September 7

The beautiful Summer...
Like most people I love the summer. Summer is what I live for. That's why I discovered the South. The South is an extension of summer. For me...at least. And that wasn't like that all my life. Oh no, when I was 25yrs. I thought of winter like fun, I wished that 20 inches of snow would fall over night, turning the country into a fairy-tale. I shoveled snow like it was money -- loving every bit of it. But that's over. Alberta's ice-cold winters scared the heck out of me. I still remember, it was the first winter out on the farm, the morning we woke I froze as soon as the warm bed cover was off my body. Looking at the themometer it showed +8C (46.4F) inside the house!! Outside it was -50C (-58F) And that was the reason why the dang furnace wouldn't come on. At -43C propane stops flowing. So we were dead in the water, or shall I say in the ice?

South Saskatchewan River

But we had wood burning stoves and that saved us over the next days,

Rusty train at Vanscoy, SK

No boy, gimme a nice summer and all is fine. Since we have been traveling south we have hardly seen or felt snow. Well, there was Salt Spring Island in march 2009, but it wasn't really much.

Summer is going in shorts and a light shirt, a wonderful breeze off the sea or across the prairie, summer is picnics and BBQ's, is being together with good friends, is hanging out on the beach, doing a lovely walk through a green forest, seeing summer campers driving along and having a ride in a convertible, seeing sailships and catchy motor yachts on the deep blue water; but also little children playing in the sand and biking along the road.  

Pit stop in Texas

I am completely in love with the summer.


But now it's gone. It is September and the first week of it is over as well. It is raining too and that just makes for a day inside. I always wanted to transfer thousands of pictures from my laptop to an external hard drive. So why don't I do that? Exactly!  So I walked over to the Motor Home and got the external drive. 1TB should do and it was still empty. It is the second one I bought. Not that the first one is full. Oh no -- it died - simply passed away as Bea tried to fire it up with a 19V power supply. That doesn't work very long if the device is laid out for 12V. 
Yep that's what happened. And a few weeks before that I fried the original 12V power supply as I plugged it in a 220V German power recepticle. So conclusion is we are slightly "overcharged" people. 

Rio Grande south of Big Bend National Park

Overcharged or simply crazy? Or is that the same -- in the end one never knows. Most of our families are saying (or at least thinking) that we are downright crazy. Spending weeks on end on the road just to be in a bone-dry desert environment for months and months. But like I said: I don't like winters. I would not mind if it would snow in the desert on Christmas Eve -- Tradition and upbringing in a northern latitude - you know. But next day I would want sunshine and sitting outside the rig enjoying my morning coffee at 8am. 

Mission san Jose, San Antonio,TX

But if we don't do it while we still can, we will never do it when we are past 80. Of course I can have a hope that I still drive a rig when being past 80 but one should not completely rely on it. I might need to take the short road, the one which goes about 2km down towards the U.S. border. Up on a hill there is the local nursing home. Yes, Campobello Island is the perfect place to grow old. At our last enquiry they had still 7 rooms available....:-))

Also a result of summer

Summer, summer, summer

And more summer...

Seems I am ramblin' along here, but aren't we bloggers supposed to write something meaningful, something we stand for. And that's me. Have a good one...and live your Dream.

TEXAS

June 26


The Island is still foggy and we might get a few rain showers today as well. So there isn't much to get to outside. So my thoughts are wandering back a  few years to our first big journey south. It has always meant a lot to me to do a thing for the first time. And, strangely, the memories of the first journey are still the strongest. We had wonderful days that winter. After first venturing down the West Coast we arrived at Holtville,CA.  We stayed until the middle of January. Then we went on through Arizona with the goal of Southern Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.

Underway we stopped for a few days to visit the Big Bend National Park  at the Rio Grande. And here is our account from those days.

Prickly Pear Cactus 

Our first whole day in the Big Bend National Park and we spend it on the campground. The warm spring weather feels pleasant and makes us lazy.
We undertake a few walks in the vicinity. One of our walks brings us down to the Rio Grande. Just across the water maybe 25 yards away is the international border -
Both sides are overgrown with river cane. The green waters of the river are floating lazily downstreams.A friendly ranger we meet upon tells us that the entire area has been a farm until 1940. Afterwards it got into the possession of the National Park Service. The brilliant irrigation system could be maintained ensuring that the mighty cottonwood trees are still alive and thriving.  On a regular basis the former fields, now the campground are flooded with the river waters. A pump is bringing the water into the irrigation ditches from where it can led from one area to the other

Javelinas are roaming freely throughout the Park

Today we want to explore the Santa Elena Canyon. Cut 1200ft. down into the rock the Rio Grande has been running here for millions of years.
The internal park road runs from Rio Grande Village via Panther Junction along the Chiso Mountains until it meets the river again at the north side of the park. We stop at the various exhibitsalong the road. They teach us about the geology, fauna and flora of the region.
Many places we see rugged mountain lines. Not unlike palisades they run across the landscape. These are casts where lava has risen through. This lava proved to be harder than the surrounding sand stone material and consequently withstood the process of erosion.

Ruin of an old farmstead 

The impressive north side of the National Park is probably the most important place to visit.The river runs in the 1200ft. deep Santa Elena Canyon and is bordered on the Mexican side by Sierra Ponce From the parking lot vis-a-vis the canyon I make the walk into the canyon. At the end of the trail the canyon is barely 10-12 yards wide. America on this side, Mexico on the other.

Since dogs are not allowed on the trails, Bea waits with them at he paking lot
We return over the Old Maverick Road. Old Maverick is 14mile stretch of dirt road. It is very rough and it is not recommended for other than 4x4 vehicles. A few places it runs through washes and it'll rattle you through. Contrary to the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, we took this morning, the Old Maverick runs through flat terrain. It connects to the paved park road at Maverick Junction. From there one might either leave the park toward Study Butte/Terlingua or return via Panther Junction to Rio Grande Village.

The Rio Grande or Rio Bravo as it is called in Mexico