Heading to the river

The pond - late afternoon. Mallards swim across the placid water. Earlier rain has pushed the pond out of its banks.

The cricket frogs are singing their song at the pond while two lightning bugs call for mates with their periodic glow. Real lightning is flickering too – first from the southwest and now in the north. The thunder is a mere rumble in the distance.  It could just as easily be an 18-wheeler on the state highway just 100 feet or so from our porch. But the thunder answers the lightning, so we now recognize it for what it is – a promise.

Every now and again we have a quick shower. It is not enough to make a difference in the river, those few drops, but each time we say, “Maybe it is raining in the watershed. Maybe the river will come up, just a bit.”* We went inside to read and review our day.

We drove into the hills today, a spur of the moment trip. Taking our time, we stopped when we wanted. I talked DH into stopping at a new-to-us surplus store in the middle of nowhere. The big sign said, “OPEN.” Only after we stopped did we see  the smaller sign indicating they were closed (in spite of the operating hours which clearly stated they should have been open). We looked through all the windows and scoped out the front contents, noting it would be worth a trip back.

“You know why I suggested we stop?” I asked. “Sure,” replied DH. He knew I was giving him the first stop, so I would be able to call for one later in the trip.**

An hour or so later we saw the sign for Round Mountain. We have been stopping for peaches in Round Mountain for 30 years or more. We stopped again today and the new owner (who is now the old owner***) suggested we sample a peach before we made a purchase. She was right. The peaches were juicy, but flavorless.

“It’s all the rain,” she said. We haven’t had enough sun for the peaches to develop their sugars. If we get some sun soon, the next couple of varieties should be alright.” [Pray for a little sun!]

We chatted a bit and I bought some ice cream (It was fine - I guess because you add sugar when you make ice cream.). Then we loaded up again for the last half of the drive.

Peach ice cream

It takes a good four hours to get to the river. And we always stop for lunch (and always the same place). We always fill up the tank just before we head out to the desolate part of the drive. There are no service stations or anything else much, but cactus and exotic animal ranches, (or so it seems).

While we do those traditional things (stop for peaches, lunch at the Mexican restaurant, fill up at the Shell on the corner, say goodbye to cell phone reception) this was still a very different drive today. The countryside was lush from all the rains.  The pastures are a hundred shades of green and the wildflowers bloom, as I have never seen.****

The time for bluebonnets and paintbrushes is over. Now the gaillardia hold sway. The roadsides are golden with these firewheels , coreopsis, Mexican hats, green threads and those  wonderful little yellow composites that no one takes the time to identify. Of course others sneak in or paint an area here and there. Thistles are still blooming, as are their spineless “cousin” the basket flower. Blue sage blooms along fence lines. Deep purple wine cups float above the rest. The horse mint  is starting to send its dark mauve spikes up through the grasses. Were I driving on my own I would have stopped over and over to pick flowers and take photos. As it was, I would save "my stop" for later.

Wild verbena and white asters (or something like that).

Gaillardia, tickseed, and prickly pear. [These and more wildflower photos will be gathered in a separate post]

Much of the prickly pear has already bloomed, although there are still lemon and peach-colored blossoms to be found. Agarita bushes are heavy with their tiny red fruit.*****

Some stretches of roadside have been mowed, but most are still, well, it is hard to describe how thick they bloomed. The best example I can give involved our turn off of one highway and onto another. It is a “T” intersection with grassy medians. We almost missed it because the medians were so full of wildflowers that we could not see that this was our turn.

It was early afternoon when we arrived at the river, but the office was already closed. Still “off-season” and there was no reason to keep the office open for the few of us who were to take advantage of the calm before the Memorial Day holiday storm (little did I know that there would be a terrible storm over the Memorial Day weekend). The season starts in two days. But we don’t want to be here with the crowds. There are only three groups here so far this week. We are up by the office. There is a multi-generation family camping along the river. And there is a group at our screened shelter.******

Rains brought drift wood. More recent rains have washed this down river now.

One of the big trees in the swimming area lost a limb.

Limb still rests on the ground.

