RIO GUADALUPE

Bulverde is a little Texas town just off US 281, up the road from San Antonio. We took shelter here last week after fleeing fog, wind and mosquitoes down on the gulf coast. Yesterday was sunny with forecast for rain today so we did a day trip to Guadalupe River State Park, about a half hour up the road. Being outside was a treat and the river with walking/hiking trails let us exercise as much as we liked. I was surprised. The river looked more like something you would encounter in north Arkansas. No slow, murky, flatland river but woods above on a limestone bluff and clear water with a current and rocky bottom. 

I took photographs but wintertime river scenery, even in Texas, lacks color and for a photo dude that’s like music without a song. Trees along the water’s edge told a harrowing story. High up limbs were choreographed down stream from obviously, many high water events that had roared down through the hill country. Then there were roots that wound and twisted like a ship’s lines anchoring the tree to the bank. Looking through the lens, sooner or later, you realize from where you are standing, high water was no stranger to tree tops and that was 15’-20’ feet above your head. This would be no place to be then. We saw a little brown bat sunning itself on a broken snag not 10’ overhead. When the wind blew it ducked into shelter but kept coming back to the sunny side. 

We have been somewhat like the bat, making the most out of marginal weather. With all the miles I’ve logged I am a newbie at running away from the cold. If sitting in the sun is more about sitting warm and less about meaningful motion then, I may never get it. My Texas excursion is about spent and the thought of 40 degrees latitude in February is not so bad. It will unfold as it should, trees to prune and rather than taking things for granted, some genuine appreciation for a warm, sunny day.