February 2, 2016 - Groundhog Day

Up late last night watching the Iowa Caucus "yap".  Then up before 6 a.m. preparing coffee, prunes & oatmeal for breakfast.  Today being Groundhog Day, we watched as Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring.

Then buttoned up our rig and headed out around 8 a.m. thru the country hills for I-10.  The country road was nice, curvy, up/down hills & full of deer in the pastures.  Folk in this area also have pastures of sheep and goats. We also encountered skunk road kills and remembered how Texas seemed to be full of those black with white stripe creatures.

Every stream had a water gauge for flooding.

Scenery along I-10 starting to change...rocky terrain.

With winds picking up to 28 mph with higher gusts, I was getting nervy. J, though, was cool as a cucumber.  NOT ME!  So, about 85 miles down the road we headed for South - Llano River State Park.  Just prior to its entrance two roadrunner birds zipped across the highway.  My first to see in the wild.  Wowee!

South - Llano River State Park is located in the Hill Country 5 miles south of Junction, TX, in Kimble county.  At check-in, I again bought a patch.  This one with picture of a Rio Grande Turkey.

 Our paved level site #44 was very nice.  Situated on the pristine spring-fed South Llano River, this park was once a working ranch.  Buck Lake (in the shape of an oxbow) is named after the family who donated the land for this park. It was once the main channel of South Llano River...later cut off from the main river in a flood.

The bottomland has hardwood forests from cedar elms to pecans, and several types of oaks (chinquapin oak, live oak, red oak, and shin oak).  The upland part of the park features over 250 bird species, porcupines, skunks, ringtails, and white-tailed deer.  There are Axis spotted deer in the park who scare campers at night with their holler.  They holler out when they can't see each other.  Hmmm  South Llano river State Park is home to one of the largest Rio Grande Turkey roosts in Central Texas.  These birds visit year round; but, roost here in the winter.

After setting up camp, it was time to explore. J & I took a 1.2 mile walk to Buck Lake, Llano River, and Buck Trail back to camp.  We stopped by  a blind with fenced in bird feeding area with water fountain watching some of the area birds.  Similar birds like NC seen today.

As we pressed on towards Buck Lake I stumbled upon pecan trees.  OH ME OH MY!  The woods were full of pecan trees everywhere we went. We filled my camera bag and pockets with pecans. Then sat on the bench beside Buck Lake while J cracked some nuts for us to eat.  YUM!  Now he is talking pecan pie.  UT OH!

South Llano River is beautiful with its clear blue/green water.  The park ranger said they stocked it with rainbow trout in January.  Now J wants to fish.

After lunch, J took about a 5 mile bicycle ride along the backwoods trails where he bumped into the park maintenance man named Boone.  J said he was a delight.  He told J there were picary hogs in the area and hunting season for them had just ended.  They still trap the hogs to thin the population as they are a big destructive nuisance here in TX.  Also, we learned that windmills are not always for energy power.  Some are to pump natural gas.

Some of his biking terrain was hilly and rocky.  A definite challenge.  Not for me.  LOL

One night stay for the winds to die down.  Then off for more adventure.

Another beautiful patch for my collection.  :)

Until next time...take care...be safe.  See you by the campfire.