Out of the Wilderness

America’s Got Talent – The Final Vote!

This has been an exceptional season of America’s Got Talent. I loved watching the talented acts while laughing and nodding along with the judges reviews of each one. But still, the best has GOT to be The Mayyas. They are the most Vegas-y act in the final 11 contestants, and to pick a second most fitting for Las Vegas I’d go with Metaphysic. The incredible technology is mind-blowing. But The Mayyas… goodness gracious. No matter what I’m doing, I don’t want to look away for fear I’ll miss something that astounds me.

As for pure talent and skill, Avery Dixon. He’s amazing on the saxophone. A close second as a single person act I’d go with Kristy Sellars, the pole dancer, who’s so much more than what we normally think of pole dancing.

I also really like Yu Hojin, although is performance in the finale was a little confusing. I thought there must’ve been some technical hiccups with the lighting or something. The area where he was performing the magic was dark (a table in front of him) and the background imagery was so busy I was having a hard time figuring out what was going on. But I like him a lot, just not sure his magic is big enough for Vegas.

I’m going with the Mayyas. From all the acts left, they’re the ones I would pay to see in Vegas. On top of that, I’d go to Vegas just to see them! Voting is closed now and the winner of this season is going to be announced tonight. Crossing my fingers for you, ladies!

-Out of the Wilderness

Portraits of Texas on the road

Texas. Is. Beautiful. Somewhere between Mother Neff State Park and Dinosaur Valley State Park (recaps here) the views changed to this beautiful copper landscape that I can’t get enough of. Ranches and farms as big as from me to the horizon. Cows, horses, donkeys, goats. And larger than life wind turbines as far as the eye can see. Here are a few pictures from the road.

Thanks for dropping in!

-Out of the Wilderness

Who are you?

This is a question I was asked recently when I was riding my bike one evening in a Texas state park. It was very dark, as most state parks are, and my bike was lit up all over the place. There’s a headlight, taillight, and bright lights on the wheels. I also had a headlamp on because I was returning from trying night photos. It was a full moon so the shots didn’t come out as good as I was hoping.

But still cool, right? This was an unexpected gem, called Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. There were some drawbacks I’ll talk about in another post but overall, I loved the park. So anyway, I’m returning to the camper which is a 3/4 of a mile bike ride. There was a guy and his two young kids walking in the road without any flashlights. As I passed, the young boy asked, “Who ARE you?”

I’m socially awkward, I’ll admit. Often times when I am approaching people I don’t know I tell myself, “Be ready to answer any questions!” What I’ve learned as I’ve been camping around the southeast (recaps here), I’ll get asked the most unexpected questions or people will say things I didn’t expect. I’m not quick on my feet in those moments, unfortunately. I always come up with great responses 5 hours later.

I should’ve answered, “Good question,” or “Who are YOU?” or “I’m Batman.” Anything would have been better than what I did… I didn’t answer at all! I just rode right by. Maybe it added to the mystery of who this superhero of a guy is (me, I’m talking about me). I had ridden around the night before with all the bike lights going because I was scouting out where I wanted to try my night photos. No exaggeration, my bike gets comments 95% of the time, especially when there are kiddos around. So this was the second night, maybe the guy with the colorful bike was a mystery among the campers here. I don’t know.

But I know this… I never have the right response at the right time. Maybe next time I’ll have a good answer, or ANY answer, next time.

Thanks for dropping in…

-Out of the Wilderness

A Low-Flying Helicopter in Texas

I’ve been in Texas for a few days and have been thrilled to see lots of wildlife. I even saw a black-tailed jackrabbit. I take that back, I saw TWO black-tailed jackrabbits. Those things were huge!

They were hanging around with some deer. Maybe those two species get along well?

But it was while I was traveling between campgrounds that I saw a low-flying helicopter. It was so low that I thought something was wrong because first of all, how many times does a helicopter get this close to a road? Secondly, why? Why would these people get close enough to make it appear as if something is going wrong? Here’s the dashcam video…

What’s up with that? As I approached, my mind went immediately to every action movie I’ve ever seen. The helicopter is there to cut off someone trying to get away in a car. The chopper spins around and unloads a round of shots towards the vehicle, but the people in the car somehow narrowly escape! Well, the crazy thing is that as soon as I got close to the helicopter, it began to rotate around so the side opening was facing me. I thought, “This is how I’m going to die?? Gunfire from a low-flying helicopter!!?”

Who do they think I am, Daniel Craig?

I narrowly escaped, as any hero would. I have no idea what was going on, but it was strange. After I passed them, I glanced back a few times through the mirrors to see if they flew uncontrollably into the cable lines. But I didn’t seen any crashes or explosions.

Weird, right? Have you seen anything like this that seemed out of the ordinary?

Thanks for dropping in…

-Out of the Wilderness

Mother Neff State Park Recap – Small Snakes, Big Rabbits!

Texas has SO MANY ranches. On my way to Mother Neff State Park, I should’ve counted all the ranches. There had to be at least 50 just on the one stretch of road where I spent most of the trip. Highway 7, I think it was? These pastures and hillsides were grand and spread out. I kept wanting to stop to get pictures but when you’re pulling a trailer, there isn’t much space to just pull over beside the road.

From all my camping this year (recaps and photos here), this park had the best campsite. Nice paved pull-through with shade and full hook-ups. It was luxurious! I still haven’t been lucky enough to get a good photo of an armadillo, so I felt like someone was teasing me as I turned into the campsite. Part of the playground included a HUGE armadillo for kids to play on. How rude.

But still, here are a few of my favorite pictures…