2024-5-31 Bracken Bat Cave

 

Bracken Cave is the summer home to the largest colony of bats in the world. An estimated 17 million Mexican Free-tailed bats make their home here from March through October. This is basically a bat nursery where females come to have their babies and raise them. No males allowed here.

Bat Conservation Internation (BCI) owns about 1700 acres of land which they purchased beginning in 1991. They manage the site and are restoring the land to its original habitat.

We arrived at the gate to the property and had to wait until everyone on the guest list was there before we followed volunteers into the property. Once parked, we were allowed to walk some trails where there were some information booths set up about the area and bats. Did you know that saltpeter is extracted from bat guano. Saltpeter is a key element in making black powder or gun powder. Gathering of guano was going on back during the civil war.

There was a shaft inside of a covered area that goes into the bat cave. This is where they used to gather the guano. That hasn't occurred since about 2009 due to the possibility of spreading a fungus which causes the white nose syndrome that can wipe out bats.

The shaft is located in here. The guano was hauled out through here in 50 pound bags. In addition to saltpeter, guano is also used as fertilizer. The smell here was extremely strong.

This cactus paddle was naturally heart shaped not cut in any way.

Painting of the cave entrance.

This is the underground formation of the cave.

This is looking across the sunk in entrance to the cave. You can just see the benches on the other side where you actually sit to watch the bats.

A few candid warnings along the path.

Lots of info about the area also presented.

Interesting bugs near the ara overlooking the opening of the cave. One of the women in charge showed them to us ad told us all about them but I cannot remember the name. She said that they are few and only around for a short time.

Looking across at the cve opening.

This woman gave us a great presentation about the bats.

She said their wings are sort of like our fingers. This picture shows them much enlarged.

Did I mention that this is a nursery cave. only mothers and babies. The mothers go out to feed on moths in the fields every night at dusk and return at dawn. If a baby should fall from the ceiling or if the mother doesn't come back, the baby dies. And it begins.

With a slight whirring sound, the exodus begins.

With over 15 million bats, the exodus of mothers takes literally hours. We watched for an hour before heading out. It was a great experience.

2024-5-31 Morgan's High School Graduation

 Our granddaughter Morgan graduated from Byron Steele High School, Cibolo TX. It was a very early morning for us all as Morgan had to be in place at the Alamodome at 8 AM even though graduation didn't start until 9:30 AM and that is during morning rush hour. We all rode together and dropped her off. Then we went to a coffee shop for an hour. Quick photo at drop off.

Steele is a very big high school so lots of graduates but they had the process down pat.

Morgan graduated Summa Cum Laude even though she finished her senior year at Steele after coming from a very small high school in Brownwood. We are really proud of her. She was also a member of the National Honor Society.

Her high school principal is retiring at the end of this year. She hugged every single one of about 600 graduates.

That side of the Alamodome had the smallest crowd since viewing wasn't as good. There were a lot of people there for the graduates.

Proud Dad.

The Phipps family, Helen, Morgan, Steve, and Cameron. Cameron and Morgan's mother came for the graduation.

2024-05-10 TRR Rockport TX Rally

 Off to another rally at one of my favorite places in Rockport Texas. I've hosted quite a few rallies at Wilderness Oaks RV Park for two different rving groups and we always have a great time. 

We started the rally off on Monday afternoon at 4:00 PM with a big selection of cheeses and crackers put on by Jimmie Andrews, my co-host. After we all discussed what we wanted to do this week, most of us took off to The Shack Smokehouse Seafood for dinner.

We had about 13 members and 3 guests but it was one of those events were members came and went during the week. Since some members have been here several times while it was a first time for others, we often broke into small groups to do our sightseeing.

Some of us went to Goose Island State Park and the Big Tree.

The Fulton Mansion was a "must do" for several members who had never been there before. This house was so far ahead of it's time when it was built with running water to an upstairs bath and toilet.

Others had an interesting trip to the Maritime Museum. 

The pool at the park was very popular for cooling off. It's a salt water pool although we did smell some chlorine when we first arrived. when we checked with the office, they told us that they had to shock the pool with chlorine for a couple of days due to heavy humidity which turned the water slightly green.

Elaine brought along her propane firepit so one evening we all gathered around to roast hot dogs which were accompanied by chips and baked beans.

Most of us managed a stop by the Rookery park after Jimmie told us about it. We saw Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. It was pretty amazing. There is a huge colony here.

We have passed by this pile of oyster shells year after year and the size fluctuates. There was a sign showing that the shells were for sale. The business shucks oysters for people.

This weekend was a busy one for the Rockport-Fulton area. There was a huge Market Day in Rockport which many of us visited.

An then, the biggest event of all, the Babes on the Bay Fishing tournament.

This was the 25th annual Babes on the Bay tournament. There were 200 teams with anywhere from 1 to 4 women on each team, that's a lot of women! and our own Jimmie Andrews was in on the fun! this is the official team shirt.

She was in the tournament, and this was not her booth, lol.

We had dinner at Panjo's Pizza one night. It was great and popular dinner place with most of the group.

Another huge favorite was the Sausage gravy and Biscuits breakfast prepared by Elaine. It was delicious. She even made a couple gluten free biscuits for one of the guests.

Downtown Rockport is always a fun visit.

You can't see Rockport without seeing boats.

I almost forgot that one night we all gathered at my site to grill our dinners and then moved into the rally room to eat. We also played a lot of Mexican Train and Rummikub during the week.

Everyone wants to have their fill of seafood while here so we met at Paradise Key for lunch on Saturday. We saw so many boat trailers parked everywhere while the contestants were busy with Babes on the Bay. A few motored into Paradise Key and tied up for lunch.

All in all, it was a good rally and everyone left with plans to attend their next rally on their minds.