A tin cup or a gilded goblet, a hut or a castle, wobbly bicycles or a Bentley -- to wherever and by whatever means, my love, our journey is splendid, our cup is full.
On Sunday we finally arrived at Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge for our volunteer assignment. We’ll be here for the next two months, and although we’re just learning about the Refuge, we wanted to share our home at the Flying X Ranch.
As background, BCNWR was established in 1992 to protect the habitat of two endangered bird species – the Golden-cheeked Warbler and the Black-capped Vireo. It is made up of a number of tracts of land which have been purchased since the refuge was established. It currently contains approximately 20,000 acres, but its potential size (based on additional purchases) could approach 70,000 acres.
One of the earlier acquisitions of the Refuge was the 2000 acre Flying X Ranch, located just off FM 1184 approximately 10 miles south of Bertram, Texas (see map). From what we understand, it was originally acquired and built in the late 1960’s as a “Hill Country residence” by a family from Houston, and even included their own private airstrip. The main ranch house is approximately 4500 square feet and, although dated, is still in pretty good shape, and is used by researchers and other visitors to the refuge. It is located on the crest of a fairly significant ridge, and the 360 degree views of the Hill Country are awesome.
Our RV pad is located adjacent to the house, and we have access to all the facilities in the house. The only downsides are that the wind blows a bit up here (but that’s pretty welcome given the almost 100 degree heat), and that its about 20 miles from here to the Refuge headquarters. However, we have a been assigned a 4WD Blazer to use for all of our volunteer activities, so the Interior Department is taking care of our commute.
The other big advantage of this location is that its only about 20 miles south of our kids (and grandkids) in Liberty Hill. Since we only have to work 3 days a week, we’ll be able to spend plenty of time with our family.
Enough narrative – here are some pictures of our place (double-click on any of them to enlarge) :
The entrance gate to the Ranch
The ranch house, our Phaeton, and Texas skies
Hill Country views from the patio looking south
We’ve even got our own weather station
(station MTS899 on weatherunderground.com)
We’ll be posting more pictures of our family and the refuge as soon as we get settled in.
Its probably about time for another installment of what's happening, where we are, and what we're doing . . . . . some of it is generally according to plan, and some of it is a bit spur-of-the-moment -- but let's get to the specifics --
In late July, our good friends Ken and Muriel visited us, along with our cycling buddy Paul. Ken and Paul were meeting up to travel to Oregon, where Ken was crewing for Paul in the Race Across Oregon. Muriel stayed for the week while the guys were gone, and we had a great time showing her the area, and getting in some cycling.
Riding up Spearfish Canyon with Ken and Muriel
Relaxing at the campground in Spearfish
As far as the RAO race results, Paul finished third (behind two youngsters) at an outstanding 42 hours 36 minutes -- that's for 527 miles and 40,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain! Way to go, Paul!
We finished up our volunteer assignment at the D. C. Booth Historic Fish Hatchery in Spearfish at the end of July. We had plenty of time to get things all squared away, and took off for Montana on August 1, for our month of visiting and sightseeing.
We spent the first couple of days at my cousin Jimmy's ranch in Clyde Park, Montana, just north of Livingston, where my Dad's family is from. We had a great time with Jimmy and Joyce, and enjoyed their great hospitality. We also had a chance to get together with another cousin, John, who lives in Livingston, as well as just wandering around and seeing the sights.
Jimmy getting ready to head out to his hay fields
Our Phaeton at the Sarrazin Ranch campground
We'd made arrangements to take the motorhome in for service at the Freightliner dealer in Bozeman, which sounded like a good idea at the time, but the overall experience was not so good. Even though they are listed as a Freightliner Oasis dealership (meaning one who is specially equipped and trained to service motorhomes on Freightliner's chassis), they really aren't in that league, and their service prices and attitudes are outrageous. I've written a complaint letter to Freightliner, and all of you with motorhomes are warned in advance about these hoodlums!
We then wandered further west and north, doing some sightseeing in Helena and Butte, both of which were on our schedule. I had fun roaming around Carroll College in Helena, as I'd spent my freshman and half of my sophomore year there (long ago) and, of course, things had changed.
