Stuck In The Mud

Estes, Texas

It was a very calm non-windy morning just long enough to fool some of the yakkers into getting well out into the bay before the windstorms started again. When a trip into the Rockport ski basin area was taken, there were several taking out. They looked tired and worn. This is the “protected” area of the water down here. The waves are not high but the wind was knocking the tops off them and that makes tough yaking.

When the office opened and yesterdays mail was available, there was nothing very important in it. However the Blood Center notice from my last gift was there and said two good things. The first is that my cholesterol was back down to just over 200 where it has been all my life. The second was that a gift of life was allowed starting today. Great now there is something important to do today. On the way to give blood is when the ski basin scene mentioned above was photographed.

The blood truck was waiting for me and took me right in.

The folks in there and an old fat man had a good time joking around for a bit. These blood center folks down here are a lot more fun than the technicians in Washington were. The new shirt they give out is pretty neat. It is good to earn shirts this way.

After the blood letting, a stop at huge used book barn was tried. Before a good look around was accomplished, my body started feeling not right. So it was head for the Castle time. After a small lunch, it was time to lie down for a bit. The nap lasted almost two hours. It took a little while this time before my body was feeling proper again.

Part of my recovery time was spent at the bulkhead supervising the waves hitting the bulkhead. Murphy was sitting there fishing in his usual high intensity fashion. Murphy was 71 when he retired a few years ago.


We had fun watching the larger sport fisherman type boat that had run aground. They wrestled with it for over an hour before getting it loose to continue on northward.

This evening has been more take it easy time. By morning it will be trying to have tooooo much fun time again. TheOFM

Small Dogs Having Trouble

Estes, Texas

Today came and went. Bang it is gone. The wind is still blowing the bark off the palm trees. And small dogs get blown around when out for their walk. Other than that it would be nice to have something interesting or an adventure to tell about.

A little driving around the area resulted in the using of diesel fuel with no adventures. My next location better be more interesting than this one. If the wind would at least slow down to two foot waves, then the yak could be taken for a bounce around. The bicycle was gripping the inside of the camper shell tightly since it did not want to get out and have all the paint blasted off it’s frame.

Hopefully the book of golf humor that was retrieved from the library will help with the mood tonight. Tomorrow should be a better day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Swimming Pool Open

Estes, Texas

A late awakening and a slow breakfast got me to the grocery store a little before eleven this morning. To my surprise the traffic was nearly non existent on the roads. Shopping was delightful since the workers at Wal mart exceeded the customers. After a week of the spring break zoo, the workers probably love the peace and quiet.

More piddling around on the internet checking out affordable golf courses in Texas took a good bit of the afternoon. Then a trip out to the flats toward Port Aransas to survey fishing spots compatible with the strong winds.

To my surprise the community swimming pool in Aransas Pass was open and getting a lot of use already. The air temperature was 68.

The kayak launch spot next to the community pool was the reason for being in the area. It looks fishy and is definitely fishable in this strong wind. At least if you use a yak. If you did not use a yak, you would be trying to muck walk in muck up to your waist.

Back over at Lighthouse Lakes, there were plenty of yaks and bank fishermen out trying their luck. Most had caught two or three fish to take home. This is another area that needs me to get busy and yak around. But the wind makes the paddling so miserable. The shallow water keeps the waves from being large, but the wind just kills you.

Late in the afternoon, the rv park that was my first home here in 2007 was checked out for potential stays. With a severely limited budget, this area is very attractive. Most things are very close. You have lots of places for yaking, fish catching, bike riding and walking in the parks and at the tourist trap areas. Things are a lot cheaper here than in most places in my past. Although diesel just went from $1.99 to $2.09 today.

There are three adequate golf courses within thirty miles. There are some $$$$$$$$$ courses in the area also. They are a so what situation for me. For now it looks like this area may be home for a while. So it may work out that the summer will be spent swilling Diet Dr. Pepper on the beaches watching the bikinis wander around.

Is that an adequate way to try to have tooooo much fun????TheOFM

Big Nothing

Estes, Texas
Did little but stay hidden and swill Diet Dr. Pepper as promised. There was one run to Loews to put into action a brilliant idea. The cost of the idea tarnished it severely and it will not be done. Late this evening some lure casting was done down at the bulkhead. It seems there were no fish there wanting the electric chicken style of fishing lure.

A lot of research on the internet was done about future travels. Absolutely nothing was decided.

Now that the sun is gone, the severe winds have died down. They will likely shut everything down as to outside activities again tomorrow. One way or another there will be significant effort made at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Good Equipment

Estes, Texas

The weekend is here and the traffic has increased noticeably. My plan is to hit the super Wal-Mart early tomorrow for a 24 pack and hunker down out of the way and swill Diet Dr. Pepper. Today was a short loop trip up to Goliad and back to check out the campgrounds and terrain for flowers.

Wildflowers are blooming whoever they can get some water to thrive. A couple of planted irrigated yards had some show of color but it was not fabulous like in years past. Here is one small spot of bluebonnets.

As the trip wandered through the back roads around this part of Texas, a solitary longhorn was spotted minding its own business being cute.

On down the road a bit was a small herd of longhorns, both adults and younger critters.

A nice red bloom was found not far from the last herd. It was all by itself along a fence line.

The trip was moderately short and non-eventful. The area is still way behind on rain even after that storm of yesterday. Most of the little creeks and stock tanks are not flowing or sometimes slightly damp at best. This is not looking like a good crop and livestock year down here.

Finally to finish out the evening, fishing at the Rockport public pier was tried. A lot of folks were there drowning shrimp and chunking lures. For the hour of my participation there was exactly zero fish caught of any kind.

The most fun part was that the new rod and brand new spinning reel work together wonderfully. Good equipment like this can make it a lot easier to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

High Tides

Estes, Texas

Somebody please tell me where the truck was supposed to be going. It is not known now. However thanks to digital camera capability, it is known where the truck ended up going. Stuff was thrown into the truck for an adventure to ????? When the truck got to Padre Island National Seashore, it was a nice place to be. Estes had overcast and PINS had mostly sunshine. Good choice truck.

