The Latest Home

Fredericksburg, Texas
A 5:30am jake brake got me up this morning. Comfort Castle was hitched and moved to the new location before eight am. Since this is the planned home for the rest of the year, a trip to the building supplies store got some concrete blocks to put under the stabilizing jacks. Putting blocks under the jacks allows them to be a lot more resistant to wobble. Now home is The Lady Bird Johnson Municipal RV Park.

There is a lot of noise here also. Birds chirping, insects buzzing and the wind rustling the leaves in the trees. Once in a while an airplane taking off or landing in the adjacent airport.

When the settling up the money at the previous park, one of the residents said there is nothing to do out here. My reply was there is only a three mile walking path along the creek, a nice golf course to play, the creek to paddle my yak in, access to several miles of bicycling, tennis courts to use and even some small fish in the creek to catch and release. Yep nothing to do here.

Parts of the walking path were in the blogs of last March. However there is more tonight. Two pretty nice scenes caught my eye today while walking. The first is along the part of the “lake” section right before the main dam. The yellow flowers were making themselves spectacular so you get to see the beauty.

As you get over to the nature tail portion of the walking path, the creek winds back and forth some. Then it goes along a short cliff. This picture is as the creek starts to traverse the portion right by the cliff. It shows the trail along the right side of the picture. The picture was taken from an overlook on the Nature Trail.

The owner of Fredericksburg RV Park, Jan, was very accommodating on my early move out and refunded a proper amount of my original cost. It is a nice park just too close to town for me.

My new home is five sites south of the one from last March. This will be a very good place to live while money and medical get straightened out. This is looking to the northwest from my campsite.

The view out my “office/dining table” window is very pleasant also.

A great aspect of this location is that all the activities mentioned above, except kayaking, are accessed by walking from Comfort Castle. The number one tee box is about a half mile walk away. That is just long enough to get limbered up nicely. The practice greens are mid way along that route. The bad part is that the grocery store (Wal-Mart) is about four miles away. The doctor is a twenty minute bike ride north.

If you check the map you will find that a massive amount of adventure country is within a one hours drive any way you want to go. The big shopping malls of the north San Antonio area are just under one hour away. The next few months promise a lot of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

A Time For Labors

Fredericksburg, Texas

After the noise keeping me awake until after 2 am this morning, sleeping until 9 am was not a surprise. Tomorrow is move to a quieter campground day. Of course a lot of the noise was due to the Octoberfest celebration in town Saturday and Today.

Grocery shopping was very successful because the store was well stocked this morning. Later a visit was paid to my new location to be for planning where to position the trailer. It is going to be a very nice place. Tonight was laundry time since most of the patrons have gone home from this area.

Great news is that my back is about 90% now. Even practicing putting and pitching did not cause any uncomfortable feelings. Maybe that is all the trouble from it for a while.

Just for the heck of it, the Texas Master Gardener program is being examined as a fun item to try. On Tuesday a trip to Kerrville and the main office may be done to obtain exact information.

We shall see. There is not a doubt in my mind that after tomorrow night my body will be doing better. A couple of nights sleep without disruptive noises should do wonders for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

The Old Farmhouse

Fredericksburg, Texas

There is just too much noise around this park for me to be content. Monday after all the festivities are over, Comfort Castle is moving to LBJ Park. Whatever this place wants to settle the bill at will be the end of it. This is the current overflow spot I agreed to for two days.


However the clerk asked to have me stay an extra day so a two day person could stay an extra day. So here I am paying for full hookups for a day while getting only water and elec. Something not right here. The noise of the area is the real kicker to getting me out of here.

This morning a relatively short trip into the back country to look for pretty scenes was my amusement. There are lots of land that is beautiful around here for building a house on and having a lot of fun maintaining the property. One example is this old German settlers place from back a few years.

Apparently this is still in use. Notice the modern antennas on the roof.

All scatterred through the Hill Country of Texas are low water stream crossings. Many are trickles this late in the year. Some have enough water for kids to be having a good time swimming. Many others are just sitting around being pretty and a nice spot to stop your truck and sit under a tree on the creek bank and enjoy what GOD has provided.


My back feels like it is well on the way to healing, but care is very important still. Today has been another easy going day and tomorrow will likely be one also. After that the plan is to get busy trying to have tooooo much fun again. TheOFM.

OH My Aching Back

Fredericksburg, Texas

A slow day for certain. The back muscle that was pulled yesterday has made it displeasure known today. The required move of Comfort Castle to the over flow area was done very carefully.

Then some serious rest time and ibuprofen led up to lunch. After lunch a long visit with Mac at the Fort was fun. But the back started in on me again. After returning home it has been a "be gentle to my back muscle" evening.

Mac is going to be an actor in a live play starting the 17th of this month. He takes his acting very profesionally. Maybe attending one of the performances will be in my future. That could be a good try at having tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Old Friend Bob Visit

Fredericksburg, Texas

The trip to Old Friend Bob's home started about 8:30 this morning and is now ending at 10:30 pm. It was one of the most fantastic days of my life. In the eight years we have been apart both our lives have evolved toward similar or complementary goals. Amazing. My head is worn out from all the fun we had and discussions we engrossed into in depth. We will be visiting often in the next few months most likely.

He is chasing a Texas Master Naturalists Certification at this time. That is not a field that interests me as a main item. However what interests is more of the historical part of Texas people history. As we explored the two interest we found huge amounts of complementary information. Both parts of the Texas history are needed to get the whole picture. This is fantastic.

We visited his two sisters in law that live adjacent to him. Both of them are wonderful folks to experience and really very TEXAS friendly. With a little luck a chance to photograph the three small properties will be coming up soon, because there are some very spectacular sights to be seen.

The golf round was great fun and we played to our abilities. The golf course shop even had my eight iron that I left behind somewhere on the course for me when we finished. This was a day of tooooo much fun without any question. TheOFM

The New Doctor

Fredericksburg, Texas
A gentle morning was a welcome visitor. After piddling around getting my medical records sorted and cleaned out for the doctor, my feet took me to the club house where the morning coffee group was gathered. They are a jovial group to have a visit with in the mornings. But time went quickly and soon it was time to be off to the doctor for a first visit.

As usual for me things did move slowly. The doctor turned out to be a very young man of 29. However he seemed to be reasonably experienced and took time to pay attention to what he was told. So we had the usual lab work done for blood etc. and a flu shot. It was a very comfortable meeting with the doctor. There have been enough quacks in my life that it is not a problem for me to fire a doctor if the doctor seems wrong.

Monday night a new 64 degree wedge was ordered and it came in today. It is very good. This afternoon was spent practicing with it for tomorrows round of golf. Now the golf balls will stop on the green like they are supposed to. OF Bob is in trouble now that this wedge is in my bag. HE HE

It is exciting to think about OF Bob and I trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow. TheOFM.

Excited Sheep

Fredericksburg, Texas
Once again TheOFM has been honored to have some of his writing used and credited by a national writer in her work. Please visit her site and enjoy her literary talents.
http://www.paddling.net/sameboat/archives/sameboat465.html
Tamia also has another site at http://www.tamiasoutside.com/. It is also very worth reading for the cooking tips if nothing else.

This morning commenced action with a bicycle ride down to the bike shop. It turned out that after about five strokes on the pedals the down slope into town to the bike shop did not require any more peddling to get there. The route took me through some very peaceful neighborhoods. At one spot the sheep were very excited and actually opened their eyes, but never moved. See how excited they are.

Farther along the route was a very cute house with lots of gingerbread on it. The carport and house were decorated in the same theme. The whole yard was a garden and very pleasant to see.

Arrival at the bike shop was before they opened. Across main street, hwy 87, was a little store where a bottle of orange juice was purchased. While sitting on the picnic table under the large tree out front of the shop, the drink was enjoyed more than it seemed possible to enjoy a morning. Nice sun, gentle breeze, 65 degrees and the shade of a big tree. WOW. After a bit and right on time the owner came driving up and the tour of the store began. He is a very nice fellow and his small store has nearly as much stuff as the big ones down in Houston. Amazingly his prices were competitive to the catalog places, so purchasing items there would be economically smart.

The ride back home was just as pleasant as the ride to the bike shop, even if it was slightly up hill all the way. Some different streets were toured and enjoyed during the return trip. In general this is a very nice town to be living in.

After a few hours of golf practice to get ready for the golf game Thursday with OF Bob, it was time to rest. My neighbor John has a very type A body and is always doing something. He was mowing and trimming his “yard” to have it pretty for the weekend.

John is a very friendly fellow and fun to visit with, but he will wear you out just watching him.

Tomorrow morning is the appointment with the new doctor and then it will be time to try to have tooooo much fun TheOFM

Computers Again

Fredericksburg, Texas

YAHOOOOO both computers are up and running. The computer doctor traced the vista machine to having my security turned on when an update was attempted. The security would not allow the update to change my profile. It took him about thirty minutes to get everything back on line and running properly. That was a wonderful way to spend the morning.

My medical needs have been nonexistent for the last year, but now it seems wise to get a check on my body so nothing nasty can sneak up on me. For that reason a doctor and I will have a visit Wednesday to see what he has to say about anything on my health front. Maybe it will be another year before my body needs another checkup.

The best news of all is that an old friend, Bob, from Houston has moved out here to the Hill Country while my time in Washington was passing. Now on Thursday we will be playing golf together and visiting after nearly seven years. That is a wonderful prospect for me.

Fundamentally a lazy bum was my style today, so nothing special happened. The bicycle was unloaded from the truck, assembled and parked by Comfort Castle. Now it can be an additional way to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

One Year Since Quitting Work

Fredericksburg, Texas

It is getting to be the big time of the year for Fredericksburg. Through the end of the year are major festivities nearly every weekend. It is a good time of the year to tour the area to try to have tooooo much fun.

Currently my plans are to be mostly here for the winter times because this area is a fun area. Fall and winter is the best time of the year for central Texas. The location where Comfort Castle will be most likely be for this time period is….

This was my location last March during the big truck repair event. It will be late October before this park becomes my home since my rent here at Federicksburg RV Park runs until then. This current park is just a little too much in town for my preference.

This morning a walk was taken at LBJ Park. It is very nice to me. The spot chosen to park was near the airport fence and about mid way between “facilities”. A loop of the park is about three miles of up and down fun.

The whole place is normally very peaceful and calm like you see in this picture of the creek.

About a mile downstream was another very peaceful spot.

