Texas Radio and the Big Bend

This Blog is a long time coming. I recently rediscovered my pictures from the little point and shoot Canon and saw that plenty of them were post-worthy. We spent about 2 weeks in Texas before heading back north, but the first week or so was mostly spent in cities (Houston and Austin). Luckily we got some time off of the Interstates and into the countryside.
We found out about a Scenic Drive between Austin and Del Rio which takes Farm to Market routes off of the only slightly larger main road. Every few miles there were stream crossings with flood warning signs and water level indicators, but only once did we encounter a flooded road which was just barely wide enough to drive over. We decided to use the skills we learned playing all those hours of Oregon Trail and Ford the River! We made it across safely with all of our Oxen, Supplies and sense of adventure intact.

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The road did have some great photo ops. I'd never been able to capture beams of light poking through clouds so well before. I've always found that to be particularly beautiful.

We stopped for lunch (Subway and Blueberries) at a picnic area along the road. It overlooked the Rio Frio, and further investigation found it overlooked many piles of bones too. This bonesy was nearest to the road and perfectly bleached by the sun.



The aforementioned Rio Frio. This was one of the nicest days we encountered all winter (~60) so I was ready to jump in.

We took another scenic drive on a whim when we got sick of the I-10 and took the nearest exit. We were heading towards "Attwater Prarie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge" but went through the back way which was locked. We never did get to see any Prarie Chickens but we did see some great scenery.

Part of the reason for this trip was to find a place where we belong and might want to settle down. A big part of that for us was meeting people we connected with. We met a few such people, always by chance and with a little bit of social skill.
These people pulled up next to us in their VW van while we were enjoying a meal from Taco Cabana. We have always admired these models and assumed that the owners must be cool too. So on the pretense of throwing out some trash, I ran into the owners and said "Oh, hey, is this your van? We were admiring it..." Turns out, they WERE cool and we ended up having an hour long conversation about travelling in vans and cool places we must visit in the country. They were very much in love, too and we could relate to them pretty well. I was glad I made the leap to say Hello as I would have missed out on a great experience if I had just kept walking past.

We also met some Dirty Kids in Austin. While they aren't quite on the same path as us, they are always great to get to know. I had a great conversation with the owner of this jacket and I hope to run into him at the Mystic Garden Party this year! (We missed each other last summer.)

Eventually we made our way to Big Bend National Park, which I'd heard about from my Aunt Pammy. We only got to stay one night because of family affairs making it necessary to drive back north, but we had a blast and now have a better idea of what to do next time.

While we were at the Panther Junction Station to buy a national parks pass and some hiking guides, a sounder of Javelinas crossed the parking lot. I leapt out of the van with the camera and chased them into some brush, where this guy and I shared a moment.

We spent one night at a campground at Chisos Basin, and when we woke up in the morning the campground, mountains and roads were dusted with snow. It was a brutal winter all over the country, but we were in the desert on the border with Mexico with 20 degree weather and snow. Quite a sight! 

Later that day, things were clear enough for the road to reopen and we found that there was little snow on the ground and temperatures were a pleasant 40.

Jim shot this picture of me getting the above picture.

Outside of big bend, there were acres of farmland. Texas has way more species of deer than I ever knew existed.

This picture was technically taken in Arkansas, but I wanted to stick it in. The sky was incredible that night- the locals were as flabbergasted as us passers-through.

New Orleans Part 3: Mardi Gras: Krewe d'Eris parade

"The Krewe of Eris are not notably hygienic, dear reader; many of them are transient. Not all were dirty, not all were homeless, and not all of them would like to smash the church and state, but a fair number might be said to fit into those overlapping categories."

This is what we had waiting for us when we walked into the Parade starting area of the Krewe d'Eris. I didn't realise that we were going to actually walk in the parade until after we got dressed up in some of our Host's costumes and walked to the parade route. The Krewe d'Eris is, as Atillio calls it, a "Dirty Kid" parade. That just means all the cool and really creative kids in New Orleans put on extravagant costumes and make small bike-powered floats to entertain the town. We had a blast walking the twisting 4-mile route among the cacophonous bands and costumed freaks (I say that endearingly of course!)

Enjoy:

Jim's costume

The next day at the Ranch, a chicken gets a ride from a visiting dog...

...and we say goodbye to our gracious hosts as they head off to the Purple Party.

Thus ends our first Mardi Gras and New Orleans adventure. We headed out of town on Lundi Gras, the day before Mardi Gras proper. I feel like we got a good idea of the Mardi Gras spirit. Maybe next year we will stay until Mardi Gras day. We made it to the texas border and began our second leg of our southern tour.

New Orleans Part 1: Mardi Gras: Krewes d'Etat et de Morpheus, around New Orleans

After a few days driving west through yet another unexpected cold spell for the south, we made it to New Orleans where we planned to meet up with a friend from New York who had moved down here a few years back. We got stuck in downtown traffic for an hour or two before we gave up trying to find parking and then went near our friend's Neighborhood. Once we got to his house, we met his housemates and immediately went off to our first Mardi Gras Parade. We walked down Decatur, which was filled with great jazz clubs, bars, and coffee houses, until we hit Canal Street and the parade route. The streets were filled with revelers, reveling in the lax open carry (of alcohol) laws and generally enjoying themselves. Our gracious hosts knew half of the people on the street so we stopped often to chat. We had a great time that night, as is evidenced in the following pictures:

Still early on in the night, my neck was still visible under the beads.

A bit later on, I was already starting to be choked by my lavalliere.

I hadn't seen Atillio in 3 or 4 years so we shared a nice re-acquaintance hug.

This was my final tally at the end of the night. I'm not sure quite how I ended up with so many, but I know that I had the most of anyone I saw! It might disappoint some of you to know that I saw exactly no bosoms that night.

The next morning we hung out in the yard with the dogs, Deidre and MacGyver. MacGyver is a 10 year old black lab, who reminds Jim and Me of my grandma's dog Skipper in every way, even age, except that Skipper is Yellow. He almost never plays but the gave in that day to play with a ball we caught during the parade. The other dog is Atillio's sweet Staffordshire Terrier.

During the day, one of the housemates Monkey showed us around town. We met up with his friend Kelly who owned this Art Car. This one used to be more extravagant but he is in the middle of redoing it. He used to have a hearse that was also decorated. Parked on Decatur Street.

One of the houses' chickens. She is currently laying eggs!

When we got back to the house, we all (about 8 of us) sat down to watch a movie (The Producers) in the living room. The dogs piled on as well...
and another picture of Deidre. She is a sweetheart and one of the friendliest dogs I know. She licked Jim's face for 5 minutes straight before he remembered his allergies.

Coming up: Krewe d'Eris, Lower 9, and Texas