Old Fat Man Adventures

Ugly Stik For Snakes

2012-01-30T21:58:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

The email asked what is used to measure the fish for legality. The answer is different rulers have beentried and this one is soon, I hope, to be tried. A couple of years ago one was put on aBerkley Cherrywood rod to try it out. Within three casts the rod exploded into several pieces. Now the only rod used is the Shakespeare UglyStiks. They are holding up very well andhave decent action.

The story of how Ugly Stiks came to be in my life is worth telling. A few years ago the Teams were down in Zapata,Texas checking out the area. We stoppedin Falcon Lake Tackle because theowner writes an interesting but not always family oriented blog. He was a neat fellow in person. At the time a lot of Falcon Lake had a lot ofwater up in the trees. The rattlesnakeshad taken to living in the trees and catching fish for a living. The owner ofthe shop told me that every fisherman needs his good fishing rods and an UglyStik rod in the boat. The Ugly Stik wasfor beating the snakes out of the trees since nothing can hurt an UglyStik. My immediate thought was that anUgly Stik might stand up to my stupidities and they have.

So a few days ago while drooling all over everything in a favorite toy storenamed Tackle Town here in Rockport, it occurred to me to try out this type ofruler again and maybe even get to use it. The new model even has stickers to mark the slot limits for your fish asyou will see.

Here we have the ruler as it comes from the factory

The ruler was unpacked and made ready. Then the rod was given a really good cleaning to give the sticky ruler achance to stick.

This time a different style was chosen that the suggested mounting in theinstructions. As it worked out the buttsection of my main rod is ten inches long. That is the same as the minimum length of crappie. So the new ruler was trimmed to make use ofthe end of the butt of the rod as the starting part. The other end of the rulerstopped just before the joint of the two piece rod. This was going together very well.

After the sticky ruler was placed on the rod very carefully it was time tocheck it for stretch. For some unreasonablereason it was inadvertently placed on the rod correctly to my surprise. Now all that was left to do was put on theslot limit stickers for the different fish. The Texas Parks and Wildlife book was opened to the limits page and eachtype of fish was carefully reviewed before the sticker was irrevocablyinstalled on the rod.

Now all the needed information is mounted right on the rod so the CatchingTeam can stay legal on fish sizes for the normal fish caught in our efforts.

Keeping the game wardens out of your pocket book really enhances trying tohave tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Crab Shells

2012-01-29T20:05:00.003-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

ARRRRGHHH There is so many places left to go play that my mind isdisintegrating trying to fit them all in with the least amount of backtracking. This is especially difficultwith a place that the Teams need to be on the first of August.

It is funny to visit folks that do not travel full time. It is always impossible to get the non-fulltime folks to understand that there is not a “next” destination. There is noplanned location at any certain date, except for this year as mentioned above. The Teams just roll out and end up beingsomewhere. Many of the folks cannothandle the real answer of “I don’t have an exact planned destination next”.Some even get visibly angry with me for “keeping it a secret”. Now I havelearned to just pick some reasonably well known location to say is the nextdestination. This winter it is named Big Bend National Park.

Some folks even think that the Teams HAVE to drive straight there in onelong day of travel. “That is a long wayto go in one day”. My response is simply that the Teams will stay in Del Riofor a night. Of course all my readersknow the real story by now. All thissimply means is that sometime this year the Teams might get sort of towards BigBend sometime maybe unless something else happens or a cricket chirps in thenight and changes the Teams route. This is a great lifestyle or maybe evenbetter.

The Truck and the OFM were about to go crazy staying around the Castle so itwas off to find adventure we went. Beachcombing became the order of the day in the high wind at theGulf. The jetty at Port A was swarmingwith folks and waves. On down thehighway we went to the Mustang Island State Park for beach access. It proved again to be a good choice.

Apparently it must be molting season for crabs. Dozens of smaller crab shells wereaccumulated on the beach. Two niceladies were collecting specimens of the shells for their collections. This next picture shows the size of justabout all of the crab shells found today.

Pictures were taken of three more colorful crab shells.

There were others but this is a good representative sample of what was onthe beach. Naturally there was otherstuff from trash to interesting stuff. It was fun looking at all the myriad of pieces of sand polished woodwashing ashore.

Fish Pass has been written into this blog many times. It was a waterway created to enhance waterflow from the back bays to/from the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently it did not last very long. There was a large sand dune between the FishPass jetties at the dune line today. Itwas soft and gave me two shoes full of sand to enjoy as the climb was made.

This first picture is from the top of the dune looking seaward through thejetties. Some nice fish are caught fromthose jetties at times.

Now a 180 degree turn back toward the bay gets this picture. The highway bridge seen near the center ofthe picture is where Fish Pass used to cross the road to get the water to theGulf.

From what has been told to me it did not take long for the passageway tosand in and make the pass worthless for water transfer. It makes an “interesting” place to walk amongthe snakes and coyotes though.

Back in Rockport the Teams stopped at the harbor pier to try our luck with afishing lure. No fish were caught butseveral nice folks were visited. Visiting new folks is generally a good way of trying to have tooooo muchfun. TheOFM.

Hard Hooded Truck

2012-01-28T16:59:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

Noon came and went but shortly after that the Truck was delivered with thenew water pump installed and tested to be correctly repaired. The warranty is 12 months, 12000 miles. The Truck was so happy to get out of the shopit grabbed the fuel peddle and steering wheel in its grill and took me toWhataburger to celebrate.

My thought was that it was time to go back to the Castle. Not no but DANG IT NO was the Truck’sresponse. His grill grabbed controlagain and when we stopped it was at the fishing pier. The Truck said “the day is nice so get busyfool”. OK orders are orders.

My rod, which is always ready in the back seat, and the other stuff wasassembled on my body and down the pier my feet hurried. That Truck can sure get a POSITIVE attitudesometimes.

It wasn’t long before the first fish was on the deck.

It was a nice fat model of speckled trout that had a lot of energy when ittook the bait. It was a good bit heavierthan the last few that have been caught here. As it turns out it measured a bit over 17” long and was quite a bitheavier than the models caught a week ago. A nice fish all around, but ornery as you will learn in a minute.

The lure was a DOA in gold flake.

My preference is to not handle the fish by its body so the natural slime isnot messed up. This fish was big enoughthat when my fish gripper was used to handle the fish, I could not get a goodtoss with the fish. The first tossdropped the fish into the rocks.

Ratzzzz now a bit of rock scrambling is needed. TheOFM does not waste natural resources if itcan be avoided. So down onto the rocksmy feet went. The fish was picked upwith the fish gripper again. Anotherfailed fling and my feet had to take me lower on the rocks.

This time the poor fish was head down in a crack and the gripper could notreach its mouth. So a grab on the fishwith my left hand was tried. Speckledtrout have the slimiest coating in the world. It is way slipperier than wet greased glass. My hand just slipped off the tail area and Ifell back against the barnacle and oyster covered rocks. A very nice Hispanicteenager saw me fall and hurried over to see if he needed to help me. WOW that is nice to see there are still somegood young folks in the world.

OK now try grabbing the tail with the pliers. Yea, that worked and the fish was releasedinto the shallow water. It was stunnedfrom all the handling and time out of the water. The water was only a foot deep so if it wasneeded I could step in and do more to help the fish survive. But it revived and suddenly hit the turbochargers and cleared the area. It was a good sight to see.

The Team went back to fishing, for a short while. My right forearm started to burn. The sleeve of my jacket was pulled up toreveal some what looked like very minor scratches. Another cast or three later it was obviousfrom the pain that something must have been on the rocks that is not good formy wound.