Right after the last picture, a fellow working on his fishing reel came into view. We visited for many minutes and discussed fishing in the area. There is even a slight chance some “fish” stories were told.

As the path chosen went on along the Nature Trail entrance finally came into view and beckoned with allure for me to take it. The trail winds along a short cliff along the creek for a good ways then cuts back into the woods.

There is a very picturesque farm near the entrance. They are getting the fields ready for planting and provided a nice view.

By the time the walk was finished, my legs were getting tired. Apparently my body needs a lot more of this gentle exercise. Hopefully this circuit will be a near daily event for me. It helps to be in a little bit better shape when you are going out to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Dead Computers

Fredericksburg, Texas

This morning started with two non working laptops. When repairs are available TheOFM will be back online.

Loud Music And Racket

Fredericksburg, Texas
RV living does have occasional bad times, but the wheels solve the problem very easily.

Where to go when my not refundable rent runs out? The first night the cattle pens and other event place two blocks away ran until very late in the night. Last night the VFW hall next door was still going full volume at midnight thirty. This morning when my eyes finally opened, the plan was to go looking for a different place to be staying.

After reviewing several places down in and around Kerrville, information was becoming clear. The public golf course there is very nice and competitively priced.

On the return trip to Federicksburg, my location during last springs truck repair was paid a visit. A very nice place and THEY HAD A CANCELLATION FOR THE WINTER MONTHS this morning. A good golf course in the park, a long walking/hiking trail in the park, a stream to yak in in the park, quiet during the night, and cheap for the rent. My spot is now reserved for until Comfort Castle leaves. Most likely Comfort Castle will sit here for the winter.

The best part is some of the best hiking, yaking, and biking in the south is all within an hour drive from here. The best saltwater fishing is about four hours south, but this area does not have to worry about HURRICANES. So the adventures do not stop but likely the fuel bill will drop a bit. The rent will drop by about half of what it had been costing me.

Now that my immediate future is resolved, my main objective can return to trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Mr. Mac At The Fort

Fredericksburg, Texas
The big spot of the day was a visit with old buddy Mac at Fort Martin Scott Historical Park. We caught up with many topics. He is going to be playing a character in a Shakespeare play starting next month. Maybe things will work out for me to see him in action.

The Rv Campground here is rather excellent in general. Today was spent in catching up on laundry, groceries and visiting with Mac. Groceries are a LOT cheaper than in New Mexico.
The entrance to the campground sets the tone for a very comfortable experience.


My site is typical of a well done commercial campground with sufficient space between trailers for a little breathing room. It still is taking some getting used to after west Texas and New Mexico where things are spread out a bit more than here.

A really nice building in the park is reserved for large group gatherings. From the front it looks very nice and if it is like the other general use buildings, the interior is also very nice.

In the back right portion of the park near the greenhouse is the Memorial Walk. At the bench end of the gardens is a stone on each side with brass tags of folks who stayed here but have gone to the campground in the sky.

In the back left corner is the water garden with a nice deck and tables. The tables even have a sunshade over them. The tumbling water is a very soothing event to enjoy.

The welcoming committee always come along to help you out and make certain you are entertained while at the water garden.

Once you are on the deck, the social committee takes over to keep you entertained with their antics. The alligator is very standoffish and does not seem to want to be bothered.

Some of the folks here have finished their RV traveling and have made the park their home. It is easy to tell which folks they are.



Well it has been an active day and my body seems to have healed well. That means tomorrow will be a great day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

A Major Adventure On The Road

Fredericksburg, Texas

Man, towing the 65 miles to Fredericksburg took over two hours. Last nights supper attacked with a vengence on the way here and at least four (I actually lost count) sudden roadside stops were required. It is nice to be taking your bathroom with you when you are sickly. When the arrival check in and setup was finished, some nap time was taken. It is 8:30 pm and the weakness is finally starting to subside.

A walk around the park showed me that they really take care of this place. There are lots of cute things in the park that will be making it into the blog over the next few days. That is about all that the sicko could come up with for the afternoons adventure.

Now for more rest to be able to attack the day tomorrow for the purpose of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

11:00 pm A friend sent me this site about a humming bird birth
http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

American Voter Responsibility

Junction, Texas

Howard Payne has written and published an article on voter responsibility in America. It is the best written article on American political needs I have seen in a long time.

http://www.rv-dreams.typepad.com/

Today has been very laid back and lazy. Basically being alazy bum is getting to be a habit. The walk that was attempted this afternoon was aborted after about a half mile. It was too hot for comfort. My outdoor thermometer hanging in the shade showed 92. This morning it was all the way down to 70 for a low. What a change from a day ago and 2000 feet higher.

Other than a couple of wonderful visits with folks and reading Howard's literary output, it has been a day of just enjoying being alive and preparing for a day of toooo much fun tomorrow. TheOFM

Long Driving Day

South Llano River State Park
Junction, Texas

Four hundred fifty miles today. Even my truck is tired now. From north of Carlsbad, NM to five miles south of Junction, Texas is a long drive even without a trailer. However there is very good reason for this long of a day. The only thing worth stopping for between those two towns is the diesel fuel pump in Ft. Stockton.

Until you get to the last few miles near Junction, there is little to find interesting. That is the flat boring part of Texas.

The good news is one of my favorite restaurants in the world, La Familia, was open and serving wonderful tasting food at cheap prices. So there is a full bellied fool typing this blog tonight. Today was not a lot of fun but it puts me on the edge of one of the most fun sections of Texas. My choice to try to have tooooo much fun tonight was to add one of the fantastic pralines to my supper tonight for dessert. Now that does come close to having tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Trails and TRAILS

Brantley Lake State Park 9-21-08
Carlsbad, New Mexico

A nice walk started this morning well. This park has a path called Lake Loop. The starting and finishing points are in the campground. So off on the path my shoes took me. We even started at the entry location.

From that point it was at its most exciting. Mostly it is a path to do when you are tired of doing nothing. Even the side path that was walked was not of much interest.

To my surprise, the entire loop was strolled with only one jackrabbit to break the monotony.

Since were are on trails, let me digress to one from yesterday at Sitting Bull Falls.
The sign at the beginning called it the top of the falls trail. At the top it was obvious it tied in to many other trails. When the return was accomplished safely, a sign board was found that showed the myriad of trails that ran back and forth up and down the mountains.

It was a very steep trail. Much steeper than most government trails are. There was even a lot of relatively round rocks to keep you interested.

At many places in the cliff, steps had been cut into the rock face to help get you across the area. This was not a boring trail at all.


When the top was achieved, there were trails running in several directions. My superior trail finding ability was useful to hit the correct trail for this chore. However when the edge of the cliff where the falls starts came into view, it was too treacherous for a solo fat man to get close enough for a picture. A bit farther along the trail, it became apparent that to go on a hiker would need more than a half liter of water. A turnaround was done with regret because the trail looked more interesting in the distance. But sanity prevailed over machismo. Does that word ever apply to me?????

The best part of today was after the finish of the Lake Loop. Two very nice folks, Naomi and Michael, in an A-liner were getting ready to pack down and leave, but allowed me to see their camper inside and out. Later they stopped by to tour my little rig. We had a great visit. They are from Massachusetts and running around having a great time.


Custom Castle and the truck are staged to make a easy getaway tomorrow morning. Fredericksburg, Texas by Thursday is the plan. In between then and now is time to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Sitting Bull Falls

Brantley Lake State Park 9-20-08
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Early, for me, this morning the adventure to Sitting Bull Falls was kicked off. The drive is about forty miles one way from Comfort Castle. Highway 137 leads off from the campground through the very green desert area. There was some traffic but not much. Since there are a lot of gas/oil wells in the area, commercial vehicles are frequently running the highway. Additionally there are several large ranching operations in the free range areas. Free range means livestock on the road, so care must be taken about the speed you are driving.

The drive quickly turns very nice with rolling hills and gullies. At the turn off to SBF is a rest area and stopping there for a snack would give you great scenery. The road after the turn to SBF rapidly enters canyons that get increasingly interesting. It is a very good drive. Along this road was a reminder that walking has hazards in this area.


When the final twist and curve are finished, the spectacular beauty in front of you makes the trip worth while, but you ain’t seen nuttin yet.
The picnic area is set back in the trees near the canyon and has the music of small waterfalls and splashing water coming naturally from the small canyon below it. The path to SBF is wheelchair accessible all the way to a special viewing platform. Foot traffic can go past that point for even more views. The path is not very long and has some interesting spots like this one.
The falls themselves are not what one would call spectacular, but have a special uniqueness of their own. The water volume now is very low, but it was more like music today than the roar of many other falls. The first picture is what you see from the viewing deck.

The next picture is from down below and in front of the cliff. Notice how it looks like a face watching you. There are caves that you can arrange to take a tour and hear about.

This SBF area was not highly recommended to me by several folks. However it seemed to me to be a great place to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Pecos River Crossing

Brantley Lake State Park 9-19-08
Carlsbad, New Mexico
This morning was a wonderful ten mile round trip bike ride down to the Pecos River crossing. Thirteen miles of it was uphill. The road was excellent for riding and vehicle traffic was nil. Cool air was a major asset to moving this old fat body along the highway. The trusty steed got me to the crossing in fine shape.

The river is not running very fast at all. This view upstream looks like a lot of water in the river, but it is actually a bit of a pond since the road crossing acts like a dam.

As you look down stream it is apparent the flow is very small. There is another pond downstream a little ways, but it is very shallow. No fish are making waves in this pond or the previous one.
To take a look down stream, a dirt road was followed for a long ways through the brush. Some of the spots were a bit soft and loose, but Trusty Steed handled them with ease.

The park entrance sign was a very welcome sight when it came into view after the thirteen miles of uphill riding. It was still 2.5 miles to the campground, but not much of the road is uphill.

For most of my life Cottage cheese was a hated food. For some reason the fat free small curd cottage cheese tastes wonderful to me now. It is astounding how a persons “style” changes over the years.

This afternoon late, the rains started over the desert including lots of lightning. Sometimes four or five strikes would be evident at one time. In general it was spectacular. A great light show while eating my cottage cheese makes for a pleasant snack time.

Here at this campsite there are three doves that visit a couple of times a day and sit around watching all the goings on. Additionally there is a small cotton tail rabbit (named Runny Babbit) and a small jackrabbit that hop around during the day. Both are careful about the fool in the trailer, but not over afraid. Additional activity is all sorts of lizards and flying objects moving around all the time. Continuous entertainment is provided by all these critters if you sit quietly under the dining canopy.

