Meander's End: Christmas Day in Texas

Merry Christmas to all!

We started the day by sharing Christmas breakfast with the birds. Here are Rover and Polgara enjoying their share. Sorry for the lack of light but the flash scares them. Soon after breakfast we took off towards Houston in another overcast, sprinkle-y day.

Today was another day of seeing a lot of animals- mostly on the ranches that stretched San Antonio all the way to Houston - sheep, goats, pigs, cattle of every variety - I even saw a longhorn cow! Plus bison! Now, I don't particularly know why but all day long we kept seeing hunting birds all over the place, soaring around over our heads. Perhaps the recent rains drive rodents out of their dens andthe pickings were particularly good. We even saw a buzzard standing on the side of the road - I couldn't tell what it had caught but it was busy!

I also noticed an interesting thing on the highway between San Antonio and Houston. A lot of the drivers seem to be involved in a sport I can only call "competitive tail-gating". I haven't seen this sport played elsewhere along our journey but today we've seen a lot of people playing this game...I wonder how one wins???

During our drive we stopped at a tourist-y souvenir shop where I picked up a pretty cane to help me with my injured knee. I had admired this cane online for quite some time, and was actually able to obtain it! You can't really see in the photo to the right but the deeper layers of laminate show up in twists as you look down the stick. Red, yellow, blue, etc., and the primary color's more plum than pink, the way the photo looks. It's garish and kind of wacky, which is why I like it! I also actually helps with the knee injury! Amazing!

So today we went up and down more hills but ended up at a much lower altitude - about 300 feet instead of 1500! Aha! Now if only the clouds and rain would go away!

So once again we've arrived earlier in the afternoon than usual. Tody we've stopped at a small park about 30 miles west of Houston, mostly because you apparently have to go all around hither, yon, and the next place to find the parks inside the city itself. Simple is good except that being Christmas, the people running this place weren't in. Now, those who are familiar with RV parks will know that there are accommodations made for late arriving guests, usually in the form of a special cabinet marked for late-comers wherein you fill out a form, find an empty spot on the map, deposit $$ in an envelope and put it into the slot where the hosts will find it the next morning. Well, this place is a little less prepared than the other parks we've visited...their late arrivals cabinet is NOT waterproof, and not only were the maps, envelopes and instructions soggy, the rate sheet showing what we're supposed to pay was entirely illegible, as was any indication of what the proper code is to get access to their internet service! (yes, I'm "borrowing" someone else's right now...shhh...) So I put some $$ in the envelope, we drove to where I thought I saw an empty spot and luckily, it was. I deposited my envelope and will go see the story tomorrow morning when the proprietor returns. I keep half-expecting someone to drive up and knock on the door telling us that the spot we're in was supposed to be for them...Would I move? Not likely. Al's quite tired from the effort of driving this 32' BUS in rain and wind and deserves the nap he's taking!

Anyway, I was able to take a few photos here and there, so here they are for you. I hope your Christmas was very wonderful and you have lovely plans for the New Year. We'll keep you posted on our progress. About another week to go!!