Exploring in the Land Barge
27 January 2015 | Bayland Marina, Baytown, TX
Jill
Jamie told us her schedule would get gradually easier, but the second year and the first half of this year didn't seem any easier. Maybe we're getting close now because Bud and I were able to take off a week to come down to the boat. And as luck would have it, we managed to find a week of nice weather.
The first day we spent trying to work on things, but as usual (is that boat karma?), the part we ordered to hook the whisker pole to the mast when it's not in use was the wrong one. And of course the one we needed cost over twice as much as the one we had. Anyway, we rebedded a deck prism that was leaking and ordered the correct part and the jobs seemed done for at least a bit.
I talked Bud into a road trip. I found another wildlife refuge beyond Brazoria (that we had visited before) that had an auto trail, hiking trails and fishing. Off we went to San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. The photo is the land barge on the road to the fishing area. Did I say land barge? The road was actually very solid, it was built to have a bit of water wash over it; there were square concrete "logs" laid across the gravel road under the water. Bud caught no fish. The water in the slough where he was fishing was rushing by and half the floating dock was covered with mud, as if it had been recently flooded. Bud talked to a local who said he'd had so much rain at his place that his landscape timbers floated up. He said he'd never seen so much water in this park. Matey and I found the water, too. We walked one trail that started with a boardwalk. There was supposed to be another mile or so of trail beyond that but it was impassable. We tried a second trail, and because it was only a half-mile long I persevered, but my feet were wet and Matey's legs were wet and muddy by the end of it.
We took the auto trail and saw some birds (migration time for songbirds is in April) and an alligator. I got a good picture of the alligator out the car window. Then we found the trail to the Texas champion Live Oak, and I persuaded Bud to hike it with Matey and me. It was a beautiful trail. We hurried along because it was after 4 and we didn't want to be out there at dusk. The ground was churned up everywhere by the wild pigs and the trail was covered in pig tracks. I thought they were deer tracks, but Bud set me straight. Anyway, Bud took a picture of Matey and me by the tree. Both pictures are in the photo album
It's early Tuesday morning; we got here Friday. If the wind is still out of the west so Bud can't varnish, I may get him to do more exploring. Sailing is unlikely this trip. First, with the wind as it's been all the water in the bay is out in the gulf and we're sitting in 6 and-a-half feet of water at the dock, which means we won't have enough water to get out the channel. Second, without a good reason to sail, it's just not worth it. It takes at least 45 minutes to ready the boat to sail and another 45 to tidy it back up when we return. Add in an hour down the ship channel (and another hour back) to get to a place where you can sail, and unless we have a strong motivation we just aren't going to do it. Taking friends out sailing is a strong motivation, so as spring comes with the persistent southeast winds, anyone who can should come on down and we'll go out.