Good Friends

Adventure Location: Premont and Falfurrias, TX

Two hundred and fifty miles later the Truck rolled back into the campsite with the Castle standing guard on things.  It was nearly dark and my body was ready to disembark the Truck.  About 0845 this morning the Truck rolled out with me in the driver’s seat to go down south to Falfurrias to see my old friend John of blogging fame.

We spent a good while telling true stories and laughing.  John is a really entertaining fellow and worth meeting if you get a chance.  It got to be lunch time so we went cruising the town of Falfurrias.  Suddenly a highway billboard that looked nice was in front of us and caught our attention. OK let’s go to Premont, TX and try that restaurant. So we did.

The food was extremely good and enormous quantity.  My order was the special for the day at $6.95.  A bowl of very good tortilla soup started me off.  It was followed with a chicken fried chicken breast “burger” with a jalapeno flavored bun.  On the side was a big handful of potato chips.  As if that was not enough, the waitress brought me a small bowl of banana pudding for desert.  Good grief it was oink city for certain.

John had the Angus burger with fries.  The basket of fries must have weighed a pound and a half.  He said the burger was delicious.  As we waddled our weigh out, the Truck groaned at the thought of having to carry us back to John’s RV.

Back at his RV we told some more truthful stories and it was time for me to get going back to Rockport.  Visiting with old friends is another great way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Wierd Trails

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The cold weather has slowed some of us down and gotten me lazy about getting out for some exercise.  This afternoon the issue was forced on my body and the Truck took the Team to the Beach Park to at least walk.  There was one fellow there who was exercising by swimming in the salt water pool.  That water has to be chilly.

Several interesting things were seen on the walk.  The first thing of interest to me was looking for flounder beds to see if they had migrated into the area yet.  The easiest way to look for them is to walk out on the wooden pier and stare into the water.  For some reason today the water is way low.  Dozens of meters of bay bottom were exposed, so it was nearly to the end of the pier before there was enough water for the flounder to have spent any time there.  Luck was with me and there were several flounder beds visible.  Here is one and it has been enhanced some so it is more visible in the photograph.

As my path went out on the pier, several odd trails or smears in the sand were noticed. What caused then was not in my brain’s database.  They were different widths and different lengths.  But the answer was waiting for me on the way back to shore.  They are jelly fish trails. This one was about a foot across.

Other sorts of trails were also in the sand.  Most were bird trails or people trails.  However there were a few made my shell critters.  This one was in a very shallow pool of water.  The critter in the shell was making its way across the pool to an unknown destination.

Just in case someone is wondering the speckled trout are still around in decent quantity whenever the Red Tide gives us a break.  This evening during my walk on the concrete pier near the harbor, several folks were catching specks.  This one was a definite keeper.  During the ten minutes of my presence there were five specks brought in to the concrete.  Three of them were keepers.

Catching keeper fish just before going home for the evening is another good way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Checking Account Shrinkage

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The weather folks were way wrong.  A bit after dawn my body needed to arise so my big thermometer was set outside for a few minutes. When it was retrieved after about ten minutes it was reading 32 degrees.  It was not supposed to get that low according to the weather station on the internet. So some clothes were applied to the body and away the body went to check what the Truck had to say.

WHOA LOOK AT THIS!

 Yep ice on the windshield.  Turn on the ignition and check what the Truck thermometer says. 32 degrees F also.  Good Grief.  Back in the Castle it was back under the warm covers time for me.

After my body warmed up, it was time to arise and start the Xmas chores.  Call me Mr. Success because all the presents got ordered.  Then it was wrapping time for the ones on hand.  Once again it was a success.  Now it is time to wait for the orders to come rolling in.  Then get them wrapped and the whole pile sent off to the happy folks anxiously awaiting Christmas morning.

On the traveling front, old friend BillyBob has made it from New Mexico to Langtry Texas safely.  However, he has had a cold morning or two lately.

Since my Christmas presents effort carried me all the way until after 1700 hours, there was no big adventure today.  Unless you count watching your bank account dwindle exciting.

Late this afternoon this picture was taken of the Truck temperature reading. 

