Chicken Earl's

Wednesday January 27: Monday morning we awoke to no water – again. Thought the hose may have frozen, but it really did not get that cold over night. We soon discovered that the entire loop had no water (we did have a full tank so we could flush and wash) and figured that the problem was something more significant. About 9, we took a stroll to the shop and there we found the cause. The main water line where it crossed under the shop drive split sometime during the night. It took them until early afternoon to finally get it repaired.


Tom, one of the other volunteers stopped by about 10 to tell us that we would be working with him on painting some bath rooms. They have been re-habilitating the older ones and they need painting. There are three others that just need the trim touched up where they replaced the roofs. So we all met and looked over the job, gathered equipment and began painting after lunch on Monday. While painting and talking we decided to try “Chicken Earl’s” for dinner on Tuesday as it is famous around here for fried – now REAL fried chicken. Chicken Earl’s is nothing more that a kitchen in an old carnival food wagon like you would get elephant ears at the Randolph Fair. There are old tables/booth seats out in the open for you to sit on and it is surrounded by junk!

Tuesday we started about 9:30 and worked until noon before breaking for lunch. We heard on the radio that several volunteers were heading to Chicken Earl’s for lunch and that made us all anxious to try it. We finished up later than usual as Tom and Jon we doing the missed trim on one of bath houses so we did not head out until 5:30. We laughed about finding seating as we arrived and about all of the ‘stuff’ spread about. Imagine our shock when we walked to the window and were told, “sorry, we’re sold out.” They told us that during the off season (now) they buy and cook 150 pounds of chicken for Tuesday (that’s the only open day) and during the ‘season’ it’s 300 pounds. Now we have to wait until next week! It really must be something if they get by being open only one day a week.

This is Judy and Lois working on the backside of the bath house.

Judy is about to go up the ladder to paint the fascia.

Thursday January 28: Worked on painting in the light drizzle yesterday at bath house 16. Because of the weather we worked on the inside doing the trim around the door and windows. It was so humid the tape would not stick and the paint was slow to dry. In the evening the volunteers all gathered for a pot-luck and games – chicken foot and sequence. We all enjoyed it and plan to make it a weekly affair. Today it rained hard at times and the wind really rocked the trailer during the night. We did go over and paint some so we have more than enough hours for this week.

Lilly is right at home on our travels.

Friday January 29: A real storm rolled through last evening. The local TV out of San Antonio kept interrupting broadcasts with information about it and tracking and the fact that Uvalde and Real Counties were under a Tornado Watch. We had just gone to bed when it hit. Hard rain and winds lasted for about an hour then it got so quiet. It rained hard off and on all night, so no painting today. Will be a good day to take a road trip to Bandera.

Saturday January 30: We took a long drive yesterday. Our initial goal was lunch at a place called the “Apple Orchard” in Medina (they pronounce it Madena down here) but along the way took a side trip to Lost Maples State Natural Area, a park with hundreds of ‘lost’ maple trees. Apparently folks come from all over in November and December to see the leaves change and enjoy the colors. Of course it was hard to pick out the maples among the other deciduous trees. We enjoyed a chilly but good lunch (it’s an out of door café place and it was in the 40’s) huddled around there pot-bellied stove. Bandera was the next stop and it’s called the “Cowboy Capital.” It has lots of touristy shops and places to eat, all with the city cowboy in mind. We did find a shop off the main road that catered to the real cowboy/horseman. You could tell because it had working gear, not the rhinestone cowboy/cowgirl stuff.

Tried to get a picture of one pass we went through.

The road back was a winding two lane one that pretty much followed the edge of the hills back to Leakey. And that’s another strangely pronounced word. You would think it would be “leak ee” but here it is “lake ee” – oh well!

The day (Saturday) began with a pancake breakfast for the volunteers, cooked by volunteers. One couple is very proud of their apple/pecan pancakes so we all had to try them. After lunch we joined Ranger Frank for another long hike. He was going to do the same one as last week, but as two of the three people to do the hike had done the long one last week, he altered the course to take us to the highest spot in all of Uvalde County. Our site is located at 1410 feet above sea level and the highest point is at 1896 feet. On the way up we passed an overlook of the park below.