According to the insurance agent BCBS of Texas health insurance turned me down for health insurance because my blood pressure is too high. It is taken every morning and averages at 118/75 and I do not take any medication for any medical problem. Some underwriters are real twits on a good day.

Sitting Bull Falls is on the agenda tomorrow for a place to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Brantley Park Tour

Brantley Lake State Park 9-18-08
Carlsbad, New Mexico

How fast grasshoppers fly is now known to me! Do you know how fast grasshoppers fly???? Twelve miles an hour. On my bike ride this morning there were several different types of grasshoppers that flew along with me for a ways. Each one had a speed on my speedometer of twelve miles an hour. Big ones or little ones, bright colored or plain green, they all had the same speed as they tried to race the bike.

Today is show off the park in the blog day. As you approach the entrance after a four and a half mile drive through the desert below the dam, you may begin to wonder what you have gotten yourself into. It turns out to be pretty nice.

At the entrance to the ranger station is two types of foliage in bloom. The taller sage has beautiful purple flowers. The shorter sage has pink to red blooms on it. The fragrance they put out is a great reception.

The patio at the entrance is a very inviting place to pause for a few minutes. The shade from the trees is welcome and once again there is fragrances whirling everywhere around you. This is where the old fat rider took a rest after six miles.


Adjacent to the ranger station is a very nice nature trail, with many different types of cacti and other desert shrubs. A wheel chair or crutches can make the rounds of the nature trail. It is nice.

From this patio area the campground is visible way across the desert. In this picture that is the campground in the far trees about mid picture. The drive to it from the ranger station is two miles.

The paved roads loop around through the campground, a day use area and the boat ramp. There are little ups and downs to the roadway until you get to the boat ramp. It is very long and steep. The bike ride down gives you a good test of your brakes. The bike ride up gives you a good test of your heart, lungs and legs.

Back toward the dam is a low area for primitive camping. Riding my bike in that area was interesting. The low trees/shrubs prevent seeing very far in any direction. Folks are allowed to camp any place they want to set up. At a few points the “volunteer” roads meander off into the lake. There were a couple of them that looked to be good locations to launch a yak, especially a yellow yak.

The wind has kicked up to a bit of a stiff breeze so yaking may have to wait for a better day. At least today was a great day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Dog Canyon, Gumo

Brantley Lake State Park 9-17-08
Carlsbad, New Mexico

A beautiful cool day started me out on the correct foot this morning. It was a wonderful morning to sip coffee and contemplate my day. Going to Carlsbad to see the city and purchase some groceries was first on the list.

Carlsbad is a city under reconstruction. It is a major boomtown with all the construction going on. Apartments and rv parks are booked solid until next year some time. One fellow told me that the bridges in town were going to get a makeover also. A quick drive by of the city golf course told me it was a nice course to play.

After the groceries were stowed properly and lunch was eaten, the decision was made to go to Dog Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It is sixty miles from here one way. The trip proved to be very nice with a lot of greenery from recent rains.

The first part of the road goes through a gas/oil boom area with lots of activity. The second part goes through the Lincoln National Forest with its dispersed camping areas. As the road approaches the Texas State line this view is of a valley that is pretty nice.

As you continue along the view changes a little to include the road leading to dog canyon.

When you finally get to the park, this is the ranger station. The sign says that this is over 6000 feet of elevation. My breathing agreed with that. This is higher than Sunrise Visitor Center on Mt. Rainer in Washington.

If you sit on the rocking chair on the ranger station front porch, this tremendous sight awaits your eyes.

The ranger on duty is a temporary. The normal ranger is off taking a vacation. The duty ranger was a very personable young man with a history taking place in the Idaho area. He and I talked of things fun in Idaho and Oregon that we had in common.

After a bit , his trail crew of men and women came in from working on one of the trails. They were a very interesting group to visit with. They are camped there for a month of work. The work yard has their tents scattered all over it. It would be nice to visit with all of them again.

This standard ordinary fantastic desert sunset

tells me that it was a good day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Brantley Lake State Park

Brantley Lake State Park,
Carlsbad, New Mexico

Yesterday's blog was posted about an hour ago.

WOW what a difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comfort Castle got here to Brantley Lake about one pm today. This is a very nice park. Carlsbad with good stores is about twelve miles away. The area even feels good.
The campsite is fabulous and the view wonderful. SEE

The internet is four bars of slow speed so it should be steady if a little slow. The water in the lake is very nice, but is catch and release fishing only. The yak should do well here. There are the Guadalupe mountains nearby and down the road a little way is Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Major amounts of things are available in this area for adventuring. The roads are excellent for some serious bike riding and off road is also available.

This is also on the Pecos River, but what a difference. The dam actually touches the water here. Check this dam picture.

A lot of catch-up on the inet was done this afternoon. Catching up on IKE damages and people reports took a couple of hours. Then a walk around a small smidgen of the park was taken. There are a lot of square miles of territory here to play with a person’s toys.

A beautiful sunset treated me to a nice evening. It is easy to get used to these spectacular sunsets out here in the western deserts.