You need a suitcase to carry all the clothes needed for layering with this kind of temperature shifting during the day.  But I will take the warmer weather because it is better for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

De-Wetting

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Goodness the OFM is feeling inadequate after reading this blog entry about the last backpacking trip for a 70 year old lady.

http://40yearsofwalking.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/canyonlands-n-p-needles-section-1111/

That certainly is some beautiful country out that way.  Maybe my knee will let me at least do a little day walking in there soon.

The cold north wind is trying to rip the Castle apart.  However the cold north wind is messing with an Arctic Fox trailer and will fail again.  But the cold weather has brought to bear the need for getting the dehumidifier out of storage wherever that is.

Removing one dinette seat took away one hiding spot.  The machine is too large to fit in overhead bins so at least the possible storage spots have been minimized.  To my extreme surprise the first place that was looked into had the machine in it!!!  WOW something went right for a change.

It was under the other dinette seat in that storage bin.  Now all it needs to do is sit upright for a few minutes and then go to work.  In warmer weather the A/C dehumidifies plenty to keep things dry inside.  In the colder weather the dehumidifier has to run to take the excess moisture out of the air from being on the coast. 

It fired right up and went to work condensing water out of the air.  Luckily the day is such that not a lot of moisture had to be removed.  There were times last winter when it removed as much as twenty quarts a day.

Now it was back to attempting to figure our Commercial Christmas Presents for folks.  This is hard since all of the folks on my list have three of everything already.

Another spot of good news was my solar panels performance today.  After a day and a half of overcast and my batts getting back to only 12.6 volts during the day, the morning dawned very bright and the batts were totally recharged by 1030 this morning.  WOW that was some bright sunshine.

Sitting at the computer to stay out of the cold north wind and shopping for Christmas presents is a decent way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Early Morn Again

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

My body and some of the left over feast food are not in agreement with each other so it was another early morning.  The Truck took the Fishing Team over to the beach pier to check on if the flounder run has begun yet.  Not yet is the answer.  However the Team had to wait for a bit for the sun to come up to be certain.

When it was finally light enough to illuminate the water, the reason for no fish was obvious.  Can you say Red Tide Again?  At least the wind was blowing the aerosols away from me so my nose still worked.  A few more photos were taken with bad results.  They have been deleted.

The rest of the day has been spent piddling around as the food finished its journey into oblivion. Tonight the body is doing well, so Christmas presents are being wrapped in preparation for shipping to other parts of the world.  Monday will have the Commercial Christmas Present Shopping Team running the streets in Corpus Christi.  That should make for an interesting start on the week.

Since all my relatives are in faraway north (COLD) parts of the USA, shipping has to be done early so the delivery trucks will have time to fight their way through the snow and ice.  Faraway north is any place north of Sinton, Texas.  Sinton is about 30 miles north of here.

This evening the COLD north wind has had the Castle rocking and rolling.  My guess is that Mother Nature thinks I need rocking to sleep tonight.  It is supposed to be miserable cold here by morning with temperatures in the forties.  Temperatures in the forties are not good for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Toadfish

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

It was way too early for a reasonable retired person to be getting active but here the Laundry Team was putting clothes into the washer before 0630 this morning.   With a start time like this, laundry was done and put away by 0900 with a lot of day left to stay out of the way of the Black Friday folks.

At least while the washers and dryers were working a nice walk could be taken around the Foo-Foo area of town again.  There are some excellent artists here a working in several different mediums.  There are some others to put is somewhat nicely.  One of the shops had this tricycle parked in front of it this morning.  Apparently someone runs around the area giving rides to folks to this art shop. Very boldly in nice script where the riders have to see it is the inscription TIPS APPRECIATED or some words to that effect.

Along the sidewalks are lots of plantings both in the ground and in pots.  Almost year round the flowers are kept in a blooming state to make the area pretty.  Here we get to enjoy two of the many blooms available this morning.

 These were by far not the only flowers in the area.  These folks keep a few city blocks flowering year round.  It is actually a neat small area.  As it works out none of the shops have yet had my feet enter them.  There is not a good reason, it just has not happened yet.

Early afternoon a fishing trip was made to the harbor to see how the fish were handling the strong winds of today.  A paddle tail jig in Electric Chicken color pattern was put to work.  Nothing was biting for the first twenty minutes.  Then in rapid succession two of the ugliest fish in the world hit the lure.

Toadfish

 They were not supposed to be hitting lures moved quickly through the water.  The two must have been hungry.  They were put back into the water to scare any sharks away.

 It has been a gentle day or trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

The Feast

Adventure Location: Light House Lakes Park, near Port Aransas, TX

For a couple of years now my mind has been playing with the idea of some waders to use while fishing, in the yak or on foot.  The confusion has been there are three types of waders.  Chest waders are one type and come up nearly to the arm pits of the wearers.  These are the most purchased type here on the coast.

Another type is waist waders that come up to your waist like a pair of pants. They are hard to find along the coast.

The third type is hip waders that basically just come up to your crotch and fasten with loops to your belt.  These can be found locally without any trouble.

Why use waders anyway?  One is they become needed when the water cools off and the air temperatures drop.  Yes it does get cool down here on the coast and wet clothing can be deadly.  Another reason is during parts of the year we have a critter in the marsh water called a hydroid.  They burrow into your skin and cause great pain and itching.  Wearing pants is not good enough to keep them out.  In that same line of thought is keeping the tentacles of jelly fish from contacting your skin.  That is a never to be forgotten memory of misery to the highest degree.

For me there is one other reason.  When you catch a fish the easiest way to handle it in a yak is to bring in onboard and onto your lap.  Most fish have slime on the skin to protect their skin.  After   few fish in your lap, you are NASTY. With waders and a SOT yak you can wash the slime off and it drains right out of the boat through the scuppers.

There are those who hold to a false myth that waders drag you down if the water gets higher than the top of the waders.  First waders are lighter than water so they float.  Second the water pressure on the outside keeps them pressed against your body for quite a long time.  If you stay in the water long enough for the slow leakage to fill the wader then it will be difficult to raise yourself out of the water with all that water in the waders. Simple high school physics would let you understand that as long as the water in the waders is below the surface of the water you are in there cannot be any downward force.  For those who still do not believe plain science here is even a demo done to show you the real story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYwG52p4yjs 

Now that that is out of the way, yesterday the fellow that was talked with at the Fish Pass jetty told me of his concept of the advantages of each type of wader. 

After taking into consideration my uses for the waders, some were purchased to hopefully fill my wants.

Since my plan is to never go over knee deep in the water, hip waders were chosen this time.  Chest waders have been tried in my past several times.  They are definitely needed if you plan to go out into deeper water than I do.  My legs are shorter in proportion to my body than the average man, so these are a bit long on me.  Likely some modifications will be in order soon.

Since there was a new toy to play with, the Truck gladly took me and the new toy out to the Light House Lakes area to play.

First was some testing of the leak possibility.  There were no leaks.  Then a wade out to slightly over knee deep was done.  At that point my balance and the water movement were getting to be in competition with me wanting to stay upright.  So it back up to the shore a little.  As long as the water is knee deep or shallower, my body did not have much of a fight to stay upright.

From this point a meander was done in the water to get in some waling in the water practice.  Doing the stingray shuffle requires me to really pay attention while moving from place to place.  About a half mile was walked in the water while also casting a lure.  Finally the Team made the right turn into a channel running to a marsh area.  It goes under the same bridge that SightSeer and I rode across a few days ago.  It certainly was a nice bright warm day out there.

By now it was time to head back to the campground and prepare my contribution to the feast.  The campground owners certainly are nice folks.  My diet was only slightly dented.  However the mandatory nap after was taken.

Wow new toys, fishing in the morning, a feast in the afternoon and then a nap.  This makes for a pretty full day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Junk Collecting

Adventure Location: Mustang Island State Park, TX

With the strong north wind, it seemed like it could be a beach day with the Red Tide aerosols being blown out to sea.  It turned out to be barely any nose trouble on my part.  The beach at the Mustang Island State Park was nearly deserted. But the adventures started at the visitor center.

As my feet were carrying me up the ramp to the visitor center, the fellow coming down the ramp looked like a friendly fellow.  My question to him about some fishing gear in his truck led to a half hour visit in the parking lot.  Then when the Truck got to the jetty, he and I had a nice conversation about waders for fishing. Then he headed off to the jetty and the Meandering Team headed off to the dunes to meander.

A few of the railroad vines had flowers.  The purple ones were gorgeous but these white flowers were dazzling in the sunlight.  As usual the camera does not do them justice.

The north Fish Pass jetty became in front of the Team as an invitation to walk out on it.  From on this jetty we could see Red Tide and RT foam.  My breathing apparatus quickly let me know something was in the air.  At least with the wind blowing most of it away and dispersing the rest of it, my breathing difficulty was mild enough to let me enjoy the walk out on the jetty.

There was only occasional gagging and hacking.  Out on the end of the jetty some of the waves were washing up on the rocks.  In this next picture the high point of the splash was about six feet high or a little over my head.

Naturally there were some surfers out there playing in the waves.  Since the waves were wind formed, they did not have good shape for surfing.  However the folks still seemed to be enjoying their activities.  As for me, it was a blast to get to be out on the rocks scrambling up and down and around.  It is great stretching and exercise to me.

After the fun on the rocks and dodging waves, the MT (Meandering Team) headed over to the dunes south of the Truck to see what was happening over there.  It turns out not much of interest other than a very pleasant walk in and on the sand.  There was one piece of sand sculpture that caught my eye.  It looks like a big sand dune cliff, but in reality was about four inches high.  A good writer could take that and make a big interesting story out of it couldn’t you Tamia.

It was also my good fortune to find some treasure.  OFM type of treasure that is.

My search for a sea shell in good shape was completed today.  Now this one will be a model as my painting skills (?) are used to paint a picture of the shell. The extremely subtle colors of the shell disappear in the picture.

A while back, my small collection of sea hearts disappeared. Today a new one made it into the collection of beach junk in the Castle.  It is very easy to gather way too much junk into an RV from all the neat places one can go.

Finding things on the beach is another great way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Wore Slap Dab Out

Adventure Location: Rockport Harbor, Rockport, TX

A mosey down to the harbor this morning to test some casting theory turned into a meet folks event.  Just after the Truck got me to the harbor a fellow in a white truck stopped, got out and asked if I am Barney.  It is getting to be that it is not so surprising anymore.  He is Kyle and a long time reader and email correspondent from the far North Country near San Antonio.

We talked for a good while and plan to meet again before he goes back to SA.  He brought his yak down with him and maybe we can get in a paddle together.  During our conversation the name Cantaloupe came up for my yak since it is sort of cantaloupe orange. After considering it, my choice is to wait for a different name.

Nearby was a truck delivering shingles for the new education center.  The conveyor is a lot nicer way to get the shingles up on the roof than carrying them on my shoulder like I did in my past.

Kyle left and within a few minutes a nice couple from the campground stopped by.  They were out riding around checking out the area and saw me.  In a few minutes they headed on out and in about five more minutes a fellow on his scooter from the campground came rolling by.  We visited for a few minutes and some sprinkles started so he headed back to shelter.

What happened the rest of the day until late evening is forgotten.  But about 1500 hours the Truck took the Fishing Team to the harbor pier to piddle around.  But instead the next three hours were spent catching fish. My feet carried me out onto the pier as my eyes watched for speckled trout evidence.  The little surface impacts that the specks make were showing up here and there.  Within a few casts the first of what turned out to be many was brought in.

Not long after that the second fish was brought in to the concrete.

The sad thing is there were folks on the pier fishing when the Team arrived and they had not caught anything to keep.  An OFM walks onto the pier and catches two fish in the first five minutes.  It did get some attention directed at me. 

The catching was steady enough that picture taking quickly became too much bother.  Some folks fishing on the end gave up and left, so the OFM moved down there to let others have the spot where my fish came from.

As my feet got me to the end, my eyes picked out a small school of large redfish cruising by the rocks.  Nope no redfish for me tonight but plenty more specks.  My style is to keep moving to free up rail space where fish are caught to give others a chance at the same spot in case it matters.  Here are two more pictures of fish caught during this orgy of catching.

It was quite an evening.  It is amazing how much folks want to talk to you when you are catching fish.  I motioned to one fellow who was politely keeping his distance while I kept on catching fish, to come on in close to get in on the action.  He came on in and we had a nice conversation.  In the next hour he was there, my fish count went up by several and he got only one bite and he missed hooking that one.

As the sun was going down, a pause was made for sunset pictures.  It was a very good sunset tonight.  The new header picture is from tonight.  So it was getting pretty dark when my feet told me to get going. My casting arm said one more cast please and, of course, here is the result.

Now it really was time to go home and the Team did.  But the chores were not finished.  My fishing tools had so much speckled trout slime on them that they had to be cleaned as in scrubbed with soap.

Now only about half of the fish were within legal length to keep but even the smaller ones were fun to catch.  How many were caught by me is not known. A count was lost about the end of the first hour.

Catching fish until you are slap dab wore out is a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Red Tide Report

Adventure Location: All around here, TX

The mission was to check out the Red Tide status and catch a fish.  Both parts of the mission were accomplished with no trouble. The Truck was ready to roll mid-morning and away we went. First we went south to the City of Aransas Pass, then east to Port Aransas, then south to Wilsons Cut on Mustang Island for the first stop.  One road was too loose in the sand department, so the Truck went in by a different route.  It was rough but the surface was firm.

No Red Tide effects were showing here, so fishing was done for about an hour with no bites.  However a local bird was very accommodating and posed for a picture.  It was time to move on so the Team did.

South we headed until we got to Packery Channel Park. 

The area had quite a few folks out enjoying the bright sun and good breeze.  No Red Tide effects in this area were noticed. The fishing was great but the catching was not. Out of about twenty folks, no one caught anything during the hour the Team was there.

The tide was coming in strongly and several Man O War jelly fish came floating by.  They are another reason wade fishing is not high on my list of fun things to do.  My stomach reminded me that it was lunch time so off to Whataburger for another cheap lunch.

After lunch the search for Red Tide mess was continued as we headed back north.  The next stop was at the county parking lot next to the Island in the Sun church on highway 361.  You can see the remains of somebody’s tent.  From the amount and type of garbage lying around it must have been a very wild weekend here.  No Red Tide evidence here either.

The next stop south was the Fish Pass back bay area.  The road was a bit rough but even a car could make it if the driver is careful.  No Red Tide evidence in this area either.  The Fishing Team noticed that some speckled trout were working along the grass lines, so fishing was attempted.  This is the only fish caught all day.

This area cries out for a yak to properly cover the area for fishing.

As it worked out the A/C was on in the Truck as we neared the jetty.  As the Truck crawled carefully across the sand, the A/C was turned off and the windows rolled down.  Within thirty seconds my nose was running, my throat swelling and gagging and hacking began with vigor.  Red Tide aerosols were very much present here.  The windows were quickly rolled up and the A/C turned on.  A quick left turn and the Team was headed away from the contaminated area.  By the time the Team made it to the ferry landing my head was ok again.

The ferry took us across to the mainland.  The Light House Lakes area was the next stop.  The water was beautiful.  Bait fish were going every which way. NO Red Tide evidence was there to bother me.  Fishing commenced and two hours later no bites were recorded. Ratzzz.

From there the next stop was the Rockport Harbor pier close to the Castle.  The Fishing Team beat the water to a major froth.  In this case at least there were bites on my lures now and then to keep me interested.  By now the sun was very low in the sky and it was time to get me clean enough for some green chile enchiladas for supper.

Now all that needs to be done is to get busy fishing from the yak as a good way of trying to have tooooo much fun.  TheOFM.

No Fish Bites

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The high wind was a big factor in the activities today.  Fishing was tried in several bank and pier locations with the same results everywhere. Nothing was caught or even bit my lure. At least down by the harbor there was one unusual sight for our entertainment.  This fellow was enjoying a day out riding his bicycle.

Some minor chores like grocery shopping were done.  Nothing exciting happened but several conversations with different folks was entertaining.  The sunset over the bay was decently dramatic.

All in all it was a nice peaceful day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Windy Ride

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

First topic:
Here is the explanation of where the national park nicknames come from:

Big Bend
http://www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm

Lake Amistad
http://www.nps.gov/amis/index.htm

Guadalupe Mountains
http://www.nps.gov/gumo/index.htm

Notice that the only thing that changes in the site listings is the park designator. IE bibe, gumo etc. It is a commonly used shortcut for the long names of some of the parks.

Next topic:

Old Jules has it RIGHT. Just check him out at http://sofarfromheaven.com/  on Nov.11, 2011.

