I'm impressed with how Illinois rolled out it's pot legalization program. There are far more people standing in lines around the state than I've seen before, far more than possibly could be served by any store. The day was marked by politicians showing up (governor's office, legislators, mayors, aldermen) and participating. The sheer number of folks is remarkable. I don't think they were standing in a mile-long line (quiet, orderly, few police...

Sales began this morning at 0600 in Illinois, the 11th state to legalize and the first state to do so by legislative action, not by citizen petition. There are about 30 stores open today state-wide, around half in the Chicago area. The lines are very long, by far the longest I've seen on other opening days. The shops will run out of inventory very quickly despite extra effort the last month to stock up. And it's about 20 degrees out there. But...

Linn is a named spot in the RGV north of Edinburg, out in the country about 20 miles. It doesn't have expressways, arterials, and masses of people and cars, yet I'm close to stores and the birding places. The place I had in Los Fresnos was one of the worst RV "resorts" I've had. Noisy neighbors, ugly view, heavy traffic, and overpriced. This will be a welcome quiet place for at least a week.

Los Fresnos is at the south end of the Rio Grande Valley, on TX100 on the way to Port Isabel. It's hot, humid, mosquitoes are everywhere, as are fire ants. Typical RGV, but a "cold" front is coming through tonight which should help.

Texas has opted for the underground, unregulated, market for cannabis, backed up with severe fines and prison time. And they seem happy with this model as there is little effort to make any significant changes. The Washington legislature is getting prepared to convene, and they have a lot on their plate. They may not like admitting it, but the "seed to sale tracking" scheme that always sounds so good when the laws are being written has failed...

Rockport lost a lot of structures during Harvey, though there has been a lot of rebuilding, especially homes. The blank spaces are very much clean and tidy. There aren't a lot of people around.

CBD products are sold in absolutely every place that sells anything here in Texas. Consider that nearly no one can tell you what CBD is, or does, or comes from, they buy it anyway. I went to the refuge today and quickly spotted whoopers. The weather was splendid, sunny, calm, flat seas, all of which encourage birds to scatter all over the place. Got my first (2019) armadillo road kill today, and three live gators. Otherwise quite quiet. The...

My usual camping spot is Goose Island State Park, but the campground was damaged by Hurricane Harvey and is still under repair. So I'm trying out a new experience, paying Rockport rates to park in an RV place in Fulton. It's not pretty, it's expensive, but a great location. I'll be here 2 weeks.

Padre Island National Seashore to be precise. Specifically I'm at the Bird Island Basin windsurfing beach on the Intracoastal Waterway. This was my driving goal, and now I have to figure out my next moves. But for the next several days (I have 2 weeks) I can do some beach driving, grocery shop at HEB, and explore the good birding spots.

Always a nice place to stop for animals and birds. It's been a few years since I've been in South Texas and found that I've forgotten a lot of bird ID's. So it will be a lot of fun getting refreshed. Tomorrow to North Padre Island.

My criticism of West Texas scenery, or lack of it, must have been bad karma. It was fog for 2 hours this morning, so no scenery. The MORE Act to legalize marijuana passed out of the House's Judiciary Committee to the floor today, a rather significant event. It completely deletes marijuana from the controlled substances act. If it were me, I'd stop right there, but the act adds a lot of other stuff that's popular. The bill was sponsored by...

I had to take 2 days of sick leave just as I planned to leave Deming, but after a long drive I reached Van Horn. I've got several days of long drives ahead of me, mostly bored by the uninteresting scenery of West Texas.