Our Wandering Holiday

It is the middle of December, and we are getting ready for our celebrations. George has his tree set up. We have our stockings hung by the window, and I can assure you they were hung with great care! Amazon, FedEx, and UPS have been very busy schlepping our gifts here and there. We have already watched Prancer and Miracle of 34^th Street (in B&W, if you please). The XM/Sirius Holiday Music channels, as well as my own holiday mix, have been playing on Koko and Nakai. Several young kids have approached me, staring at my beard and white hair with expectant, hope-filled eyes. Unfortunately, my “Ho, Ho, Ho!” is not convincing. The holidays are progressing as they should for two wanderers whose life-long collection of holiday traditions and decorations are securely packed away in a storage unit in Houston.

 

Since we have been on the road, we have leaned into some old traditions that still work and have started others that fit our present circumstances. We do our best to spend the holidays with family. We still send gift cards to the older folks and gifts to the younger folks. However, we let Amazon do the wrapping. We also do our best to scope out the Christmas lights. We ensure that Santa knows where we are so our stockings will be filled on Christmas Morning. Holidays on the road are less about decorations and filling the tree with presents and more about staying in touch with family and friends and celebrating our faith. Mostly, it is about remembering our yesterdays and living in our today. As we move toward Christmas this week, I am glad you, my friends, are with us during the holiday season.

 

Our Grandson, Aiden, came to stay with us on Saturday. We spent a lot of time catching up. On Sunday, he went with us as we explored some of our favorite birding spots at San Luis Pass and the Brazos River's mouth at the end of Bryan Beach. I took my camera and loaned my old camera to Aiden for the day. It was heading toward storage. I had forgotten that I allowed him to play with the camera 4-5 years ago, and he seemed disinterested. But when I set him loose with the camera and my short lens, he went crazy. He outshot me ten-to-one.

 

I took my long, birding lens off my camera and put it on his camera. He went berserk. He found shots that I never saw. I loved listening to his shutter click and watching him focus and re-focus the camera on photo after photo. I ended the day with half a dozen pictures. He shot over a hundred. This is one of the greatest photography days I have had in a very long time. The shots below are a few that I took. But my greatest joy and memory of that day was offering to give my old camera to Aiden if he was interested and was willing to buy a used lens. He said he would think about it, but I saw the twinkle in his eye and knew my old, trusty 70D had found a new home. By the end of the week, I delivered the camera after he arranged for the lens. Yep, the best week of photography since I started shooting with an old Canon A2 that a friend gave me. I am sure he saw that same glimmer in my eye 26 years ago. Aiden, I can’t wait to see the photos you will take in the coming years.

A Least Sandpiper

The Bridge across San Luis Pass

The Brazos River

Where the River Current Meets the Gulf

A Ruddy Turnstone along the Intracoastal Waterway

Abandoned Docks on the Intracoastal

 

After we took Aiden home to ponder his photographic future, we started one of the projects for our time here in Galveston. Koko is comfortable when the temps stay in the 40 – 70 range. But when the temps go above or below that range, the closets and cabinets conduct heat and cold into the living space. According to the RV gurus on YouTube, this is a relatively easy fix with insulation applied to the back of the cabinets and closets. After a quick trip to Home Depot, where we picked up some foam insulation, we started cutting and installing the insulation. Like house projects, we had to stop halfway through to run to the hardware store for more Liquid Nails. The twisting, stretching, and unexpected contrary drawers made for sore muscles that night and the following day. All-in-all, it will keep us comfortable on the road. We are not facing any of those extreme temperatures in the near future, so I will not know if the gurus were correct. But preliminary impressions are good. The temps have held steady in the coach. Time will tell!

 

“We got ducked!” on one of our excursions to Target for supplies. Like the more commonly known Jeep Wave, ducking is a game that jeepers play with one another. The idea involves a bag of rubber ducks that are at the ready when we encounter another jeep. When discovering a cool Jeep, we offer a duck. Purists argue that they should only be for Wranglers and are awarded based on how “cool” they are. I tend to limit my ducking to Wranglers, but I have never seen an uncool Jeep Wrangler. We are on our second bag of ducks and have also received a fair share of ducks. They are paddling around in the duck pond as I write. (The duck pond is otherwise known as the sunglasses and coin holder in the center of the dash.) Generally, the ducks are left anonymously on the door handle, mirror, or hood. They are often handed out in person and become a mutual ducking. I have read where some give kamikaze ducks by throwing them in an open window when passing another Wrangler on the road. Regardless of the delivery method, ducking is part of the Jeeping experience and never fails to bring a smile to most Jeepers. Yes, a few Jeepers do not enjoy ducking and will toss the harmless creature on the ground before driving off. If you find a rubber duck abandoned in a parking lot, look for the nearest Jeep with ducks in their duck pond and leave the orphan on the door handle. You will have rescued a defenseless duck and brought a smile to a Jeeper who lives to be ducked.

 

Next week will be very busy. We will do many of the same things we have been doing this week: visiting friends, spending time with the grandchildren, keeping our traditions, and making new ones. The blog will likely be very short next week, but do not worry; after Christmas, we will head south and resume our physical wandering in the Rio Grande Valley. Have a wonderful week doing some Holiday wandering of your own. Celebrate the holiday that touches your soul.

 

Happy Holiday Wandering, my friends.

 

Bob

 

A Special Note: I know some of you are facing a difficult holiday season. Some are celebrating without someone who made their holidays more than special. Others are dealing with depression or other serious health concerns. Please know that I wish you a healing holiday time as you walk through these long nights with an enduring hope of the dawn that awaits you. You are loved, my friends. And you are not alone! RLD