March 2005: From Icy Atlanta to the Battered Gulf Shores
to Wildflowers in Texas, and Much, Much More

31 March 2005: Morning clouds gave way to mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's. We took a drive toward the Gulf passing through Seadrift and Port O'Connor. New wildflowers are blooming daily and several new photos were added to the Spring Flowers in Texas Gallery.

30 March 2005: Hot, hot, hot! Temperatures reached 94 F. This is not hot for southern Texas where 90's are normal temperatures for the summer and temperatures in the 100's are common, but it's NOT summer yet. The humidity is also very high. Tom stayed inside in the RV where both air conditioners ran most of the day. Cooler temperatures are expected for the rest of the week. I ran errands including shopping for western boots for my favorite cowgirls, TJ and Rosie, and favorite cowboy, Peyton. Your cowpoke boots will be in the mail soon, Kids! This RV park is filling-up. It seems lots of folks have come to see the wildflowers.

29 March 2005: The Feathered Friends Gallery was getting large, so I separated the photos into Backyard Birds and Water Birds.

29 March 2005: I've been taking photos of flowers growing here in the RV park. The best have been uploaded to the Spring Flowers in Texas Gallery, previously titled "Wildflowers in Texas." I changed the title because I have included some flowers that are not "wild," but are still enhancing spring with their beauty. The banana tree flowers are novel to me and very interesting. The weather is still warm with temperatures in the 70's F, but windy.

26 March 2005: This afternoon, we drove to Port Lavaca, an old fishing village that has seen better times. We spent a few hours in the bird sanctuary at the Formosa Wetlands and I photographed some egrets and other wading birds. New photos have been uploaded to our Feathered Friends Gallery and our Texas Wildflowers Gallery. I still have some identifications to make and some captions to write, but the best photos of the latest batches are there. Thunderstorms came in the night bringing rain, pounding hail, and strong winds causing restless sleep for both of us. I think that we will both need to take long naps with Sadie this afternoon.

22 March 2005: We arrived in Victoria, Texas, where we will stay for a month at the Lazy Longhorn RV Park. We plan to take lots of day trips to enjoy the spring wildflowers and the Texas coastline. The weather is sunny and again it was near 80 F in the late afternoon. On our trek this morning, we passed the Houston skyline which was quite impressive. It reminded me a bit of the Frankfurt skyline. Billboards invite us to eat beef and buy boots.

21 March 2005: We drove into Texas today where the temperatures are rising reaching 80 F this afternoon! Most of the trees already have their young summer leaves and I saw orange paintbrush and yellow zinnias along the highways. Tonight's RV park has at least two purple martin houses and the inhabitants are building their spring nests in them.

20 March 2005: Today deserves its own story: Noise, a Wrinkle, Egrets, and Bumpety-Bump. More photos were uploaded to our Feathered Friends and Flowers galleries. The photos in the Fort Morgan gallery were moved to other galleries.

19 March 2005: We left Gulf Shores heading to Victoria, Texas. At our mid-point fuel and potty break, I decided to check on the cats. I searched in their cat condo and NO SADIE! I looked in the RV and NO SADIE! I told Tom and WE checked in the RV and NO SADIE! Just as we thought that we would have to drive back to Gulf Shores to look for her, I opened the closet door and she bounced out of the closet. We were very worried, but other than being a tad warm, she was fine. Darn cat!

Along the way today, we drove by, between, or over many wetlands. I saw several white egrets and, I believe, an armadillo on the side of the road. There are so many different colors of buds on the trees that it looks like fall in some places. The daffodils, tulips, azaleas, dogwoods, and some wildflowers are blooming. The temperature reached 77 F. Tom's sinuses are bothering him and I have an allergy-induced sore throat and ear ache. Welcome spring!

Our first over-night hitching post has narrow sites and is located near a local road which is a'buzzing with Saturday night traffic. We have two more overnight hitching posts before we settle into the Lazy Longhorn RV Park for a month in Victoria, TX. I am looking forward to visiting Cuero, TX, the wildflower capital of Texas and taking lots of macro-shots of wildflowers. I must practice getting "depth of field." Because there are numbers involved, my brain is resisting mastering this technical aspect of photography. If anyone out there can explain this to me in non-numerical terms, please email me.

18 March 2005: We took a drive out to Fort Morgan, AL. The ferry was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. While Tom explored the fort, I took photos of seabirds and wildflowers. You may view some of these photos at our Fort Morgan gallery. Nope, the photos in this gallery were moved to other galleries on 20 March 2005. You will find them in the Touring USA, Feathered Friends, and Flowers galleries.

17 March 2005:

15 March 2005: The spring rains have come to quench the thirst of the spring flowers.

13 March 2005: Beautiful, sunny, warm day! We took a long walk on the beach and both got slight sunburns because we forgot to use any sunscreen, duh?! Spring break has brought lots of young folks here to play on the beach. I took some photos and uploaded them in our Beach Scenes gallery.

12 March 2005: More photos were uploaded today in our Gulf Coastal Scenes gallery. We have been enjoying seafood at local restaurants that have re-opened: DeSoto's and Gulf Island Grill, both in Gulf Shores within walking distance of our campsite, and The Crap Trap in Perdido, FL. Perdido Beach was pummeled by Hurricane Ivan!

11 March 2005: We are just hanging out here in Gulf Shores, AL, enjoying the sunshine and early spring temperatures in the low 60's. Sadie had a medication bath and I had a deep tissue massage for my stiff shoulders. I had planned to walk along the beach today to take some photos but it's way too windy, maybe I'll do this over the weekend when the wind dies down and the temperature goes up.

04 March 2005: We have arrived in Gulf Shores, AL, on the Gulf of Mexico and I see palm trees! Many of the palm trees, as well as most of the properties along Beach Blvd., have been damaged or destroyed by last summer's hurricanes. Piles of boards, metal, furniture, appliances, concrete, and sand have been shoveled into empty lots. The boardwalk and pieces of the pier are gone and the beach parking lots have been washed away or are covered with deep sand. At least residents here had warning, unlike the victims of the tsunami.

There's much standing water here from recent rains so the mosquitos are a'buzzing, and warnings are posted: DO NOT FEED THE ALLIGATORS. We have to watch our cats carefully so that they don't become a tasty snack for those critters!

We are camping in Luxury RV Resort . This RV park is still recovering from the triple whammy of last summer's hurricanes when 6' of water flooded it. Further inland, the pink azalea bushes are in full bloom, but here closer to the ocean, most of the landscaping was washed out to sea.

We did enjoy a good seafood dinner at Mikee's which just recently re-opened after its entire front was destroyed by the last hurricane. The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm this weekend so I'll try to get a new photo of palm trees uploaded soon.

03 March 2005: One year ago today, we picked up our RV in Junction City, Kansas. What a difference a year makes! As we were preparing to leave Stone Mountain, GA, this morning, a pileated woodpecker and a bluebird stopped by to visit. See their "smug mugs" in our online gallery of Feathered Friends.

02 March 2005: We made some preparations for our departure tomorrow when we will finally be heading southwest again toward the Gulf of Mexico. In expectation of seeing real palm trees again, I even put down a new kitchen rug with palm trees on it! I also added some URLS to captions on the photos of birds in our Feathered Friends online gallery, just in case viewers want more information about them.

01 March 2005: March came in like a LION bringing sleet, snow, and ice here in Atlanta! For a few moments, it was snowing with the sun shining. Let's hope that March goes out like a lamb. I fed the birds then took some more photos of birds including photos of a chipping sparrow. You may view photos of our backyard birds in our online gallery of Feathered Friends.