For the first time in my many trips here, it was noticed that the visitor center has a highly elevated observation deck. Usually my body is in a hurry for the necessities room, so meandering around in the parking lot is not going to happen. This time a glance up surprised me with the observation deck way up nearly in the clouds. From up on the deck a whole new world opens up to be photographed. Here is a picture from the deck looking down to the beach area and folks playing in the waves. It was wind blown rough today as you will see later. Go ahead Sis, wiggle your toes like you are there.

Wind sculptures were on my mind as the beach was carefully searched. Alas only a lonely old worn out coconut was found laying amongst the seaweed pieces. A lot of vegetation has washed up and the tides are very high. The normal roadways along the beach are under water now.
After some poking around here and yonder, the trip back to the Castle was begun. Ah but we were ambushed by Mustang Island State Park on the way back. It proved to be interesting and more adventure than planned. While we were there the rangers blocked the beach access off from vehicles since the tide was coming in and wiping out the “road”. That makes it nice for the walkers like me.

Once again wind sculptures were the target. However only one sort of decent one was located. Even it was not nearly as interesting as the ones last January.

Naturally the jetties needed a visit out to the end of them. The end of them was not the place to be. The waves were breaking up onto the jetty ends. This picture, and a lot of others, was taken back a good bit from the end. Getting washed out to sea is not my kind of adventure. The rocks are about five feet high. Notice the rock on the right side. It is in the next picture with a wave over it
While taking the spray pictures, it was noticed that occasional waves would wash around the jetty to the sides and climb up toward my feet. The rocks where my feet were situated was damp but not regularly getting waves over them.

As pictures were being taken of waves washing up on the sides, this nice picture was grabbed. And then the realization hit me that that wave may be powerful enough to get to me. YIKES AND HURRY BACK!!!!! As it turned out this wave in the picture washed over the rock that used to have my feet on it, to a depth of only about six inches.

You really have to watch those waves. Also suddenly noticed, was that back on the beach the waves were occasionally washing all the way up to the sand dunes. It was time to vacate the area. There was no serious danger, but it would have meant that the trip back would have been in the beyond the dunes brush where the creepy crawlies live.

The trip back to the truck went well with having to stop a few times to let the wash from a wave come up to the dunes. Then a quick scamper onward. It was fun since there was not real danger.
While waiting for the ferry to load, the radio was turned on. OH NO weather bulletins about trouble right where we are. Possible tornados, hail and high wind to go with heavy rain. Now that sounds exciting. We did get the high winds and heavy rain. It made me glad the Castle was only about seven miles from the ferry landing. As least the salt got washed off the Castle and truck.

When we got to the Castle it was raining very heavily, so the truck seat was reclined and a nap hit me. Something woke me about twenty minutes later and that is when this picture was taken.

The rain let off a lot and zoom into the Castle. About thirty minutes later it was very bright sunshine outside and the solar panel was kicking out over five amps. NICE. This evening is nice and cool. The next couple of nights are supposed to be beautifully cool for sleeping.

This was a pretty good day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Conn Brown Harbor

Estes, Texas

The following story was found on the internet so it may not be the whole truth. Anyway it caused today’s adventure. Conn Brown Harbor in Aransas Pass was supposedly the harbor to the largest fleet of shrimp boats in the USA at one time. This needed to be seen in detail. It was only a very few miles away. The public boat ramp there is popular with the folks taking power boats out for fishing.

The harbor is a nice size and it is possible that the hundreds of boats may have fit in it at one time. This view is from the upper end of the harbor looking south to the opening out to the bay.

Out near the point of the harbor where it opens into the bay is a nice public boat ramp, piers and a restroom. The parking lot is huge to handle all the boats that launch there. Along the harbor channel is a large pier for fishing. From the evidence on the handrail, it gets lots of use most days. The highway bridge from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas is the one in the background.

On over on the ICW side of the point is a smaller pier for fishing into that channel. This is the same channel that runs in front of the campground where the Castle is resting.
Some winter Texans were cleaning sheepshead fishes they had caught. It looked like they had about a dozen nice ones. These fish are tough and hard to clean. They were trying to use an electric knife, but the knife was having hard time cutting through the sheepshead fish. Of course they had the usual sidewalk supervisors to take care of cleanup.

A work barge was moving south on the ICW and turned into the harbor channel, then turned around and just sat there. What in the world??? A few minutes later a very large set of barges came through the narrow spot under the highway. Then the work barge moved on out on its trip south. The work barge must have been out removing old pilings from the water from the looks of it’s cargo.

Laundry this morning gave me a chance to visit with some nice folks from Illinois. This is their first time down in this area and they seemed to be liking the cold winter weather we are having. They also are working on trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Not Recommended

Estes, Texas

There are ADVENTURES and there are adventures. Sometimes there are adventures that are hard pressed to be called even a mini-adventure. Today we have the miniest of mini-adventures.

Here in Rockport, Texas is a “Nature Trail”. Right across the street from the Wal-Mart is the very small parking lot and entry to the “Nature Trail”. The best part of the adventure is the ancient old experienced trees at the parking lot. The stories they could tell would be fascination to enjoy.

At the south end of the parking lot is the trail sign. It tells of the efforts of the local group to put together this nature area. It is certain that they are doing what they can with whatever limited funds they can scrounge up.
From where you read the sign is the obvious entrance to the trail.
When you pass through the arch of cane, this is the beautiful scene that awaits you.
About then is when you realize that this not the entrance to the trail, only an observation deck to see the brush growing. However all it not lost because when you turn around to go back you will be rewarded with the unusual sight of a grape vine growing through the cane thicket.
When you are back out of the cane, the signs marking the “trail” pass through the lawn area telling you of things not visible. Eventually it leads out to the highway and across a small drainage. When you follow the signs along they parallel a street that follows the drainage out to the salt water about .75 miles away. The truck was used to follow the signs out to the outflow point.

While crossing back across the drainage, A chance look down into the drainage from the highway bridge gave me a view of a submerged turtle messing around down there. AH HA now we have real excitement.

So when you come to Rockport to see all the worthwhile sights there are to see, checking out the “Nature Trail” might be one thing you can eliminate from the list of must see sights in the area.

Between a feeling poorly morning and afternoon and the high winds still blowing, not a lot was accomplished in trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Something Sucks Again

Estes, Texas

Some things suck, but sometimes they are supposed to suck but don’t. It was apparent that my vacuum cleaner needed to be emptied when it was not doing much of a job. After four or five years maybe it was time. Turns out the container was not full, but the paper filter was very clogged. So into the garbage with it and grab another from the cabinet. ERRRRR which cabinet. HMMMMMM this is not a large trailer so where is it????? Finally every cabinet and storage space was unpacked and there they weren’t. Hmmmm OK. Off to Lowes for a new filter and they actually had them in stock.

Now on with the cleaning. The constant wind here is depositing a lot of very fine sand in the Castle. This is bad. The little vacuum brush was even used on all the cabinets and walls. Now the Castle was dust free for the next few minutes.

Yesterday evening this next picture was taken of some of the breakers folks enjoying the Aransas Pass channel. The couple closest in the picture were minding a rod. Across the channel were several yakkers fishing in the nice weather.

Today is a whole new world. Strong winds all day have really shut down the fishing activity. The Flats are having white caps on the waves. The yak would be safe out there, but it would be a miserable experience.

The palm trees here in the park are catching it in the wind. This is one that has lost several fronds today. You can see the bare stems from a couple of the shreddings that have happened.

Even the birds have been laying low. Many, many seagulls have been resting on the ground in the area around us. Even the pelicans have not wanted to fight the wind and waves. This one has been sitting around most of the day. Looks kind of bored doesn’t it.

Supplies are getting low in some categories, so tomorrow morning will be a grocery shopping trip to Rockport. After that some looking around for a neat item for the blog will be on the agenda. The wind is supposed to continue tomorrow. YUK!! That can get in the way of some ways of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Finally Over

Estes, Texas

Spring break week is finally over. Most of the day was spent inside dodging the blowing air and the final throes of the spring break crowd. Earlier today a trip to the far side of Aransas Pass was made to the Loews store. It was packed. The streets were packed. A side trip to the Light House Lakes area proved that area to be packed. Back to the Castle and stay out of the way.

Sirens went by on the highway about every hour or so. Probably signifying a wreck down the road. Late this evening another trip was tried to check out a different campground more inland by a few blocks. The town is nearly a ghost town. You could nearly sit on the highway and have supper without any danger from traffic. Next week ought to be nice and calm folks wise.

It apparently was a big week for the businesses in town. Everywhere it seemed to be packed parking lots and stores or restaurants. Now that this week is gone, it is time to get out and try to have tooooo much fun again. TheOFM

The End Of An Old Friend

Estes, Texas

A wonderful old black spinning reel of mine had begun to fail to work flawlessly and seemed to need serious maintenance. This friend has been with me for over thirty years and together we have caused a lot of fish meals to grace the tables of lots of folks. So this morning started out with a carefully examination and disassembly of my old friend. As the parts were carefully separated it became very obvious that my old friend was totally worn out. Every thing wobbled and nothing ran true in its bearings. Getting replacements parts was not likely cost effective. It now graces a cabinet in the Castle.

A search for a proper replacement went on for a couple of hours. Finally a trip to the store was taken to get the feel of possible replacements. Wal-Mart had nothing of interest. So on down the road to a local tackle store called Tackle Town. The owners catalog was borrowed as the large assortment of reels were examined. Can you say STICKER SHOCK really loud? That’s not loud enough! The one that seemed like a great reel to me in the catalog was over $250. Nope not me. After working my way down to the price hoped to satisfy, then back up to the minimum requirements for my needs, a Shimano reel was chosen. It was bad enough at $60, but it should be the last reel purchased during the rest of my life.

Here is the changeover in progress. Old friend is on the left and new upstart is on the right.

The good news is that the new reel works very well. That is good. Look out fishes. Speaking of fishes, the cleaning station was getting a big workout this afternoon. Two fellows were keeping a large flock of pelicans well fed. My arrival happened just as they started putting a large pile of fillets into plastic bags. It looked like about two gallons of fillets.

About that time another park fisherman came walking up with his catch to clean. He had a couple of nice redfish.

While on the subject of fishing, let us talk boats or specifically color of yaks. It was my good fortune to have three different colored yaks out on the Flats at the same time. There were a gray, blue and orange ones. Mine is bright yellow. Look at the next three pictures and you will be able to see why mine is a hi visibility color.

The gray yak. Centered across and just below the far shoreline.

The blue yak. a bit left of horizontal center and just below the shoreline in the background.

The orange yak. Location obvious.

Being seen is a number one safety priority to me. It can give me more days of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Stand Up In A Yak!!!

Estes, Texas

A myriad of things happened today, but no thrilling adventures unless driving in fast traffic is thrilling. By request here is a picture from the front of the campsite showing the cubby hole the Castle is tucked into. It works out well to keep the ferocious wind from buffeting the Castle. However a gentle swirling breeze is almost always present. By the way, this campground is nearly reserved out for the winter of 2009/2010.

At night there are lights down at the waterfront so that area can be enjoyed. Some folks just sit and some folks fish. Mostly it is a restful time, except for the wind blasting you heavily.

Next door is a marina of sorts. There are several run down old boats in it with for sale signs. None would be acceptable for me to live in.


For some time now the possibility of using a bait caster reel again has been running through my head. There is lots of room for an idea to run around in there without getting injured running into anything. Since my other reels are spinning reels with left hand cranking, it seemed like a good idea for the bait caster to be left handed cranking also. Today was the day to act on the idea. Today was also the day to un-act the idea.

