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I’ve got a publication date for my Bamberger book!

I’ve got a publication date for my Bamberger book!

by | May 5, 2020 | Blog

This page in the TAMU Press catalog mentions my upcoming book, which has been delayed due to the coronavirus.

I’ve got a new book publication date. Let’s hope it sticks.

“My Stories, All True,” my upcoming book about land conservationist J. David Bamberger, should be in my hands in four months. The official release date, according to my editors at Texas A&M University Press, is Sept. 22.

I should have been cradling my first copies by now, but, you know, coronavirus. The book is being printed in China.

Maybe I’m lucky. If the book had arrived in April as planned, I’d be stuck with a bunch of cartons of books and shuttered bookstores. I couldn’t hold a book signing or make the rounds with Bamberger, 92, to share some of his slightly tall tales.

I’m hoping that by September, bookstores will reopen, and it’ll be safe for Bamberger and me to hold a few book readings. We’ll see.

Bamberger grew up poor, became a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, went on to make a fortune as one of the founders of Church’s Fried Chicken, then tackled his life’s work – land conservation. He bought what he perceived to be the most worn-out, used-up piece of land in Blanco County and set to work removing invasive species and nurturing the land.

Today Selah, his more than 5,000-acre ranch south of Johnson City, serves as a lab for people who want to learn how to revive their own land. He holds seminars and gives tours, and students and scientists conduct research out of a new education center there.

I started working on the book about three years ago, when Bamberger would invite me to the ranch and recount stories from his life.

It’s been a long haul. I can’t wait to hold it in my hands.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

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Found on the San Marcos River: Innertubes, toilet seat and a cow femur wearing a shoe

Found on the San Marcos River: Innertubes, toilet seat and a cow femur wearing a shoe

by | Mar 2, 2020 | Blog

Pam LeBlanc hauls bags of trash from her canoe to a dumpster. Chris LeBlanc photo

I spent a satisfying day yesterday paddling a 6-mile stretch of the San Marcos River, loading my aluminum canoe with old flip flops, car tires and deflated innertubes left on the waterway.

I turned my boat into a floating trash barge for the first day of the San Marcos River Cleanup, hosted by theTexas Canoe and Kayak Racing Association. My final haul included an old fishing rod, a slew of plastic containers, a football, a deflated raft, swim goggles, and a cow femur wearing an exploded tennis shoe. I left the dead deer behind, and another boat traveling with us picked up more tires, more innertubes, more plastics, and a toilet seat (found, then lost again.)

Chris LeBlanc wrestles garbage from an old cypress tree on the San Marcos River. Pam Leblanc photo

It’s discouraging to see so much garbage in the river, a place that brings me so much joy. I spent a lot of time on it last year training for and participating in the Texas Water Safari, a 260-mile paddling race from San Marcos to the Texas coast.

The good news? If you want to participate but missed yesterday’s event, you can join day two of the event, scheduled for Saturday, March 7.

You don’t need a boat to participate. The upper stretches of the river and its banks, especially at highway crossings and bridges, are so trashed that volunteers are needed to walk the shore, collecting garbage.

Chris LeBlanc rolls a discarded tire off the San Marcos River in Luling. Pam LeBlanc photo

Gird your loins if you plan to attend – it’s pretty nasty out there, and organizers of the 35thannual event promise a serious yuck factor. You’ll be handsomely rewarded, just through knowing you’re helping to keep our waterways – and the creatures that live there – healthy.

Chris LeBlanc holds up a cow femur wearing a shoe. Pam LeBlanc photo

“Volunteers are guaranteed to experience trash jams that resemble the trash compactor (complete with monster) from the original Star Wars movie,” a web posting about the event says. “This section of river is not recommended for the faint of heart.”

To help clean the top section of the river (suitable for novice boaters), the 2-mile stretch from San Marcos City Park to Thompson’s Island, meet at City Park at 9:30 March 7. To register, go to the City of San Marcos website at https://www.sanmarcostx.gov/363/Preserve-Beautify.

Part of the haul. Pam LeBlanc photo

If you’re an experienced paddler, consider pitching in to help clean the 3.5-mile stretch of river from Thompson’s Island to San Marcos River Retreat. Meet at the retreat at 9 am on March 7.
Plan on staying on the river until about 4 p.m. Organizers will deliver lunch to the San Marcos Wastewater Treatment Plant at about noon.

To get to the San Marcos River Retreat from Interstate 35 in San Marcos, take Highway 80 toward Luling for 1.8 miles. Turn light on County Road 101. Take an immediate left onto County Road 102. Go one half mile and turn right on Pecan Park Road. Pass TG Canoes and Kayaks and the road will end at the San Marcos River Retreat office.

For more info call Tom Goynes at 512-787-5574 or go to http://sanmarcosriverretreat.com.

Jason Sowell participates in a trash cleanup on the San Marcos River on Feb. 29, 2020. Pam LeBlanc photo

 

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

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Banff Film Festival comes to Austin March 8-9

Banff Film Festival comes to Austin March 8-9

by | Jan 26, 2020 | Blog

“Surfer Dan,” about a surfer who braves the ice of Lake Superior each winter, will screen on night two of the Austin event. Photo by TK Merrell.

Lace up your hiking boots for two nights of outdoors-themed films that’ll draw Austin’s tent-and-backpack set to the Paramount Theatre on March 8 and 9.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, presented by Whole Earth Provision Company, features shorts about travel, culture, environment and adventure around the world.

This year’s lineup includes “Surfer Dan,” a docu-short about a trident-wielding surfer, his beard and hair crusted with ice, who braves a partially frozen Lake Superior to hang 10 in the winter.

Rock climbers will get their fix with “The High Road”; mountain bikers will appreciate “Life of Pie”; kayakers get a turn with “Camel Finds Water”; and skiers can geek out with “Circle the Sun.” The films – 10 the first night and 11 the second – range in length from 3 to 45 minutes each. Each night’s programming is different.

The film festival got its start in Banff, Canada in 1976. The festival in Canada features about 400 films. About two dozen are selected for the traveling show, and this year stops are planned in more than 40 countries.

I make it down for the event every year, along with other Austin outdoor junkies who consider the festival their version of the Academy Awards, minus the gowns and heels. I even love hearing the narrator, whose dramatic booming voice announces the names of the sponsors, which include Banff & Lake Louise Alive, Deuter, Clif Bar, Mountain House, Oboz Footwear, Smartwool, Buff, Sierra Nevada, Kathmandu, Yeti, National Outdoor Leadership School, World Expeditions, Kicking Horse Coffee, Lake Louise and the International Alliance for Mountain Film.

Nina Bishop climbs in a scene from “The High Road,” which will be shown on night one of the Austin festival. Photo by Brett Lowell

The show starts at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 8, and 7 p.m. Monday, March 9. Tickets, which cost about $22 each and are available at www.austintheatre.com, have sold out in past years.

This year is the ninth that proceeds from festival, along with donations from customers at Whole Earth stores during April, will benefit Texas state parks. So far, more than $230,000 has been raised for public programming at the parks.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

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Use this and skip the plastic utensils

Use this and skip the plastic utensils

by | Dec 28, 2019 | Blog

My sister gave me this kit of reusable bamboo cutlery for Christmas so I can skip the disposable plastic knife, fork and spoon. Pam LeBlanc photo

I’ve been trying to reduce plastic in my life lately, and one of my sisters gave me a Christmas gift that will make that easier to do.

I’m going to keep this set of bamboo cutlery in my bike bag (or car, if I’m driving), so when I go to a coffee shop or restaurant, I don’t need to use disposable plastic utensils. My kit includes a knife, fork and spoon, plus chopsticks and a metal straw with a tiny brush to clean it.

A quick online search turns up dozens of similar options on Etsy that range between $12 and $25. Or just take a set of your regular home utensils and keep them handy when you go out.

It’s one of several small steps I’m taking in 2020 to reduce my environmental impact. I know I’ve got a long way to go, especially since I travel a lot and airline flights expand my personal carbon footprint immensely.

But by conserving water (do the laundry only when you’ve got a full load, keep lawn watering to a minimum, take speedy showers), asking shop clerks to skip the plastic bag, taking reusable bags to the grocery store, recycling trash, drinking water from the faucet instead of using bottled water, composting food scraps, riding my bike when I can, and using my things until they’re worn out or broken, I think I can make a tiny difference.

If you pitch in too, we can collectively reduce our impact on the planet.

Do it in easy ways. Do you really need a plastic bag to hold your produce when you grocery shop? Can you skip the sack when you buy a book? Can you wait a week between laundry loads? Can you fill a bottle with tap water instead of grabbing a single-use plastic bottle? Why not hop on your bike for that trip to the coffee shop?

I know not everyone can do all these things, but each of us can find little ways to change our behavior. Encourage others to do the same. You might not even notice you’re missing anything. And some things – like riding a bike or walking to do errands – come with the added benefit of providing a little exercise.

What are you doing to make a difference in 2020?

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

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I don’t want my hotel towels washed every night, but they do it anyway

I don’t want my hotel towels washed every night, but they do it anyway

by | Nov 13, 2019 | Blog

I travel a lot for work, and spend a lot of nights in hotels. I also spend a lot of time outdoors, getting dirty.

Just two weeks ago I spent a few hours wading through ankle-deep guano in a West Texas cave. Before that, I spent a day hiking into rock shelters near the Devils River looking for rock art.

Even so, I feel pretty clean after I shower. That’s why I always, per instructions that I find printed on cards or posted on the bathroom wall in most hotel rooms, hang up my towels after using them, instead of leaving them in the tub or on the floor. I don’t want them laundered after every use, and it drives me crazy to think of the resources spent doing that for millions of travelers around the planet.

Even when I put my towels on the rack, though – which is supposed to be code for “do not launder” – I often find my linens replaced with fresh ones. I’d estimate the compliance rate at a pathetic 50 percent.

I’m trying to make a better environmental choice. But as often as not, the hotel doesn’t keep up its end of the bargain.

According to a 2014 article on NationalGeographic.com, the American Hotel and Lodging Association estimates that people who ask staff not to launder their towels daily cuts the amount of laundry by 17 percent. That’s a lot, especially when you consider that the Environmental Protection Agency says that hotels and lodges are responsible for about 15 percent of the water used by commercial and institutional facilities in America.

But it could be way higher – if hotels did what they promise to do.

I try to remember to mention it at the front desk when I check out. Please do the same.

 

 

 

 

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

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