The gear was gathered, rinsed off, placed in the Truck and away we went. The Truck seemed to figure out something waswrong and took the Team straight to the Castle with no argument. When a good look at the painful area wastaken, it still seemed to be a very minor scrape. However the growing red area and burning paindid not agree on the minor-ness of it.

The first washing with soap and water in the kitchen sink did not seem to domuch. Next washing was with an old toothbrush and soap. The scrubbing did notfeel good but seemed appropriate since something must be in the wounds. A final vigorous rinsing was done and the areapatted dry. The burning had lessened butwas still there and the red area was still vibrant. Some antibiotic crème was smeared liberallyon the wounds.

In a few minutes the redness was going down. The pain started to lessen and there was hope. Now it is about two hours later and the arealooks like a couple of piddley small so what scratches and the pain is gone. What was on those rocks is not known. It could be something left from the Red Tide,some tentacle left over from some jellyfish or who knows what else. It did manage to catch my attention.

Now that the Truck is back in the Team area it will be a great assist in thegoal of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Wild BillyBob Trip

2012-01-27T19:09:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

The Truck was at the dealer repair shop at 0750 this morning and for someunknown reason they did not finish with it today. It is promised by noon tomorrow.

BillyBob and I went on a wild ride around the town that included Tex-mexfood, fishing and visiting. For a reporton the trip in the most amusing style on earth check out his blog for today.

A visit with a very nice neighbor here next door to the campground roundedout the day for me. At least the dealeris providing transportation to and from the shop. It saved me from a day in the waiting roomtrying to figure out how to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

More Credit Card Abuse

2012-01-26T21:04:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

The visit to the Truck hospital turned into a diagnostic event instead of arepair. After the tech got through withhis exam, he could not definitely say what part of the water pump two piecehousing or gaskets was the trouble. Since the Truck has nearly 200,000 miles and seven years on the original water pump, thechoice was to spend 6 hours of labor to take it apart and maybe replace agasket or to spend another chunk of money and replace the old water pump whilethe engine was opened up. A new waterpump was chosen.

It was a surprise for me to find out the water pump is gear driven frominside the engine block. The parts haveto come from Corpus Christi and will be in tomorrow. With the new water pump the Truck should befinished with any worry about this part of the engine for another six or sevenyears. By then my age will be well over 70and ready for another vehicle, maybe.

The game plan is to have the Truck at the repair shop of the dealer by 0800in the morning and sit around the dealer’s waiting room for the repairs to becompleted. A waiting room is not the best place for trying to have tooooo muchfun. TheOFM.

Impressive Mr. Rex

2012-01-25T21:29:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

An intense morning had me wishing for some relaxing event. The event was a nice walk before lunch at theRockport Beach. The north half of thebeach was walked in the slightly chilling breeze. The entrance was veryinviting as the parking lot was crossed.

Very shortly after leaving the parking lot midway along the beach thefragrances hit me hard. Those are somesweet smelling flowers that are growing on the small dunes that separate theplay areas from the beach area.

Not many folks were out at this time. Plenty of foot prints spoke of the crowd for the earlier hours. It was warm enough that there were severalsets of foot prints of folks who were barefoot.

By now my body was demanding some food, so it was back to the Castle forlunch. Then some piddling around on theinternet and other important goofing off occupied me. The mail arrived and there was some importpaper to fill out and get mailed. TheTeam got into the Truck and headed to the Post Office. After dropping the mail into the mailbox, theTeam turned left and went into the Community Park for some more walking.

As my feet propelled me along the path, an older man was noticed ambulatingalong. He cut off toward the workoutequipment and my feet went on around the loop. As my feet approached the path from the workout equipment, the old manentered the loop path. In a little bithe moved to the side and motioned me forward. Well we all know that TheOFM cannot pass up a chance to visitsomeone. He turned out to be Mr. Rex anda wonderful fellow to visit. Look at himclosely before you read on.

As we talked of many things for the next half hour, it was learned that heis twenty five years older than TheOFM. That is correct; Mr. Rex is 90 years old. He is a big fan of just keep on moving. He and his wife used to be RVers but sheprefers to rent cabins now. Mr. Rex isready to get another RV of some sort and keep rolling. He definitely has my sort of attitude on lifeand Rving.

After this visiting was finished and the rest of the loop of the park waswalked, the Truck made me go down to the harbor to try some fishing. It is nice to report that the speckled trout areback in the area. The fellow that owns alocal restaurant was there. He caughtfive trout but only two were keepers.

My efforts yielded only one slightly undersize trout before my lure waseaten by a barnacle infested rock. Awalk back to the Truck and a replacement lure did not get me anymore fish. However while fishing a nice fellow came byand we had an excessively long visit. During the time visiting with Mr. Jim the new header picture was taken.

As it turned out Mr. Jim is a traveling fellow also. Mostly he stays in cabins or motels but doeshave a tent and gear with him to use as the occasion presents itself. By the time we parted company we knew that heand I will be headed toward Bibe at close to the same time. That is neat that we might get to visit againout west.

You never know who you will meet and where your paths may cross again. All you have to do is be friendly while youare out trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Waiting Game

2012-01-24T20:28:00.007-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TexasEstimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

The day was gentle and close to home. It would not be wise to be way off somewhere and the Truck’s coolingsystem give up on the Team. A little unsuccessfulfishing at the harbor was the biggest thing done. There is always some cleaning available inthe Castle.

Before we roll next month, the Castle needs a last minute wash off of thesalt mess. The Truck will get a goodcleaning inside and out to remove more salt mess. The weather is doing well out west and theTeams need to be ready to roll as soon as the new controller is put intoservice and proven.

Hopefully the repair on Thursday will bring the Truck up to totally in shapefor the next year of travels. It is lookinglike a great year for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Credit Card Carnage

2012-01-23T21:13:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

As is a usual habit with me the solar controller was checked when my headhit the pillow. What in the world????15.9 volts showing on the screen cannot be. It was very dark outside so the switch to see what else was going on wasflipped. Ahh how nice the panels wereputting out 101.3 amps in the dark. Great and the MPPT part of the system had the system up to minus 23 amps. This controller has been acting up in thepast but still seemed to work.

Now it is definitely broken. At leastthe waiting is over. The controller wasturned off and the onboard charger supply was plugged in.

The website of Handy Bob was checked for his considerations oncontrollers. It was already known thatan MPPT controller did my system no good. The MPPT concept works but is far from needed for my simple and slightlyused system. So some internet searchingwent on this morning and found that prices on the same piece of equipment varywildly to say the least. One controller andsupplier was chosen and an order placed for a new much better ratedcontroller. The new controller willhandle much more panel wattage than the old one in case more power is everneeded.

When it comes in there will be work needing to be done to get the systemback on line. A goal is a lot moreboondocking next year than in the past. A good solar system is required for that goal to be attained.

After lunch the Team was out messing around and stopped at the pier just intime to record a fellow catching a nice speckled trout. The fish flipped loose as it was being hauledonto the pier but got stuck in the rocks. The fisherman clambered down on the rocks and recovered the fish. This picture lets you see that it was a nicesize for taking home for supper.

Now for the rest of the bad news for your enjoyment. The Truck is leaking coolant from anotherplace. My favorite mechanics took abouta half hour searching for the leak and found it was in an area they did notwant to tangle with for repair. Theelaborate water pump area is the zone of the leak. Now the Team has an appointment next Thursdayat the GM dealer in Aransas Pass for repairs. Likely it will not be a cheap repair. There are still a few days before the 2-12-12 rolling date. Things havecertainly been disruptive today.

For the next couple of days it seems wise to stick closer to home during myefforts at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Neat Clock

2012-01-22T20:32:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

The return flights from going to see the makers of my soon to be grandchildwas smooth and pretty much on time. Theparking lot of Corpus Christi International Airport was 83 degrees as the Truckwas getting ready to take me back to the Castle. It was a great trip and the visiting waspretty well toward the goal of great fun.

My DIL made a clock that is really neat.

The small circles tell the time. The leftcircle shows the hour and the right circle shows the minutes. She made it about two hours she said.

They also have a super pup named Fezzick. Fezzick can absorb more petting than any other five dogs in the worldput together. GUARANTEED.

Here he is resting because we got busy and left him alone for a few minutes.

Tonight is my bed again night. Theyare excellent hosts, but my bed fits me perfect so I am anxious to use itagain.

We found me a campground for when the Team goes back for the show and tellof the new grandkid. It will be amadhouse with the four or five hundred relatives trying to get a cuddle or twoon the new kid in the first few days.

The Truck has a new coolant leak that is going to be checked outtomorrow. It would be nice to get allthe possible trouble fixed before the Traveling Team heads out trying to havetooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Compass Park

2012-01-21T09:46:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

It was a bright nice day with no agenda. That made it perfect for meandering. A small triangle of land across from Little Bay attracted myattention. It was a city park and itlooked very nice and inviting. Mymeandering feet just had to take a look and see what it was like. Extremely nice is what it looked like when itwas toured.

There are about five parking spots on the side street for vehicles. A good walking path invites you to exploreand the flowers invite you to relax. Thepalm trees show the effects of the open windblown area but also add a lot ofinterest to the park. In fact the treesare what caught my attention in the first place.

There are a few benches made of stone scattered around for your enjoyment ofthe views of little bay. The stone thatwas used blends in well with the natural materials environment of the park.

The focal point of the park is the compass rose. It is a nicely done effort with a small labyrinthin the middle.

The main points of the compass are marked in pleasant fashion. Yep the orientation was checked with mycompass. They agreed.

The aroma of the flowers was strong on this day. The cool breeze from off the water wasnice. The view was very good. It is hard to believe that sitting next tothe busiest highway in town is this very refreshing city park. It was a great interlude in a day of tryingto have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Stench

2012-01-19T19:07:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

Here is BillyBob getting ready for golf as he chuckles to himself about thesevere stomping he is going to be giving me. Ratzzz he did it too.

My golf game was so bad the course sent a hazmat team out to find out wherethe horrible stench was coming from. Butit sure beat being in an office somewhere working.

Back nearly home the decision was to check the harbor pier for fish. When the Truck was parked and arctic houndcame wandering over to check me out.

Jana is a sweetie. Her movements are veryquiet and she does not bark. Usually sheis very responsive to invitations to get her ears scratched. All in all a wonderfully nice pup.

On the way through the neighborhoods to the Castle a strange sight assaultedme. The camera was grabbed as the Truckkept moving. The picture is through thedirty glass. There was a herd of a dozenor so deer crossing the street between houses. This is all the picture that was gotten before they disappeared into thetrees.

Now it is time to lay back and rest from a hard day of trying to have tooooomuch fun. TheOFM.

Driveway Paving

2012-01-18T20:18:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

Some folks might consider the pictures on this website nice to view.

http://www.lancesnead.com/ They are very enjoyable to me.

My edamame beans were cooking in the microwave. Then there was thisfragrance that did not seem correct. Everything was shut down to find out where the fragrance was beinggenerated.

Those used to be pretty green beans until the directions on the package werefollowed exactly. Now they are pavingrocks for the driveway. At least thefish come out correct.

In the early afternoon it was time for exercise, so out the door my bodywent. The Truck took us to the Rockport Beachto get in some walking. And walk we did.A bit over three and a half miles was the final tally. It was a decent day outwith a cool breeze but overcast. Thebeach was basically reserved for me as you can see.

Walking on that loose sand will definitely give your legs and joints someserious exercise.

Now for the bad news. Tomorrow about1100 another bad butt beating starts on my body. Old BillyBob done called and said that it wastime to meet my fate on the golf course again. By the time we finish he willonce again run out of space on the score card for keeping my score. As long as my score can stay under threedigits per nine holes, it will be ok.

Two folks I know from up in Washington State emailed me today to tell meabout all the snow they are having up there right now. During my five years there snow was a problemonly once one winter. Well they aregetting plenty to make up for it now. For May through September the Richland Washington area is about asfantastic a playground as you can ask of the earth. But the rest of the year it is time to berolled south.

Yep rolling south for the winter is a great way of trying to have tooooomuch fun. TheOFM.

Sweetness

2012-01-17T20:27:00.005-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 1, 2012

It was a gentle day of no adventures and a long nap in the afternoon. Early, sort of, this morning a check of thewater conditions at the harbor brought me a surprise. The Truck was parked at the foot of the pierin a normal spot. When my nose exitedthe Truck a wonderful sweet fragrance of flowers assaulted me with vigor. It turned out to be some growths in the shellat the corner of the bay and the pier.

The fragrance was a welcome change from the stench of the Red Tides anddecaying fish of the recent history in the area. A closer picture of the flowers was attempted. If my guess is right these are some lantanaflowers. If not please someone let meknow the correct name for them.

At the last part of the evening another visit was paid to the pier area forsome walking. My head feels like there is some allergen running around in theair causing my sluggishness. Lightexercise seemed to be in order and it did help. The atmosphere was quickly turning thick and opaque as the sun set onthe harbor.

By the time the Truck was boarded for the trip home everything was drippingwet including me. The cool front tonight should clear out some of the fog andmake tomorrow a great day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Spring Break Plans

2012-01-16T17:28:00.005-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 1, 2012

Check your calendars and mark that the Texas spring break for most schoolsis from March 10 through March 18. Planyour adventures to be in the right place at the right time. Campgrounds in goodlocations can be packed to overflow that week. Last year the Teams were in Bastrop Texas that week because all theplaces we wanted to be were booked solid full. This year should be different. Experience can be a major asset at times when planning where to be atwhat time.

The groaning of my body made me choose to take it easy today on the exercise. Things did not feel right for riding or longwalks and the wind has been very noticeable as in near 30 mph. Laundry was done in a slow easy fashion. Then fish was prepared for lunch and tonightwill be shrimp.

The afternoon was whiled away visiting a couple of folks here in the parkand more travel research. Therecertainly is a lot of country to cover yet just in New Mexico and Texas. It seems to me my travels started a minimumof ten years too late. But that means there is no running out of places to headto for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

New Team Member

2012-01-15T21:40:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

The sore body did not want to get out much today. A few miles of bike riding and a couple ofmiles of walking summed up all the exercise. It is a good thing to listen to your body and not push it beyondreasonable limits, especially as you get into the senior years. Stopping totally is really wrong also.

The hitch itch is very strong these days. Planning needs to be done in the future to prevent these long stays inone spot. The Teams are into the fourthmonth here. It is a nice place but afterthree months we should have been rolling.

With that in mind a lot of research into western locations to play has beengoing on. My new Team member is a mapbook of Arizona by Benchmark. Most oftoday has been cuddled up with the Delorme New Mexico book and internet sitesabout boondocking locations in Arizona and New Mexico. Good grief there is a LOT of information outthere in the WWW.