A trip to Academy caused a new rod and reel to come home with me. They were the cheapest good quality equipment in the store.


After assembly and attaching my normal artificial bait, the rig was tried out at the waterfront. It worked ok, but did not come anywhere close to the performance of the spinning rigs for into the wind casting. The left hand concept was good. Down wind they were about even. Cross wind the bait caster could not shoot the lure close to the water like the spinning rigs. That is needed in the strong wind to get the lure to the correct place frequently. In the final analysis, it was inferior for my wants. So it went back to Academy. By the way Academy is a seventy five mile round trip from here in Estes. In all it was a cheap lesson. Now that idea can stop rattling around in the cranium and peace and quiet can return to the park.

My neighbor, Dick, the yaking fisherman was coming in from the Flats this evening as my stroll headed toward the water. It was nice and very informative to finally get to talk to him. He had a friend with him, Ray, who was a nice fellow to visit. Now there are some things to change on my wish list. Here is Ray on the left and Dick on the right.

Dick paddles all over the place and fishes standing up on his yak and using a fly rod. He must have the balance of a circus tight rope walker to do that. He certainly knows how to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Post Number 500 Tonight WOW

Estes, Texas

The morning started as a beautiful day of cool temps and light breeze. WOW. It was nice to awaken to the gulls screaming their little lungs out while chasing their breakfast. It was a very relaxing sleep last night.

Today included trips to both the Wal-Marts in the area. Mostly to pay close attention to the stocking of each store and the price differences. Diesel was $1.959 at the Aransas Pass store, so the truck has a full tummy now. Both Wal-Marts are seven miles away in opposite directions. That is the longest trip needed to get almost anything a person could need. Of course there are higher priced stores in-between i.e. HEB. This is a well centered location for a lot of things.

My balance is still not just right, especially this morning, so the hoped for paddling of the yak did not happen. My neighbor goes out early and paddles all over Estes Flats while fishing. We will have pictures later in this posting. Some fellow that were visited at the waterfront told me that my neighbor goes out and stands in his yak and fly fishes all over the Flats. Now his yak is a 12 foot model, but it still takes very good balance to stand in it. The good news is that he brings back lots of fish and gives them away.

The two guys at the waterfront clued me in to the obstructions on the bottom in front of the bulkhead. Additional details that are called “local knowledge” were also shared with me. Some little bit of lure casting was tried late this evening with no luck but for losing a lure in the underwater grass.

Now let us take a look at about a third of Estes Flats. They are too big to get all in one shot with my camera. This is the north third. They are straight across the ICW from the park here and are easy paddling to get over there.

Most of the flats at normal tide have no more than 18” of water over them and mostly less than that. There is one slightly deeper gut that the power boats use to get in and out of the flats. Once a power boat is in there it is mostly get out and wade for fishing.
Here is the very heavily used fish cleaning station in the park. Three folks can work side by side and it is lighted for use at night.
These next two pictures take some explaining. Both were shot with the maximum telephoto my camera can do from the park bulkhead at high tide. In the first picture the grass line in the background is about 2 ½ miles out from the park. This is to show how shallow the water is. In the kind of upper right center is a water bird of some sort standing in the water. The second shot is an enlargement of the bird part of the first shot. Through binoculars we could see that the birds bottom feathers were not touching the water.


According to the two fellows, once you cross the ICW you can walk all the way to the grass line without getting your belt wet. It will be interesting when my yak can safely make it over there to do some serious exploring. That will be a day when it comes close to having tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Traveling Migraine

Estes, Texas

What a screwy day!!!!! Getting ready to roll this morning was not going well, but it was accomplished. The team was rolling at 8:13 am. The temperature was 53 and foggy damp with a slight breeze. After being on the road a few minutes a strong cough pointed out why this morning went not the best. My head had the after migraine headache. No wonder my body did not like to cooperate. At any rate it was get on down to the coast time.

There had been some turmoil in my head about to take the slow way around San Antonio by way of Hondo and other small towns or run the interstate right through town. Patty at the laundry had told me the construction in San Antonio on the route here was completed enough that it caused them no trouble at all. So we went straight through town. She was right and it flows very well. It probably knocked an hour and a half off the trip, because that is how much earlier than planned that we arrived in Estes, TX. That even includes a foolish wrong turn and come back around in San Antonio.

Another strange thing is that entering SA from the north the temperature was 56 and exiting SA to the south twenty minutes later the temperature was 69. Within a few more miles it was bright sunshine and in the 70’s all the rest of the trip. Lunch was taken a little north of Mathis with this pastoral view.

By the time the team arrived in Estes, my head was ready to quit for the day. So as soon as the Castle was set up enough to get by, my head piled into the bed for some rest. The rest of my body decided to go along with my head. A couple of hours later my head said OK you can get up again.

Thinking that taking it easy was a good idea, my decision was to take a few pictures of the Palm Harbor Waterfront RV Park. My site is backed up to some boat storage stalls on the west. This knocks out a good bit of western sun in the evening.

As you can see the Rvs are packed in a little tighter than my normal preference. But you will see why this park was chosen in a minute. This next shot is standing at the front of the site looking north toward the boat parking area.

That is about two miles of mosquito breeding grounds in the back ground. OH how exciting!!!!

Next you turn right and look to the East to the IntraCoastal Waterway (can you say FISH HIGHWAY) and Estes flats. It is a very short stroll down to the water. Estes Flats is famous in Texas for the good fishing. The campground runs right up to the ICW. The ICW is nominally twelve feet deep and is a barge canal that runs from the tip of Florida to the tip of Texas at Brownsville. Most of Estes Flats is less than two feet deep. This is KAYAK COUNTRY.

The south bound boats come so close to the bulkhead of the park that you can almost touch them with a fishing pole. See for your self.


There has been a couple of things spotted that need to be checked out. That will be a great excuse to get out and try to have too much fun. TheOFM

One Last Walk Here

Fredericksburg, Texas

The last day in Fburg has been beautiful from the start. Great sunshine and cool breeze all day. This morning was laundry and visit with Patty. Her family went down to Rockport last weekend in all the nasty cold weather. They made up for the weather by eating out a lot.

