Why Texas? Why Corpus Christi?

Morning sky in TX

After an outpouring of encouragement from our huge fan base demanding more posts about the exciting adventures of the Mosey'n Millers ......... OK, so one friend reminded me that I left her hanging and wanted more news. I am sitting down to write again.  But honestly, our lives aren't all that exciting at least compared to last winter. 

Our view of the lake from the campsite

You'll recall that last year the Mosey'n Millers traveled over 8,400 miles and saw 14 states on our winter adventure.  This winter we are trying an alternative.  We decided to come south to a warm place and just hang out.  Texas was our destination of choice because it offers such a wide variety of temperatures and settings.

Last winter we did a lot of “dry camping” (camping without electric, water or sewer hookups) because it is free or very low cost.  Unfortunately, there aren't too many places for that kind of camping until you get further west.  

As an alternative, we chose to do some work to cover the costs of our camping.  We became registered “Volunteers” in the Texas Parks and Wildlife system.  So in exchange for 25 hours of work that Darlene & I do, we get a campsite with hookups for free.
  

Using this model, we have become “Winter Texans” for January & February here at Lake Corpus Christi State Park and for the month of March at Pedernales Falls State Park. In April we will see what the weather is doing “up north” and start making travel plans to return to Indy.

One of the bobcats frequently see around the park

“So how's that working for you?” you ask. 

Well, we're liking it.  The travel model we used last year involved a lot of driving, buying fuel, setup & take down, etc.  It's really nice not to have to do all that every few days.  The down-side, of course, is that you're NOT seeing new sights every few days.  But we have our bikes to ride on the park roads, kayaks to paddle on the lake, there are trails to hike, fish to be caught, and new friends from all over the US and Canada to be enjoyed.  God is good and life is enjoyable.



And about the “work” we do as volunteers; it's not hard and it's a welcome break from all that relaxing & loafing.  The first couple weeks we were here I worked with another volunteer grooming trails in the park.  That was a prickly job, literally. Much of the brush and many of the branches that needed to be trimmed sported thorns.  Ouch!

My first job at LCC

After that project ran it's course, I was assigned to the picnic table detail.  The picnic tables in the campsites and day use areas all had wooden tops and seats.  New aluminum tops and seats were acquired and need to be installed. My job is to bring the old tables out of the park to the maintenance barn, exchange wood parts for aluminum, and return the finished tables to the park. Darlene or another volunteer help me.  We do this job Monday through Wednesday and another team does the same thing Friday through Sunday. Thus, I work 7 hours/day for 3 days and get 4 off.  If you do the math that's 21 hours and we need to volunteer for 25 hours.  Darlene makes up those 4 hours refilling the bird feeders in the bird viewing area and other odd jobs around the park.

Long fishing pier gets heavy use

Strong winds brought whitecaps on the lake

Crappie among several other species

All in all, we are really enjoying this “work” arrangement. The staff at LCC are great people. The park has plenty to offer. And the weather is WAY better than we would experience at home.  







From here we are are planning day trips to much of south Texas that is within about a 2 hour drive.  But those will be the subjects of other posts from us Mosey'n Millers.  All Ya'all come back often.  I promise to get better at posting more frequently.

Texas leaf-cutter ants harvest leaves to create mold underground.
They go up & down the tree by the thousands!!