Houston wildlife

There are really some fun things to see in Houston.

Yesterday morning, I was on my usual 70 minute walk along the trail provided by the Sienna Plantation HOA, and I saw four deer in the man-made valley - the valley being, of course, a flood control feature.

Here's the Homeland Security satellite image:



I'm the green X, the deer are the little green dots. It's a great view down the valley when you turn the corner on the trail - one of the few places you can look down the length instead of just into it from the sides, without leaving the trail and risking being taken down by a predator.

I also saw six white herons, but I see those almost every day. The deer were special.
But yesterday afternoon, on the way to the theatre, we saw GA's alligator again, so we went back to the house to get the camera. Here he is:


Sienna Plantation alligator (photo by wm)

Now there's something you don't see in Midland or Wichita Falls every day. And he even smiled for the camera. See how friendly everyone is down here?

Pacific Crest Trail

Most of you know that I have been walking for my health and entertainment for some time now.
But what you don't know is that as of several days ago, I've been walking the Pacific Crest Trail:

Deep in the salmon colored part of the map is the Anza Borrego State Park, which has been beautiful in the morning sunlight, if a little hot. The red star is my present position, traveling north. I plan to make it to Sequoia National Forest by tomorrow night, where the hiking should be exquisite.

The hard part has been carrying the laptop in my backpack along with my food and water supply. How am I doing that?

Well... I'm walking a virtual trail. See, I established a free account with America on the Move,
which allows you to choose a trail to walk and then log in the number of steps you took today according to your handy dandy pedometer. My real-world steps are taken here in lovely Sienna Plantation in Texas, where it's just about as hot as it is on the real trail, but more humid.

Now, as to the scale, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief, because if I really walked that trail, I would wear out several pairs of sturdy hiking boots, whereas I expect my sneakers to still be in good shape in July when I finish the trail. But it has given me a motivation to get out there every day, and even get up earlier to beat the heat.

What's that, Bucky? You don't want to spend the money on a new pedometer? No problem, the site will let you enter the time you spent walking (or climbing stairs or whatever) and convert that to an approximate number of steps. No, it isn't really accurate, but then neither is the pedometer.

On the way, as you make progress on their map, you get little icons to click on to show you photos of the scenery you're seeing. You get the whole experience, minus the risk of drug dealers using the trail as a drop point. Nah, you're not even missing that, especially if your real hike is in Wichita Falls.

You can also make connections with a "challenge buddy." So far, GA is my only challenge buddy. Now, if you happen to be enlisted in this noble effort, I would be delighted to have you as my challenge buddy. Once you're signed up, I can invite you via your email address to be my challenge buddy, and I can then harangue you into getting out there and walking and getting healthy.

In the meantime, take a look at that lizard, sunning on that rock. Hey -- see you in Oregon.
In the meantime, here's a progress map, which will be updated as I progress northward: