Sabine National Wildlife Refuge
Friday - 15 November 2002: Houston, Texas -
Another night, another thunderstorm. Why is it I put my pup in a kennel for
three nights and we have three thunderstorm-free nights? It wasn't too bad
last night. The moment he started whimpering, I gave him a dose of his
separation anxiety medicine... I figured anxiety is anxiety. It helped. He
was calm enough, after an hour, to sleep on the floor next to me as long as
I had my arm hanging over the edge touching his head. I swear, having a baby
was easier. The awful-enough Jean Lafitte Campground was particularly awful
after a few inches of rain.
From Lake Charles, we took Highway 27 - The Creole Trail -
south through the Bayou to the coast. Signs along the highway read
"Alligator Crossing". We stopped to walk along a paved birding trail in the
Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. Hundreds of species of
birds live (and stop by) this refuge. Today we saw flamingos, Common
Moorheads, hundreds of Black-winged Blackbirds, Herons and Cormorants in
Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. We
were walking along the path with a very friendly couple from Australia. I
took Snickers on part of the walk, but as it entered the bayou area, I took
him back to the camper. DT waited for me to rejoin him. As I met up with
him again, the woman was coming back to get us to hurry up - there was an
alligator on the path ahead! It was quite exciting, but I am sorry to show
you that the alligator I saw "in the wild" is sleeping on a cement sidewalk!
Sabine National Wildlife Refuge resident
He was an ugly guy, about five feet long. When the
Australian couple decided to pass him, he did raise his head and growl at
them as they passed. Being used to huge crocodiles, they just laughed and
went down the "track". We, being Americans, used to deer and raccoons in our
backyard, took a photo and turned back. So, there it is, folks - my close
encounter of the reptilian kind.
We crossed into Texas at Port Arthur, where we stopped on the border at a
huge park for lunch. While I made lunch, DT went out on the dock to chat
with the fishermen and made three new friends. People here were actually
catching fish - Drum. I emailed ahead to let our friends know we would be to
their house within a few hours - we were spending the night at Red's (DT's
college roommate) parents house in Houston.
In Chicago, we parked in Red's driveway and now we are parked at his boyhood
home! (His parents have a longer driveway.) We were given excellent
directions, through several 6-lane freeways (sweat, sweat) to their quiet
neighborhood in Bellaire. How and Jean greeted us with open arms and
actually seemed happy to see us - which was nice of them considering we
arrived a full 2 days ahead of schedule and only gave them about 16 hours
notice of the change! Of course, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree -
Red was just as gracious when we disrupted his household five weeks ago. How
is one of my most-frequent readers, too. Jean prepared a brilliant meal -
spinach salad with mandarin oranges and water chestnuts, garnished with
chopped hard boiled egg. She also prepared chicken with apricots, rice and
sautéed snap peas with mushrooms. Even dessert! Ice Cream Pie with
strawberries. We just love visiting with them and it is nice to see where
Red was raised and hear more tales. How and Jean have traveled all over the
world. They say they love to read my journal to hear my "version" of a place
they have visited.
RV Park: Jean & How's driveway
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