Our temperatures here in northern Arkansas are about 20 degrees above normal; yesterday, the high was 83 degrees, and about the same today.  We’ve had more birds at our place this year than at any time since 2005, the year after we relocated here, including more tufted titmice.  Today, we’ve observed cardinals, gold finches, Carolina chickadees, blue jays, tufted titmice, red-bellied woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers, and purple finches.


Our visit to the National Butterfly Center the Rio Grande Valley of Texas a couple of weeks ago has heightened our interest in and awareness of butterflies, and we’ve seen several species the last couple of days.  Regrettably, they are flitting around so fast it’s impossible to study them, let alone photograph them.
We are so excited about seeing all the birds that Kay put our a hummingbird feeder, hoping to see our first hummingbird of the year in the next few days.
We have a group of 11 deer that visit the deer/turkey feeders and about a dozen turkeys, though as many as a couple of dozen have visited infrequently; the toms will be strutting before long, if not already.  Also, the wildflowers are beginning to bloom, and our next blog entry will have some photographs of wildflowers.

DATE: Wednesday, March 7, 2012

TIME: 10:45 AM TO 12:30 PM

WEATHER: High 60s, mostly cloudy, strong breeze

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ol’ Charlie’s

FLIES USED: #18 olive Norfork River scud, #20 red/silver zebra midge, #16 green caddis

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

HATCHES: Midges, caddis

OTHER: I fished solo. After moderate success a couple of days ago, tried the small scud and red/silver zebra midge combination, and had immediate success, though I again missed fish, but not as many as on Monday.  I fished my way downstream, then switched to the right channel and caught a couple of small fish in the skinny water near Ol’ Charlie’s.  Switching channels again, I fished across from Ol’ Charlie’s, saw a few caddis coming off, and immediately tied on a #16 green-bodied caddis.  Only one fish hit the dry fly, but it was indeed exciting to catch a fish on top.  Working upstream with the caddis, the fish showed little interest.  Almost back to where I started, I notices a pair of bald eagles flying down the river, in a near mating pattern.  They flew low and close, past me, and on downstream.  It’s always exciting to see our national symbol in their natural setting; it’s such a shame that most fishers missed seeing them.

DATE: Monday, March 5, 2012

TIME: 2:15 PM TO 4:30 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-50s, mostly sunny, strong breeze

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ol’ Charlie’s

FLIES USED: #18 olive Norfork River scud, #14 gray Norfork River scud, #20 red/silver zebra midge, #20 olive cockleburr

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

HATCHES: Midges, caddis

OTHER: I fished solo.  This was my first time on the water since January 4; Kay and I spent the winter in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, enjoying the warm weather, and just returned yesterday.  Waiting for wadable water, I monitored the US Army Corps of Engineers telephone message center to know when to “suit up”, and the recording kept indicating that the Norfork River had two generators on.  We opted to go into town for lunch, groceries, and deer and bird feed.  As we drove by the access, we noted that the river was low, so once again, the Corps voice message center was wrong again as generation ceased at 10 AM.  There is no excuse for this, but we’ve found an alternate method of checking water levels, knowing we can no longer depend on the reliability of the Corps!

Upon our return home from town, I finally made it into the water at 2 PM, and began getting hits immediately.  I missed the first couple of fish, then hooked up and landed a couple.  And then, I missed several more, including a couple of nice fish.  Fish were rising to midge hatch despite the wind, so I switched to a cockleburr and caught a few fish.  About 3 PM, a good caddis hatch began, and fish were keying on the caddis. I had taken the caddis box out of the vest for winter, and had not replaced it, so the cockleburr remained the fly of choice.  I did see one trout chase a skating caddis several feet before nailing it—a joy to see.  I ended the day with about a dozen fish, including this nicely colored 14-inch cutthroat.  I should have caught more, but missed at least a dozen and a half more.  

It was cold this morning, at least for us.  Leaving the Rio Grande Valley with 90 degree temperatures , and then getting up a couple of days later with 37 degrees is a bit of a contrast.  We departed about 8 AM, and were immensely disappointed in US Highway 67, north of Jacksonville, Arkansas.  The surface has deteriorated significantly, and beat the heck out of us most of the way to our turn-off at Bald Knob.  We experienced similar conditions on I-30 yesterday north of Malvern.  We had heard other RVers talk about the poor quality of Arkansas roads, and had to agree that they are among the worst we have ever traveled, including Alaska.  It’s both embarrassing and an outrage, considering the taxes we pay.  If I were king, there would be absolutely no new construction until existing roads were brought up to decent standards.

