was like in the
1830’s, during the time of fighting with the Mexican army. It rained while we were there but it was
short-lived. Sun came out and then the
air was heavy and humid. Soon it was
time to find something to eat. J
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Stopped
in Uvalde to do the wash before heading back to the campground and the Dark
Ages. The Golden Chick (restaurant) across
the road from the laundromat had an open internet signal, so I posted to the
blog and pictures on FB while I could. Also made a phone call or two between here and
San Antonio while we had a signal. J
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