Trail Work

Sunday March 20, 2016

We have not had a chance to go to Oklahoma and check on our 2.5 mile adopted trail section of the Ouachita Trail since September 27.  Wow, that is six months ago, but it has been Winter so hopefully it is not too grown up.

As usual we drove up to Broken Bow, Oklahoma on Saturday evening when Tom got off work and stayed in a hotel there to get a good night's sleep, and breakfast on Sunday morning before heading 60 miles north to the Big Cedar Trailhead and off into the woods.

Sunday morning dawned cool with clear blue skies, a great day to be out in the woods!

We were surprised to see several vehicles parked at the trailhead since we had never seen anyone on our previous trips here.  It is good to know that hikers are out on the Ouachita Trail!

Only a short distance from the Big Cedar Trailhead parking area, the Ouachita Trail crosses Big Cedar Creek, which was flowing pretty good.  As I stood there contemplating how/where to cross, Tom went upstream and crossed over on these rocks without getting his feet wet.

As he carefully made his way across using his trekking poles for balance several of the rocks tipped a little but he made it alright.  For some reason I was suddenly fearful of crossing where he did, afraid of the wobbly rocks, afraid of getting my shoes wet, afraid of my foot slipping on a rock and me falling into the cold creek water, so instead I turned downstream picking my way along the edge of the creek looking for a better way to get across.  In the meanwhile Tom is on the other side of the creek being patient but I am sure he is thinking "Come on already"!

After thrashing around along the edge of the creek for probably ten minutes and not finding any way to get across, I finally turned around and picked my way back upstream to where Tom had crossed.  "This is ridiculous, Flame!"  "What's wrong with you, Flame?"  "Come on Flame, you walked 2,181 miles on the A. T.!"  "You can do this!"  "If Tom didn't fall in the creek, you won't either!"  These are the thoughts crashing thru my head.  "What's wrong with me?"  "I lived thru fording creeks in Maine on the A.T.!"  So I gingerly made my way across, exactly where Tom did , on the same wobbly rocks, and did not get my feet wet!  Whew!  Glad that's over!
This experience reminded of something I read somewhere "our thoughts are the most effective weapon in our human arsenal";  I had just let fearful thoughts control me momentarily.  Glad that's over!  Crazy, huh?

As we made our way along the trail we were greeted with the first signs of Spring!                              Trailside ferns...

                                              Wild looking mushrooms!

                ...and lots of these pretty purple wildflowers.

Most of the trees have not even leafed out yet, but the redbud trees are in full-bloom!

Last September, we observed the erosion at this location where the trail has eroded away down the mountainside, and knew that we needed help to fix this problem.

What a wonderful surprise when our Ouachita Trail Captain, Bill Sears, emailed us recently informing us that the Forest Service had went in and repaired this eroded section.  Awesome job, guys!  As you can see in the "before" and "after" photos they wedged rocks and logs against that tree and shored the trail up to prevent future erosion

Our section of trail did not need too much trimming or clearing.  We did come across this tree that had fallen across the trail right above Red Spring.  It has been down long enough that passing hikers have made a path around the base of the tree already.

There is a nice stealth camping area at the end of our adopted section, just west of Red Spring, and this is the first time we have encountered any trash there.  Recent hikers left all the packaging material from six MRE's stacked next to the stone fire ring.  Shame on them!!  We bagged it all up and hauled it back down the mountain with us.

 

Maybe we need to place more info at the Big Cedar Trailhead about L.N.T.  Leave No Trace http://lnt.org 

 

As we headed back down the mountain we just enjoyed the scenery and had a little fun!

When we arrived back to our vehicle, we were stowing our tools and the litter we had picked up on the trail, when we saw a backpacker coming out of the woods.  I waved him over to where we were and chatted for a few minutes and offered him a banana and some mixed nuts which he enjoyed.  He was Jacob from Nebraska and had driven his vehicle to Queen Wilhelmina State Park, then was shuttled west to Talimena State Park where he began his 50 mile section hike on the Ouachita Trail.  He was a little past halfway when we saw him.  He said this was his first ever multi-day backpacking trip. 

On our way home, we detoured over to check out how much water was coming over the spillway at Lake Tawakoni.

 IT WAS A LOT!  Lake Tawakoni is over a foot above "full pool"!

 Downstream (which has only been a trickle for years) is flooded and the anglers are enjoying the bounty of fish.

 

 

Juliette / Galveston

Have I mentioned that I am now a great-grandmother? 

I know, it doesn't seem possible to me either!  My youngest grandson, Dylan, is the proud daddy of little Julliette.  She is already a little girl before I got to meet her.  My son, Darrell, and his family do not come to visit me, I have to go to them.  Sad, huh?

This is Dylan holding Juliette Rae (my son Darrell in the background on his computer).

Juliette loves her daddy!

 

 

 As always, little kids gravitate to Tom, and he is so good with them.

 Juliette is one year and four months old and I am so happy that I finally get to see her!  She is such a cutie!

                   
                            My son, Darrell and me.....

                   Justin is Darrell's oldest son and is a Houston Firefighter/Paramedic and Meredith, who recently graduated from Texas A & M, is Justin's longtime girlfriend.

