Shoeless Joe

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Riviera, Texas

Of course the sound of rain had to be the first thing to bring me to wakefulness this morning. Nothing is more fun that hitching in the rain and mud. But by the time the hitching started the rain had quit and the area dried out. Everything went smoothly and for a change no injuries were endured. The rent and electric bill were paid. Then several folks bid me goodbye and safe journeys. The front gate was cleared at 9:01 am and the adventure started.

Across the roads and over the bridges the Traveling Team headed south. Late last night some plans were made to meet old friend Shoeless Joe of http://travlinwithjohn.blogspot.com/ fame for a visit and some conspiring about having fun. By 11:00 am the Traveling Team was ready to pull into our next home. SJ came out from his unit, Mel, next door to grab a pic of the Team setting up home.

The spot seems really nice. The front yard is huge with a water view from my office window. We do not have to worry about litter accumulating around the area right now. The gentle 40 mph breeze is doing a great job of moving any loose things on down the bay.

Lunch and the rest of the day were spent visiting with SJ and catching up on our lives. He is a great fellow and his blog is well worth visiting. In fact the new header picture was taken right after my exit from his unit this evening.

Even though this location is only a few yards from Baffin Bay the air is much drier than in Rockport. It certainly feels good to have the window open and not be sweating even in the 80+ degree temperatures. This will be a good location for a few days of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Latest Batt Report

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

The final night is here before the first move in four months. This is exciting. Chores were accomplished like laundry, grocery resupply, fighting with the excessive wind and loading Puddle Boat. PB was really excited to get loaded. It has not had an opportunity to get out and have fun in the entire last four months. Even with the high winds, PB practically jumped onto the Truck in anticipation of fun things coming.

Another time consuming chore that is only partially done was to do the new computer set up. It is a new to me operating system with new terminology. That means a lot of time reading documentation to see what the words really mean. The packaging was simple but very effective in preventing damage during shipping.

The initial start up went ok but getting into the details is taking a lot longer. Here is the pretty first screen to greet the new owner.

Now it will get to wait a bit while the Traveling Team moves to somewhere exciting tomorrow.

It is time for a final battery report on the two 6 volt batteries. They are unbelievably better than any batts on any trailer in my past. On the days when my lighting use started about six pm and ran until midnight, the voltage drop has not ever exceeded 13% of the allowable drop. Then if there is bright sun, the recovery is complete by noon at the latest. WOW this is what should have been done four years ago. This performance means that under a normal full charge, the Castle could see seven nights of batt use before requiring a recharge. This is great.

Now all that is left to do is get a great night’s sleep. Then hitch up tomorrow, pay the electric bill and head out to new adventures. What lies in front of us is the road to trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Stored Really Well

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Where are they? It has only been four months and three days since they were removed from the Truck and stowed away. As many other RVers and I have agreed, there are more places to put things away to never be found again in an RV than a four thousand square foot house with a cellar and attic. So the search intensified noticeably.
Are they in the most reasonable place called the back of the Truck?

OF COURSE NOT!
Are they in the bin under the couch since it is the longest bin?

OF COURSE NOT!

Are they in the under the bed bin which is the least desirable spot?

YEP dar dem devils are! Now the roof racks can be reinstalled on the Truck camper shell to carry Puddle Boat. YEA!

Of course reinstalling was a lot easier to say than do by myself. A person seven feet tall and at least ten arms eight feet long would have an easy time of it. A short fat old man with small hands and normal arm lengths needs some luck to get it done. A nice ladder helps a lot also. But the Installation Team finally persevered and the racks are ready for Puddle Boat to be loaded tomorrow.

Wow that was a lot bigger adventure than was planned for this afternoon.



Now we have time to get over to the somewhere and get worn out trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

OOPS

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

It was finish the campground recovery day. After the eventful day when the cable TV system caught fire from a power line resting on it to the day a little later when half the campground burned out the electrical system, it has been unsettled around here. The final trailer move was accomplished today. The poor folks who owned it had lots of troubles this morning getting the trailer ready to move. Not the least was two flat tires.

The OFM just piddled around some and went fishing and piddled around some. Finally the frazzled folks had finished the entire getting ready that had not gone well. It was time for the OFM and the Truck to do the job. The 30 foot trailer was coupled to the Truck and around the campground we went SLOWLY. The trailer was backed into the correct spot in one try as usual. Now those nice folks are setting everything back up. They were very worried that they were causing me too much hassle. The do not move around so they set up pretty “heavy”. That move finishes the major events from all the disasters here in the campground. Maybe it can return to being a quiet campground now.