Research about new places to play can bevery good for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Mean Teeth

2012-01-14T20:59:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: PINS, Texas
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

By 1100 hours it was known that a bike ride needed to take place. Where was the question. So the Truck started out rolling toward thediesel fuel pump to get enough fuel to carry us to anyplace within reason. The wind was calm at the campground but a touchof chill was in the air. As we rolleddifferent places were discussed with the Truck. The Truck was insistent on PadreIsland National Seashore (PINS) and would not listen to any other suggestions at all.

PINS was not very busy and we parked at the Malaquite Visitors Centerparking lot. It is a huge parking lot sowe had lots of room to get ready to ride. Finally we made the mount and off werolled. SightSeer (SS), the bike, wasanxious to strut its stuff but the OFM was a bit more restrained. A turn to theleft and quickly we were at the beach. Astop at the end of the paving was made to think about this and take a pictureof some of the campers on the beach.

Last time we tried to ride on the beach it was very difficult, but the sandhad not been trampled down like it is today. In the picture above you can see where lots of vehicles have beencompacting the sand. SS decided it couldride on the compacted sand so off we went. But not very far. Even the compacted sand could not stand up tothe 65 psi pressure of SS’s tires. Checkout these ruts made before SS and I parted ways.

SS was walked all the way down to the wet sand.

Some riding on the wet sand was attempted but there were many soft spots tocause lots of ….pauses in the riding. What was decided was that a special bike just for beach riding isneeded! Something with super wide low pressure tires and very low gears that youcan afford to replace every three years or so due to rust.

When we stopped to get me some new pants at Academy, a sporting goods storein the south, some bikes were checked out. There was one there that should do the job with only minor changes for agreat big price of $79.99. The mainchange would be to replace the torture seat with a quality Brooks saddle. Then you would have a good beach bike. Another toy Hmmmmmm.

After SS was walked across the sand to the pavement, we headed out for somemiles of riding. Naturally some wind wasstarting to get into action in the afternoon. As part of the path we rode, we went through the paved campground nearMalaquite Beach. There were fourteenempty spaces waiting for someone to come enjoy the park. These spaces are right against the large dunesand will handle very large rigs with ease.

Behind me are the sites on the surf side. There are small dunes between the beach and these sites. These sites are gravel/sand and catch thebrunt of the salt air coming ashore. There are several tent sites on this side. In general it is a nice campground with freshwater and a dump station right at the entrance. You provide your own electricity in this location. There are nice rest rooms with cold watershowers.

Small units and big units are all welcome here for the $8 a night or $4 anight with the old farts pass for those of us over 62. All sorts of interesting folks camp here.

The fellow in the small camper was a nice fellow to visit. He had found a rod and reel washed up on thebeach a day or so ago. But the best parthe told me was that when all the folks catch too many fish, they have big fish fry’sfor the campers. He really likes nothaving to cook.

After only 7 miles my legs were shot. This makes me think that biking can build hiking legs but hiking doesnot build biking legs. Anyway some beachwalking was done. A lot of fish carcassesare still up near the dunes. Most ofthem are mullet but this devil was definitely not a mullet. Check out those teeth that even show up inthe shadow. That was not a fish to grab by the lower lip to land it.

It was getting to be late afternoon and time to head home. The stop at Academy put us on the road after1700 so we went back to Rockport by the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge. The traffic flowed very smoothly to mysurprise. The Castle was waiting for usand had the inside warmed up just right. Bike riding, beach combing and shopping for new pants all joinedtogether to make a good day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

The Tummy Leads

2012-01-13T19:44:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: Mustang Island State Park, TX
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

There was a delay in the starting of the morning because the warm mattressand covers on my bed would not let me get up. However it was known that there were important chores toaccomplish. With great effort anddetermination the OFM was able to finally beat back the covers at 0745 andescape to begin the day. That bed can certainly be determined some days.

After breakfast was finished, it was blog reading time. Then the big task was taken on. The kitchen was scrubbed down and made to bea sparkling example. Whew that was a lot of work. The shovel and hoe was stored away next tothe power washer so they will be ready the next time the kitchen needs cleaning.

Hungry time had arrived and cooking did not seem worth the bother so it wasoff to Mustang Island to mess around. Achile relleno plate in Port Aransas hit the spot very well and now what to donext. If the Team went back to theCastle it might want to put me back to work. No Thanks.

Hmmm my legs do need to do some walking. It is bright sun, cool and a small breeze like a good beach walking dayshould be. So that became the plan forthe afternoon. The State Park readilyallowed the Team in with the presentation of my annual pass. The beach was even firm enough that the heavyfront end of the Truck did not sink very much at all.

When the walking Team exited the Truck, the breeze quickly made my eyesstart to leak. My homemade side shields wereretrieved from my wallet and installed on my glasses. Man o man did that help lessen the windeffect. Now the Team could walk inpeace.

There were very few folks on the beach. In the two miles plus of the walk, only about eight folks total wereseen. This lady was shelling and beingvery selective on what she put into her bag. From the looks of the license plate and truck she was in, they areRVers. RVers know to not add much weightto the rig.

A walk out on the jetty where my near disastrous fall occurred last time Iwas here had to be made. This time I won against the rocks. In fact the granite rocks were so overwhelmed that one of them volunteered to take a picture of the OFM with theTruck in the background. Notice that mytummy gets places at least ten minutes before I do. This picture is named “OFM on the Rocks”.

By no means does this OFM consider himself to be an excellent photographerworthy of giving advice on how to take great pictures. This next section is just to give an exampleof some of the things that can be done with a camera without much effort.

As my efforts at finding some good wind sculptures were proving fruitless,it occurred to me to mess around some with the camera. This first shot is standing up and lookingdown at this area of wind sculptures. They range from three inches to about ten inches in height. That is a washed up old water heater in thebackground.

The next picture is from essentially the same camera spot, but the camerawas held about four inches off the sand. It certainly makes things look different. Reminds me of the picture I took at Davis MountainsState Park last year of a snake’s eye view of a foot bridge.

Now let us take that photo and do some cropping of the main attraction. Bytaking out reference items like the grass in the back ground and the waterheater it becomes much more difficult to get a perspective on the height of thewind sculptures.

Changing reference points and cropping can make pictures come out quite abit different than they first appeared to be. Click on the pictures to get the full effect. Messing around with pictures is another good way of trying to havetooooo much fun.
TheOFM.

Early Sat Morning Edition

An apparently nice fellow named Steve has made a comment on the blog. Here is something of an explanation of my reasons for being so careful in responses.

There are difficulties associated with having a reasonably open blog wherebyyou can be tracked down by almost anyone. Here are a few examples that I havehad to deal with.

A person approaches or emails me like my best friend ever. A short friendly spiel then the sales DEMAND. You really need the dohicky I am selling. It will makeyour etc etc. These jerks get told where to go ratherquickly and emphatically.

A person approaches or emails me telling me all about how great my blog is etc etc.And how good I am at fixing things etc etc Usually in three or four minutes they are lining out three weeks workfor me to do for free. These jerks areinformed of the nearest rv repair place I know of.

Several times a month emails come it with solicitations to let them help memake my blog much better and get out to more folks. I no longer even answer those. One woman even threatened me that if I didnot use her service she better not ever run into me in real life.

About twice a year there are the emails that I am writing my blog wrong andhave to change it to the way they want it written. OR do a bunch of research to give them ananswer that they are too lazy to research themselves. These are normally verypushy people.

We will not even consider the offers to help me mend my ways by joiningtheir “group” with my check book of course.

