Marty's Travels

My house has wheels

South Padre

I'm not real fond of South Padre Island, it's fairly tacky and rather boring. But it has some excellent birding spots; the newish Birding Center is a great place to see the dramatic stuff up close, and there's always something a little different to see there. This was the first time I've seen the town, a lot of condos and hotels, without any hurricane damage being visible. In fact, this was the first trip I've been on the Gulf Coast with no...

Sun!

While it's still cold and windy, the clouds left and the sun came out today. After four days of almost complete overcast, my batteries were drawn down to the 50% level. This has happened to me a few times in the past, but this was a good experience to see how the AGMs perform. Thanks to my LED lighting, I lived entirely normally and was very pleased to get the four days. Now the next phase of my experiment begins. How long does it take for my...

Cold and Windy

This is the time of year that I have to watch my solar battery-charging system. Short days and low sun angle mean I rely more on the stored power in the batteries, which isn't an issue when the days are sunny. But it's been very dark here lately, and though I get a bit of charging from the daylight hours, my batteries are slowly dropping. I'll let them drop as an experiment; since I'm plugged into AC I can turn on the converter to charge them if...

Storm

The heat and humidity were getting to me this morning, but I knew a cold front was coming today. Weather forecasters predicted the warm and the cold would meet tonight at about 8 PM; my solar panels quit working at 2:30 and the street lights came on. So much for light, possibly for days. And so much for forecasters. Lots of rain, lightning, and community power drops. The pisser is that the brunt of the storm, the exact line, is directly over me....

Harlingen, TX

It's been hot and very humid lately, but by tomorrow night there will finally be a storm and things will cool down. Considerably. The next week or so will be much more like Seattle in winter. I'm paid up for a month. I like this location because it's within easy striking distance of the world bird centers, and is not too far from the beach. There are unlimited BBQ and Mexican food places, and the HEB grocery is nearby. As a bonus, a...

Cannabis in Washington and Colorado

My interest in this subject was that I felt I had a possible investment opportunity, depending on how the rules for legal pot rolled out. I abandoned that idea when I saw that the risk factors exceeded my taste. But I still follow what is going on out of curiosity. On Monday Washington state began accepting applications for cannabis businesses (grow, process, sell). Washington requires everyone involved to begin from scratch, while Colorado...

Port Aransas

I went up to Port A today to visit the city's Birding Center, always a good spot to see interesting birds. That's where I learned about the city's big project to make the adjoining marshlands into a very large refuge. They're providing access, parking, boardwalks, paths, fishing access, and pleasant water-side walking paths. Big project, and it will be very handsome when complete, which will be soon. It looks like Port A is going full-in on the...

Plans

The tide this evening will not encroach on my parking place, being a good several inches low. I'm always a bit confused about tides on the Gulf: where I come from tides are measured in feet, several in some cases, but the Gulf measures it in inches. Nonetheless, a "high" tide of 8 inches can cover a lot of land. Anyway, up on Mustang Island where I really wanted to camp out and do some beach driving, it's a different story. Mustang is lower than...

North Padre National Seashore

I headed from Goose Island to Padre Island, one of my favorite places. No need to go through Corpus as there's a free ferry across the channel at Port Aransas. I prefer parking at Bird Island Basin, a dry-camp spot (free) overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, rather then the campground on the Gulf side. The campground costs some money, has no real services, and is now mostly asphalt which is miserable when it gets hot. Not to mention the noise...

Cold, now warm

There were two days when some arctic air came through, and with a brisk breeze it was nasty out there. But today it's back to warm, so I took a run through Aransas wildlife refuge. Very quiet there birding-wise. The best birding has been here at Goose Island, as I was able to sit in my warm house and watch birds drop in and out. And if you can't find the whoopers at Aransas, there's always a pair or three at Eighth Street next to the state park....

Goose Island State Park

This is one of my most favorite places to park. Right on the water, next to Aransas and the whooping cranes, and near Rockport. While I plan on being here for several days, the weather will be a bit unsettled at times. Breezy right now, tomorrow will be quite cool, then warming up and possible thunderstorms.

Choke Canyon State Park

My friends Mark and Renita enjoy this park a lot, and I'd driven past it a few times planning on visiting sometime. They like it for the kayaking and birding, and I can see why. Nice place. Before I got settled in I spotted some caracara, green jays, and golden-fronted woodpeckers. One of my neighbors is an armadillo. So I guess I'm in South Texas. Remarkable is the number of insects, the variety. And in numbers the butterflies which are...