Desicion Making and Tropical Birds

 Again! 

Another overcast day with lots of drizzle. 

According to the other residents here, everyone is miserabel about the weather. 

People who have camped here for years said that they experienced winters with nice warm weather. 

Only last year was the first season that brought more colder and damp weather. One guy, that Peter talked with, is also fed up and considering moving on to Yuma, AZ. The other said he would weather it out, the west is too dusty.

Neighbours walking their dogs

What to do on a day like this?

Despite the drizzle I decided to go back to the Salineño Wildlife Preserve, a few miles from here. 

I wanted to check it out just one more time before we are pulling out of here.

And I am glad I did. 

The host let me sit under the awning of his trailer

 and I could use my tripod and watch the birds flocking around. 

Such a treat! It definitely brightened my day! 

Some of the tropical species are nowhere else to find in the US than 

right here in the southwestern corner of Texas. 

They are birds of South America.

Here is my list of the day:

Plain Chachalaca

Plain Chachalaca

Green Jay

Green Jay

Altamira Oriole

Altamira Oriole, immature

Great Kiskadee

White-tipped Dove

White-tipped Dove

Long-billed Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Common Pauraque

To Stay or to Go?

 Today I want to explain "why" we consider moving all the way 

from Texas to Arizona/California. 

On the first glance it seems to be a bit over the top, right? 

Just because of the weather?

Why don't we just move to a nice RV park/ campground/ State Park and 

sit out the nasty weather there?

It is like this: 

What we thought it would be:

Stay for 4 month at this County Park in Texas for free. 

Yes, it is free to stay here. (free city water, dump station, shower house etc)

Our solar panels would provide us free electricity as well. 

Being outside and enjoying the sunshine.

That would have been the ideal situation. 

What happened instead:

The weather is not as expected. 

It has rained for a week, it is cold, it is windy. 

The roads have turned to sticky mud. 

We have been bound to stay inside for most of the time. 

Consequently, the use of propane has gone up a lot, 

in addition the amount of gas to generate electricity.

Gloomy weather

The alternatives seem to either:

 move in to an RV park

 or 

going to where the weather is nicer.

Would we choose to move in to an RV park, 

with electric, water and sewer hook-up, 

our costs would go up dramatically.

A decent park asks “an average” of: US $ 50/day. 

Staying there for 4 month would up our expenses to US $ 6000!

A seasonal price might get us down to US $ 2500.

If we stayed only the rainy weeks, moving back and forth, 

we might even cut it down to US $ 1600. 

However, there are other obstacles to consider concerning campgrounds/parks:

Limited stay: State Parks allow a maximum 14 days only.

Most RV parks have “No Big Dogs “or “dogs limit up to 30 pounds” rules. 

(Our dog Dixie weights 100 pounds and has a booming voice). 

Often the park spaces are quite cramped, little space between the camper/rigs.

Dixie weighs a bit over 30 pounds. 

To get us from Texas to Arizona/California will cost us about US $ 1300 more in gas than planned.

The camping/boondocking in the desert for 4 month will run up to:

US $ 180 fee good for 7month (long term use of BLM land)

US $ 180 for water/ sewer service

US $ 240 for propane 

adds up to

1300 +180  +180 +240= US $1900

The only other "biggy "are the gas prices. 

It would be US $20/40 dollars extra per tank filling (Arizona/California) 

compared to filling up in Texas.

So, the additional expenses we face are ranging from US $ 6000 to US $ 1600.

For boondocking, though, the weather is the most important factor. 

Winter 2022 California

Dixie will appreciate not being cooped up in the trailer

and not having to deal with prickly burrs.

Field grass burr

Back on the grid!

 Whohoo! I am back again!

Boy, that was a long break. It took a while until I got myself a new charger and then – nothing. 

Well, actually two things happened. 

1: I experienced a writer's block. It suddenly seemed unimportant to write about mundane things happening around me.

2: overuse of social media drained too much attention from other things to do.