45 years ago this beautiful Helena mansion was Siena Hall, an off-campus dormitory where I lived for a year and a half. Its now been sold and is a private residence.
We also spent time in Butte, visiting Fr. Tom Haffey, who was a good friend of my uncle, Fr. Tom Fenlon, as well as seeing all the sights there -- including my Grandparent's house on Granite St., and many of the mining areas and museums. We also made a trip to the cemetery, to revisit the headstones of my Mom's family.
At lunch with Father Tom Haffey, Pastor of St. Anne's Parish in Butte, Mt.
My Uncle, Father Tom Fenlon, was a priest in western Montana for over 50 years. He transcended three generations, officiating at our wedding, my parent's wedding, and our son Brian's wedding.
One of the highlights of our Montana stay was meeting and visiting with Judith, Mandy's cousin who she had never met, but had been corresponding with on the Internet for the past several years. We all got together to take the boat trip through the Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri River, and to see nearby Mann Gulch (which was one of my "bucket list" items), where 13 Forest Service Smokejumpers perished in 1949 (see Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire). Afterward we drove up to Wolf Creek where Judith gave us a tour of her ranch -- which she has recently designated as part of a Conservation Easement -- what a day!
Mandy and Judith near Gates of the Mountains
Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri River
Mann Gulch, where the Smokejumpers died
We made it back to Bozeman by Saturday to participate in my cousin Brenda's 50th birthday party. On Sunday we got with them for a bike ride, some lunch, and a longer visit.
We also visited Mark's dad, my Uncle Bob, who is my Dad's last surviving sibling -- he is in a nursing home facility, and we're not sure if he recognized us, but it was great to see him.
After seeing Jimmy and Joyce for one last time (and also getting a chance to visit with his brother Leon and his wife Jean), we leisurely took off heading south toward Texas on the 17th. We got as far as Ft. Laramie, Wyoming when our plans took a bit of an unanticipated turn. . . . . .
We'd discovered a couple of motorhome items which needed work (specifically a slide seal issue), but we hadn't planned on going to the Tiffin Service facility in Red Bay, Alabama this fall -- nonetheless, since we had a couple of weeks, we discussed it and decided to high-tail it to Texas -- via Red Bay (it only added about 900 miles). We got up early Thursday and put the pedal to the metal, and headed toward the southeast. After seeing more of Nebraska and Missouri than I ever want to experience again, we made it to Red Bay on Saturday afternoon -- it's early in the season so we should be able to get into an "express service bay" to get the repairs done during this coming week. We might be a day or two late getting to our Texas volunteer assignment, but I think we've got some leeway there -- I guess we'll find out.
Anyway, all is well, except for the intense Alabama August heat and humidity -- but then that's just getting us in shape for September and October in central Texas, right?? Stay tuned to this blog -- and our Facebook pages -- and we'll keep you updated on our progress (or lack of it) as we journey west through Texas and back to Yuma for the winter.
We've now been here for a month, and have been able to take advantage of lots of activities which we had to bypass last year when we worked at Custer State Park. However, then we were working 40 hours/week, while here at D. C. Booth Hatchery we only do about 20 hours a week which gives us lots more time to get in our cycling, hiking, and sightseeing.
So . . . . here's a portfolio of the things we've been able to do in our first month here -- (double click on any of the pictures for a larger version . . . .)
* We climbed Harney Peak, which we tried to get to last year but ran out of time. Harney is in the Black Elk wilderness just north of Custer State Park, and is the highest point between the Rockies and the Pyrenees at 7244 feet. Our friends, Al and Claire slogged up with us -- we wanted to get this out of the way early in the summer, as this hike becomes mobbed by tourists (mostly ill-prepared) in July and August. As you can see there is a great lookout on the top which was constructed by the CCC in the 30's, and the whole granite summit is very interesting.
* We biked the first (and steepest) portion of the Mickelson Trail from Deadwood to Edgewood. We plan on trying to get the rest of this 109 mile rails-to-trails route done before we leave, but who knows. The challenge is we'll end up doing it twice, as we'll always have to backtrack to the car. In any event its a great ride, and allows us to get in some mountain biking.
* We visited Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, and hiked to the top of Mt. Roosevelt, just north of Deadwood. We were interested in both of these sites after watching the DVDs of the first and second season of the HBO series "Deadwood", and becoming intrigued by the story of Seth Bullock, Deadwood's sheriff.
