Red rocks, red rocks, and more red rocks. Absolutely beautiful! We hiked another 8 1/2 miles each of the last two days. My feet need a break!

Early, before the sweatshirt came off.

We crossed this same creek seven times on this hike!

After seeing four bison when we first checked in, we expected that we would see a lot more. We didn't. In 25+ miles of hiking in the last three days, we did not see any more animals other than birds. I suspect the animals are laying low after the recent hunt for Aoudads and wild boar. We saw evidence of animals, tracks and scat, but no actual beasts.We didn't even pass any other humans!

Fake bison herd at the Discovery Center

We saw a lot of this wildlife since their colony is right next to the restrooms! He looks like he is praying. 😀

It is very dry here. In fact, they are near breaking a record for the longest period with no rain. The record was set in 1902 at 115 days, and they are now at 110 with no rain in sight. We are using a lot of lotion to keep our skin from flaking off. Also dealing with concrete boogers and rubber cement snot! TMI?
We are moving on to another park this morning. It's supposed to be 70 degrees today. It may be a day of sitting outside and hiding my beer. No public display of alcohol in Texas parks!

1/27 Started out on a six mile hike today, but with all of our detours, it turned into 9 miles! It is impossible to show the immensity of the landscape in pictures but we keep trying. The red rock formations are gorgeous, as are the plains. We walked for several hours and never ran into a single animal or human on the trails!

The trail

We thought this was petrified wood but after reading decided that it may be gypsum.

The long road back to camp.

Deep trail. Denny thinks they used a front end loader to make the trails.

This is the horse camp. At this point, we were wishing we had a horse!

After a long day of driving we arrived at our intended campground, only to find it closed! We had to find an RV park in town and return the next day. The town was Quitaque. Can you pronounce that? No worries, they tell you how on the way into town!

I’m pretty sure that is NOT the Spanish pronunciation!

While waiting for the campground to open, we walked part (5 miles) of the 64 mile long Caprock Trailway, a rails-to-trails trailway. Apparently, along the trail is where old vehicles go to rest. It was very long and straight, and we found a lot of old railroad spikes.

We finally checked into the campground at 2:00 and after setting up camp decided to go take a shower. But we found these guys guarding the showers and dumpsters, so decided to wait a while! They were huge! They seemed bigger than the bison we had seen before. The literature said they were great plains bison and 6 feet tall at the shoulder and 2000 lbs. Plus, they looked kind of grumpy!

On the other side of the restrooms is a prairie dog town. They are so cute and fun to watch! They squeak and whistle warnings whenever anyone gets close and then they shake their tales and all dive into their holes.

At last, we got our first glimpse of the canyon! Actual hiking will have to wait until tomorrow. It was warm here today but a cold front is going through tonight so hiking will be a bit chillier.  No sweating!

At Lake Mineral Wells State Park, we were right across from a stream leading into the lake. Kismet went on a walk and didn’t seem to mind the leash at all. She was intrigued by all the smells down by the water. She even enjoyed watching the deer through the windshield!

We went on our first really long walk (9 miles!) and saw many deer, water birds, vultures, hundreds of armadillos (or close), and found 5 geo-caches. The lake is a dammed up river and we got to drive across the spillway to get to the campgrounds.

Kismet got her second subcutaneous fluid treatment. She was much less cooperative this time, which I think means she is feeling better. I remember saying that the one thing I never wanted to be was a nurse! I can’t believe I’m even able to poke her with a needle! Denny says it’s because I can’t actually see it go in because of her fur. Note the hanging IV bag, just like in the hospital. 😃

On our way out of town we stopped to do laundry at the Laumdronat, and yes, that it how it was spelled.

It was very interesting as it was also a laundry museum so there were antique items to look at while waiting.

I'm not sure if Texas doesn't like Verizon or Verizon doesn't like Texas but we are having great difficulty with coverage so will be off grid for the next several days. No cell service or Wi-Fi in Caprock Canyon.

We're finally in Texas! Sunny, breezy and low 60s. Not bad for hiking!  We are camped at Caddo Lake State Park whose claim to fame is that it is the only natural lake in Texas. Feels more like a Louisiana Bayou to us Michigan folks! And, even in these temperatures, we have encountered a few mosquitoes. Wouldn't want to camp here in the summer!

Lighted fishing pier and cypress trees

Texas has the worst signage for trails of any state parks that we have been in! When we went for a hike and got lost, we found a giant copper spider (geocache) just hanging around!  We're off today for another park further west. Just a short 1-2 day stop on our way to the park where we really want to be.

                             

We landed in Chicot State Park in northwestern Louisiana. Lovely park, bathrooms need to be updated but otherwise beautiful. Lots of swampy areas here, so I am thinking that this is the time of the year to be here. I bet summer camping is consumed with mosquito swatting!
As you can see, Louisianans are all home tending to their pipes that burst in the recent freeze!

Seeing that we were all alone, the vultures started roosting in the trees around us!

 

We fooled them and kept moving.😛

 

There is an arboretum and many lovely hiking trails. We got a good start on our geocaching with 7 finds to date!

Nothing like a walk in the woods in shirtsleeves! Moving on to Texas this morning where we intended to be a week ago!

Last night was the last night of freezing temperatures! Time to move on and resume our intended itinerary! Yesterday was clear, sunny and 45 degrees. So, we were able to get out and walk. It was so nice to be out and about that we walked 7 miles. My knees are complaining about not getting slowly used to walking again, but otherwise it felt so good! Kismet never moved off the dashboard the whole time we were gone. She loves sleeping in the sun!🌞

The deer occupied the adjacent site. I wonder if they paid?

The storm fooled us and headed a bit deeper south. We landed at Fontainebleau State Park right outside of New Orleans and set up after dark. The next morning was windy and 30s, so we bundled up and checked out the area. The park is on the north coast of Lake Pontchartrain, and the breeze off the lake sent the wind chill tumbling. Even us hardy northerners were cold!
Nevertheless, we managed a few miles and a few pictures before retreating to the warmth of the motor home.

Beautiful, large old Live Oak. Note that I am standing at the base for perspective. Zoom in...I'm there in my hoodie!

Dead Live Oak, oxymoron?

Live Oak trailing on the ground

After experiencing the wind on the pier, we retreated to an inland trail to escape the gusts.

You can just see the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway if you zoom in. At 23 miles in length, it is the longest continuous bridge over water in the world.

Inland hiking trail

No snow or ice the first day, but on the second morning we woke up to this:




 Of course, the news was about nothing but the weather since this is nearly unheard of. The roads are covered in ice, so we plan to stay a couple more days until we can drive safely.













The second full day included even less walking and a trip to PetsMart to find something our failing kitty will eat. Success! Denny stayed in the RV with Kismet while I shopped. And Kismet took a nap in her bed in the sun on the dashboard. I think she rather likes RVing and not having to share our attention!

So much for leaving the cold behind! Day 2 (Memphis) found us in a hotel...again. We have always felt it was warm enough to de-winterize and camp by our second day on the road. The polar vortex has dipped to the deep south. Plans were to leave Memphis and head west...until we checked the weather and saw the huge storm we would be driving into. So, we headed straight south and have landed in New Orleans where it is predicted to be cold but not the ice and snow that was predicted for Texas. We will stay here for a couple of days until the storm has headed north and reasonable temps return.
Kismet has proven to be a great traveler. She wasn't eating though, but that has improved after a round of "kitty dialysis " which I did yesterday. She's eating and drinking today, yay!

Kismet happily asleep on the hotel bed.