There you have a few of the interesting folks that you can encounter whenyou start an open blog like mine, but not the whole list at all. So Steve and others, I hope you can betterunderstand my caution about first encounters without some background to draw on.

Over all it is a rewarding experience meeting lots of different folks. Most are friendly and reasonablemeetings. Often it turns into a longvisit with lots of laughter. Now theseencounters are wonderful and the most frequent and usually happen several timesa week and are great for helping in the quest for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Flag

2012-01-12T19:28:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

There are lots of bandage containers empty in the Castle from the bloodcontainment efforts due to the bad beating given me on the golf courseyesterday. However it will not stop mefrom trying again in the future.

It was a miserable cold windy day today so the team went shopping. A successful trip was made during which anice medium grey pull over sweater was purchased. It is very comfortable and fits a littleloose so there is some ventilation. Acouple of other household items were purchased also. Then it was back into the Castle to stay outof the bitter cold.

Rent and utilities were paid this morning to the tune of $230 for themonth. Notice was given to the ownerthat the Team would be pulling out by February 12 to head off to newadventures. Four months in this paradiseis plenty this year. Where will theTeams go other than Big Bend National Park? Your guess is at least as good asmine.

The sun was very bright in the late evening sky so the Team hit the road toget a new picture for the header picture. It is pretty good in my worthless opinion.

Another shot taken was of the American flag waving in the breeze between thepalm trees and the art work at Little Bay. Another nice picture it seems to me.

And for the birders here is a picture of a birder out in the miserable coldweather taking pictures of………..birds. Mypictures were taken from inside the Truck cab in the warm. That birder had to be shaking while takingthe pictures of the feathered friends.

That birder has a whole different idea than I do about trying to have tooooomuch fun. TheOFM.

Golf Or Flog?

2012-01-11T18:54:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

Bruised, battered, beaten to a pulp and mutilated on the side. That BillyBob dun put a whopping on me on thegolf course. After a half day wait to get teed off the round started with BBhitting a fantastic drive a hunnert miles straight down the center of thefairway. My drive brought hysterical laughterto the folks watching. After that thingsgot a lot worse for me. BB could do no wrong.

Heck by the end of nine holes my score was so big it ran all the way off thecard. The back nine was better. My score didn’t fill the card until hole 16and then BB had to start writtin on the edge of the card. However it was beautiful weather like happenson the Gulf coast once or twice a year.

After golf we hit up the local buffet place to put a major dent in theirfood supply. By the time we waddled outof there and headed to our homes, it was getting close to time for a nap. It was 81 when the Truck left Sinton. At the harbor pier where the Team stopped tofish for a little while it was 63. Theweather can certainly be abrupt in this area.

Meanwhile it has been decided that taking a dozen ibuprofen tablets and goingto bed early will be an excellent way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Towing Miles

2012-01-10T19:18:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

The exact amount of driving done is not recorded. The amount of towing done is possible toestimate from the blog records. Thismorning the blog for 2011 was carefully gone through and mileage using Googlemaps distance measuring tool was estimated. The total for the year was 4200 miles. Let us add a couple of hundred miles for no good reason and use thenumber 4500 miles.

The towing cost runs $.41 a mile at the worst, usually a little less. That yields a total cost of towing the Castlefor the year 2011 of $1845. Now TheBudgeting Team has a number to use for planning for 2012 travels. The 2012travels are starting out with very low mileage since the Teams are sitting inone place until mid-February.

There is serious hope that the travels will take a gentler pace in2012. Last year there were a few FOURHUNDRED MILE tows made. Then there werea couple of THREE HUNDRED MILE tows made. Of course when you are crossing west Texas it can be over a hundredmiles between towns so some long tows will happen. The actual goal is a maximumof two hundred miles in a day. Thatgives the Team a four to five hour towing time without sightseeing along theway.

The wind since yesterday evening has kept the Castle moving about. Finally this afternoon my body just had toget out and do some walking. First wewent to the Rockport Beach to check out how low the water is. Extremely low is the answer. Then some walking was attempted. Good grief the wind was trying to pull thewhiskers out of my face. The wind chillwas enough to be uncomfortable. Givingup on that area seemed the thing to do.

The next attempt, which was successful, was at the Memorial Park with thewalking paths protected by trees from the winds. AHHHHH this is more like it. It is cool but not cold. A nice breeze was filteringthrough the trees but not blasting your skin. The ponds liked the rain of the last day or so and are up a few inches.

The sun was very bright. In factbetween the wind and the sun my face is burning. The bench at one end of the ponds was facingthe reflection of the sun on the water. It was very brilliant.

This is a 1.6 mile trail and my legs for some reason had enough with one lapof the place. Home is where the nexteffort took the Teams. Then a nap wastaken. Apparently it was needed becausemy glasses never got a chance to be removed from my face before sleepoverwhelmed me. But it was a great napand very relaxing.

Tomorrow is maybe a golf day with BillyBob depending on how the weatherbehaves up in Sinton and his schedule. Sinton runs a good bit colder than here in Rockport. Sinton is only 25 miles north of here but alot colder. Hopefully it will work outwell because playing golf is a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.TheOFM.

TOOT Paste

2012-01-09T21:24:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 12, 2012

Of course there were no fish to bite the dirty old spoon that was gettingtossed into the water. The flash wasgone and it needs flash to fool fish. Itmust be time for some lure maintenance to get the spoons back to usable status. Check out this grungy excuse for a lure.

What to clean it with was the question! A look around and my eyes found the whitening TOOT paste. A good rub down with TOOT paste ought to blowthe debris away. At least that was my hopes for the lure. The polishing compounds in the TOOT pasteshould brighten the gold finish without removing too much of the finish.

A little dab on the sink cover provided the grinding compound. An old TOOT brush provided the mechanicalapplication of the TOOT paste. Scrubbingwas easy on the back of the lure. On thefront side where the hook is located taught the need to be carefulimmediately. At first nothing seemed tobe happening but shortly things started to look brighter. Here we are inprogress.

After a few minutes of scrubbing the back side was looking good. There arestill corroded spots so it is known that this lure in into the last half of itsuseful lifespan. Maybe a few moreredfish will attack it before it goes to the big trash can in the sky.

The hook side was a lot more trouble with all the nooks and crannies toscrub, but even it started looking decent in short order. This is the model with the grass guard on thehook. It definitely works, notperfectly, but pretty well. Both types of spoons work well. This type with thehook soldered to the spoon and the alternate type with the hook attached to therear of the spoon with a split ring. Sofar neither style has proven better in my fishing experiences.

Now it is time to tackle the difficult and potentially painful part of themaintenance. The hook needssharpening. My hook stone was put towork and soon the hook proved sharp enough to grab a finger none to gently toprove it. For those who do not knowfactory hooks are frequently not very sharp. After using a hook for a trip or two it is wise to give the point atouch up. A sharp hook will try to diginto a fingernail. A dull hook lustslides along the finger nail. My hooksare always sharpened from inside the throat of the hook toward the point.

Both spoons were given the “treatment” and then placed in their home. This is my entire tackle box that is carriedwhen I am out fishing. Big tackle boxesjust get in my way. Normally two of eachlure is all that is carried for my usual fishing event.

There is another tackle box that lives in the Truck that carries the spareitems, but this little box is all that goes with me for pier, jetty, wade oryak fishing. So far it has been plenty.

Maintaining your fishing equipment and dreaming of the fish yet to be caughtis a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Cold Water Surprise

2012-01-08T19:54:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 1, 2012- Feb. 12, 2012

The fog this morning was fairly thick. The solar panels did not kick in until nearly eight am and then theywere weak for another hour. By the time my first running around was started at1100 hours the Truck thermometer was reading warm.

