Tuesday, April 4...Three Little Birds

Moving day again…this time we we’re heading north…toward Abilene. Couldn’t really make any concrete plans because of the no phone or internet service issue. We have a map to look at but that doesn’t help in making lodging plans, etc. So we’ll have to wait until we get some service before we know where we’ll be staying tonight.

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We had company at breakfast this morning…Nosey, the little white pony, came over for one last attempt to get a treat. She and the donkeys cleaned us out of apples yesterday, but she did appreciate the small pieces of bread Kim gave her. Hope bread isn’t dangerous for her. 

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It was quite an interesting stay at Chalk Bluff Park…no phone, no internet, hellacious rain and hail, ringtail cat in the men’s room, star gazing and a bossy pony, donkeys, a cow and 2 Clydesdales that roamed free through the camp. Nightly trips to town to get online in the Walmart/McDonalds parking lot, a wonderful and safe ride on The Three Sisters, and mud…oh, the mud after the rain! The campground is family owned and run and if you’re ever in the area of Uvalde, Texas, and don’t mind being unplugged, I recommend a stay. 😊

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Bird in the cactus

Vermilion Flycatcher

I had a good time taking pictures of the birds around the campground. The bird guide I bought was helpful in identifying some of them but had to take to the computer to identify others. I wasn’t sure what I was watching in the cactus near our trailer…nest building, egg sitting or baby feeding. There were two birds going in and out of the nest. How do I know there were two and it wasn’t the same bird? Because I saw both of them on the cactus at one point and they took turns going in. The other day I was just trying to get a picture of a bird coming out…turns out it flies out much faster than it goes in so it was easier to get ‘going in’ pictures. I sat in my lawn chair with the camera on the tripod and set to consecutive shoot. The bird was a bit cagey when it landed on the cactus…it wouldn’t go right in. It hopped around a bit before ducking behind the ‘paddle’ that helped hide the nest. I determined after watching for a while that nest construction was being carried out…saw the bird take in a feather and maybe some fishing line another time. But alas, even though I got plenty of pictures of the bird, I can’t identify it from my bird guide. The vermilion flycatcher was a frequent visitor to our area of camp; however, what I thought was a flycatcher sitting in a tree this morning wasn't. When I looked at my pictures I realized it wasn’t the flycatcher, so I had to go online (at the KOA) to identify it...it's a hooded oriole. Yep, just sitting in a chair watching the birds…it’s a great way to pass the time.

Hooded Oriole

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Drove north on Hwy 83 to Abilene. There are several points on the map that have names, indicating there would be a town...well, if a Family Dollar store makes a town, then, indeed, there were several towns. However, if a person’s definition of a town include a grocery store, café, gas station, etc., then maybe these weren’t towns in the classical sense…they were just points on a map. BUT forget about any 4G Network…the entire way, to the very outskirts of Abilene, there was nothing. One time I briefly saw a ‘1x’ up by the bar signal, but it was a very brief sighting and didn’t do me any good. And for the most part we didn’t have phone service either. Got a signal somewhere along the way because suddenly 3 phone messages popped up and I was able to return one but lost the next call in the middle of the conversation. I can’t believe that in this day of technology overload that there could be 250 miles of no service….unless…unless, it’s AT&T country. Maybe Verizon doesn’t have a foothold in Texas. 

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The wildflowers sure are a bloomin’ along Hwy 83…purple, pink, yellow, red, white flowers sure make for a pretty roadside. I’m just as bad at flowers as I am at birds…the only one I recognized was the bluebonnet.

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As soon as we got a signal, I looked on my handy dandy KOA app and directed us to the Abilene KOA. Turns out they have a rewards point system, we have a lot of points so we got a really good deal on a campsite four sites down from Roseanne Barr. Seriously, the woman in that campsite sounds like Roseanne…she doesn’t talk in a quiet tone, she has a very shrill voice no matter what she’s saying. And believe me, I can hear what she’s saying…I’m sure people in RVs two rows over can hear what she’s saying. I was sitting outside at the picnic table for a while; a man was cooking dinner while she shrilled about whatever was on her mind and he seemed fairly meek to her craziness. They have about 8 little dogs and I heard her yell at ‘Bear’, who wandered out onto the road, until I wanted to cover my ears. And if I had small children, I’d be covering their ears because of the language. After supper, ‘Dan and Roseanne’ started yelling at each other…he’s not as meek as I thought but at least his voice isn’t shrill. And if I heard correctly, they’re in between homes at the moment. This is actually quite overwhelming after having the last campground to ourselves, where it was quiet except for the birds, the donkeys and the occasional staff member driving by in a golf cart. I wanted to put some space between myself and them so I headed for the trailer. Voices carry, though. 😒 While Kim was cooking supper, he put some music on for a buffer…then afterwards brought it inside the trailer, hoping the music would drown out the noise from down the way. He’s a sweet man. 👍

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On Hwy 83, we passed miles and miles of high fences…game ranches. Signs along the way promised Trophy and Exotic Hunts. Saw white tail deer, emus or ostriches, a couple of non-native deer. Where’s the sport in hunting something that’s confined inside a fence, regardless of how many acres it encompassed? Just doesn’t seem fair to the animal. Of course, that opinion is coming from someone who doesn’t hunt.

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As of right now, we don’t know what’s on deck for tomorrow. We do know that we’re on a homeward path but are never really sure of what we’ll find to do between here and there. The Mitten State is calling me, though…has been for a couple of days now. 😊