Welcome to Texas! After our day in Prison outside of Knoxville TN we decided to head west sooner than later. It took 3 days to arrive in Texas.
We are Caprock State Park in Quitaque TX. This park has free roaming bison that are direct descendants of the original free roaming bison herd. At one time there were as many as 30-60 million bison free roaming the plains until the “great slaughter” where professional hide hunters killed off so many bison the the herd was down to less than 1000! We have had the opportunity to observe the bison in their home space where we are just guests. The bison roam throughout the park and through the campground! Also in the campground we have Black Tailed Prairie Dogs as well as a passing Coyote at night.
We also visited Palo Duo State Park just North of Quitaque. The park is home of the Texas Longhorns and is also known to be a mini Grand Canyon. I can’t say that I agree with the comparison, but it was a delightful day hiking through the red rock canyon.
Today, we rode our bikes about 10 miles to the Clarity Tunnel on the Caprock Trailways rail trail. The 5 miles to get to the tunnel was not the most pleasant with the entire length slightly uphill and into the wind but the tunnel was a worth the grinding ride. The tunnel is known for its Brazilian Free-tailed Bat Population. During the summer months, a large colony of bats live in the Tunnel. These bats fly over the farmlands each night and catch as much as six tons of insects! The bats have not returned for the summer yet, but it is said to be an amazing site to watch the thousands of bats return to the tunnel at dawn or leave the tunnel at dusk at 29 mph! The ride back was a piece of cake with all downhill and with the wind at our backs!
When we arrived back to the Airstream we enjoyed well earned Bloody Mary’s with Frozen Head Vodka made at the distillery at Brushy Mountain State Pen!
We loved Caprock State Park but we are moving on tomorrow heading to Carlsbad NM!
Enjoy a video of our three adventures!
Amazing to have those bison just roaming freely around you and those little prairie dogs are so cute. Safe travels to Carlsbad!
It was like being on a safari!
Now that looked like fun!’
😀
Great video! Music was perfect like a Ken Burns documentary. Hope you guys wore hats into the bat cave.
Thanks! Yes we had hats on! We were not in the tunnel long!!!
It lifts my day seeing your adventures. Thanks for sharing…keep the vids and pics flowing its always a hoot” to watch them. Enjoy yourselves” look’s like your having some real fun out there.
Yes!!!! Having a blast!
You two are something! Now you are making movies…with accompanying music. I know that was you on the banjo Carol! Seriously though, it was great!😊
Thank you all for sharing this with all of us!