We arrived home about 11:30 AM, once again to find our place big and open, particularly after 7 1/2 weeks in the motorhome; we are so blessed to have the best of both worlds!  We made quick work of unhooking the Honda, unloading it, dumping the tanks in the motorhome, and parking it back in its place.  We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking; Kay may have taken too many clothes, as evidenced by these HUGE bags, about 2 cubic feet each, of drawer stuff alone, not including the closet.

It’s really good to be home, but we’re both sad as we had a really great trip, and met lots of really nice people.  We’ll have to settle back into a more quiet pace here at home, and a more hectic routine with church, quartet, and other activities.

Anxious to get to central Arkansas to see new grandson, Ridge, we tried to depart early, but it was 8 AM before we actually got away.  There was a yapping dog next to us, about 75 yards away, that started yapping at 6 AM, and didn’t shut up until about 7 AM.  Don’t get me wrong, we love dogs, but this was ridiculous.  Even with my hearing loss, it was pretty bad!

We arrived at Maumelle Campground, a US Army Corps of Engineers facility, got a site (sloping downhill), set up, and had lunch.

Our site at Maumelle Park, Little Rock, AR

An then, the time we had been waiting for; we were off to see Ridge.  He had grown a bunch in the 6 weeks since we last saw him, getting taller and seemingly thinner.  He could hold his head up, and grinned a lot.  He’s a fine young man.  I took a brief leave of absence to shop at Sam’s Club for some food necessities at home, and it was a mad house.  All the checkout lines were 4 or five deep, and they had even opened the jewelry counter cash register for those with under 10 items.  A fill up of gasoline in the Honda was followed by a much needed car wash, then it was back to the motorhome for some minor repairs; the mirror on the bedroom door closet had come off the track.  I drove back to Kay’s daughter’s house and spent the rest of the evening playing with Ridge, enticing a few giggles out of him,  He is such a pleasant baby.

Tomorrow, we head for home.

We had another long driving day, 332 miles from La Grange, Texas, to Rocky Point Campground at Wright-Patman Lake near Atlanta, Texas.  It was uneventful and pleasant driving for the most part.  We did find heavily concentrated traffic signals in four cities, including Palestine, Jacksonville, Henderson, and Marshall.  Not only were there plenty of signals, but their cycling time was short, and there was not very much time from the yellow to the red light.  We’ll look for an alternate route next time, and will spend our money elsewhere.

At Rocky Point Campground, we were able to get a 50-amp site overlooking the lake.  With a slight breeze, we could hear the water lapping at the shoreline.  Kay loves sunsets, and enjoyed a great one on the shore of Wright-Patman Lake.  What a way to end the day.

Readying for our return trip north was a simple matter—morning coffee, a lite breakfast, unhooking the water and electricity, bringing in the slides, retracting the jacks, and hooking up the Honda.

Everything was going just great, that is, until the auxiliary brake in the Honda locked up, and the Honda began skidding as we towed it behind us.  This happened just a half mile before the border check station. We quickly stopped, surveyed the damage—all four tires had flat spots from the skid and were ruined for practical purposes, unhooked the auxiliary brake, and took off towards Victoria, Texas, the nearest town with a tire store.  At Victoria, we checked Sam’s Club, but they did not have the right size, but a tire store across the highway did.  We debated whether we could limp to Little Rock or not, and decided to buy new tires there in Victoria.  What had happened was that the auxiliary brake works on a pendulum and when it detects a significant change in forward motion, the pendulum reacts to cause a piston attached to the brake pedal to push in.  The Honda is peculiar in that the engine must be completely shut down to remove the vacuum in the brake line, and the anti-skid feature does not work when the car is in “Accessory” position—a double whammy.  I had installed the BrakeBuddy while the car was running—another requirement is that the Honda has to be shifted through its gears and then allowed to idle for 3 minutes—there is nothing in the owner’s manuals that say to make sure the engine is complete shut down before installing the auxiliary brake.  Another lesson learned the hard way.

With new tires we continued north to Colorado Landing RV and Trailer Park in La Grange, Texas, where we stayed on our 2nd night on the trip down to the Valley.  The trees had budded since we last stayed there, but otherwise, not much had changed.  We ate dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant and it was very good.  We watched television to end the day.

I spent this morning getting everything ready for the trip home:  breaking down the bicycle, dumping the tanks, stowing chairs and grill and tables, and checking the oil and kicking the tires.

This afternoon, Kay and I squeezed in a couple of hours of pool time, in 90 degree temperatures, and one last palapa party.

Fellow retired US Army Corps of Engineers civilian and premier birder, Jerry, and his wife, Karen, came by to wish us farewell, as did Al and his wife from Canada.  Gosh, folks have been so friendly down here.  It is a sad evening indeed.

