Cousin and pet

I stopped in Dallas to visit my cousins. This is Jhett with his labradoodle named Creed.

Arbuckle Mountains in Oklahoma

On the way back from Kansas one drives through a small mountain range (about 35 by 10 miles)in about 10 mintues. The Arbuckle Mountains are an ancient mountain range in south-central Oklahoma. The strong dipping and buckling of the terrain (called an anticline)can be seen in the roadcuts.

Kansas

These are the Flint Hills of east-central Kansas.....the largest region of native Tallgrass prairie remaining in North America.

I went to visit Brock's mother, Beverly, who lives in Leavenworth, Kansas on the Missouri River.

Laura and her first pie

Well making pies seems to run in the family..HA! Here is Laura making her first pie by herself...she made the crust from scratch...in the end it was a lemon meringue pie.

Missin the Baja

I was missin the Baja so I comforted myself by playing with some seashell fragments that I picked up on our little beach. A blend of a narwhal and a trigger fish....there are no narwhals in Bahia Concepcion as they are only found in the Arctic region, but I had to do something with that pointy shell...HA!

Recommended Book

I feel like I need to post about this book. I have given it to 6 people....4 have read it and those 4 have all quit!! They are grateful!! This same author has written one for drinking (which I finished last night) and one for losing weight. It's not fair to try to tell you in 10 words or less about the EasyWay, but basically it goes at it from a psychological view, giving the MIND the knowledge and taking away the desire! Easy to read, big font...If any of my friends in Mexico would like a copy, please let me know and I will bring you one!

L'auberge du Lac Casino

Though I still have lots of relatives here we decided to stay at the newest hotel/casino in town, L'auberge du Lac (french for "barge by the lake"). It's hard to believe this place is in Lake Charles! Fancy, fancy. It's a strange architecture. Due to the state gameing regulation for Riverboat Gambling, the actual gaming space must be on water. So instead of a boat it is actually a huge barge moored in the water. You can't tell when you cross over from the 21 story, land-based hotel onto the "floating" casino floor.

This is the view from our room looking south.

My Hometown

Lake Charles, Louisiana on the Calcasieu River, 30 miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico. It's a deep-water port for the refineries.
I visited our old house as the girls still stable the horses here when visiting the area. This was my dream house that I was lucky to design and build when I was 30 years old, made mostly out of cypress. The crawfish ponds are behind the house...yes, we were crawfish farmers for over 10 years! Now my dreamhouse is the palapa. Funny how we change!

Barrel Race

Tonight we traveled to Crosby, Texas for Bonnie to compete in a PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association) barrel race. She won 2nd place with a 16.73 seconds time! She is riding Sunny, her best horse at the moment! This is my first attempt to put a video on this blog..so lets see...

Texas Water Safari

Known as the world's toughest canoe/kayak race! From the headwaters of the San Marcos River to the Gulf of Mexico.....Imagine rowing 262 miles! There are many obstacles...one of the first is the dam where I am camping...the first team to arrive is a 6 man team from Belize in a 30 foot custom canoe! Everyone has their own method of portaging around this dam....they are equipped for the trip as the only thing they can take on is water and ice....the record time has been 29 hours....you have to finish in 100 hours...only about half will finish....logjams, snakes, fatigue, hallucinations are all part of the experience!

Camping on San Marcos River

I am fortunate to be able to camp on a friends ranch only 2 miles from the headwaters of the lovely San Marcos River. I have been camping here for about 34 years now. They are like my extended family!

This dam, built in 1906 for electric power generation, is on the property.I swim above the dam in the deep, clear, slow moving water (essentialy a lake). Years past, I was swimming almost 3/4 mile every day here, but due to recent rains, the river is full and faster moving, so I'm not going as far.

Broken Spoke

One of the nice things about being back in Austin, Texas is access to great live music! Here is a long time friend, Lucky Tomblin and Band performing at a honky tonk dance hall...the Broken Spoke....what a fun place to dance and a FUN band to dance to! They play there the first Wednesday night of the month.

As a surprise guest appearance was Marsha Ball...a great musician from my parts of Louisiana!

Hog Bay

Laura and her friend Russell took me to an event in a south Texas town (can't disclose where to protect the guilty!)....they both raise dogs for hog hunting (wild hogs are a major nuisance around here, destroying crops and killing animals)...but tonight only Russell was entering one of his dogs "Compadre". Now this contest consisted of putting a hog in a round pen about 50 feet in diameter. Enters the dog....the dog is scored on how well it keeps the hog "at bay" by barking and staying close...points taken off for looking away or turning away, backing off too far, etc. Out of the 4 different events that night, Compadre won 3 with perfect scores every time!....trophies and about $350 hard cash later we headed home! Truly this is a serious redneck event! But I have to admit I had fun and the people were real friendly. Notice the full moon!