The solar system is working very well and cranking out lots of power. By noon the batteries were back to full status. This is working out very well.

Most of my day was occupied with getting things ready to roll in the morning. The Truck was unpacked and repacked for travel mode. Golf clubs were moved into the Castle. The yak was washed to get all the mud splashed onto it during the cold nasty weather. It is now in the Truck ready to roll. The hitch was put into the truck receiver and washed to get the slop off it. Now it is ready to tow. The few things out, like a water hose, were all stored away in the proper places. Air pressure in tires was the last thing done. It should be an easy get away in the morning.

This afternoon was a nice long walk for what is probably the last time here. This town is just too expensive for my budget to handle. In another month, it will be time to choose what to do next. That is a reoccurring problem for us full timers. Of course it can end up being stay where ever you are for another month. Travelinwithjohn is a blog and John today decided to stay right where he is in Zapata for another month. He is having a great time down there.

Most likely tonight will be one more night at El Maguey restaurant to finish a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Squealing Kids

Fredericksburg, Texas

Nothing dreary about today. Bright sunshine and warm temperatures all day. It got up to 83 inside the Castle, but the dry air made it still very pleasant. The dry air will stay here as the team heads to the coast. The next campsite will be about five hundred feet from the water front bulkhead of the campground. This will be interesting.

A loud propeller noise got my attention this morning. A bright red helicopter was landing in the ball field parking lot next to the campground. There was an ambulance with flashing lights waiting for it. Some older fellow from up on the hill at the top of the campground was having a problem and was airlifted out to the hospital. That is plenty of excitement for a week or two in my opinion.

My spot that is being vacated on Wednesday already has a new renter for it. My spot in Palm Harbor RV at Estes was verified a few minutes ago. It looks like fishing may be on Wednesday evening agenda in the ICW down there. Maybe even supper will be caught. That would be nice to have fish that fresh.

A lot of today was spent fabricating and installing a solar panel tilt bracket. Go to ofmdetails links and Panel Tilt Bracket for a write up on the mess.

It certainly is spring break week here. Lots of squealing and screaming kids having fun just running around and goofing off. At least they shut down by ten pm.

Those little kids can show you the way to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Sunshine Again

Fredericksburg, Texas

It was a cold dreary morning when my feet hit the cold floor. At least it was not raining very much. After some shoulder exercises outside, it was decided make a choice of how to control the shore power to the solar system. The installation began immediately and only required two trips to Wal-Mart to get all the pieces needed. The details have been posted in OFM Details blog under Shore Power Switch.

To my surprise about four pm the sun came out and made a wonderful evening. A long walk was attempted, but my knees cut it to about half of the desired amount. But it was still a wonderfully pleasant evening to get back outside again.

As the evening progressed the skies cleared even more and it got nicer outside. Now at a little after eight pm its getting chilly and time to close up the Castle.

Since building things brings me pleasure it is guaranteed that today came close to having tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Ticket Collectors

Fredericksburg, Texas

Finally it is supposed to be 65 and sun tomorrow. Today was in the mid farties and heavy overcast. At least no rain here. It is obvious from the traffic on the highways that this is the start of Texas Spring Break week. There certainly were a lot of folks on I-10 in a MAJOR hurry to collect speeding tickets.

To get out of the house and check on a couple of things that are being considered for purchase, a trip to Kerrville was taken. The Kerrville area has not had anywhere close to the rain Fburg has had. They had some but there is still dust moving around down there.

On the items looked at, it would save me over 50% to wait until arrival in Estes then internet order them. That is a lot of saving for me.

For the adventure of it, a very long out of the way route back to the Castle was taken. Sure enough no rain evidence until the roads got fairly close to Fburg. A lot of dry stock tanks and creeks out northwest of Kerrville. When the route got within about fifteen miles of Fburg, the creeks and stock tanks had some water in them. Mostly it is not an attractive area right now. Between the drought and the winter, now much is inspiring in the countryside.

Maybe with the better temperatures and sunshine, it will be possible to get the solar panel brackets fabricated and installed for better output of the panel. At least it will be a lot better day to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Rain For An Alarm Clock

Fredericksburg, Texas

Another day of being Castle bound. Actually what is there to gripe about. My home is mobile, paid for, dry and comfortable. That is way ahead of a lot of folks.

The rain woke me this morning and has finally let off some. When the trip to Wal-Mart grocery happened after lunch it was all the way up to 41 out side. After groceries were returned to the Castle, the vacuum cleaner got a workout sucking up all the dirt and mud residue tracked in for the last two days. This is a dark red tenacious mud here in this area. It is apparently great for growing crops.

The very large stock tank or small lake near the road on the route to Wal-Mart was totally dry a couple of days ago. This afternoon it is running over the spillway, down the ditch and over to the ditch next to the road. The crop fields that were so dusty two days ago are standing in water at times now. What does this all mean????? Maybe a bumper crop of wildflowers this year.

A possible plan in my mind is a meander through central Texas during the wildflower season. That should work out just right for when my month runs out at Estes. It has been a few years since my eyes have been entertained by the likes of a wildflower explosion like Texas does it. This could be exciting. Wander the pretty part of Texas seeing flowers and playing golf. Might just be an ok way to live. We won’t mention all the little towns that pride themselves on their special type of BBQ along the way. OINK OINK It is too bad that flavors and aromas cannot be imbedded into the blog entries.

Income tax was also reviewed today. Apparently the taxes taken out of the IRA redemption and my last paycheck are enough to cover all the taxes owed and return me a little bit for some of that Central Texas BBQ. Mail is due in next Monday. In that package should be the last information needed to finish and file my income tax. Then just wait for the Treasury check to arrive. Sounds good to me.

A question for you dear reader. How much better could a single fellow have it while trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

No Rain

Fredericksburg, Texas

It has been an inside day all day. The peak today was about 43 with a wind chill of 32. You will not catch me this far north this soon again. Down in Estes it was about 15 degrees warmer and the fish are biting. Every one who is out for exercise is bundled heavily. The folks who normally walk the whole park are only doing the small loop near the trailers.

For me it has been a big email day and read forums about things to do. Some time was spent practicing drawing to increase my limited abilities in that area. Nope nothing to show yet.
Texas big spring break week is next week. That means the trip to Estes will be during the middle of the crazy activities of the school age crowd. Maybe an early morning departure from here will get me to Estes before most of the folks wake up from the night before.

My buddy Bob Angel has added a couple of neat entries to his blog. Check them out in my Links I Like section under Mobile Studio Travels . He is going to be a really excellent blogger when he gets rolling.

Adventures have not been in my life today, but it has been a nice time of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Rain

Fredericksburg, Texas

The good news is that it has been gently raining all day. There is even some run off now as you can see in the next picture.



The bad news is that it has been gently raining all day. Heavy overcast and no sun makes for a dreary day inside a small camper like Comfort Castle.

Laundry was done this morning. Putting clothes away was strung out as long as it could be. Then some cleaning was done and piddled with for forever. Then it was lunch time.

Sometimes this kind of weather can make for 83 hour long days. It does not help that the temperature only got up to forty four this afternoon. It is no solace that the temperature down in Estes on the coast was 81 with bright sunshine. That is only two hundred miles south. However the package due in Monday is holding me here. Right now the prediction is for rain until Sunday.

It is some solace that the area can use every bit of the rain and then some. It was a good day for trying to have tooooo much fun inside. TheOFM

Big Catfish Dinner

Fredericksburg, Texas

Thank heavens for slippery roads today. We finally got a small amount of rain. All day it spitted and sputtered and curtailed outdoor activity. The view from the Castle’s window tells the story.

Already you can see the grasses trying to recover. The weather forecast is more tomorrow. And even the next day is possible. The land can use it.

The shrubbery that gets watered is breaking out like it is spring. The rest of the vegetation is sucking it in like drought. This mountain laurel at the library was permeating the area with a wonderful fragrance for all to enjoy. It caused me to pause and sniff a few times on my way into the library.

It was a wonderful couple of hours spent in the library catching up on magazine reading. My chair was right next to a front upstairs window. This gave me a wonderful view of the folks in the Marketplatz and along Main Street going about their business.

Back at the Castle, it was time to plan the revamp of the solar panel. Two things have to be done. One is lengthen the electrical wire from the roof connection to allow more tilt of the panel. Research has shown that the best average angle for it is sixty degrees up from horizontal. Right now it is only about ten degrees.

The second thing to do was design the tilt bracket. The factory models are nice, cost $28 plus shipping and not excessively strong to resist winds. Dimensions of pertinent parts of the panel were taken and recorded. Then a little trigonometry was done to calculate the correct length of angle to purchase.

Once that was done, it was off to the supply store to purchase the angle. My choice was 1” x 1” x 1/16” aluminum angle. Tomorrow will be fabrication time and if it is not raining maybe installation time. Climbing around on the roof in the rain is only acceptable in an emergency.

Tonight was treat myself to a BIG fried catfish dinner. It was wonderful but set me back almost eighteen dollars total. The budget cannot handle that sort of cost very often. Home cooking is a lot cheaper.

What with fragrant flowers, catfish dinner and rain for the land, it was a great day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Pain In The Foot

Fredericksburg, Texas

A trip to Kerrville for some parts to modify the solar system on Comfort Castle was a bust for the parts. Lowwes and Home Depot were both sold out of the electrical connectors needed.

A ride along the Guadalupe River was ok, but the weather too gray for decent pictures. At least a good place to launch the yak was found. That is if the water ever warms up enough. It was a very lite sprinkle down there today.

Due to a lack of paying close enough attention to the highway signs, a trip to Center Point Texas was included in the wandering. When the correct route was finally taken, it was a gentle trip back to the Castle. After lunch a nap was inadvertently taken on the couch. OH but it did feel good.

On this afternoons walk, the low top hiking shoes continued to cause a pain in the right foot on top of my arch. This was finally sorted out after a few stops at picnic benches and some great knife and scissors work. When we got back to the Castle, some heavy duty diagonal cutters were put to work removing one offending shoe lace eyelet. The trip to Walmart tonight brought forth the information that today the company that supplies eyelets to Walmart pulled they products off the shelves this afternoon. Another bust. That shoe repair will have to wait a day or two now.

An now with a cool night tonight the sleeping should be very nice. That makes a great finish to a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Right Foreleg???

Fredericksburg, Texas

A task and adventure was at hand this afternoon. Buzzards Roost Primitive Campground at Enchanted Rock State Park needed a careful checking out. The team was up to the task. The RPCs (Rubber Personnel Carriers) and my fat body teamed up to get the job done. Once more the new hydration pack performed to perfection.

The primitive camping area entrance had been visited once before because of the vault toilet there. This time it was to explore the area. A very good choice it turned out to be. There were some hikers ahead of me, but they were moving right along instead of meandering.

On along the trail the temperature was getting to me a little, so every chance to cool some in the shade was taken. Here is a cute view from one cooling spot along the trail.
Finally the turn from the Loop Trail onto the campsites trail came into sight. While getting some stickers out of my socks, a young athletic man came RUNNING along the trail. He slowed to find out if help was needed. Nope just stickers, thanks. And away he zoomed. A flashback to when the old fat man used to do that same thing here over thirty years ago reminded me of my aging. Getting old is not for wimps.

Back to the trail up to the campground. One nice scene is of what is sometimes called The Playground. It is a popular site for spider men types of fools.

On around the curve in the trail were some kids playing on the playground. Clik on the picture and look carefully at this zoomed shot for the red spot in the upper center of the rocks. That is a fellow climbing for fun.
Continuing along the trail brought me to their campsite. This area is open to pitch your camp any place you want in the area. Due to the sun, most folks pitch a tent under some trees.
There were about thirty places visible from the main trail where folks normally pitch camp. This is only about a mile and a half from the main parking lot. However it feels like out in the middle of nowhere.

