The Mystery of the Bells... Solved

When we left March Air Reserve Base, we opted to avoid driving through Los Angeles and skirted the city to the west and north. After a while we found ourselves on US-101, heading northward towards San Luis Obispo.

After being on US-101 for a while, I noticed several markers along the way - they were all tall green poles in the shape of a shepherd's hook, hanging from each was what appeared to be a very old rusty bell. After seeing several of these, I said something to Consuelo and she also began looking for them. We saw several more and Consuelo began checking the distance between them; turned out that these markers are spaced consistently one mile apart.

Getting more and more curious about these bells, I finally looked it up on Google (marvelous tool) and learned that these are "Mission Bells." They are found along US-101 (and a few other locations) and were put in place in the early 20th century to mark the original route of El Camino Real, which is Spanish for "Highway of the Kings" or "Royal Highway."

According to an article published on the Los Angeles Almanac web site:

The mission bells seen on the 101 Freeway and other locations have been in place since the early 20th Century to mark the original route of El Camino Real (Spanish for Highway of the King or Royal Highway) from San Diego to Sonoma. The 700-mile-long El Camino Real linked California's 21 missions, which were founded by Father Junipero Serra and spaced approximately one day's journey apart by horse. Over the years, El Camino Real gave way to modern highways, principally Routes 101 and 82.

Efforts to mark the old highway were first initiated in 1892 by Anna Pitcher of Pasadena. The California Federation of Women's Clubs (principally in the persons of Mrs. A.S.C. Forbes and Mrs. Caroline Olney) and the Native Daughters of the Golden West eventually brought Pitcher's proposals to fruition. The El Camino Real Association was established in 1904 to investigate the original route of the old highway and provide a distinctive marker to be installed along the route. Mrs. Forbes (upon a suggestion by Mrs. C.F. Gates) designed these markers as miniature mission bells said to be modeled after the bells of the Old Plaza Church in Los Angeles. The cast iron bells hung from eleven-foot bent guideposts that made them easily visible to passing travelers. The first bell was installed in 1906 in front of the Old Plaza Church in downtown Los Angeles.

The original bell installers made no provision for maintenance of the bells. By 1926, the bells had fallen into disrepair and some had been stolen. From 1926 to 1931, the California State Automobile Association and the Automobile Club of Southern California assumed responsibility for maintenance and replacement of bells on state-owned property. In fact, the bells served as vital markers for California motorists during that period. In 1960, Justin Kramer of Los Angeles won the bid to manufacture replacement bells. His design became the standard and he is still casting bells today. In 1974, the California Legislature appointed the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to be responsible for repairing or replacing bells. Caltrans replacement bells are now cast in concrete, rather than iron (also see California Bell Company).

Today, more than 380 bells are in place marking the old highway and its branches.

We just love learning stuff like this as we travel along!

The Stowaways

Starting when we were at Dreher Island State Park in South Carolina, and then again in Florida, we noticed we were having a problem with some uninvited house guests. Whenever the outside temperature cooled off and we would run the heat pump or furnace, we would find Stinkbugs inside the Dolphin - crawling on the ceiling and buzzing around lights.

Piecing things together (and doing a little Google research on Stinkbug behavior), we realized we must have picked up these "guests" in Tennessee, probably at Cove Lake State Park. When we were at that campground and the outside temperature dropped, these little buggers "checked in" to a warmer place - our motor home.

So here we are, just outside Big Bend National Park in Texas, and we're still finding these Tennessee natives in the Dolphin. Our method for dealing with them has been "catch and release", since killing a Stinkbug by physical means is... well, they're called Stinkbugs for a reason. Fortunately they are slow-moving, so it's easy enough to grab them by hand, open the door, and toss them into the great outdoors.

Consuelo and I have giggled that Naturalists and Biologists would be horrified that we are responsible for the spread of Stinkbugs from Tennessee to Florida to Texas... a probably beyond, as we keep finding at least one every day.

What I Learned in Houston

After spending three months in Houston, I realized I learned a few things:

#1 - Driving in Houston really is NASCAR for the masses. Houston drivers are aggressive and in a big hurry to get where they're going. I was talking with a sweet little old lady (a Houston native) at Fallbrook RV Resort and she pointed to her brand new shiny F-250 and said, "I figure I'm bigger and people will just get out of my way."  Yep, that about sums it up.

#2 - You can't see the stars at night. The city is too big and produces so much ambient light that it never gets really dark enough for the stars to show.

#3 - There is a lot of bird life in Houston. I observed that Killdeer are nocturnal and are very noisy at night. Grackles in Texas are big and beautiful; they seem to reside in parking lots, feeding off  dropped french fries and squawking from the roof-racks of parked cars. Texans ignore them. Hawks are very abundant: while driving around Houston, I saw many hawks perched in treetops along the side of busy roads. I'm not very good at identifying types of hawks, but I'd guess them to be Redtails.

#4 - There are some beautiful sunrises and sunsets over Houston... although it's possible the smog may cause some of the pretty colors and patterns.