Alpaca and Donkey Farm

As it turns out, the Spring Branch RV Resort is not a campground. It is an Alpaca and Donkey farm/ranch with a few campsites.

The local property tax rates are much lower on "agricultural land" than "developed land". Hence the owner of the RV Resort raises Alpacas and donkeys on about 20 undeveloped acres behind the RV Resort.

Here's proof:

Most of the herd.

A cute one!

Miss Inquisitive.

Everyone's heard of the two headed donkey -- here's the two bodied donkey head!

The Alpaca's are shorn (past participle of shear, I looked it up!) of their wool every once in a while and it is sold to yarn makers. The donkeys just help keep the Alpacas calm and look cute. The income from the wool just about offsets the cost of the feed for the herd. There are no sales of offspring as all the Alpacas in this herd are female. I'm told that the males are just too cantankerous and disruptive to have around, kind of like teenagers.

That's it for today's economic, tax, and animal husbandry class.

More later!

MMG and DDG

The Wildseed Farms

Today we visited The Wildseed Farms located a few miles from Fredericksburg, TX.

Later in the year, there will be acres of wildflowers in bloom, but today was too early in the season for the usual spectacular show. You can see some pictures of the fields in blossom by clicking on the above link.

The Fredericksburg link will give you an interesting history lesson!

Wildseed Farms did have a few plants in blossom, including one of my all-time favorites, the Passion Flower Vine, Passiflora caerulea, or "Waterloo Blue".

You can get more information on the Passion Flower Vine here: http://www.perennialfarm.com/whatdowegrow/floweringvines.html. Scroll down toward the end of the page.

Just for contrast, here's a picture of a common local cactus blossom:


On the way back from Fredericksburg we passed by a llama farm. While we didn't have time to stop, the number and variety of llamas we saw in the pastures made us put the farm down as a "must visit" another time.

We'll stay on here in Spring Branch a few more days as guests of our friends Ned and Lorna Reiter on the "buddy pad" on their estate.

We'll be moving on west then -- promise!

MMG and DDG

The Long Trailer

How long can a travel trailer be? We don't know, but this one paced off at a little over 50 feet!


Any volunteers to drive the tow vehicle with this hooked on behind in today's 30-35 MPH winds? Without the wind?

Whew!!!!

MMG and DDG

Big 4 Tractor Revival

Those of you who were with us via email on our Fall 2005 trip may remember the pictures of this tractor which we discovered at the Frontier Museum in Monticello, UT, a little way south of Moab, UT, the gateway to Arches National Park.

Click on the picture for a larger picture to read the stats.

One of our fellow Rally-ites, Larry Miller, an urban tree specialist for the Texas Forestry Service, happens also to be an antique tractor afficianado. When I told him about the Big 4 he became excited and asked for pictures.

After he received the pictures, Larry did a little research and sent the following link to me. It seems the Monticello folks did indeed succeed in their quest to rehab this old tractor and get it in running order! More power to them!

http://www.sjrnews.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&widget=full_story&content_instance_id=98055&open

Small world!

MMG and DDG

Learning the Local Customs

Today, on a visit to the Canyon Lake Dam, a huge earthen dam hundreds of feet high and what appears to be at least 1/2 mile long, http://www.canyonlakeguide.com/helpful_info/dam.htm, we had our local cultural lesson.

What to wear when your Daddy is taking you to the top of the Canyon Lake Dam to help you fly your kite:

Note especially the sunglasses and the boots!

Later!

MMG and DDG

San Antonio Tourists

We became typical tourists today. After spending most of the morning taking care of a few necessary chores, a group of Rally-ites traveled to downtown San Antonio for lunch in the revolving restaurant in the top of the Tower of the Americas.

Tower of the Americas

After lunch we all had a pleasant stroll along the famous San Antonio River Walk.
Click on the above link to see some pictures of the River Walk that are a lot better than ours!

As we walked along the River Walk we kept seeing the steeple of a church up at street level and decided to check it out. Imagine our surprise to find that this Catholic church, St. Josephs, was built in the 1860's by a community of German Catholics! This will be particularly interesting to our friends the Alonsos of Bamburg, Germany.

We then headed back to the campground for more socialization over adult beverages and snacks.

Almost forgot! We went outside about 9:05 tonight and were able to see the International Space Station traverse the sky overhead! A first for us!

Stay Happy!

MMG and DDG

Made it Safely to The Rally

For the map fans, west from Schulenburg on I-10 to I-410 north (west on the signs) to US281 north about 30 miles to Spring Branch.

Nice weather. Sunny and about 75 with more of the same predicted.

Got the motorhome washed at the Blue Beacon Truck Wash in San Antonio, getting rid of the mud and salt residue we picked up running around the NC mountains in the rain last week. We normally wash the motorhome ourselves, but really didn't have the time or place here (and I worry about MMG up on the ladder since she fell off last Fall).

The Bluebonnets were in evidence again today, sometimes being joined by Indian Paintbrushes.

We arrived around noon. Other attendees came in during the afternoon. After some visiting and catching up, we went to the local gourmet restaurant for some BBQ and trimmings. Yum-Yum!


We'll be "at home" here for the next couple of weeks. Will continue to keep you updated on our activities, but perhaps not everyday.......

MMG and DDG