Scene Along the Road

We Dreamers have seen some interesting things along the road on our travels, or rather I should say that Mr. Dreamy has seen some great things. I usually have my nose in the iPad, checking our mileage, looking for gas stations, writing blog posts, looking up interesting facts about places we pass or researching  campgrounds.  In addition to my "window on the world" I also consult a few campground directories and my favorite travel book, "The Next Exit". I know I mentioned this bible book in a post long ago, but for those of you who are new followers, and have not read each and every one of my 845 posts, I'll give the book another plug. This has been my seat-side companion for a number of years. The book lists every gas station, restaurant, hotel and and more, that can be found at every exit of every Interstate highway. If you travel on Interstates, especially in areas you are not familiar with, I can't recommend this book enough. It has saved us on more than a few occasions!

Anyway, I digress... The title of this post indicates I was going to write about scenes, or things seen.  I apologize for the dearth of pictures (reread the first paragraph for an explanation!) 

Of course, we saw a lot of animals, dead and alive. 

We were surprised to see Nutrias (also called Coypus) in Louisiana, the victims of hit and run accidents. These cute little critters, looking like a cross between a guinea pig and a beaver, are pests. They were introduced by fur farmers many years ago and escaped captivity. They thrived and have outgrown their welcome in the marshy areas of the Gulf states. The Nutrias dig tunnels along waterways and eat vegetation, consuming only 10-15% of what they mow down.

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As we traveled through the middle-of-nowhere Texas, where all we could find on the radio was one Gospel station, and one Country station (God and god-awful?? I'm just joking, really!), we found a herd of javelinas, also called peccaries, searching for food along the side of the Intersate. I was glad they stayed on their side of the white line!

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And we saw cattle. From huge herds of Holsteins in feed lots to Longhorns out in the scrub. We saw black, brown, and brindle colored  beef on the hoof. In addition to the commonly seen breeds, we also drove by unusual breeds. It was amazing to drive mile after mile past open grazing desert scrub spotting small groups of cattle here and there. 

In contrast to the occasional hawk perched on a utility pole, we saw hundreds upon hundreds of Canada geese. One rancher's field was almost covered solidly by the birds, I wondered what may have been planted to attract them, or whether it was just a good location. At one point a small flock flew alongside the RV - of course, I was daydreaming (afterall, that's my name, right?) and didn't get a picture until they turned.

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The Pronghorn antelope are having a convention in New Mexico. If you see any in your area, be sure to let them know where everyone is meeting. Oh, and don't tell the hunters! We missed seeing the camels that we've seen in pastures along our usual route in Texas!

I like to watch houses along the way. I daydream (there I go, dreaming again) about who lives there, what they do, how the home might be decorated inside. I enjoy looking at the yard and seeing if there are interesting objets d'art around the house. Some folks have such a way with things like that. Our favorite house was one we saw in the middle-of-nowhere, Texas. We had driven miles and miles seeing nothing but desert lands and barbed wire fences. Occasionally we saw a large irrigated circle and a dirt track or small dirt road going... somewhere? A frontage road ran along the highway, and then we saw a single home. It was a nice ranch home, with a few trees in the yard and a small outbuilding. It was built close to the highway, and next to it was a sign that stated, "What Was I Thinking?", with an arrow pointing at the house!