The trail ended at the property fence and continuing would have required me to take too much chance going up a low steep cliff. Therefore it was a wonderful place to cool off and have a snack.

After a wonderful rest and great listening to the natural sounds around me, it was time to head back. Now right back at the beginning of the camping area was a double track with a sign that said NO Trail Dead End. Just what fit my desires. My shoes insisted that we go up the trail to the end and see what is there. It was a pleasant walk and goes right out to the highway.

Now the good part. There was a critter trail that apparently is heavily used that starts at the gate and heads toward the parking lot a mile plus away. Of course that had to be my path back. There was sufficient water in the pack and some more snacks, so off we go.

It did like a typical deer trail and wound up and down and around. The interesting thing found on this trail were at three different places small residue of a deer having been eaten. However in each case the lower half of the right front leg was left completely intact. Why is that is my question????

Eventually the trail ended at a grove of trees a little bit above and back from the Loop Trail. So it was easy to work my way down to the trail from the trees and back to the parking lot. The truck was waiting patiently in the hot sun. When the truck got started and the AC turned on, the temperature was noticed. No wonder my body was wilting.

On arrival back at the Castle, supper was a big lettuce salad with radishes, cheese and tuna added. It was very good. This day turned out to be a very good one for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Critters Everywhere

Fredericksburg, Texas

A cool breeze, a fresh pot of stew cooking and a drive about done today. WOW life is good. Today was only up to the low seventies for temperature, but the breeze remained cool all day. That made wonderfully slow, windows down, enjoying nature style of driving on the drive about.

The first destination was Mason Texas to nose around. WHOA that town is a lot larger than was thought and will take some serious time to enjoy. The good news is that there is a very nice campground at the fairgrounds just south of town. A quick tour through part of town confirmed the need for more than a quick trip to properly experience all that Mason has to offer.

There were lots of old houses that needed more care, but were still being lived in. Here is one that caught my attention.


The change in plans was to wander through some more of the back roads of the area. It is just as dry and dusty out that way as every where else. One creek did happen to have a small trickle of water but none of the others even hinted at moisture. When lunch time came to me a spot beside the road became my lunch room with view.

For some reason unknown to me, it brings me lots of joy to stop beside the road in special spots to have lunch. Today was wheat bagels and peanut butter while watching grasshoppers, flutter byes, birds and dust blowing. It was wonderful.

All over the place new critters are being born. Calves, lambs and kids are everywhere. Since most of these side roads are open range roads, getting close to the critters is part of the thrill. Not hitting a critter is an even bigger thrill.


A pride thing for a lot of ranchers is to have a special gate for their place. One of the neatest entrances to be seen in some time was seen when the team was almost back to “civilization”.

When the Castle was once again surrounding me, it was time to prepare some food for my fat body. A random gathering from the cabinets yielded the ingredients for a fantastic beef flavored stew. A good hour of simmering blended it to perfection.

That is a great way to top off a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Willow City Loop

Fredericksburg, Texas

It was time to get out of town for a little bit. So a ride was planned and off the The Truck took me. Naturally the trip went nowhere near the original planned place. First it was out toward the east to check on the flowers and moisture. Even LBJ State Park was dry. Then a route was plotted through the Ranch Roads, but a side road suckered me into traveling it. Seems like this team can never follow a planned route. Great HUH!

Everything out here is very dry. In the following pictures, the haze is not the normally UV reflecting off the water vapor. It is the fine dust that just hangs in the air and gets into everything included unopened cans. Maybe on the cans. The first side road wandered down through the ranches and never to be seen green grass. Here is a view of the area and the lack of water.

Walking makes little puffs of talcum powder fine dust erupt into the air. Then it gets into your clothes like crazy. On down at the bottom of this small valley is a stream? This stream seems to have been missing water for a very long time.
The meandering route of the trip got back to a Ranch Road for a few miles. Then another side route was taken to head to the Willow City Loop. When there is water and the wild flowers are out this is a very dramatically pretty area. Today it was not that nice.

The road is on private property. The pavement is public access but the dirt under the pavement is still private property. The folks have had to get hardnosed due to tourist misbehavior in the past years.
When you finally start down into the valley from the south, this is the first overlook into the valley below.
Notice the rock cliffs in the back of the valley. Eventually the road leads to right under them near a house. Sometimes on these legal side roads you get to drive almost on folks front porch. In one instance you actually drive between their house and the garage. Feels funny to drive through someone’s’ front yard. This one was not quite that bad.
A good part of the trip was finding diesel for $1.999 a gallon in Johnson City. That made me feel good about being out trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Stomped Like A Rotten Grape

Fredericksburg, Tx

Once again Jack managed to stomp me on the golf course. Of course we had so much fun it was hard to tell the score sometimes, but it is certain he whopped me good. It was a beautiful day and an easy day on the course for enjoying the time we had there.

A decision and plans were made on my near future. The team will be pulling out of Fredericksburg on the eighteenth for the coast of Texas again. The hope is that the water will be warm enough to get out and play in the yak A BUNCH. Just to send my readers on a geography search, it will be in Estes Texas.

This time the water should be in and of sufficient depth to get out and do some serious fishing. That month in Port Aransas with the water blown out of the bays was not the best ever. But Spring is on the coast and the fish catching should be getting pretty good soon.

At any rate it will be a good place to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

My Head On A Putter

Fredericksburg, Texas

Jack handed me my head on a putter today. Here is Jack.
He and his wife Shirley are very nice folks. Jack was a fellow who was playing in the creek when my walk took me by him yesterday. We had a great conversation yesterday and even better golf fun today. Neither one of us was hitting the ball great or putting decently. We were not counting on anything except having a great time. That we did corectly. The course knew I was coming so they had front end loaders out on the course repairing the damage.

