The rig was visible from the state park we stayed at in Balmorhea, Texas. The mountains in the background are the Davis Mountains, mostly volcanic in origin. The Apache Mountains over the horizon by a dozen more miles, is reportedly the surface expression of the limestone rock I imagine this rig is targeting with its drill bit.
Hard to imagine that this picture was taken in the middle of a dry and otherwise desolate location in West Texas.
The pic of the snake I caught about twenty feet behind our cabin in the State Park we stayed at. The stream was a concrete stream that was fed by the water coming off of the Freakishly Large Pool the park is built around, and leads to the nearby desert swamp. Several biologists were doing some bio-hunting, and had caught one snake, and spotted and tried to corral this one, but I was on the right side of the little stream and asked for and was tossed the official snake catching net. (No, it's just a net.)
Camera in one hand, net in the other, all it took was one attempt with the net and ... nothing but snake! (see, it's like "nothing but net" only the other way around...)
Held by the female biologist.
Taken at Lost Maples State Natural Area.
This one was taken about six miles into an 11 mile dead end road. The canyon got a good bit tighter as the trip went, but it was pretty difficult to take one picture to take all that in. Some of the best canyon pics are taken from a distance.
For full size image (1400 pixels wide uncropped, 0.9Meg in size!) click here
Google Maps location link for where we were when I took the pic
Hi, everybody! Made it back! Did you miss me?
What? That's so sweet of you to think that!
For those of you not paying attention, I've been gone for the last week on a vacation that has been long overdue. I was looking forward to a break, and even though I didn't shower my lovely spouse with praise for planning the getaway, I'd like to rectify that now by apologizing publicly to her for dragging me off to some remote location for some really nice rest and relaxation. I'm sorry, sweetie. I had a great time, and this vacation made me appreciate me and you as a couple and it took me some large amount of hours alone in the car with you to figure that out. Many miles. Many things done, many things accomplished.
How many things? Well, it's not like I was keeping track or anything, so what follows is merely an estimate of how I measured this last week's journey...
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Lowest Elevation: 122 ft, otherwise known as Home Sweet Home
Highest Elevation: 6776 ft, near the top of Mount Locke, home of the McDonald Observatory
Number of different motel rooms occupied: 2
Number of motel rooms stayed in I would recommend to a friend: 0
Number of motel rooms stayed in so creepy I would recommend be used in the next PSYCHO remake: 1
Number of Texas State Parks (SP) visited: 4
Breakdown / Reason for visit
Lost Maples State Natural Area- To see the if the maple trees had changed color yet. They hadn't.
Balmorhea SP- To stay three nights at quaint motel with a freakishly large swimming pool. With a desert swamp.
Davis Mountains SP- To see the scenic view
South Llano River SP- To use the bathroom
Total miles traveled: About 1400
Total miles traveled back and forth and back again in the middle of nowhere, trying to find roads Google Maps said were there that really weren't: About 20
Flattened animal sightings:
Deer: 3
Skunk 5
Opossum: 3
Dog: 3
Coyote: 1
Flattened bugs on front of Ford Focus: infinity minus fifteen
Live animal sightings by car:
Deer: Approximately 12
Cattle loose next to road: 1
Wild pig standing in the middle of the road: 1
Tarantulas loose on road: 1
Tarantulas loose around freakishly large swimming pool: 1
Wild cat (formerly house) loose in State Park in severe need of brushing: 1, pure white
Freakishly Large Pool in Balmorhea State Park details:
Type: Spring fed, stocked with minnows, catfish and softshelled turtles
Temperature of water: 68-72degF year round
Acres covered by pool: Approximately 2
Deepest point: 25 feet
Volume: Approximately 4 million gallons
Time to fill empty pool: About 4.5 hours
Number of times Alison swam in pool she planned vacation around: 1
Number of times Walt swam in pool: 3
Number of times Walt's Left Nipple was bitten by hungry minnow thinking it was food: 2
Miscellaneous
Number of huge windmills visible from I-10: approximately 200
Number of water snakes captured behind motel room in state park: 1, blotched watersnake
Number of photographs taken: approximately 540
Percentage of photographs taken with improper white balance: 65%
Percentage of photographs taken that are of something besides rocks: 3%
Highest legal speed limit: 80 miles an hour, on I-10 beginning west of San Antonio
Average highway speed in that stretch: 77mph
Average miles per gallon: 30.3
Highest fuel price paid: $3.29/gal, Junction, Texas
Lowest fuel price paid: $2.19/gal, Eastern San Antonio, Texas
Number of Texas State Troopers seen on I-10 with 80 mile per hour speed limit: Zero
Number of times Walt was pulled over by Texas State Troopers when not on I-10: 2
Number of expired driver's licenses handed over to Texas State Troopers: 1
Number of non-expired driver's licenses handed over to Texas State Troopers after the Troopers started salivating over expired license: 1
Number of tickets/warnings issued by Texas State Troopers: 0/2
Number of Christmas cards Walt plans on sending to Troopers who pulled him over for ticky tacky offenses: 0