Down at the Rockport Beach it was bright sun and very warm. The beach had a lot of users including fourkite boarders. The wind was strongenough that they were hitting speeds near a hunnert mile an hour maybe. Checkout the winter clothing on these folks.

Not all of these kite boarders in this area are young hard body folks. This fellow was over closer to the pier wherethe fishing was going on when his picture was taken.

Today it was all fishing and no catching or even a nibble of any sort. Not even a rock bite happened. Speaking of rocks, when you fish the end ofthe pier, some folks call it a jetty; you stand on the rocks near the level ofthe water. So there the OFM was standingabout two feet above the water paying close attention to the fishing when someonepoured ice water on my pants.

A quick turn back to the pier resulted in puzzlement. No folks were within several hundred metersof me. About then another pour of icewater went down my back. What in theworld is going on? My gaze went backtoward the bay in time to see a small wave blast to smithereens of large dropsof water. This time my whole front sidecaught the water and it was COLD.

My concentration must have been very intense to let that first wave sneak upon me. As it turns out the wave heightswere getting slightly higher so after getting the picture below, a return tothe pier topping was made. The waveswere not dangerous but the splashes were not nice to endure in the wind.

With nothing to show for over an hour of hard work it was time for achange. Walking seemed like a goodendeavor and it was great. As long asyou were not getting splashed with ice water it was a great day. It has been warmer for a few days now and theclover has erupted from the ground.

Massive beads of clover were scattered through the beach areas. The only trouble is that the mosquitoes hatchunder the same conditions. A brisk speedof walking and the wind was enough to keep most of the blood suckers atbay. It was a very pleasant day forbeing outside.

And as you know being outside in nice weather is very helpful when you aretrying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Major News

2012-01-07T19:58:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 1, 2012- Feb. 12, 2012

The sun started out strong this morning and kept up the pace all day. By noon the fan had been on for quite a whileand the AC was starting to sound good. This is the good winter weather that this area normally has. Notice my WHO CARES clock in the nextpicture.

My sister gave me that when I went full time. It is very appropriate for me and mylifestyle.

On the fishing front folks keep coming back from fishing without catching anything. The tides are very low or better yet extremelylow. Finally it was not possible tostand it anymore today so the Truck took the Team to the harbor pier to checkit out for speckled trout. About the tenthcast it was fish on time. When the fishwas landed, a gaggle of kids showed up to play with the fish. That is one of thems fingers at the bottom of the picture.

After they each got to touch it and giggle, the poor fish was tossed backinto the bay to grow up and return for an encore. It certainly was a good looking fish. All the coloring was clean and no part of itlooked damaged from Red Tide or any other trouble. Maybe that is a good sign we will have goodfishing this spring on the coast.

Now for the major news. My blogmentor, Tamia, thought that the OFMdeserved a special prize for some reason. She designed this special T-shirt for me and it came in the mailtoday. She artistically combined twophrases from my blog with a silhouette from a picture of me and Sightseer tomake the fantastic graphic on my special T-shirt. Now this could go a long wayto making me have a fat head.

But it is known that my real task inlife is trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

In The Dark

2012-01-06T20:16:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TXEstimated Rolling Date: Feb. 1, 2012- Feb. 12, 2012

A couple of chores needed doing today. They were easy chores to give me time to recover from all the intensefun yesterday with John. But thedifference today is that taking pictures of the chores in progress was forgotten. So you get to read my hot air instead.

The handle on the TV antenna lift mechanism has been falling off for sometime now. Today it was removed and adepression drilled in the vertical shaft for the set screw to fit into. The friction of the set screw on the shaft inthe past has not been sufficient to hold the handle on. Now we will find out what the next part tofail will be.

After that chore was finished it was on to the bicycle. The chain ring on Sightseer (SS) wasinstalled with some make do stuff a few weeks ago. Today the proper fix for the trouble wasfinally figured out. All the chain ringmounting nuts and bolts were removed. The nuts were ground down to a shorter length with my Dremel type tool. Now the chain ring is on SS as it should havebeen done weeks ago. At least my headfinally worked. A test ride in the windproved the set up was good. As an asidethe speeds of the gears were determined today.

The gear train is a 34 tooth chain ring at the crank and the 9 speed clusterthat came with SS at the back. It worksout really well. The 9 speeds happen toincrement in approximately 2 mph intervals. So my speeds start at the lowest gear with 2 mph at my normal cadenceand increase to 18 mph at my fastest gear. That is way fast enough for me. Any slower than the slowest speed and my balance wants me to get off andwalk. This is really a bike that fits me.

In the afternoon a trip was made to check out the tide levels in the area.At one place near City of Aransas Pass was this fellow out wade fishing. It certainly looked like a great day for thatfun.

Back over at the Rockport Beach the water was showing a lot of sand. The grasses in this next picture are normallyin about four inches of water. Maybe when the tides come back in they willbring some fish to catch.

Night was beginning to fall strongly. A wild hair entered my mind to take some night shots of the area. As it turns out my camera can shoot a picturein light so low that my eyes cannot see the buttons on the camera. Several pictures were attempted while handholding the camera, leaning against a pole and sitting on a bench. None were legible. A desperation attempt at a picture wasmade. The camera was put into self-timermode and then placed on a concrete picnic table.

It was so dark that the shutter release was nearly not visible. When it was punched, the countdown startedand I stood away. The shutter releasedand seemed to stay open and hour or so. No wonder it was not possible to hand hold in that lack of light. The picture came out as if there was actuallylight to see by in the area. Please takemy word for it that it was very dark there at that time. The modern cameras are amazing.

After all that fun it was time for a Whataburger and head home to write tonight’sblog. Naturally it could not be that easy. Right in the middle of this fantastic composition my mouse died ahorrible death. For now it is touch padtime in the old castle again.

It is hard to have a boring life when you get out and around trying to havetooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Verifications

2012-01-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Rolling Date: Feb. 1, 2012- Feb. 12, 2012

From early this morning until nearly sundown, the Truck and the OFM wereeither on the road or visiting with good buddy John. It was a great time. John is a much better writer than the OFM sohop on over to his blog andget the well written report of our excitement today in the sunshine and 78degree weather.

Then after my frugal supper a lot more time was spent checking on my batterysituation and learning things. Many solicited replies to my questions have comein during the last few weeks. My concern is to guarantee that there are enoughsolar panels and batteries on board Comfort Castle to carry the Teams throughsome cloudy weather while out boondocking in 2012.

Tonight some authoritative battery sites were found about my thoughts ofadding batteries to the system. Sincethe Castle has been running all the 12 volt systems from the existing batteriesand solar panels without any trouble it seems that should be pretty convincingto a sensible person. However my mentalattitude is more worry wart than is good for my pocket book.

Here is my interpretation of what the “authorities” said. My two golf cart batteries normally have beentaken down about 10% to 15% of the proper usable amount from totally full bythe time bed time rolls around at midnight. That means that the two batts will carry the Castle for a minimum of sixdays to a maximum of ten days with no input from the solar panels and still notbe into over drawn status. Right now thebatts normally are full again by ten am on a sunny day or one pm on a cloudyday.

What a couple of sites recommended is that these heavy duty type batteriesbe drawn down at least 30% before recharging starts up on them. This means my solar panels need to be turnedon every other day at the most during this sunny weather. Apparently the Castle is well equippedelectrically as is for any boondocking in our future.

Now what is the next thing this worry wart can get concerned about duringhis attempts at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Doohickeys Land In The Darndest Places

2012-01-04T20:23:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

My fingers are doing their best to control the little brass doohickey whenit decides to take a flying leap into space.

After bouncing off the computer and dancing across the table top, it takes aflying leap out into space to rebound from the seat cushion and disappear intothe smallest of cracks in the area. Ofcourse it had to obey Murphy’s Law of Falling Into The Worst PossiblePlace. It went through the exit grill ofthe dehumidifier of all places available.

Oh WOW now the Team gets to see the innards of the dehumidifier. That might get way too exciting if we are notcareful enough. Oh yes the power cord isunplugged first. Then, to use BillyBobsphrase, a hunnert screws were removed and placed on the table. The cabinet sprang apart like a tightly woundclock spring. KASPRONGGGGGG!

Ah but the little piece was just sitting there waiting to be rescued. It was removed and placed in a jar to controlit. Now it is needed to sprout three orfour more hands and arms to hold all the pieces of the dehumidifier togetherand my two normal arms and hands to put the screws in place. To my surprise all the parts were wellbehaved and in only a few minutes the equipment was back together andworking. Apparently no damage wasdone. WOW good news for a change.

And that was just the start of a very “interesting” day. Before the day wasfinished there was the hour plus visit with a Texas Game Warden down at theAustwell pier.

The reason for the Team being at the pier is because we started out to gosomewhere else and changed our minds. Austwell was nearby and seemed like a nice place to stop again and checkout the water there. The Game Warden wasat the pier and very friendly. A localfellow stopped by and we all three had a great visit.

Back in Rockport a HELLO to a fellow turned into over an hour ofvisiting. He has been rving for 22years. For now he has been in theRockport area for a week without staying in a campground. He is like Tioga George used to be and veryseldom pays for a nights camping. He waskind enough to let me in on some of the free locations in this area. Hmmm this is food for thought. He is 71 yearsold.

Afterward my body decided to walk on the loose sand of the beach forexercise. All told it was only a mileround trip but at the mid point the OFM had his picture taken by a handrail asa shade shelter was holding him up.

Notice all the extra beach showing since a lot of the water has been blownout of the bays.

Now it is late evening and my body is tired from all the hard work at tryingto have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Hiking Boots Failure

2012-01-03T18:39:00.003-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: January 25, 2012 to February 1, 2012

A new header picture, a new rolling date and a full day of trying to find some EEEE hiking bootswas the adventure. There are no EEEEhiking boots in Corpus Christi to be found.

Supper was an excellent mix of flat green beans, black eyed peas and summer sausage spiced with the last of my Hatch New Mexico green chile. YUM YUM.
Tomorrow is bound to be a more exciting day for trying to have tooooo muchfun. TheOFM.

Winter Weather

2012-01-02T19:59:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: January 25, 2012 to February 12, 2012

Part of the reason the Teams meander is shown in this wonderful video. At the end other videos are available toview. http://player.vimeo.com/video/22132017?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0
Enjoy because I certainly do.

Some days are just chore days and not much happens. The highlight of the day was seeing anotherArctic Fox 22H around town. It is riggedmuch like the Castle. Here it is enjoying the bay waters at the Beach Park.

The winter weather has been more like it normally is for the last couple ofdays. Here are some folks braving thewinter weather to play in the surf at the Beach Park and get sand in their toes.

It seems they have found a way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Old Skillet

2012-01-01T20:21:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: January 25, 2012 to February 12, 2012

In the effort of not keeping anything that is not used at least now andthen, the skillet of the last couple of years has come to reside in thedumpster. This is the one that thehandle was shortened so it could store inside the oven. It has been a year at least since it was lastused. Now my spare bike tires reside inthe oven.

All my pan cooking is being done in a large pot with high sides. It keeps grease spatter in the pot instead ofon the stove top. Should it be deemedneeded ever again to have a skillet, the next one will be an 8” instead of the10” that just left. With the performanceof the toaster oven being fantastic for my style of cooking, it will be a longtime before a skillet will be needed it seems.

The temperature and bright sunshine coupled with the cool breeze made itabsolutely necessary to get out for a ride today. Down at the harbor was a boat still in itsChristmas gear. (Down at the harbor isthe correct phrase since the harbor is fourteen feet lower in elevation thanthe campground.) Some nights the folks had some nice lights glowing in thefog. None of the shots came out goodenough to publish.

Since BillyBob moved his rig to Sinton and some knowledge of where he wasgoing was in my head, the choice was to go on up there and look for BB. The golf course also needed to be checked outsince we plan to play it soon. Thecropland along the way is being prepared for planting. The farmers must be hoping for rain thisyear.

BB was not found but the golf course was in the normal location. It appears that they were able to get enoughwater during the severe part of the drought to save the tees and greens. The in between area, I hate to call it fairway,was a good bit less than good shape. However it was very playable. This could lead to a great way of tryingto have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Diesel Costs

2011-12-31T20:12:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

My diesel expenses were added up for the 2011 travelling season. After all sometimes the Truck runs around somuch it seems all that is done is put diesel fuel in it. So last night the credit card records weretabulated to determine what the Teams diesel fuel expense was for 2011.

The extreme anxiety as my fingerpaused over the = key of the calculator nearly caused heart failure. Punch and the number came up as $400 a month,an even number. That cannot be right sothe whole mess was done again. Guesswhat, the new number came in as $401 a month. Now the Team has a realistic numberthat can be used in the budget plans for 2012.

Lunch was in Port Aransas with BillyBob. We had a great time visiting and eating. The restaurant was Moby Dicks. Here are a few pictures of the restaurant.

After lunch we went to the jetties to check out the dense fog. Yep it was heavy or worse. At one point we heard a ships fog horn andcould hear the engines but we never saw the ship/boat. The fog was too dense to even see across thechannel to the opposite jetty. It is notreally that far across. Check out thispicture of the crowd at the jetty.

On the way back to the Castle the Team stopped at Light House Lakes Park andtried to drown a lure or two. Afterabout an hour the Fishing Team gave up without so much as a nibble. The weatherwas beautiful and bright.

The temps were perfect.

Tonight at the campground is a gathering of folks to celebrate the NewYear. The campfire is going and thechairs are being polished to perfection. There might possibly be a little conversation going on also.

My sister’s birthday is today so my participation was short but fun. I had to get back to the Castle to call andwish her Happy Birthday. She is a LOTyounger than the OFM. Let me guarantee you that is one lady that has a lot ofability at trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Finally A Decent Thought

2011-12-30T19:54:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

Let us begin where the story left off yesterday. The trip to Port Aransas to have lunch withBillyBob was delayed by a half hour wait for the ferry. But his pup Sadie Mae was so happy to see meshe nearly bit my leg off or at least pretended like she would. She is an excellent watch dog and alarms verywell to let BB take care of any trouble.

Lunch was good at the Tex-mex place. Then afterward BB and I took a walk in the small park where the birdersgo to watch feather legs mess around. The picture that was taken of BB at the birdwatchers location was givento BB since he threatened me with severe bodily harm if it was even mentionedhe was bird watching.

After that he took me to three secret spots he knows where you always catchat least a hunnert fish. We caughtnothing. Check his blog to see a pictureof one of the spots. But the day wasbeautiful and the sun warm, the breeze nice and lots of folks were out playingand laughing. This is the normal winter weather here in Port Aransas.

There was a fake sand castle in a planter shaped like a boat. It looked like cement and sand mix was usedto build it. The detail was very good.