On the way back from my walk, Mickey and Michael were fixing supper in the campsite next to mine. We visited for a bit while they got their food ready. They work for the New Mexico state in some capacity, and sometimes camp when they travel around the state. Very interesting and personable folks these fellows were. They are young men with families, but have to travel around the state inspecting mining operations. As they began to have their supper, this was the scene.
My old eyes need more light than those little LED lights provide.

They are much more hard core campers and backpackers than me. My foam topped mattress inside the RV fits me very well thank you.

Pacing myself will be very important, because around here are so many places to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Lake Sumner State Park

Lake Sumner State Park 9-15-08
Ft. Sumner, New Mexico
On the trip over to Lake Sumner was small town that had had a problem happen right next to the highway. A grain tank had destructed and collapsed. Notice that the top of the tank is still attached to the upper structure. That must have been exciting.

The trip was uneventful for me and actually the terrain is a little boring. When the campground came into view, it was a little less than was expected also. The town of Ft. Sumner has the claim to fame as the real burial place of William Bonney. There certainly was not anything special about the town to me.

This picture is of my campsite at Lake Sumner State Park. This park needs a lot of road work to get it into decent shape.
The lake is so far down that the water does not even get to the dam anymore. This is on the Pecos River.

The water is not very clear and is very silty. My plans to kayak there were changed when the water proved to be not as nice as it could have been. There was even a nice looking finger to paddle in, but the water was unappealing.

Since my grocery supply is a little short on some things and Ft. Sumner has only a small small grocery, tomorrow will be a rolling on down the road day. It will be a lot easier to try to have tooooo much fun somewhere else. TheOFM

Neat New Friends

Portales, NM
Oasis State Park

My stay here was extended for a day because of meeting some neat new folks. PM and Sue turned out to be wonderful folks to spend time visiting. We had each seen the others trailer and knew we were Escapees, but had not been able to cross paths until about noon today. After a short visit at the road through the campground, we had to split up for a while. My stay at the campground was extended and tonight contained a wonderful long visit with them. We are hoping to run across each other in the future. They have been RVing for many years.

The first task on the agenda this morning was to get laundry done. A stop at Walmart on the way to the laundry netted the items needed. The laundry was an adequate laundry of high priced service. It was $2 a load for the washing. At least the dryers worked well and cost me $.75 per load. Now the team is ready for another ten days of adventures.

Most of the rest of the day was spent emailing or talking on the phone to friends in the Hurricane IKE path. So far none have had any bodily injury. Home damage is not known on most of their homes yet. One lady did not get flooded and it is a wonder because her place is very close to the waterfront. In the next few days more results of the hurricane will come to light. It is nice to NOT be living in that area anymore.

Now it is time to finish making up the bed and get some sleep so tomorrow will be a great day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Blackwater Draw Site

Oasis State Park 9-13-08
Portales, New Mexico

This morning came with a lot of promise to be a wonderful day. The view from my window was very rewarding.

With a view like that to greet you, you have to make things happen!

So off to Blackwater Draw archaeological site for adventure for my readers and me. It is close enough that my bike could have been the transportation, but the distance was not really known until it was driven this morning. At the entrance is a very visible sign to announce the proper place to turn to enter the site.

A short drive down a gravel driveway brings you to a rough parking area. No one was at the entrance station, but there was a sign to take a brochure and come on down to the draw. The brochure has a good map of the area and special spots called out that you should not miss.

This is an old gravel pit that was finally purchased and put into ENMU ownership to maintain it’s place in history and research. A very good move it seems to me. The first view of the draw is not really that exciting.

However the items of archaeological importance quickly changes that first impression. A nice lady met me as the path went downhill and collected the two dollar entrance fee. There was a big litter cleanup day in progress. She quickly went over the major points of the site and answered a couple of questions about some details that interested me. And then it was up to me to find my way around.

The main building houses a continuing dig of a major bone yard. It has been covered for all year round work and easy tourist visiting. Since my travels have taken me to numerous digs as a tourist this build did not hold my attention for very long. However it is by far the best display of a dig in all the locations of my travels. It will be high on my recommendation list in the future.

A very short walk from the main building is a small A frame house over an ancient well. The sign along the path to the house explains about the well.

The well house was locked so my picture had to be taken through some glass on the door with a lot of trouble with reflections. Please enjoy this less than perfect picture of the well.

After viewing the well, my tour took me all the way around the site. There is a lot of signs with great information about what happened where. The total tour of the site takes about an hour and a half if you are just touristing like me. An involved person would take days for certain.

My mail that was in route to me came in today. In it was one of my RV club magazines. In that magazine was a very important sentence.

“Someday---” should be in your rearview mirror.

That is an important concept. Equally important with “LIVE NOW”.

So some time tomorrow Comfort Castle and the rest of the mob will be rolling again in search of having tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Suprise Supper

Oasis State Park 9-12-08
Portales, New Mexico
For those who missed the varmit identification report, the varmit from the blog two days ago is a Jerusalem Cricket. It is a valuable part of our earth even if it looks very dangerous. It is not dangerous to humans.

When cooking your supper is the BIG EVENT for the day, then it has been a laid back day. Today was super laid back. The overcast sky was a bummer to start the day, but the day finished out the most beautiful sun, breeze and temperature you could ask for in this world. Absolutely fantastic.