Best of all Jack is going to give me another chance tomorrow to get my head handed to me on another golf club again. That is great, because we both agree that the best thing to do on the golf course is try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Long Walks

Fredericksburg, Texas

A day of strong winds and calm happenings. A check to pay a bill was mailed and some diesel fuel purchased. Wow what an exciting morning!

This afternoon was made really exciting by the arrival of a used five wood golf club that had been ordered. My shaft stiffness has had to drop a flex due to me being wimpier than in the past. However the wind was too strong to try it out.

A couple of long walks were taken. One speedy one for exercise and one slower one to notice the world around me. On the second, a nice fellow was met who was playing with an RC boat in the creek. We hit it off well and tomorrow we will play golf.

After that it was back to the Castle and fix supper. A big salad with salmon and a pre-prepared salad mix from Wal-Mart. Throw in some choice spices and great eating.

An addition to the details blog has been made tonight.

A that is about it for a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Solar Powered Sun Catcher

Fredericksburg, Texas

What an exciting day!!!!! Laundry and grocery shopping is just about the most exciting thing a person can do for fun don’t you think????? At least there was Patty to visit at the laundry and George at the Wal-Mart. That certainly helped brighten the morning.

A neat item that has not been mentioned before is the solar powered sun catcher that my sister gave me a few years ago. There is a small solar panel on it that powers an electric motor. The motor turns the crystal around in circle broadcasting moving rainbows all over the area. When the sun is out, the effect is really first class. Getting a picture has not worked on the effect. So at least here is a picture of the device.

Back in ancient history times when a regular structure was my house, there were always lots of wind chimes, sun catchers and thingamadoodles hanging around. It was something that gave me great pleasure. Now there is not room for much like that in Comfort Castle. Sometimes they are missed.

Later today examination of the electric production of the solar panel was being studied. So far on a very bright day like today, the production peak is at 1.9 amps. Of course it hurts that the panel is tilted slightly to the wrong direction. Considerable thought was given to the value of tilting the panel. No logical conclusion could be made with the actual data on hand.

Due to the connection to the Castle wiring for the panel being very short, a significant tilt could not be tried. On hand was a length of aluminum angle left from a previous project. A few selected stainless steel fasteners were purchased at the hardware store. After some fabrication by this genius mechanical designer, about five inches of tilt was achieved. Due to the original negative slope of the panel, this gave about three inches of lift to one side of the panel above horizontal. A cleaning of the dust from the face of the panel was also done


That is not much slope and not much help was really expected from the change. WOW. The charge rate went from 1.9 amps to 3.1 amps. This panel from AM Solar is supposedly capable when coupled with the controller in the Castle of generating more than 5 amps. Now it is believable. This value was taken about five pm in the evening. Tilting to the sun really makes a LOT of difference. Now there is hard evidence to examine and costs to consider, but things are looking a lot more promising that they were at first.

On top of that good news, a fresh golf ball of my preferred type and brand was found during the evening walk near the golf course. WOW what a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Big Puppy Hug

Fredericksburg, Texas

Take a break from chores. OK. So off to Enchanted Rock for some serious walking and testing of my knee. Last time out there it gave me fits. This time it was not a problem. Hmmm. Interesting!!

As my gear was being prepared for the assault on the area, two pleasant fellows from a near vehicle headed out on the usual trail that had been my planned route.

As my shoes started me to the same path, my eyes caught sight of the road that goes off into the unknown with a sign that said Dead End Not A Trail. Good. Some place different to explore. And as it turned out quite an exploration.
When my path got to the park boundary, a right turn was made away from the main visitor area of the park. Good Choice. From here for the next couple of hours, the trails were all critter trails. Busting brush tears up to much natural stuff. Follow critter trails and they will take you everywhere interesting anyway. Right after leaving the roadway above was a place where the deer and javelina cross under the fence. This apparently has been used for a very long time with the amount of wear showing in the soil.
Over the next hour, my meandering along predominately deer trails led to many rather interesting spots in the park. By no means was this the first time for someone to be here. After all the path paralleled the perimeter fence, but it is not often folks come into this area. For the whole time there were no human foot prints in the soil. Lots of other critters for certain. There were so many interesting rock formations that it seemed like my camera card was going to get tested for actual capacity.

Many appeared like several different molten rock flows had happened. There were many flow lines of solid rock that wrapped up, over and around other rocks. Here are two of the “statues” that caught my attention.

The trail in the second picture goes from the lower right corner across between the camera and the large rock then cuts between the bigger rock and the split sliver on the left. After that it was crawl on hands and knees up the face of the big rock in the back ground. You could see where the critter hooves had been cutting into the rock surface.

Being out by yourself with nobody on the earth knowing where you are is dangerous folks. A broken leg or other trouble could make you dead, so prepare properly before you do this kind of stupid stuff. Please do not go off like this without twice the safety equipment you think you need.
Lecture over.

By crawling on my fat belly, this picture of the lichens and cactus flower was captured. There were lots of cactus flowers for the taking, but this one seemed special for sharing with my readers. The orange lichens seemed especially nice today.

After a lot of time among the rocks, it was time to make my way out of the area and find out where my path had taken me. My supply of water was the deciding factor on leaving. It turned out that the main Loop Trail was only a half mile away. My luck was holding because a group of loud kids happened to head past on the main trail just at the right time to give me a heading.

After getting to the main trail, a look at the burned area near the primitive camping spot was taken. What a mess and no rain in many months. This area will take a long time to regenerate if the wind does not blow all the soil away. The area is closed to visitor entry so only this picture of a prickly pear cactus carcass was taken. This shows what the inner skeleton of a prickly pear cactus looks like. It was a new experience for me too.

After that picture, it was about a mile and a half back to The Truck. The walk back was done on the main trail shown in the first picture. There was a special moment about halfway back. A nice young lady had her black lab puppy out for a walk. It seems like no puppy can hug any better than a young black lab. What a puppy fix that was!!!

Seems like this afternoon made a good try at having tooooo much fun. TheOFM