This canyon was part of a feeder trail to the Chisholm Trail.

Again we were on trails originally carved out by the CCC in the late 1930’s. This is the only original trail marker left in the park. By the markings, it was for both horses and man. The horseshoe and bare foot (see the big toe) were cut out of the cedar with hammer and chisel.

We will see what next week brings.

Another Week

Tuesday January 19: Awoke Monday to thick fog but we made the hike to the maintenance shop to see what the lead ranger (Greg) had for us to do. Turned out he wanted us and other volunteers to work on all the brush and limbs which had been dropped by the tree trimmers. We are to cut the longer sections and drag all of it to the edge of the road so it can be chipped. However, it was too foggy and wet at 8:30. The fog finally began to dissipate about 11 so we tackled the job. At first it was only the four of us, but soon several of the other volunteers joined and we went at it. They want to reopen this section of the park to campers, but can’t until all this stuff is gone. Our temperatures have increased greatly to the point where it’s in the mid 60’s during the day and only down to the low 40’s at night.

Judy and Lois are dragging some of the smaller sections to the road. That’s the ‘Group Shelter’ in the background, where we ate our hunt meals and where we will set up a game night for the volunteers.


This is other volunteers doing the chipping. The dump bed on the 2 ½ ton truck does not’t work so we are just blowing the ‘mulch’ on to the ground in the park.


By Tuesday afternoon we had nearly all of it cut and dragged to the road. We will have some to do on Wednesday and that should take care of this task. Hoping that soon we will get the painting jobs assigned.

Needless to say, we do take breaks as often as we can. The lady in the blue peering into the trailer is Jo, Burton’s wife. She is 86 and walks every day and gets out to pickup trash and was helping us with some of the brush.


The inverter board arrived by FedEx on Monday afternoon. It was not too hard to install, but I did need to call on Burton, the 88 year old volunteer who does electrical work. Needed to come up with a connector for the positive battery wire connection to the circuit board and he made me one. It’s all in and everything is working great.

Something interesting about the board and its route to Garner SP, the place I ordered it from is in Boise, ID. It was shipped from there to Memphis, to San Antonio to Del Rio and then to the park.

Wednesday January 20: Another foggy morning with 100% humidity in the park. Though it is not “raining” the air is so full of wetness it feels like it. There are even poodles forming on the roads. This means no chipping today but we did talk with Greg about what we would be doing after chipping. We will be working with another volunteer on prepping the old workshop, it was built by CCC workers, and then painting it. As we could not work we decided to take Burton and Jo out to lunch for the use of their charger for nearly a week. We rode into town with them – interesting riding with an 88 year old. Driving was not a problem, but he had the heater cranked up to 87 and it was blasting me in the face. Even Judy, in the back seat could feel it.

Anyway had a nice lunch at a real Mexican place called Mama Choles. Burton and Jo know the owner’s father from earlier years at the park. Burton enlisted in the Navy on December 8, 1941 and they were married the following May before he shipped out. They have some good stories.

After lunch we rode to Kerrville (about 80 miles) with the Rushes in search of a new shower faucet for their RV. We arrived back in time to make some popcorn and get ready for ‘game night’ at the group shelter. Not much of a turnout, but 7 of us played chicken foot for nearly two hours.

Thursday January 22: Another day of chipping. We worked two hours in the morning and then took a two hour break for lunch and rest. Danny (Park Ranger leading the volunteer crew) does not want us working too hard as it is getting warmer and the brush heavier. We quit at 3 and have about 2 plus hours more to go before we can wrap up this task.

We drove into Uvalde as we had read about a lady going to tell some history and folk tales about this area. The program was to be at the library at 5:30 so we just had a light dinner and took off. Well, it was not that great! Not like what we had experienced in Florida. None the less, we needed a few grocery items anyway so the trip was not a complete bust.

Cleaned out the camera and here are a couple more pictures from the hunt week. This is Judy, Lois and Bill the evening we had Axis Chili.


This was the house two days before we left.

Saturday January 23: Finished up the chipping in this area of the park, but we will have more to do. Next week we will have to work on some cuttings down by the rock beach in the day-use area. It’s good to have a break from that brush hauling and chipping. We were so tired we were in bed by 8:30.

The first part of the week we will be working on the old shop building. The object is to restore it as it was originally built by the CCC as part of the original barracks for the CCC workers. One of the other volunteers has started chipping and scrapping the old layers of paint and we will assist him. Three weeks from now we plan on being in San Antonio. We were finally able to make contact with the Vet Clinic at Lackland have an appointment for the afternoon of the 12th. Today we plan on taking advantage of two programs in the park. First is a session on the geology/history of the park and then this afternoon is a hike.

Saturday January 23: Finished up the chipping in this area of the park, but we will have more to do. Next week we will have to work on some cuttings down by the rock beach in the day-use area. It’s good to have a break from that brush hauling and chipping. We were so tired we were in bed by 8:30.

The first part of the week we will be working on the old shop building. The object is to restore it as it was originally built by the CCC as part of the original barracks for the CCC workers. One of the other volunteers has started chipping and scrapping the old layers of paint and we will assist him. Three weeks from now we plan on being in San Antonio. We were finally able to make contact with the Vet Clinic at Lackland have an appointment for the afternoon of the 12th. Today we plan on taking advantage of two programs in the park. First is a session on the geology/history of the park and then this afternoon is a hike.

We missed the start of Ranger Frank’s talk about the geology of the park and Texas but did join him for his afternoon hike. It was a 4 plus mile jaunt through, up and over several hills and along some sections of trails that had been constructed by the CCC. We learned much about the formation of the Frio Canyon and the various trees and small plants unique to this area. The hike was difficult in some areas and very rocky with several steep switch-backs. All in all we climbed to a point were we were 400 plus feet above the campground level.

Ranger Frank and part of the group on the afternoon hike.


This is the view from one of the scenic out ledges.

First Full Week - The Hunt

Monday Jan 11: Today was the first day of the first adult hunt, there will be two hunts this week. We have five blinds, four of which are across the river, which means we drive out of the park, across the Rio Frio and then back into an old section of the park. We drove the route twice to be certain we had the location of the blinds marked in our minds – even took the GPS unit along and flagged the drop off points.

After lunch today, the hunters came in for their initial briefing and drawing for the 20 blinds. We took them out for the afternoon/evening hunt at 3 and then made the run again after 6:30 to pick them up. One of our hunters was the only one of the group to get an Axis deer.

For this ‘hunt’ one of the “Friends of Garner” (the park support group) is doing all the cooking for the volunteers and staff involved. We did have to pay ($25 for twenty one meals) but he puts out a big breakfast and different supers every day. Judy and Lois help in the kitchen and clean-up while Bill and I are out taking care of our five hunters.

Tuesday Jan 12: Loaded up the five hunters a few minutes before 6 and took them out to their blinds. We have to check the weapons (bolt back or barrel broke open) before they get in the back of the truck, hold it until they get seated and then hand it to them. When we get to a blind, we reverse the procedure and then walk them to the blind and point out the “shooting” zone. Though we deliver our last hunter at 6:30 AM, they can’t begin ‘hunting’ until after sunrise – 7:04. Later today between runs to check on the hunters (we check them at 10, 12, 3 and then bring them in at 6:30 PM) we want to wash the trailer and get the windows cleaned - - - finally.

Wednesday Jan 13: Managed to get most of the crude washed off the trailer and Judy washed the windows on the outside. What a difference!! Monday evening, one our hunters shot a small Axis doe. We were the first truck to have a successful hunter. When we made the last run last evening (Tuesday) one of the lady hunters had shot a buck, a pretty good sized one for Texas deer. Our truck now has two and two other trucks each have one. It’s raining this morning so not all of the hunters went out. This is the first group’s last time out. We get a new group in this afternoon and start the process all over.

Took the new group out this afternoon and the truck could not make it. We have a 1998 Chevy dually pickup and the tires are not made for driving in Texas clay. We made it out, but with the hunt directors help, have altered the route so we can avoid several sharp turns into up hill grades.

The late pickup went off without a hitch with the altered exit route, although the hunters got more than a little wet. It rained all afternoon and no one saw any Axis, those deer know it’s raining too.

Chuck had prepared chili for dinner, again using deer meet. The deer has a different flavor and texture than the white tail from Ohio. Anyway it was good and we have enjoyed all the meals. Judy and Lois usually aid in the cleanup and some setup for each meal. It’s going to be strange beginning on Saturday when we have to feed our selves and there are no hunters.

Thursday January 14: It drizzled and rained all night and we are still having electrical problems. Am beginning to believe that the converter is going bad and we will have to replace it. The 12V lights are at times very dim and this morning the refrigerator was just clicking away trying to light. Will be checking on line and order a replacement panel and it does not look too difficult to install. We had an adventure this morning taking our group of hunters out. We did not even make it to the first blind across the river before we were stuck. We drop into a little wash and that old dually just would not make it out. The assistant manager had to come rescue us with his personal jeep. This soil is lots of clay and when it gets wet it becomes very ‘greasy’ and the wheels will not bite. When we finally made it back, the entire crew in the dinning hall stood and applauded! We will be getting a 4X4 for the remainder of our trips.

This is that mud pit we must pass through twice each trip.




For the remainder of our trips we have a 4 wheel drive. Even with it, once the wheels get in that slim, there is now way to control your direction of travel.

This is the dually we were using. Yes I guess you could say it was “4 wheel drive.”



And we did order a replacement ‘board’ for the inverter. In the mean time one of the other volunteers (he’s 87 and his wife is 86) is loaning us a 12V battery charger so everything is working…..for now.

Chuck prepared our, what he called, “biblical meal” – last super – and was it good. Steak, oven potatoes, salad and biscuits were on the menu. We all agreed that the price we paid for the week of meals was well worth it.

Friday January 15: Last day of the hunt and we only had one go out. It threatened rain last evening (predictions were for 5 inches between 6PM Thursday and 6PM Friday) and we had some lightening and a little rain, but not much. Apparently the threat was too much for a number of the guys.

As it stands only 7 deer were taken during the week.
After lunch we chatted with David, Assistant Manager, about our tasks for next week. There is a lot of brush to be cut up and run through the chipper. The park had a contract for the trimming, but they just left the cuttings where they fell. He said if he had his way, we would begin the painting projects (several restrooms need it), but he will have to talk to Greg, the lead ranger. He said as we are willing to paint, and it’s hard to find folks to will paint, he would like to get us on that job.

Will see on Monday what is in the plan. For now it’s a free weekend to do some exploring and see some sites. We are sure some things have changed in the past 5 years.

Even though we do not have any Sprint service in the park, we’ve found a way to at least make some calls using the computer. Skype has a program to make free calls – computer to computer – and you can ‘buy’ time to make calls to land and cell lines. So far we’ve made five calls using the program and it works fairly well. Voices don’t sound quite the same and there is a slight delay at times, but it works for out going calls. In coming we have to rely on email. At least we can connect to the internet here using the AT&T air card.

Texas 2010

We began our trip to Texas in the cold, and it really has not warmed up much! On Saturday morning it was very blustery and cold when we pulled out of the drive at 2020 Tricaso and it was still very cold when we arrived at Wright Patterson AFB. We ran into several bad snow bands between Akron and Columbus, but then no snow into Dayton – just cold. The water was frozen in the campground so it was a hike to the bath house for business. And to top it all, we could not keep the furnace running for some reason.

Sunday morning the truck thermometer read 7 – that’s right 7 when we pulled out and met up with the Rush’s for the remainder of the trip. It was somewhat uneventful, although Bill did miss the 71 cut off and we drove all the way to Lexington. We spent Sunday night at a campground near Buffalo, TN. No water here either as the campground plumbing was froze. Played with the battery and furnace and did get it working. Beginning to wonder if the battery might not have a bad cell as it will run the furnace for a while and then it drains down. The bath house did have water and heat so we are clean. We walked a half mile in the cold to a restaurant for a nice hot dinner.

When we arrived in Texarkana it was 35 degrees and the sun was shinning! We have a full hookup site and took full advantage of the cable TV, wireless INTERNET and water. All was good until we checked the local weather. It was to drop to 20 so we thought we could leave the water on, and dripping. Ah well, the best laid plans…..it froze!

Wed Jan 6: We finally arrived at Garner after a long (in time but not in distance) trip from our stay in Schertz just north of San Antonio. The couple we are traveling with experienced some problems; seems that the right rear tire on his truck “popped” a cord or two. It took AAA several hours to finally get the correct unit out to change the tire and air up the spare. We arrived at 3:30 (had planned on being here before noon) and were directed to our sites. We are located in one of the camping areas on a site assigned to one of the contractor/vendors during the summer camping season. It’s a nice open site and will have plenty of sun – when it comes out. Our temps are not all that great here. Our low tonight (Wednesday) is supposed to be 39, and that is to be the high for tomorrow when the low will be 15 and then on Friday the low will be 13!!!

We are pretty much set up and have our satellite TV all hooked up and working. (It only took 45 minutes to get Direct TV to send the local San Antonio local channels to the receiver) We will finish settling in tomorrow and get our first tasks. This weekend is a ‘kid’s hunt’ in the park and they are expecting a pretty full campground. Not sure what we will be doing but will add it to the blog.

Our cell phone is dead here – no bars and no roaming. But, this AT&T air card we bought is giving us a connection for the INTERNET anyway. Will look into a way to make calls through the computer to cell or land line phones.

Thursday Jan 7: Very windy and chilly day, but the sun is out and you can see just how cruddy looking the Cougar and Ram are. It will be a few more days before we can wash them off – and then be able to see out the windows. We met with the volunteer coordinator and are registered on our sites. Later in the day we met with Greg the maintenance ranger to find out what we would be doing. This first week we will be helping with “the hunt” in the park. Saturday and Sunday is a youth hunt and next week the adults. We will be helping to set up portable deer blinds and then transporting hunters to and from the blinds. The ladies may be helping in the ‘kitchen’ as they prepare 3 meals a day for folks involved in the hunt. Or they may help in the transporting as there must be two park people in each vehicle for safety reasons. We take the hunters out at 6, check on them at 10, 12 and 3 and final pickup is at 6. If they get a deer at 12:30, they have to leave it until 3 when we come back to check on them.

We are having trouble keeping the satellite dish aimed in all this wind, so no BCS game.

This is our 'home' for the next 6 weeks.

Friday Jan 8: Friday Jan 8: We finally started to work today. The morning was spent just dong odds and ends at the RV (the satellite dish is now working) and then at noon we walked to the shop. From there we set out to place and erect the deer hunting blinds for the hunt which begins tomorrow. It will be only 'youth' on Saturday and Sunday and then the adult hunt will be next week. Bill Rush and Jon will be driving a run taking adults out. The hunters will be dropped off at their blinds at 6 in the morning and then will be checked or picked up at 10, 12 and 3. Final pickup will be at 6 in the evening. We will have some long days for sure.

Found some interesting plants in the woods. It is a plant that oozes sap at freezing the sap then freezes around the stem of the plant. It looks like little bundles of Styrofoam around the woods. Guess it protects the plant roots from the sub freezing temps we are having at night.

They will be setting up a 'mess hall' in one of the shelters where they will be cooking and providing (for a cost) three meals a day plus and afternoon snack for the next week. It will be for all the hunters and those of us working the hunt. They also have stations setup cleaning and dressing out the deer. It will be interesting to see the kids.

Saturday Jan 9: Woke up this morning to frozen pipes in the trailer. We had left the water running slowly in the kitchen, but it was the shower/vanity that froze. This is where the pipes run through the ‘basement’ area. Set up one of our small heaters and let it run for over an hour and it thawed….and no leaks!! Only one more night of below freezing and then our lows will be in the 30’s and highs in the 50’s to low 60’s!!!

Here is a picture of that strange plant.


At noon we went to the ‘big shelter’ for lunch and the youth hunter briefing. For the next 6 days we will be eating our meals there – at about $2 a meal. It was interesting to see the kids (8 boys and one girl) receive their instructions and then at 3 they were loaded into trucks and taken to their assigned blinds. Each has and adult (all males except for one mom) with them. They are allowed to shoot one Axis buck and as many females as they want. They will be out until after sunset today and then again tomorrow from 6AM until noon.

Here are the kids loading up to go out


And this is Judy and Lois sitting around the fire.