They are doing some historical preservation work on the tower at the summit of Mt. Roosevelt, and it was interesting to see the labeling of the rocks so that they could be put back in the original sequence.
Bullock's gravestone at Mt. Moriah cemetery in Deadwood
* Journeyed just north of Spearfish to Belle Fourche, which has a great little museum as well as advertising that just north of town is the "geographical center of the United States" -- moved here from Kansas after the addition of Alaska and Hawaii.
* Visited the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum
* Fished in Spearfish Creek (just behind our campsite) as well as Cow Creek, just adjacent to the McNenny Fish Hatchery just outside of Spearfish.
* Cycled Spearfish Canyon, taking advantage of a wonderful shoulder, magnificent scenery, and a good gradual 1200 ft. elevation gain in 13 miles.
* Took in the Journey Museum in Rapid City
* We're working on getting our door awning fixed for the third time. Its currently at a local dealer getting the motor replaced with a "new and improved" unit. Our advice to anyone getting a motorhome would be to avoid the Carefree Marquis Automatic door awning, and opt for the manual crank-out version. The electric one has been a real POS.
We're also looking forward to having some guests later this month -- my brother Tom and his SO Trish will be dropping by for a day -- and our Yuma cycling friends Ken and Muriel will be here just a few days later. Muriel will be staying here for a week while Ken travels to Oregon to crew for our cycling buddy Paul, who will be doing a bike race across the state.
We'll be leaving the Black Hills on July 26th, heading for Montana and a month of wandering around that great state. We plan on seeing lots of places and visiting friends and relatives that we've been promising to see for ages. From there we'll be traveling to Texas for our next volunteer assignment at the Balcones Canyonlands NWR near Austin (also near the kids!)
Mid-May in Yuma can start to get pretty warm, so we scheduled our departure for points north on May 13. We got Mandy's doctor's visit in Phoenix out of the way on Friday, and continued up to the high country, arriving in Santa Fe a couple of days later. We had a good visit with my brother John, and then proceeded further north to Denver.
We had reservations for a week there at Cherry Creek State Park, where Mandy's sister Penny (and her husband Rex) are volunteers in the Campground Office. In addition to seeing them, we spent some time with my brother Tom, and his significant other Trish, as well as going to dinner with our good friends Oscar and Penny.
We also managed to squeeze in a couple of bike rides on Denver's bike trail system. Since we were at a rather centrally located area at Cherry Creek, we were able to take advantage of the trails and go on some pretty lengthy urban rides.
We left the Denver area on the 28th, and had a great drive north through unseasonable heat (95 degrees!) arriving at Hermosa, South Dakota, on the east side of Custer State Park, where we'd worked last summer. We had a great visit with our good friends Al and Claire, who are working there again this summer, before driving an additional 70 miles on Sunday the 30th to Spearfish, where we'll be for the next two months.
The campground at Spearfish is all that we'd hoped it to be -- we're on blacktop surrounded by grass (and we lucked out and got one of the larger campsites), the power and water are great, we have cable TV and free WiFi, and we back up to Spearfish Creek, which is a wonderful trout stream (I'm looking forward to getting my license and trying it out). In addition, our volunteer job at the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery (3 days on, 3 days off, 5 hour shifts) looks to be just what we wanted and expected -- and we've got great team members and a very capable supervisor.
Our place for June and July
Bike path and trout stream just outside the door . . . . life is good
The weather has been a bit unsettled, but we did manage to get in a couple of exploratory bike rides around town over the last several days, and also rode up Spearfish Canyon this morning. There are two bike shops in town, and we've already gotten information on organized rides here, which we look forward to joining. Looks like our two months here will be good!!
We're studying up for our first day of work tomorrow, and are looking forward to climbing Harney Peak on Sunday with Al and Claire -- we'd meant to get that done last year, but just got too busy -- so its first on the agenda this season.
More pictures and news later . . . . . .
Another report from Yuma -- fun is being had by all !! We've had a busy and productive winter season here this year, but the blog entries have suffered -- I'll try to catch up on our multiple activities over the past six weeks, and our plans as we head into our summer travel season.