While at the harbor drowning lures, my mind had gotten into a very peaceful state. Cast out, watch the cork, reel in a little, listen to the waves and generally be peaceful was the mood. SUDDENLY there was horrible and loud crashing and screeching that spoiled the mood. A truck was exiting a cabana and apparently had a little oopsy. As in ripped off his front bumper.

Maybe it did not cause enough damage to prevent him from trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

EXACT Plans

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Can you believe it; the Traveling Team has been here in Rockport for FOUR MONTHS in a row!!!!!!!!! In yesterdays comments DD of http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/ asked about if the Team would be in a certain location in a certain month. DD is a really nice fellow with a great blog, so this is not aimed at him even though his question did trigger today’s blog. In the last month there have been many e-mails and face to face events whereby folks want to know where the Team will be during such and such time.

A friend of mine travels some as a sort of full timer. A month or so ago he emailed me a spread sheet listing every campground for the next three months and exactly what date they had reserved and expected time of arrival and departure from each place. He wanted to know if the Team would be at any of those places at the same time so we could visit.

Folks seem to get very put out with me when no exact plans are set up so they will KNOW when the Team will be where. Where are you going next gets answered with north on I-37 toward San Antonio unless I go somewhere else.

Lloyd has a great blog at http://www.wandrin.us/blog/index.php?/categories/2-RVing-Life . Before my travels started he was my mentor on the philosophy of full time living. One of the comments from his tips for RVers was “...Don’t make reservations or commitments. If you do make commitments, say something vague like you “will be at X place sometime in the summer.” Or specify some month.” That hit home with me and has become my attitude. Please enjoy Lloyd’s blog entries.

Those who want a very scheduled life are not wrong. Those who want a very non-scheduled life are not wrong. There is not a right or wrong. Both extremes, me at one end and my friend at the other, and all the territory between us is good. An important point is to relax and enjoy the life you have.

The final decision has been made. Instead of telling that there are no plans again and again and again, a famous location that most folks have heard of will be named without any idea of if it is likely to happen or not.

Now for those who want to know my EXACT plan for where the Team is going when the Team leaves Rockport on Monday morning, we will be at Big Bend NP on March 5, 2011 at 11:53 am. He He.

On a trip testing the Truck’s fan belt, a stop was made at a couple of fish cleaning stations. This interesting corrosion pattern was noted on the roof of a shade shelter. Apparently the condensation on the underside of the roof was collecting at the support member on the underside of the roofing. This shelter is only a few years old but Mr. Warm Salt Air has been hard at work.

Back at Little Bay in Rockport, the nice warm weather has brought out some of the folks to play in the water. Here we have a beginning wind sailor learning and having a great time on the water in the winter.

He was definitely working hard at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

An Alarm Clock!!!

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

One more item is out of the way that was interfering with leaving for the west. The serpentine belt on the Truck’s engine has been replaced. The alarm clock, YES AN ALARM CLOCK, roused me about 7 am to get the Truck over to the shop by eight am for the operation. At 7:45 am the Team rolled into the drive at the shop. The mechanic took a quick look and ordered the correct belt. He quickly slipped the old one off and dropped it on the floor.

My examination revealed the tech yesterday was very correct that the belt needed changing. Check out the cracks and fuzz on the sides. At 165,000 miles it was time for a change.

The new belt was delivered and the mechanic checked it carefully to be certain the new belt was the correct size. It was. So the mechanic quickly installed the new belt. We ran the engine to check tracking and tension. Everything seemed correct.
It was time to pay up. The total bill was a bit less than $120 of which about $90 was the belt itself. To my extreme amazement the Truck was back at the Castle at 8:15 am ready to play. A HALF HOUR TOTAL. That is amazing.

That left me most of the day to decide what to do about the declining computer. Much research was done on the internet and finally a trip to the grocery at Wal-Mart for supplies was made. For some unknown reason my mind thought that Wal-Mart carried computers.

Yep they sure did. After a lot of soul searching and piddling around a decision was made to purchase a very cheap computer. My needs are very low. Send and receive email, write and publish the blog and search for neat locations to explore covers all my computer needs these days. Hopefully by tomorrow it will be up and configured to my style. My ancient misbehaving Dell will be kept around until the new computer proves itself.

Along with this effort today, a conversation with the park owner about my plans worked out very well. He is usually very cooperative if approached in a polite manner. The Traveling Team will be staying until Monday morning at which time the owner and TheOFM will settle accounts for rent and electricity. Then it should be rolling time. That gives me time to verify that all the maintenance items on the Truck were done correctly.

It is with great excitement that rolling out on Monday will lead to a lot more adventures in the quest of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Blown To Pieces

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

The best laid plans in the world can go to pieces in the blink of a frog’s eye. While the Truck was getting its oil changed today, the tech was careful to examine the engine for other things of importance. He found a couple. Already the transmission has been flushed and the transmission filter changed. It was well past time from the looks of the “fluid” that came out of the transmission.

He also was able to show me the serpentine belt needed replacement. The local shop is going to try to do that replacement tomorrow morning. In the mean time a new air filter will be purchased and installed. The Trucks air filter gage shows that there is plenty of air flow. However on examining the filter in person, it is coated with dirt and bugs including down in the pleats of the filter. That is not good.

To top it off my computer is having intermittent failure. What a mess!

Since hitting the road without a time period to prove things are working well is not my style, the departure date is being moved to no sooner than Feb. 28. In the mean time some way of trying to have tooooo much fun will have to be devised. TheOFM.

China A Wrong

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

A mistake was made by choosing to eat at the China A Buffet in Rockport Texas for supper tonight. All will be well tomorrow. In the meantime about four anti-acid tablets an hour seems to be doing the trick.

What little adventure there was today involved a lot of hiding from the winds. The Truck bed area has been cleaned, made orderly and is ready for travel again. An oil change for the Truck tomorrow and the whole Team will be ready to roll in the pursuit of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Garbage Can Fodder

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Here the OFM sits at three pm wondering what all the weekenders are doing still in town. Usually they all leave right after lunch on Sunday. Finally it comes to me that this is a three day weekend. Yea for retired because a three day weekend is a surprise.

The wind is horrible today. The palms at the beach are straining to stay rooted. The sand is blowing inland at a rapid rate. While at the beach trying to take pictures, the sand kept coating the camera and me so bad that the camera had to be wiped away right before each shot.

Quite a few folks were down at the Rockport Beach playing in the water and generally being beachy. Here are some of them and a kite surfer enjoying the warm air.

Speaking of kites, the kite vendors love these too windy days. They get to sell many replacement kites. Several different folks were observed trying to fly a kite in this severe wind. Most kites would get a few feet up into the wind. Then suddenly several of the “sticks” that hold the kite open would snap and collapse the kite into garbage can fodder. One was doing pretty good when the string broke and the kite crashed into the ground and folded into a ball then went bouncing across the field with two kids and a lady losing the race to grab it. A lady on the other side of the field managed to stop the wad of debris so the owners could catch up with it.

Fishing was out of the question. Most likely you could not cast a four ounce sinker into this wind. However the pretty blue flowers were doing well at the beach.
Here is one to bring joy into your world as you try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Seed Hunt

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Padre Island National Seashore, Texas

What do you do while camping? For me camping is a means to an end not the end itself. For instance beachcombing is great fun to me. So camping near a beach means at least some beachcombing.

What are you looking for? Anything that catches my interest for a moment is what. As an example, finding seed pods that have washed up have been my special interest lately. Why? Just because.

This next sequence of pictures will show you how easy it is. The first is my eye’s view of the seed pod while walking the beach.
Do you see it about five inches from my toe? Maybe this next much closer picture will help.

Now you can see the little devil hiding in the seaweed. While nosing around you will find all sorts of thing. Most are worthless but sometimes interesting for a moment.

Now the seed has been placed on the toe of my shoe so you can see the size of it. It was a good find and cleaned up nicely when it was washed of back at the Castle.

OK seeds, what else is there to find?? Of course the sea shells make lots of folks happy. At Padre Island you are allowed a five gallon bucket a day of sea shells to take home.

A while back a piece of old fire wood about foot long and three inches in diameter that had been through the surf caught my attention for some reason. It seemed very heavy when it was picked up. The wood was not polished like some of the wood on the beaches gets. After examining it carefully the chunk was tossed back into the surf for more polishing. It immediately sank out of sight like a rock!!!! It no longer floated. WOW too bad it was not examined more closely to notice what was special about it. Someday a magnifying glass will be remembered to bring with me on my adventures.

It does not matter if you are at the seashore, the desert, in a forest or a city; there are things to see and enjoy everywhere. GrannyJ, http://walkingprescott.blogspot.com/ , has passed on now but those of us lucky enough to learn from her, see much more than ordinary humans.

Now you know of a couple of different ways to try to have tooooo much fun at the beach. TheOFM.

The Warning Muffler

Comfort Castle Location: Central Coastal Texas
Adventure Location: Mustang Island, Texas

What is the water level like in the coastal marshes was the question needing an intelligent answer. So the Investigative Team was sent to find the answer. Very low is the answer. The water level in Packery Channel was lower than any remembered time in my experience. The water is normally up to the top of the black mark on the stone paving.
On both sides of the channel the original erosion prevention is failing fast. Repair work is progressing on the south shore. Survey work is being done on the north shore. This will not be a cheap repair that is for certain.



This is a great place for fishing, but it is not a great place for catching for some reason. It is the main waterway for many square miles of Corpus Christi bay and others to flood and ebb with the tidal surges.

A nice long walk along the channel was taken for the purpose of picking up wildlife lethal trash. Here is an example.
Some of the oyster bedding was out of the water today. That made for a lot of leader and hook materials that could be found and cleaned out. It did not take long to fill my Wal-Mart bag with trash like monofilament or that new fishing line like braid or fluorocarbon. There were even a few sinkers that were salvaged from the debris.

There is an ongoing disturbance between the yakkers and power boat folks about using the water. Plenty of folks on both sides need to grow up and be more respectful of each other and share the area. There is plenty of room. Here is an example of the yakker stupidity. These folks anchored right in the middle of the small narrow channel coming into Packery Channel. Any boat leaving the mooring area behind the wall would have to pass very close to the yak. This is a case of the yakker at fault. The yak on the right was anchored out of the channel and fishing up the channel shoulder. That by the way is the best way to fish a channel down here.
Another stop was made on the inland side of Mustang Island at the access for Dead Mans Hole. At the start of the road to the parking area was this muffler lying in the road.

That is not a good sign for speedy travel on the road. And the road is definitely not for speedy travel. The view was very nice and a couple of fishers were out there trying their luck. The OFM managed to get the new header picture from the parking spot.

The time was now around one pm and the weekend traffic had really picked up in intensity, so the Investigative Team headed for the Castle with all the new information. A major item of importance is that the mosquitoes have survived the freezes very well and are eagerly awaiting your fresh blood. However feeding mosquitoes is not a good way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Little Splash

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Last week it was a fight to stay warm. Today at noon the sweat was lightly forming on my bald head and slowly trickling down my face. That is even with my fan blowing on me. One week difference and it is a whole different world on the Texas coast.

The biggest adventure of the day was walking at the harbor breakwater and having a few waves attempting to get me wet as they were trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Plans????

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

All right the decision was made this morning. There is a major plan for a change. A PLAN!!!! What happened did the OFM lose his mind??? He never plans. This time planning was needed and it is an extremely long term plan for an event eight days in advance. On February 24, 2011 the entire Team will roll dem wheels. How is that for long term planning???? DO NOT EVEN THINK OF ASKING WHERE. One major decision a year is enough. Now my head is all sore from the thinking and planning so far in advance that a nap is in order. ZZZZZzzzzzzz z z z

Now we have a picture from a REAL camera. http://www.yosemite-17-gigapixels.com/GlacierPointDeepZoom.htm

Zoom in and there are folks on top of the dome and down in the creek. There may be more. Amazing.

Brad and his electrical crew were in the campground finishing the trenching and conduit installation.
The main electrician was wiring up the new main panels and meter box. It turned out pretty good in my eyes.
Late in the afternoon a walk was done near the Rockport Beach to get some small amount of exercise. It was my lucky day. Two popping corks had washed up in a corner of the seawall. A slow hop down to grab them lead to a slow climb back up to the walk way. However they did wash up really nice. Maybe they will cause me good luck in my fishing.

We cannot let a beautiful day like today get away without some flowers to celebrate the end of cold weather. It must be the end of the cold weather, the mosquitoes have hatched and attacked.


Enjoying those yellow flowers is a very nice way to finish a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Batty Performance

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

The great news is that the new batts are doing wonderful. Wal-Mart batts in the morning after use during the evening and night 12.19 volts. Golf cart batts this morning after use during the evening and night 12.58 volts. Now that is more like it should be according to my amperage use.

More good news was waiting for me this morning. Here is the outside temperature when first viewed today.

Those are the RIGHT kind of temps for humans like me.

The rest of the day was spent traveling to visit John ( http://travlinwithjohn.blogspot.com/ ), visiting John or driving the two hours back to the Castle. We had a great visit and ended up at a Whataburger for lunch since that was what was available as we explored some back country. He is a really great guy. We have crossed paths three times in our travels now and hope to cross each other a few more times. This was snapped as the Truck was pulling out this afternoon. That is John on the right.

The trip back to the Castle went well and it was a bit after dark when the Team returned from this effort. Visiting friends is a great way for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Golf Cart Batts Now

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Well before eight am the Castle 12 volt batteries were being disassembled for (hopefully) a reasonable return to Wal-mart for some money back. After a little hassle about testing the batts, the entire purchase price was refunded. So all I was out for this mess was the two old batts. The $18 core exchange on the batts was a tough luck situation. But the abject failure Everstart batts are gone.

Next were some decisions on what to put into their place. Finally the decision was to put in “golf cart” batteries. They are not actually golf cart only batteries, but are designed from scratch deep cycle batts with good reputations. The local golf cart place with the good prices was out of Trojan T105 batts, so the Continental equivalent was purchased. $200 drive out for the pair. OUCH OUCH OUCH

All the measuring done did not prove that they new batts would fit into the space available. The good news is Northwood did it right again and they fit perfectly. One more hooray for Arctic Fox trailers is in order. With residuals from yesterday’s migraine screaming in my head, the light batts were wrestled into the proper location on the Castle. That was not easy so while kneeling and leaning over. Get help if you have to do it.
Now the chore was to swap the wiring over to series wiring. It turned out to be relatively easy with the new wire crimper. It did surprise me how hard it had to be whopped. The three pound sledge needs to be applied with considerable vigor. But it all worked well once enough oomph was applied.

The main worry had been if the batt cases would clear the body of the Castle. Yet they did with some room to spare. See.
To get the covers to cover the batt terminals, the cover met with Mr. Saw and Mr. Pliers to achieve this modification. Now the covers isolate the terminals from accidental contact.
Here we have the finished product. It turned out very well to my surprise.


The project was finished by a bit after eleven am. The rest of the day has mostly been spent in the horizontal position. The weather was delightful at low 70’s, bright sun and gentle cool breezes. That caused the Castle to pop open several windows to allow that nice weather to lull me to sleep in my effort at having tooooo much fun healing. TheOFM.

Getting The Brush Off

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

My old one was worn out years ago but still did good enough service when called upon. A new one is in the tool box now and is needed to take care of maintenance items in and around the Truck and Castle.

It is a copper tubing wire brush. In the course of my life these have been very valuable. They reach into crevices very well. 90 degree inside corners is no problem. Electrical connections yield to their caress and become sparkling. Over all of the different styles of wire brushes, this style wire brush has been my mainstay to carry with me for over forty years. If you try one, it may make it easier to spend more time trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Desperation Writing

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Tonight is the culmination of a whole lot of minor events and no real adventures. Most of the day was spent trying to find out if the batts were bad or not. Last night they hit the low point about 10 pm and the Castle had to go back onto the shore power. After a full day on the superlative solar charging system, the batts were showing full by way of voltage. Tonight the batts are getting a work out to see if they continue to fail to do the job.

All that frustration led to a bit of wandering around town to get my head on straight again. Over near the Copano Bay fishing pier, the catching and weather was very nice. The fellows in this picture had limited out on large sheepshead and black drum (aka big ugly). They still had a lot of filleting to do when my path went past them.
Near there was a trail that had not been explored before due to it being very muddy on a normal tide. The tides were way out today so the trail got explored.

As luck would have it, there was completely nothing to write about showing itself on this short trail. So it was back into town to mess around.
This couple of houses are some of a large number of places being built in Rockport. There is no shortage of building boom around here. There is a major shortage of decent craft persons willing to do any work.

Back over by the harbor fishing pier, this lady was out on the pier getting photographed for some unknown reason. She is the white spot on the pier in a big fluffy dress that liked to float around in the wind.
And to show how desperate my fingers are for something to write about, here is the “specials” menu from the Tex-Mex place about a mile south of the Castle. The food is actually pretty decent and the service is normally excellent. Their coffee really appeals to my taste buds. The portions are large like my tummy.

Now the writing struggle will end. Hopefully all of my readers are finding great ways to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Mount Stupidity

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

This morning it was realized that this blogger had reached a very high level on Mt. Stupidity. Last night this blog was published with an entry about how the batts were bad and had been proven bad according to my self testing of them. They were scheduled to go back to Wal-mart this morning for return.

The taking everything apart effort was started. SURPRISE! The negative terminal on one of the batts was not tightened down. So therefore it was intermittent connections and who knows what else. Since no body else helped on the installation, who could have made that stupid mistake????
The terminal was tightened and immediately the whole system started acting more reasonable. As this blog entry is being keyed in, the system appears to be back to like it was at first. Maybe the Team got out of this one cheaply! Yesterday's blog entry was edited to remove the offending part of the hot air.

A reader emailed me about a semi famous old motel here in Rockport. A spastic finger and senility prevents me from remembering who it was. Back in Houston eons ago was a sports writer and later his son who stayed at this motel when they fished this area. From the old brochures on it, it must have been pretty nice. But warm salt water eliminates all man made items eventually. Here are the remains of the buildings and pier.
Another friend DD is an artist. His very interesting blog is at http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/ . The art work for tonight is from Bibe, my next planned stop for 2011. His work appeals to me. Enjoy his blog, he is a nice fellow.

Work was going on in the campground on the new electrical system today. Finally late in the evening a trip down to the Rockport beach area was taken for some peace and quiet. This next picture was taken of a play boat headed out for fun. The sunshine was bright but the temperature was 49 with a damp light chilly wind cutting you to little pieces.
On the return to the Castle this evening, a route through the artsy area was taken and a picture of a special item was taken. This is a piece of yard art that would have been nice to have back in my stix and brix days. The light house is made of galvanized metal and looks pretty nice up close. A light on a timer for the cupola would have made a great yard light.

From the forecast for this area, we are finished tonight with the freezing or near freezing temperatures for the next ten days. That is a very welcome change and will assist mightily in the goal of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

More Failures

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

8:30 am Edition

The sleeping bag finally let me get out of bed this morning. It was nice and warm in the bag but duty called. The stove was lighted and the warmth came flowing into the Castle. After a few thousand pounds of clothes were installed on my body, it was time to see what damage was outside the Castle. First thing noticed were the two icicles on the window drains.

That is not a great sign was my thought. However that was all there was for signs of the bitter wet cold until the thermometer was viewed. This tells the story. That is degrees F on the right.

If there was any where farther south to go without a passport, the Team would be in progress to coupling up and moving right this moment instead of typing this information. Cold and worn arthritic joints will never be friendly with each other. This is not the way to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Miserable Weather

Comfort Castle Location: Rockport, Texas
Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

A first thing in the morning trip to Wal-mart was needed. After the items were purchased, the Team stopped at the usual harbor spot to watch the light rain on the gentle swells. It was 63 degrees outside. Inside of ten minutes the weather degraded to 54 degrees and a solid cold rain with strong winds. The cold front had arrived. It came down to 33 then went back up to 36 about five pm for a little while. Goofy weather around here again this year.

By the time the Team made it back to the Castle the conditions had worsened. The rest of the day was spent inside staying warm. The electrical contractor was hard at work even in the miserable cold rain. His name is Brad (I think) and has to be a very tough fellow to work in the mess of today. From what was seen today, if I needed some electrical work done, he would definitely get a chance to bid on it.

Great progress was made even in the miserable cold wet environment. There is a huge amount of conduit being placed into the ground for the new wires. This is where the new 800 amp service will be coming down from the pole to distribute to the sites.
They made the main road crossing today and had this trench full of conduit headed toward one part of the campground.

The one worker on the ground was placing the conduit, cleaning trenches as needed and working like crazy to keep up with the back hoe. It certainly was a dedicated working Team out in that mess today.

As for me, it was continue reading about Big Bend in my library book INSIDE the Warm Castle. In this type of weather that is a very good way to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.