On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

|Homepage| |Go to Daily Journal List|

02-13-2005 Rain Delay in Jasper, TX

Sunday, February 13, it started raining shortly after I got up and didn't quit until late afternoon. Our neighbors packed up and left around 11:30. Now we're the only people in this section of the park. Just after noon we drove into Jasper for a paper. We stopped at the office in a steady rain to pay for one more night. The maintenance guy who was filling in for lunch while the park ranger was out said to come back after 1:00. So we went on into town to get a paper. I ran through pouring rain to get a Sunday paper at Brookshire's Grocery. Their machine was empty but I did find a mailbox for my letters so all was not lost.

We tried the HEB across the street and I had to put seven precious quarters in the machine for a Houston Chronicle. Water was pouring in the machine from the top and the pile of papers was soggy. I chose the least wet copy on the bottom and ran back to the truck. We returned to the Park and found the ranger had returned. She checked us in for another night. I told her we saw a patch of blue on the way back from Jasper and she looked doubtful. So she pulled up the satellite weather on the Internet and was surprised to see the front had mostly passed us by. I asked her about Texas' pilot program for Wi-Fi in the State Parks. She looked astounded and hadn't heard a thing about it. We read it in the paper while we were in Austin, I think.

Back home I fired up the oven for The Two Fat Ladies Salmon, Brussels sprouts and a salad. The sun started to peek out as we watched the end of The Pebble Beach Golf Tournament. Phil Mickelson won by five strokes in a wire-to-wire victory. Around 5:00 we went for a 2-mile walk to the fishing pier and campsite on the peninsula adjacent to us. I took my first sunset picture with the new camera. Turned out okay considering the western sky was mostly clouds.My first Sunset picture, Steinhagen Lake, Jasper, TX

We met a guy in a small travel trailer from Ohio. He shut down his business and came south for one month to get some sun. He said he hasn't seen the sun one day on the whole trip. They're heading back to Ohio on Tuesday. They did the Riverwalk in San Antonio for three days and played some golf but they never saw the sun. He said he couldn't understand why southeast Texas was so economically depressed. He thought it would be a great place for resorts to spring up down here in this climate. He's clueless about the swamps of Louisiana and East Texas; from April through October it is hot, humid and mosquito infected. He was out talking to us in a T-shirt and shorts. Bob and I had sweatshirts and long pants on. You sure can tell who's from up north!

We walked back home to our lonely campsite on our very own cove and read the paper. I called Patti to see if she got over her recent bout of sickness. She sounded perky; like her usual self.

It's 10:07 p.m. and 61.4 degrees. I guess we'll be leaving in the morning.