We're continuing to have fun on our rides with our bicycle club around the Yuma area -- here is a sample of the rides and the good time that we're having in our little bicycling paradise --
The Yuma bike chicks stopping for a break at Starbucks / Subway
Out on an old abandoned bridge over the Gila River -- which was flowing pretty significantly
The Gila flowing across the road out in the Mohawk Valley east of Yuma -- one of our favorite riding areas
All ready for the start of the annual Tour de Yuma
Club member Mark B. in the top podium position as this year's winner of the Tour de Yuma
As I'd indicated in an earlier post, I took a trip to Seattle and Sequim in mid-March to see my Mother and get her taxes done. I had a great time seeing her, as well as my sister Margaret and her husband Charlie.
My Mom and sister Margaret
After my visit in Washington state, I flew back only as far as Denver, where I picked up the Mazda 4WD pickup we'd bought from my brother Tom in Boulder. Two days of (fortunately) uneventful driving got me back to Yuma, and we're enjoying having not only another vehicle, but one which we can more easily take out into the desert. When we leave here in May, we'll put it in our storage unit, and have it all ready for some adventures next season. We did get the chance to take it out on one of our monthly "full moon" desert potlucks, but any more exploring will have to wait for next season.
The moon just rising over one of our "full moon" potlucks
Shortly after getting back to Yuma, we took off on our trip to the Tucson area for some bike riding. About 16 members of the bike club went on the trip this year, and everyone had a great time enjoying the Tucson area. On one of our days there Mandy and I organized and led a 50 mile ride to the Colossal Cave area southeast of Tucson which worked out well -- I'd hoped to scout the whole route ahead of time as I drove back to Yuma from Denver, but only got a little bit of that accomplished in my rushed trip back. In any event, it didn't matter as we found a great route and had a wonderful day riding and sightseeing.
Relaxing at Colossal Cave just outside of Tucson
The next day split the riders -- some opting for the ride to the Sonoran Desert Musuem, while others tried their legs out on the Mt. Lemmon climb. Greg made it to the 18 mile marker at about 7000 feet, while most of the other stronger riders made it all the way to the ski area at 8700 feet (as a reference the climb starts at 2500 feet). Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the event, but would highly recommend this drive -- its very scenic with a beautiful road, great rock formations, and super views back into the Tucson valley. You travel from the hot desert environment all the way up to pine trees, forest cabins, and skiers (in season) -- all in all, a very unique trip. For cyclists, its one of the best climbing rides in the country.
Just last week we drove over to Phoenix for a three day visit with our good friends Mike and Dana, and to take care of Mandy's annual cardiologist visit. We did some great rides with Mike and Dana in the east valley /Queen Creek area of Phoenix, and had a great time in their pool and hot tub afterward. We'll be able to take advantage of their hospitality again just after the first of May, as we'll need to return for a couple of additional tests -- and will stay the weekend for a couple of bike rides.
As a side note, while we at Mike and Dana's, we got re-introduced to the Wii Fit. We'd been considering one for some time, but really hadn't had a chance to try out the new Wii Fit Plus software until our visit with them. Long story short, we are now enjoying our own Wii Fit Plus, and getting some good cross training from our cycling.
We're planning on closing things up here about the 14th of May and heading out for the summer. We will be busy between now and then with moving our lot items to our lot for next year (we'll be in the Los Amigos community, just on a different street). We have access to the lot now, and will be setting up the shed to store the items we don't put in storage. We still haven't found a lot to buy yet, but as long as we can keep renting in the same area, that's OK.
When we pull out we'll have a couple of weeks to get from here to Spearfish, so we'll be spending some time in Santa Fe visiting my brother (and biking at 7000 ft), as well as a week in the Denver area, seeing my brother, Mandy's sister and her husband, and other friends in the area. We'll also get a few motorhome recall items done at the Freightliner dealer in Albuquerque on the way -- and finally get to our volunteer job at D. C. Booth Fish Hatchery on the first of June. We'll be there for two months, roam around Montana during August, and then head to Texas for September and October, to volunteer at Balcones NWR just outside Austin (and just down the road from our kid's place in Liberty Hill).
We also wanted to share some of the beautiful cactus blooms that we're getting here this spring -- these are ones that are in our yard!