Bleeding Heart with Bumble Bee

And so: spring.....

Anja and Rolf

and summer....

Monarch Butterfly on Common Valerian

and fall came and went. 

Millcove Pond

And now winter – we are on the road again!

58m high "Rainbow Bridge", Port Arthur, Texas.        

This time hubby Peter decided to try a place in south-western Texas for our winter destination. 

His research showed an “average” daily winter temperature about 69 F (16.C). 

Happily forgetting in the equation that there might be wide deviations from an “average”. 

We quickly found out that the usual Texas winter weather seems to be cold, windy and damp for about 2.5 month (Nov 15 – Feb), interspaced with a few warmer, sunnier days. 

Canadian cold fronts pushing through on a regular basis producing high winds and lots of chilly days and drizzling fog.

I seemed we met the last warm day when we arrived in Magnolia Beach, TX on Nov 10. 

Brown Pelican and Gulls

We sat in the shade of the trailer in 82F (28C) and enjoyed the pristine white shell beach and the blue water. Beautiful!

The next day dawned with overcast skies and in the afternoon a stormy cold front swept in. Our trailer rocked for two days, the grit flying. Then it started to rain. 

Crested Caracara

OK, we thought, the Gulf Coast is not a winter destination for us 

and off we went towards Falcon Heights City Park, near Roma, TX. 

Falcon Heights City Park

Vermillion Flycatcher

We arrived in the evening in balmy 68F (20C) and sat up camp. Happy to finally be where we wanted to boondock (= without electricity, water) for the winter months, no? No!

The following morning arrived with clouds and cooler temperatures. Another cold front? 

Great Kiskadee

Unperturbed we went to check out the small "Salieneño Wildlife Sanctuary" where we saw some pretty colourful birds
and then did some necessary shopping and laundry afterwards. 

Altamira Oriole

Green Jay

That was the end of the good weather.

Yes, another cold front moved in, the clouds hung low and lower and a constant light rain drenched the area for 5 days in a row now.

 Our nice “sandy” spot turned out to be mostly clay. 

Clay roads after the rain

And wet clay sticks to your boots immediately. 

Clay sticking to my boots

Walking Dixie was no fun anymore. Not to mention that the place is chuck full of field-grass burrs that stick to the dog's paws and everything else. 

With 5 days of overcast skies our solar panels evidently have been almost useless, and we are just glad to have a generator that produces electricity for us. Our propane heating system works overtime to keep us warm. So what?

Bliss turned to misery. What had we done? Miscalculated our travel destination? Obviously we have to do some evaluating and rearranging. 

Cold and rainy days have arrived

Translation 

___________________________________________

Da bin ich mal wieder!

Hat ja ziemlich lange gedauert. Ich habe mein Ladegerät ausgewechselt und dann die Lust am Schreiben verloren. 

Oder so.

Nun sind wir aber wieder auf Reisen. Dieses Mal in Richtung Südwest Texas. Mal was Anderes als Kalifornien. Haben wir gedacht. 

Aber seit unserer Ankunft hat uns das gute Wetter im Stich gelassen. Oder, besser gesagt, wir haben uns verhauen. Wir haben herausgefunden daß der Winter in Texas meistens kalt und grau ist, ein paar warme Tagen nicht zu vergessen. 

Da haben zu viele kanadische Kaltfronten ihre Hände im Spiel. Bis Februar ist angeblich keine Wetterbesserung in Aussicht. Sandige Stellplätze verwandeln sich zu klebrigem Lehm. Winterstürme schütteln den Wohnwagen und kleine Kletten hängen an unseren Kleidern/ Schuhen und Dixie´s Pfoten.  Es wird ziemlich viel Propangas verbraucht damit wir es warm haben. Unsere Voltaranlage auf dem Dach ist sozusagen auch zu nichts mehr nützlich. Da muß der Generator ran. 

Das macht keinen Spaß mehr. Nach 10 Tagen miesem Wetter sitzen wir nun da und überlegen was für Alternativen es für uns gibt.