Day 28, Sunday, November 27, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 8

The Star Party

Sunday, November 27, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 8, 0 Miles, 2,105.1 Miles For the Trip

I'm back in the park in site 26, and will be here for the week. For those interested, by the time I made a pot of coffee, I was down 35 amp hours this morning. I made part of it up with solar by 10:00 when I moved to my site in the park. By mid afternoon, the combination of the converter plugged into shore power & the solar panels had the batteries back to full.

I took a couple of photos of last night's Star Party. The bright star is actually a planet - Venus. Even though I had the D700's ISO set at 3000, I had to wait until a passing vehicle spilled some light into the area. I tried a few hand held, but the exposures were over one second, so I finally got out a tripod. Another photo of the star party & my site for the week is at today's LakeshoreImages page.

The campground really emptied out today. While one more fiberglass trailer arrived (an Escape 21) most of the rest of the sites emptied. I decided it would be a good time to do a load of laundry. They have home type Kenmore front loading machines - you pay on the honor system at the office (just as you do for ice). I'm not sure if I overloaded the machine or what, but it decided to do the rinse cycle for over an hour. It would stop with an 1E error, which is restricted water input? In any case, after trying to restart the machine with no success, I split the load in the two other machines and finished the wash. No problems with the dryers. I'm glad the place is empty. There were lines at the laundry room for the last 3 days.

After folding & putting the laundry away, making the bed, and cooking & eating dinner (a Bubba Burger & Bush Beans), I headed to the showers. It is now time to relax and read the Syracuse Sunday paper on line!

Until Tomorrow -

Day 27, Saturday, November 26, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 7

The First Arrival for the Rally

Saturday, November 26, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 7, 0 Miles, 2,105.1 Miles For the Trip

The wind died down enough that I could cook outside, so it was a chicken thigh for last night's dinner.

It is still pretty windy today. I've been told that wind is normal for just about anywhere on the Gulf, and Matagorda is no exception.

The end of the road dry camping area is not as quiet as the campground. One reason is I'm at the entrance to the beach access road, but things do calm down around 11:00.

By the time I finished toasting an English muffin & made a pot of coffee, the battery monitor showed I was down 15 amp hours. No problem making them up during the day with just the roof top solar panels.

I walked around the campground loop this morning and a few RVs pulled out, but otherwise the place is full. A woman stopped by the trailer & let me know they had arrived in an Escape 5.0TA. We talked a bit, then she headed back. On my second walk I met her husband and another couple that arrived in an Escape 21. When I went back to take some photos, a Casita arrived. Here I thought I'd be the first one here when I move in tomorrow (although I could count my earlier arrival since I've already been here 7 days). Even though we are in Texas where the Casitas are made , so far the Escapes are outnumbering them! They are doing a "Star Party" tonight & have couple of 10" telescopes they are setting up. A few more photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

I'm going to try the microwave on the inverter. I tested it at home with a glass of water & it did fine for 3 minutes, although the inverter did give a low voltage alarm. We will see how it does with the left over rice & pasta & cooking a frozen burrito. It is only a 600 watt microwave, so I have to extend cooking times when compared to the standard 1000 - 1200 watt ovens.

Well, it worked for cooking the rice & pasta and burrito, although not both at the same time. The alarm on the inverter buzzed the entire cooking time with the voltage at 11.2V and the inverter drawing 96 amps. Total amp hours - 16.2. After shutting down the inverter, the battery voltage jumped back up to 12.6. It is too late in the day for much solar charging, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see any improvement.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 26, Friday, November 25, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 6

Hanging Out on the Colorado River

Friday, November 25, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 6, 0 Miles, 2,105.1 Miles For the Trip

Another short move, although a but further than the last one. I'm dry camping at the end of the loop just past the Nature Center building. I have a picnic table next door, and the parking area is level enough that I don't need to unhook. I'm hoping the people in site 26 will leave early on Sunday so I can move back into the South Campground Loop.

After parking the trailer (I really didn't set much up since there are no hookups) I went for a walk on the beach. I thought about driving, but I'd have to unhook the trailer & I'm parked close enough to a curb that I'd have to move the trailer to do it. Plus, I'm not familiar with the sand conditions to know if it is soft enough to need to air down the tires, and there is no nearby air compressor to air them back up. I do have a 12V compressor, but it would take forever to refill the truck tires.

After the walk I found most of the sand well packed, so I probably would have had no problems driving the beach. There are soft spots, but they can be avoided. Some more photos and today's site photo at today's LakeshoreImages page.

I read for the rest of the afternoon, finishing a really bad adventure book - The House of Wolves, by Matt Bronleewe. While reading many adventure novelists after a well written book like Blackberry Wine usually makes the writing of the adventure novel look worse than it really is, I have to say this one is pretty bad. I feel that if I start a book, I owe it to the author to finish, but I just made it through this one. The warning I ignored was all the praise for the book was by other authors. With the exception of first novels, if there isn't a couple of real review quotes, it is usually a bad sign.

It is early for dinner, but I wanted to post this while there was still sun on the solar panels. If the wind dies down it will be a grilled chicken thigh & a Knoor's Rice & Pasta Blend with Cheese & Broccoli. If it doesn't, it will be soup on the inside stove.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 25, Thursday, November 24, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 5

Thursday, November 24, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 5, 0 Miles, 2,105.1 Miles For the Trip

Happy Thanksgiving, at least to fellow Americans (the Canadians had theirs on October 10th). Since our Thanksgiving pot luck was yesterday, today doesn't quite feel like Thanksgiving. When I'm home, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I usually cook a 18 - 25 pound Plainville (an "open range", non injected, used to be locally raised) turkey with all the fixings.  We usually had relatives plus a student or two that couldn't get home for the holiday over for the day.  I did get a Skype call from my daughter & the grandkids, which was nice.

I checked with the office to see if there were any cancellations for the weekend, but no such luck, at least for Friday. Since I have to move out of site 47 by 1:00, I'll probably move to the dry camping area until Sunday, when I move into site 26. It has been interesting playing Musical Campsites! If something opens up tomorrow, the office staff said they would stop by.

About all I did today was take a shower, and finished Joanna Harris's Blackberry Wine an excellent book. She is the author of the more popular Chocolat, which was made into a popular 2001 movie.

It was warm enough to sit outside and read, but windy enough that I finally gave up and moved inside the trailer.

Dinner was HEB's Chicken Tortilla soup, something I could cook inside out of the wind. A bit spicier than I expected, but OK. No photos today.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 24, Wednesday, November 23, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 4

A "Tree"

Wednesday, November 23, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 4, 0 Miles, 2105.1 Miles For the Trip

A quiet morning. I took my pie over to the pot luck dinner around 11:30, figuring I could help set up, but everything was already done. The park staff put the dinner together as well as supplying the turkey & ham, and did a great job. The rest of us brought sides and desserts. Like most pot lucks, there was plenty for all. An additional perk - one of the staff offered to clean my pie pan & pie server. If you have ever seen a pie pan after a blueberry pie you will understand how much I appreciate the effort. While I could have done it in the trailer, carrying a messy pie pan back would have been a pain, and it turns my gray tank purple!

I spent part of the afternoon talking with a couple that are here in an Airstream from Tuscon, AZ, then went back to the trailer, read a few blogs & forums, and a little of my book. No photos today, so I used one of the tree from yesterday.

Dinner was an Amy Burrito.

Until Tomorrow -