Another view of the limb.

Some erosion of the bank and pooled water.

Reports indicate this tree moved down river in the most recent rain (5-23-15). I went under the right side getting in and over the middle getting out.

Second set of rapids.

Looking down towards cliff.

We took a short walk down the trail.

For BH.

We found poison ivy and decided to skip the trail and get in the river.

Switchgrass

Looking up river. Efforts to create channels in drier years are the only rocks posing something of a hazard (climbing over or tubing around - I ran into any close to the surface).

Looking up river

DH wading around looking for fish.

I told DH that he needed to skip some stones as he had the best choice of rocks - no one had used all the "good skippers" yet.

Hello! Who are these guys? These geese wandered around the rocky area across the river each day. They swam in the river at night. We suspect someone is missing some geese from their farm.

These spiders were everywhere in the rocky area across the river (I know. So don't go over there.).

DH sat and let the fish come to him.

The fish did come to him. There were 14 to 20 "black ear" perch checking out the dude with the weird shoes.

Looking WAY up river.

Blue-eyed grass growing on the bank.

We checked out the low water crossings and the swimming area. We walked along the river almost to the cliff. Then we hurried back to change into our swimsuits so we could shiver in the cold water, fight the current, skip some stones, pick up some rocks for swimming necklaces, and investigate the piles of driftwood.

It is the highest we have seen the river in years. That is one of the reasons we are here - to tube with abandon. But we are also here to escape and to practice “spur of the moment” behavior. I am not so sure we are or will be any good at spontaneity.

<Oh! More thunder…>

We did drive out at dusk to see what wildlife we could find. DH stopped for me to take pictures and/or pick wildflowers to add to the bouquet we are building in our kitchenette.

We added flowers all through our stay.

We almost made friends with the goats at one spot. They were lounging on the road with their llama guard as I walked to the gate (protected only by a cattle guard). They saw me and seemed to have mistaken me for someone they knew (their owner, perhaps, coming to feed them). Rising as one, they came trotting down the road to greet me. At least one had a bell that clanked louder and louder as they approached.

The goats and llama were coming for me. I "beat feet" back to the car.

Water at one side of Rio Frio low water crossing.

The water was moving fast and deep enough to start right here.

Our dinner in town ended as the first of the showers came and we headed home to sit on the porch and enjoy this place we love.

Sunset over the pond.

I have almost finished writing this and DH is sleeping now. 

I am going back to the porch, to sit in the dark and listen to the rain.

NOTES:

*Only 3 days after this post thunderstorms hit the river with more than 4 inches of rain. There has been flooding. Low water crossings have been closed for days. People have been evacuated. There is a fine line between enough rain to make the river "floatable" and chaos.

**Maybe we have been together too long. There are few surprises. We know each other.

***The Smith Brothers owned the orchard when we first started stopping to buy peaches from under their pole barn. The tin roof was painted “PEACHES” and we could not resist. A daughter, Jenkins inherited the farm. Ms Jenkins sold it to the woman who now focuses on her lavender she raises on her family farm (she has lavender products at the peach stand, hence her presence for our conversation today). She has sold the peach orchard to the new folks who are getting a slow start with this overly wet year. We talked about being “land rich” and how strange and difficult the estate tax has been over the past 10 or 15 years – impossible to plan, get a good accountant.

****I forgot to bring a wildflower book (so much for spontaneity) and so I will do my best to identify what I see. Some I know. Some I only think I know. Some I will guess. In the end I will review everything when we are home and I can research in the books or on my “go to” wildflower websites.

*****We will be visiting friends in a few days and harvesting agarita on their property unless we are “rained out.”

******It is “our” screened shelter because it is the one where we used to stay some 45 years ago (back when we camped). We were at the top of the hill, just across from where our friends camped – just up from Buffalo Creek. I have to laugh because, by the time we left for home. Few folks had arrived, but our shelter and favorite cabin were occupied.

Cabin where we like to stay when more of the family is with us.

Screened shelters on the hill. We stayed in the one occupied here. Our friends stayed in the one between ours and Buffalo Creek.