January 7, 2015 Palmetto Island State Park canoe trail, Louisiana

Beautiful sunny, high 50’s day.

John leaving Eagle Lake. The palmettos are the green shrubs by the water with the palm tree like leaves.

Rushes and live oak trees line the trail here. We rounded the corner and the trail is chocked with floating mats of non native noxious water hyacinth and duck weed. John had to break a trail through them. They slow you down and wrap around your paddle and make going tough.

Top photo is water hyacinth and duck weed. The duck weed is the tiny green leaves, the hyacinth have floats in the stems. The bottom photo is another water plant. John checking out a weird looking cypress tree.

 

Right before the Vermillion river there is a water weir, or dam. This is what the tannin colored swamp water looks like when it is white water.  John paddling below Spanish moss.

This huge armadillo was on the bank, it ignored me until I could almost touch it, then it ran off.  We also saw  a red cardinal, but I was not fast enough to get a photo. John saw a nutria, they are large rodents that were introduced for their skins.

 

Beautifully sunny and green. We were the only ones out. John paddling under a tree.

Me following close behind.  Mackerel sky –high wind clouds in the afternoon.

 

Oh yah, beware of alligators. There were none out, they are reptiles and it is too cold for them. They hibernate in the mud. They only eat things small enough to swallow , they don’t chew their food. They don’t bother adults, they actually see us a predators and usually slip into the water and disappear when they hear us or see us. You leave them alone, they leave you alone.

January 6, 2015 Pleasure Point to Palmetto Island, Louisiana

 

 

The almost full moon setting in sunrise at   Pleasure Point  on Toledo Bend Reservoir was breath taking.

 

Mist rising off the lake when the sun hit it by the fishing pier . First light on the point.

    

Frost on the acorns, oak  leaves and pine and cypress needles. When we entered Cajun country we past rice patties, downtown Eunice with the Rice theatre, where the First Savior Church meets and the Louisiana Rice Mill.

 

Then sugar cane fields. We got caught in traffic behind the sugar cane harvesters.Their huge vehicles were covered with mud and cane. Below that is a crawfish farms. Rice, cane, crawfish and seafood are the main industries in this area. You know you are in southern Louisiana when you wee Piggly Wiggly and Winn Dixie grocery stores and houses up on stilts for flooding.

We made it to Palmetto Island State Park.  Here is the bus in our camp spot. Electric and water hookups and large spots. We took a nice hike on the nature trail. 70 degrees and sunny. Very nice.

 

  Evangeline lake and the comfort stations with free washer and dryers, bathrooms and showers.

  

A twisted tree, one of three armadillos we saw, frosty oak leaf and greenery from Pleasure point this am, back lit ferns, a fungus/mushroom thing, pine cones and a heart shaped hole in an oak tree.

January 3-5, 2014, Camp Tonkawa Springs, Texas to Pleasure Point, Louisiana

 

Dense fog and rain for too many days in a row. But today the sun finally came out and it was in the high 40’s. Sunset was lovely. Here it is reflected in the window of the bus.

Sunset behind the tall pine trees and hardwoods.

‘Wolf’ full moon rising in the clouds. Next day we headed to Louisiana. On the way through Center, Texas-which is not in the center of Texas, but on the eastern edge - we saw Tyson Chicken refinery-as John called it. Chickens on their way to Tyson and lots of chicken ranches.

Between the chicken ranches we saw green live oaks, tons of tree farms. A lot of the south is tree farms for paper mills and logging.  We crossed the border over the Toledo Bend Reservoir on the the Sabine River. It is a huge lake, about 60 miles long. We are now camped at Pleasure Point Park, Louisiana .

Right on the lake. Hardly any one else is here. Lots of RV’s, but no people. It costs about $150 a month, plus electricity to stay here. Either people come out on weekends or are just storing their RV’s here for the winter for summer use.  Great deal.  We hiked around the campground, which is also huge for the afternoon. It was so nice to see the sun, and it was in the 50’s.

Afternoon light in the trees. The bus is in the second shot in front of John. On the lake, by ourselves.

The swim beach is out our front door.

   

Along the edge of the lake are bald cypress, with the buttressed trunks. Behind them is a pine forest.

  

Sunset on the lake was lovely. A great blue heron posing for me in the sunset. We also saw egrets and tons of coots. After dark we heard owls. 

We would love to stay here longer, but my house just went on the market and there have been about 15 showings in three days and a bunch of offers. The realtor is taking bids till Weds, so we have to go somewhere where we have internet and cell phone so we can decide which to accept. Then all we have to do is wait till closing and we are done with the responsibility of one of the sticks and brick houses.

December 30, 2014 -January 1, 2015 Nacogdoches, Texas

It has been cloudy , cold and raining. The temps stayed around 37 plus or minus. Good reason to stay inside to nap, read and relax. John cooked red sauce one day, simmered it all day and green chili the next. Good soup weather.

Moon in oak branches. We had tacos al pastor for lunch at  The Taquerita in town.

  

Back at camp this is one of the fallow  deer at the RV park. I walked around the perimeter of the park. The runoff  from the spring running through the  hickory, beech  and oak trees.

 

It has been raining for about 24 hours on the new year. Soon we will have lake front property. We almost parked in the flooded spot, but it was too skinny, so we went to where we are. Good move.

The deer are bedded down for the storm. The sika are across the road from the fallows.