This morning was taken up by phone calls to friends and email to and from friends. My friends in Houston have concerned me with IKE being such a mean storm. At least several of them have been intelligent about this and left town. What do you do when a hurricane runs you out of your home??? You have a Hurricane Party!!!! Especially an experienced hurricane dodger like my friend Charlie. He took all the good stuff out of his freezer, some bottles of his special pick wines and went to a friends house north of Houston where they plan on a two day Hurricane Party. That Charlie knows how to live.

Finally the weather let up some and off to get diesel and groceries the team went. Diesel in town had gone down to $3.999 a gallon and the truck needed 21 gallons. It has a 25 gallon tank. Then the little Wal-Mart was the stop for groceries. A very large stock of food was purchased and it still was under $50. At a HEB or other small town grocery, like the ones in Sinton, that purchase would have been $10 to $15 more.

Since the town is small, some touring around town was done on the way back. Portales is quite a town. They have the East New Mexico University here and piles of commercial plants that do all kinds of things. The railroad runs right through town and according to their welcome magazine about a hundred trains a day come in and out of town.

After the return home and putting away the groceries, a walk was taken but nothing special popped up to take a picture of for the blog. At the grocery store caution and good sense were thrown out the window and some sausage was purchased for supper tonight. At least it is turkey sausage.

Using some briquettes left over from last summer, a fire was started.

Then the sausages were prepared for cooking and drizzled with BBQ sauce before wrapping in foil.
After the fire died down to coals, the sausages were laid on the grill to slow cook.


Towards the end of the cooking, the sauerkraut, spiced my way, was added to the grill in a coffee pot for its turn at being cooked to perfection.


Cooking slowly took about an hour and the sausage was juicy and delicious. The kraut was dead center perfect. There was enough left for supper or lunch tomorrow. YUM YUM.

While tooooo much fun was not had, after finding out folks in harms way were safe, it turned into a great day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

BIG Feet

Oasis State Park 9-11-08
Portales, New Mexico

Blackwater Draw is famous in archaeology circles but very new to me. It was a major find in tracing human history in the world. The location is only a couple of miles north of my location. Right in the middle of a nothing special looking area is a treasure chest of archaeological information.

The museum for the site is located a few miles away on a busy highway for easy access by folks. However the log book does not appear to need a new sheet of paper very often. That is a shame because it is one of the best specific interest museums. The friendly fellow who mans the front desk is an archaeologist himself.

My entry fee of two dollars was a bargain for sure. The first exhibit after you enter is the life size mammoth head in a glass case. At each case is a placard telling a lot of information about the particular exhibit.


The build is set up as a long circular hall with exhibits on both sides. The format works out very well. Facilities are located about halfway through the exhibits.

After viewing several exhibits, there is one that fascinated me. The exhibit shows the feet bones of a mammoth. They are extremely large.

The placard in the exhibit explains about large feet.


There is way too much information and exhibits in the museum to cover it all in a blog. Only enough to hopefully get you interested in stopping to see it all is put in tonight’s blog. The actual excavation site will be open Saturday. In the museum is an exhibit to explain how the different layers of stuff help us to understand what happened when.

After touring the exhibits, a bout an hour was spent visiting with the caretaker of the place. Turned out to be a wonderful adventure.

After arriving back home, a sprinkle of rain started. Then a very good rain for a few hours. It made for great napping with the windows open. The flowers, trees and grasses are showing their thankfulness for the rain.

And the old fat man is thankful for another day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Been To See The Varmit

Oasis State Park 9-10-08
Portales, New Mexico

A walk in the dunes here proved anticlimactic to say the least. After the dunes at Padre Island National Seashore, these dunes were mere piles of play sand in a sand box. It is a nice walk to go through them, but watch out for the grass burrs. A pants leg full of them inside and outside of the pants caused some serious discussion with the burrs. They hurt.



A road trip south west of Portales was tried today. There is supposed to be a road to some BLM land about twenty five miles out of town. The DeLorme map book and the Map Quest map were both totally inaccurate. Roads that they showed were not there or even a small remnant of a road. The trip was a failure except for getting this wonderful picture of the exciting terrain of New Mexico in this area.

Since my arrival here, there has been a large varmit seen often. They are quick little devils of about an inch and a half in length. Rather mean and ornery looking also. If any one knows what this is varmit is please email me at texnomad at hotmail dot com with its identity. Tomorrow a picture will be taken to the rangers to see if they know what it is.


The walk taken this evening to try for a picture of the above critter yielded this nice evening sunset scene. The wind is soft but a little brisk and breezy so the truck will be taking me to the nice large showers that they have here.


There is a historical site near here that is on the agenda for tomorrow. Maybe a lot of education will happen as an aside to trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

9-11-08 The varmit is a Jerusalem Cricket which is not a cricket but none the less a valuable insect and relatively harmless to humans.

Interesting Aircraft

Oasis State Park 9-9-08
Portales, New Mexico
There is a wonderful blog by a lady of many years. She wanders around Prescott Arizona commenting about all sorts of things. Sometimes she even gets to leave town. Her writing is at http://www.walkingprescott.blogspot.com/ . Frequently she reminds me to pay attention to the very smallest of things. Sometimes my blog gets to “global” and interesting small things are missed. Granny J helps me enjoy ALL of my surroundings.