Now for The Ride:

The day was gray and the wind strong so getting the yak out on the water was not a good idea.  But Sightseer (SS) can play on the land with lots of wind and not be in danger.  But where to go???  The Cycling Team got into the Truck and away we went.  Light House Lakes parking lot looked inviting and the land area around here had not had enough careful examining.  SS was gotten ready and anxiously awaited our adventure.

First we rode around the parking lot to make certain everything on SS and the OFM was in decent riding shape.  Then out to highway 361 to cross over to the public land on the other side of the highway.  This is the road to the ferry so traffic from the ferry end comes in groups.  Traffic from Aransas Pass just dribbles in all the time.  It turned out to be easy to cross the highway and the Team found ourselves in the lowest gear riding on semi-packed sand as soon as we left the highway.

There are “roads” cut through the vegetation but today the tides were way up so some of the roads were flooded.  But ride on we did and stopped at the water to view our new area for exploration.

The water made this the end of the road to the east so the Team headed west from here following in the tire tracks of the vehicles that had gone before us.  This is a big yakking and shore fishing area.  Apparently it is a spot where some folks spend the night at times while fishing.  The tracks in the sand make SS able to travel reasonably through the area.  However there are traps waiting for the bicyclist.  At any given spot there can be a soft spot to make you show your biking ability. Check out SS’s rut at this location. Acrobatic ability would have helped tremendously.

Enough of this sand mess was my thought, so the Team headed back to the highway to ride.  This highway has very wide shoulders that make for good riding.  And then we came to the bridge with narrower shoulders and a strong crosswind pushing into my face.

The wind was strong enough that on the downhill side of the bridge low gear was used to pedal downhill into the wind.  But shortly after crossing the bridge the Team turned left onto a road going to a barge terminal.  The first of this road was downhill but the wind was blocked by vegetation so the Team could coast nicely. After a short ride a turn is made to the right and this is the road in front of you.

It is exciting to ride because there are lots of potholes and commercial tanker trucks to dodge.  Today it was also into the wind going out.  Along the road are spots to pull off and access the shrimp boat channel for fishing.  Here is one the Team stopped at to get out of the wind for a bit.

By the time we reached the business at the end of the road the Team was getting worn out from the wind.  Later it was heard that the weather station at Port Aransas had been recording slightly over thirty mph winds at this time.

At least the wind was at the Teams back for the return trip. Along the highway the wind allowed SS to get into its highest speed gear and achieve a speed of 21 mph without working hard.  By the time the Team made it back to the Truck, the ride had worn SS out.  Here is SS taking a nap while the OFM was fishing.

The wind made casting difficult and before too long the OFM woke SS up and loaded SS into the Truck.  Back at the Castle it was lunch time and for the OFM nap time.  This was a great attempt at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Truck Hospital

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The Truck repair was a success, thank goodness.  It took longer than was originally guessed.  After the Truck was delivered into the hands of the Truck doctors, Sightseer and I went off for a couple of hours of riding around town.  Before we finished it was an eleven mile ride.  Parts of the town that SS had not ridden before were ridden.  Sights were seen that have not been noticed when driving the Truck.

On the way back to the Truck hospital a woman pulled out from a stop sign and nearly hit me EVEN AS SHE WAS LOOKING AT ME.  SS has good brakes and we swerved to try to go behind her, but my foot had to be used on her car body to deflect us away from a wreck. It is probably a good thing she did not stop anywhere close for me to explain her stupidity.
Meanwhile back at the Truck hospital the old faulty part had been removed.  It was lying on the concrete so that its picture could be taken.

This is the part with the leak, but no sign of where it was leaking from could be located.  The Truck doctor was struggling with installing the new part.  Some bolts or nuts had to be put on from inside the Truck under the dash.  He is a lot more flexible than I am.  But the part was installed in place and certainly looks nice.

This is the Truck hospital on Market Street in Rockport.  To my surprise as my bike ride went around town and I talked with folks, several told me that it is a great honest shop to use for repairs.

During the time of my sitting on the outside rocker waiting for the Truck to be finished, a big truck and big airboat came rolling slowly into the shop driveway.  Somehow the driver had ruined one of his wheel assemblies.  It was a nasty mess with bearings hanging out and the brake hub broken.  What caused it is not known, but it must have been a serious mistake.

Having a vehicle with good brakes is very conducive to successfully trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.