Following spending Sunday morning with my son and his family, we made our way south to Galveston, the place where I was born.  Yes, I am a B.O.I.(pronounced boy), Born on the Island!

We stayed at the Commodore on the Beach, a 1960's style hotel, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

 BooBoo is basking in the sea breeze enjoying the ocean view!

We decided to rent bicycles and ride along the Seawall.

 Can you tell I am a little anxious trying to take this photo while still pedaling my bicycle, and holding on to only one handlebar?

                So I gave the camera to Tom for a minute......

 It is a gray day and the waves are rolling onto the sandy beach as we make our way along the seawall enjoying the great outdoors.

 There is a bench beautification program in progress on the seawall.

                    We passed by this striking plant!  No sure what it is?

After turning in our bicycles, we strolled down to the new Pleasure Pier.

Then I finally got to put my feet in the water, which was quite cold!

Here is something new!  All my life, you could park alongside the seawall, FREE!  Not anymore! 
Now from 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. you must pay!

The following morning we kept our tradition of walking on, and riding the free ferry that takes you across Galveston Bay from Galveston to Port Bolivar.

 When I was in Elementary School, we lived in High Island, Tx. which is a few miles up the coast (east) on the Bolivar peninsula, so I have fond memories of riding these same ferries with my Mom to go to Galveston to buy groceries.  I always enjoy coming back and going on a ferry ride!

 It amazes me to watch these birds, with their feathers ruffling in the breeze, manage to hang onto such precarious perches while the ferry is in motion.

After our ferry ride we headed north to Dickinson to see Tom's brother, Mark, and wife Janie.

We were lucky to catch Mark at home since he travels extensively with his job as an engineer on cargo ships.  He had just arrived home the evening before we got there.  Mark and Janie treated us to lunch a local café called The Fish Place.....awesome, delicious seafood!   Great to spend time with them again!

New Orleans

January 28-30, 2016

The weather was a little warmer (compared to when we sailed away) upon returning to New Orleans following our 5-day Cruise.

Since we had a couple of days of vacation left, we decided to explore New Orleans.  We found a parking lot in the French Quarter, parked then walked the short distance to the streetcar stop and hopped onto the Canal Street Streetcar.  

 

Mardi Gras decorations adorn the buildings.....

...and there is a festive atmosphere everywhere we look...

...the iconic cathedral at Jackson Square.  I just finished eating beignets!  Delicious!

Wow! There is our cruise shop that we just disembarked from....it looks smaller than it really is! 

I love all the enormous live oak tress with air ferns clinging to their large limbs.

After riding the Canal Street Streetcar to the end of its route, then riding it all the way back, we hopped onto a different streetcar and headed out to the Garden District.  New Orleans Streetcar system is a great (and cheap) way to see the city!

We crossed the Mississippi River and spent the night in Algiers on the West Bank.

Tom lived in Algiers during his formative years and it was interesting to drive thru its neighborhoods and see where he went to Elementary, Jr. High, and High School.  This photo is of the very nice ferry landing in Algiers.  The walk-on ferry is a great way to get across the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

So the following day we parked our car at a lot near the ferry landing in Algiers (much more economical than the lots in New Orleans) and rode the ferry back across the River to do some more sightseeing.

We enjoyed strolling along the Mississippi River on the very nice Riverwalk.

We did a walking tour along the River, down past the Cruise Terminal, and to the Mardi Gras Museum.

We ambled thru the warehouse where they store some of the elaborate floats.

Later we enjoyed a Cajun food lunch at an outdoor café in the French Quarter.

We did not want to endure the mayhem that surrounds the Mardi Gras parades in Downtown or the French Quarter, so we opted to see a couple of parades out in the suburbs of Matarie/Kenner.

The floats were not nearly as elaborate as some of the older more established parades but there was a lot of spectators lining the parade route.

The Mardi Gras Parades in the suburbs are more family-oriented so there were hundreds of kids around us.

 We watched the Krewe of Excaliber Parade, which did not begin at 7:00 p.m. as advertised, it actual began about 8:15 p.m.!  Following it was the Krewe of Athena Parade but by the time it rolled along it was 10:00 p.m. and we were tired so we ducked out of the parking lot onto a back/side street and made our way back to our hotel in Kenner.

The following day we decided we were ready to be home in our own bed by nightfall on this day.  I wanted to swing thru the small village of Singer, Louisiana on our way home and also go thru Rosevine, Texas to visit the grave of my daughter, Candace.

My family lived in Singer, La.

 in the very early 1950's and that is where I entered school in the first grade when I was five years old.  I have a few memories of living there but I have not been back there in more than 50 years so naturally it is nothing like my "childhood memories" of the place.  It was a tiny settlement along the railroad tracks back then, it did have a train depot I think, but today there is even less there than I remember.  My dad pastored the church there, and back then it was a smaller white wooden structure, and the streets were dirt!

We kept on driving, and soon crossed the Sabine River, making it back to Texas soil!  No other place like it!

We stopped at the Rosevine Cemetery and placed new flowers on my daughter Candace's grave.  Still hard to believe she is gone.