For instance, today there was a small rock that seemed different than the gravel on the road. As my walk approached it, a bright myriad of sparkles emitted from it. It is about one fourth the size of my thumb and slightly pink. A very ordinary rock until the sun hits it, then it ignites into dozens of flashes of light reflected back at you, refracted to some extent so you get lots of colors also. For me this was an exciting moment. Simple minds are easily entertained and think clearly.
A good asset of this location is a Wal-Mart superstore about five minutes away. Another asset for Portales is a restaurant named El Rancho. If you get over this way please stop by and have a meal with some of their SUPER WALLOPADOOZA Green Sauce. The rest of the meal was pretty good too.

This park is taken care of my Jim and the crew. They run a very nice , clean and beautiful park. This is Jim who gets the blame for everything that goes wrong and credits his crew for things done right. Jim would be an excellent fellow to work for.

On the door to the visitor center is a couple of pictures. My picture of the pictures came out not so good, but enjoy them anyway.

The kids playground here is unique in that it is covered to hold back the sunshine. It is a very nice set up with facilities close by. This seems like a good idea for a lot of parks.

Another major draw for this park used to be the stocked fishing lake. The clay liner failed and the water went away. Jim is trying to get all the stuff lined up to install a vinyl liner and fill the lake. Then it can be stocked and loads of folks will come out to enjoy it. My walk around the dry lake convinced me it would be a wonderful thing to have in this area.



The charcoal grills here are unique to me. These have an arrangement for the grill to be adjusted up and down to exactly what is needed. The loops just jam against the vertical rods at the height you choose. When loads are applied to the grill, it just fits tighter and stays in place.

The sand dunes here have beautiful yellow flowers on them. The yellow flowers are not the only ones here. There are lots of other blooming plants in many colors. It certainly is a pretty sight for my eyes.


My stay here has been extended until nest Sunday. Mail from the Escapees is being forwarded to me. On the agenda for that time is a closer look at Clovis, Portales, a historical park nearby and this park out in the sand dunes.

The park is close to an air force base so a couple of times a day there are some very heavy duty aircraft flying over. They are interesting planes sometimes. Apparently there are several specialty planes stationed there.

The weather is so down right perfect that it is easy get out and try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Plans Change In Three Seconds

Oasis State Park
Portales, New Mexico

What a day of changes!!!! When the West Rim park was in the rearview mirror it was already 8:30am. Fifteen minutes later at I-27 the choice was made to head to Lubbock then make another choice. Did not happen. On the way to Lubbock the storms started across Texas racing us for Lubbock. Ha Ha Fooled them. The rig turned west at Kress on an old farm to market road that turned out to be a very good road all the way to Farwell, Texas. By then the choice was to head into New Mexico to the Clovis area. Clovis is my birth city. Maybe it is time to get acquainted with my birth place.

After a visit with the nice lady at the NM tourist center, my choice for camping became Oasis State Park. It is a wonderful choice and her recommendation was well appreciated. Being a senile old fat man, her name was not noted. As Comfort Castle rolled into the park, the excellent maintenance was very apparent.

In New Mexico they have an annual camping pass. For us foreigners it cost me $225. This covers the regular campsite fee of $10 for a year. Or if you get lucky like me and purchase it at the right time, it covers twelve months and three weeks. Electricity and sewer cost four dollars each per day if you want them. All I need to do is stay in NM state parks twenty three nights to be broke even. After that you can come out way ahead. The neat thing about NM state parks is that they range in elevation from about 3000 feet to above 8000 feet. That way you can stay cool all year long. If you stay all year with electricity, it works out to $140 a month for your rent and utilities.

The wind here is very soft because the humidity is very low. It also seems cooler than it is. About three this afternoon while out walking, there seemed to be a chill to the air, but the temperature was 73. My guess would have been about 68.

The campsite for this stay is number 23 and has a tree on either side to give shade in the morning and evening. This picture is from the street looking toward the campsite.



Now we have a picture from the back side looking toward the street.

To help you folks in cubicles and other work sites, here is the picture from my “office”.


From near this site there is a pleasant trail running to the restroom and showers. The park has even put in night lights so you can see to dodge the rattlesnakes and scorpions. It is a nice short walk in the daylight.


For the close of tonight’s blog we have a picture of the evening sky as a weather front is closing in to give us two Rvs in the campground a chilly night. OH BOY sleeping with the blankets on and the windows open for lots of fresh air.


All evidence available points to an excellent time of trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow. HE HE HE TheOFM.

No Litter Here

West Rim Park,

Canyon, Texas

This morning started with fog so heavy you could not see but maybe two hundred yards. So taking care of some planning occupied my time. It is nice to have internet to search around when planning things.

About noon the fog BLEW away and some sun showed. However the wind has been strong enough that the paint is blowing off the truck. Now it is obvious why there is so little litter here. It all blows over into somebody elses' county.

Tomorrow morning will be a rolling day. Exactly where the rig will end up is your guess, because it is not known on this end of the keyboard. There are routes researched out going north, south and west. When Comfort Castle gets to I-27 a decision will be made by flipping a tire or something and off we will go. Probably the biggest decision made today is what to have for supper!!!! The biggest activity for today was putting on my clothes this morning!!!!

This has been a great place to visit, but the hitch itch is as strong as the wind. Maybe the next stop will be a great place for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM