In October of 2001, we took on a report development project at the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp in Austin Texas.

After leaving the "little" truck on consignment in Rhode Island, we drove through a total of fourteen states, pretty much took our time, and landed at Emma Long park (also known as City Park) on the beautiful outskirts of Austin.

Here's some photos of the park.

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In Mid-November of 2001, we found what we suspect will be our "home" campground for the rest of the winter and perhaps into the Spring. It's located on Lake Travis and has some very pretty views.

And speaking of views, here's a view out our RV's rear window. No, not on Lake Travis but down on the Gulf of Mexico at Mustang Island State Park, outside of Corpus Christi.

We would like to show you a multitude of pictures of our getting 27,000 lbs of all our "stuff" in the whole wide world, hopelessly mired in the flour-like sand of Mustang Island beach. But... we'll spare you that pain. Instead, here's a couple more of Mustand Island.

And here's a shot onboard the ferry at Port Aransas, Texas. The RV on the right is not our's but is probably one of nine bajillion that the ferry operators have to try to deal with each day...

Alas, the job in Austin went away earlier than expected, so we went back to Emma Long Park for a while. Here's some shots from there:

We figured that since we weren't working and since the economy was SO bad, we might as well hit the road again and see what we might see. An online friend, Tory, had suggested "Squalor By the Sea" which was a beautiful boondocking spot, just outside of Galveston, and right on the Gulf. In spite of its name (Squalor hardly suits it!) it was indeed very pretty. It's a park run by the County (City?) which has been shut down. Still, you sure couldn't beat the price...

After "Squalor", we went back to Mustang Island for a couple of nights. Our site was right next to two young fellows who were licensed radio amateurs and who were tenting there but -- mostly -- spending the weekend working the world via Morse Code. Brought back a lot of memories of younger days.

Following the Mexican border for a couple of days, we finally landed at Falcon State Park. By asking for "primitive" sites, the Ranger suggested a loop/circle that proved to be just perfect for us. No neighbors, lots of coyotes, birds (we'd never seen or even HEARD of a "GreenJay" before...) and it was plesant enough that we stayed for a week. Here's some photos.

After Falcon, we were nosing around "town" (what little there was of it) and asked a local fellow about the county campground over there. Turns out that there are about fifty sites (pretty much overgrown but still wonderfully private) that were free. And, across the street, there was a large number of additional sites, which had water, and went for a buck twenty five a day, but only if the county employee happened on by, which he hadn't for a couple of months. We opted for the "expensive" sites at thirty five bucks a month! Here's some pix.

The next three shots were taken at Choke Canyon State Park in Texas. Can you believe that sunset? Choke Canyon had an immense variety of wildlife, including some really ugly black wild boars, complete with tusks. Byron was carrying two large catfish up from the reservoir when Leigh happened on by, on her bike, and yelled at him to STOP! NOW! She had spotted a boar and we both imagined (vividly) that he might well be thinking of Catfish (or worse) for supper...