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