February 2012, despite having 29 days, has proved to have far too few days for enjoying the Rio Grande Valley. We didn’t get to do all of what we wanted, partly because of the extensive rain, partly because we didn’t have enough time, and partly because we wanted to do too many things. Consequently, there was no fishing, no kayaking, no pontoon boating, only one dance lesson and one evening of dancing, not enough birding, and not enough bicycling. But, we had a great time, anyway!

Tomorrow, we join some 60 other RVs leaving for home, but some 40 more will show up here at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort to take our place.  This is a busy place! 

Happy birthday, brother-in-law Gerald.

There was no rain bouncing off the roof this morning when we woke up, a good sign.  Admittedly, we kind of slept late, but…

There are several things we wanted to do during our stay in the Valley this winter, but some are not going to happen.  With high winds predicted today, it does not make for good birding or butterfly watching.  Nevertheless, Quinta Mazatlan awaited.  It is an old 1930s adobe estate built by a very politically conservative publisher who was also quite a conservationist—and not, that is not an oxymoron.  It was given to the State of Texas, is managed very much like a state park, and in addition to the beautiful adobe house, is know for its gardens—especially cacti, birds, and butterflies.  There were also many animal sculptures on the grounds, and they fit into the environment quite nicely.

We didn’t see many butterflies because of the wind, but enjoyed watching the birds, though we had seen most of the species before.  We did get to see the white-winged dove, a new bird for us, though there were no hummingbirds to be found; we have not seen any hummingbirds down here in the Valley this winter!  Wonder if they all stayed north?

Back at the RV park, the pool looked pretty inviting, and we only have a couple of days left to take advantage of it.  Back home, it will be mid-May at the earliest before Norfork Lake warms up enough to swim.  We spent an hour or so there, then Kay was off to buy fruit and vegetables from the “Vegetable Man”.

Our last big palapa party was this afternoon, and was both a joyous and sad affair.  We exchanged calling cards, gave and received invitations to visit, and had a pretty good feast.  The center pieces of the food were platters of butter tarts made by Lorna, from Croton, Ontario.  These had walnuts and raisins, and were similar to pecan tarts (miniature pies) here in the US.  Kay said they were very good.  Lorna had to borrow corn syrup from another Canadian neighbor as US corn syrup is too thin.  It is quite interesting to note the subtle differences in things made or produced in Canada versus those made or produced in the US. 

Tomorrow, lots of folks will be packing for the trip north, many uprooting from their winter home of several months.  For us, with all the storage in the new motorhome, it will be a pretty easy affair.  Until then.

We have 3 full days left in the Valley, and now it’s rush, rush, rush to get most of the activities done that we set out to do.  Paring down the list to fit the time was difficult, but we are opting to do some things close by:  American Butterfly Association headquarters and gardens, Quinta Mazatlan estate, and watching the parrots roost in Mission.  Today is butterfly day.

With morning rain, there weren’t too many butterflies around, but the rain abated just before lunch and the forecast was for partly sunny skies from about 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM.  We drove to Walmart to buy a gazing ball for our backyard at home, and diverted to a highly recommended tamale place to purchase tamales for lunch; the tamales were excellent!  Tomorrow, they are $10 for two dozen, so we may stock up for home.

The butterfly center is just a hop, skip, and jump from Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort.  There were only a couple other people there.  We had taken some Repel “Natural” insect repellent, and liberally applied it before we began exploring the butterfly park.  The mosquitos ate us up, and really liked the Repel “Natural” insect repellent; it didn’t work.  Wanting to also get in some pool and spa time before evening, we returned to the motorhome searching for some real insect repellent as an expedient, but apparently left it at home.  When you’re packing in freezing temperatures, it’s hard to remember that there may be bugs where you’re going.  So, we were off to Walgreen’s for some Deep Woods Off.  And then, it was back to the butterfly gardens.  There were so many species of butterflies that it was overwhelming.  It will take a while to associate names with pictures.  Anyway, here are a few photos, and many more are posted on our web album.

Back at the RV park, we moved to the pool and spa and had a refreshing swim and soak. 

The palapa gathering was an extended one; lots of pre-goodbyes as most are leaving Thursday, and others soon after.  Canadians can only stay in the US up to 6 months in a one year period; otherwise their income is significantly taxed by the US.  Also, there are insurance costs as most Canadians have to take out a supplemental policy for coverage in the US.  It’s complicated, but almost identical to our “new” healthcare laws!

Tomorrow is our next-to-last full day here in the Valley, before departing home.