After a bit BB was dropped off at his place and the OFM went on hisway. To my surprise the ferry line toleave the island was only twenty minutes. When the Team came close to Rockport, it was decided that some pier fishingwas needed. But it was not to be. As my way was made out onto the pier, twonice folks were encountered and we visited for until it started getting chilly. They were Jim and Jerry Kimmel. He teaches ata college and she is a photographer. They have written a bookabout the Brazos River in Texas that might be pretty good reading. If it is agood as the visiting was then it is a very interesting book.

Then it was time to get home, fed and cleaned and into bed. Man that was an intense day.

This morning has been severe fog. Then sun for about four hours in the mid-day and severe fog again in thelate afternoon and evening was the weather. Staying inside seemed to be the best idea.

There is a hole in the floor that used to be covered by the bench seat thatwas taken out. Every now and then itcatches the wheel of the chair that is my main seating. Today it was fixed. The rug was pulled back. An electrical junction box plate was put onthe sheet vinyl. A black line was tracedaround the plate. Then a knife was usedto trim along the line. The chunk of vinylwas removed. The plate put against thewood floor and screwed down. The plateand the vinyl are just about the same thickness so it worked out very well.

Sometimes my stupidity scares me. Fortwo years now efforts have been made to make it easy to cut the electricity tothe converter. Everything seemed toinvolve taking the front grill of the cabinet on and off. That is a real pain. Nothing has worked outvery well. Then suddenly the answerflashed in front of me as pots were being put away.

The converter is plugged into a receptacle mounted on the cabinet wallbetween the under sink area and the under stove area. Finally my peanut brain realized that allthat has to be done is unscrew two screws, move the receptacle to the otherside of the wall and screw it back to the new wall location. There was way plenty of electrical power wireslack to easily do it.

Now all that is required is to openthe pan cabinet and plug or unplug the converter as needed. It would have been nice if my brain hadworked two years ago. GEZZZZ.

Late this evening a trip to the harbor was taken in hopes of getting someneat fog shots. The new header is one ofthem. There is about fifty more yet toedit before showing them to the world. Taking pictures in a shore fog can be a great way of trying to havetooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Monkey Business

2011-12-29T21:47:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

The last of my Christmas presents arrived today. It is a cute little monkey carved from apeach pit. My sister had a friend fromhigh school carve it for me. It willlook good hanging with the sparkle makers and whirligigs in my main window. Thank you Sis.

The repair shop got busy on the Truck right on time. Two and a half hourslater the hose had been replaced. It isa good thing there was no attempt on my part to replace the hose. The flexible, strong young man that did notneed trifocals to see worked very diligently for nearly an hour removing partsof the engine assembly and practicing extreme contortionism to get to theclamps that would not let go. Here is a shot into the depths of the enginecompartment early into the project.

When the hose finally let go of the engine, it was triumphantly posed nextto the new hose on the floor of the shop.

The new hose assembly was installed and the cooling system filled withcoolant of the type recommended for the Chevrolet. Inspection of the hoses revealed no leaks onthe first try. You could successfullybet that if TheOFM had done it there would have been leaks to correct. It seems to be another first class job by themechanics at Craig’s Tires in Rockport. I am very satisfied with the work and prices they charge for doing aCOMPLETE job.

While my feet wandered the shop floor a customer brought in a trailer tirethat had failed “for no good reason” to be replaced.

You can bet that a tire shredded like that failed due to owner neglect. Usually it is too low an inflation, too higha load and speeds in excess of the tire rating when you see this kind ofdamage.

All this happened before 1100 hours but the pace of the day was just gettingstarted. By the time my day slowed downit was after 1900 hours and my brain is mush needing rest. More coveragetomorrow is planned. Hint: Fishing,BillyBob, fishing, visiting and more.

It is early to bed for me tonight as my rest is needed for the exciting daytomorrow of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

High Dollar Hose

2011-12-28T21:06:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

Surprise, the new a month ago alarm clock that uses batteries actually worksas an alarm clock. It started beingobnoxious right at the time it was set to alarm. Naturally my body did not want to get up atthe unreasonable hour of 0630 but the Truck needed to be on time at themechanic shop for its repairs.

As it works out it was only diagnostics today. The leak trouble was spotted after theremoval of a bunch of rock shields. Theradiator hose had to be shipped in from Corpus Christi and will not arriveuntil late today. Now the Truck has to go back tomorrow for the realrepair. It was a relief to be able tofind the leaking spot so a repair can be made. It is now leaking enough that spots are showing up on the dirt where theTruck parks. It is time to spend somemore money on the Truck.

The hose price is $182. There areconnections from the hose to other things under the hood that was not visibleto me. That is one complicated lookingpiece of plastic and hose. It will bevery interesting to see what it actually looks like when they get it outtomorrow.

Needless to say but it will be said anyway, the Teams stuck close to theCastle all of today. A close by trip tothe harbor pier netted this nice picture of a cabbage head jellyfish. Therewere several floating around enjoying the warm sun of the proper winter dayagain. For a short while we were at 75degrees F down at the pier.

My sister sent me this really great backscratcher. It telescopes so it is easy to carry. Then when needed, it can grow to enormouslengths to take care of your needs.

It stays here by the computer where a lot of head scratching goes on as Itry to figure out what did I say or mean to say on the blog.

And finally there was a trip back to the pier to see if the fish were backin the area yet. Nope. But it was another beautiful day here. Even the fishing rod and the lure were gladto be hanging around the water.

An excellent backscratcher and a warm day goes a long way toward trying tohave tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Leak

2011-12-27T19:38:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

There was a work list waiting for me when my eyes opened. So as soon as my body, eyes and head couldfunction it was getting to work time. The top priority was get the oil changed in the Truck. The second priority was to get the jury dutysummons fixed up. So it was off to theoil change place six blocks away. Notmuch is very far away from where the Castle is located.

The oil change fellow is very careful to notice anything wrong. As he was draining the oil he mentioned thatthere was a lot of coolant on the underside of the Truck. My view of the situation showed some coolantsplattered all over. Hmm maybe thatexplains the need to add coolant about three weeks ago for the first timeever.

When the oil change was finished, it was straight over to the repair shop toget an appointment for the Truck to be repaired. Tomorrow at eight am was set up. Back at theCastle, my body went onto the cold ground and the search for the leakcommenced. Thanks to the new compactflashlight my sister gave me for Christmas looking for the leak was possible.

By super luck my eyes were able to follow the leak path up out ofsight. Here is all that I could see.

I seems like it is time to chunk away some more of my money towardcontinuing to travel. A Truck withoutcooling will not go far and it is much better to get it repaired here than outin the middle of nowhere desert.

Polk county was called about the jury summons. As my explanation was getting started she interrupted and asked if I am an Escapee. My response was yes. She said she would take care of it and I did not need to do anything else. POOF and the trouble was over. WOW that was easy.

By noon it was time to open the doors and air out the Castle. The sun was warm and the breeze gentle. Now we are talking about some serious wintertime.

When the Fishing Team headed for the harbor this evening the Truck wasfeeling good since the temperature was decent.

There were no fish for the first half hour. Then some mullet came into the area, which is a good sign. Still there was nothing bothering mylures. Finally late in the evening asthe sun went down the rod was placed aside to get the new header picture. It was a fine evening finish to a good day oftrying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Giggle Time

2011-12-26T20:33:00.003-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

The OFM has been telling folks from other parts of the world how this winteris so different from the previous winters here in the Rockport area. This morning my blog entries for all thewinters since 2007 were explored. BigSurprises were waiting for me.

The cold has not been any worse than the winters since 07 to mysurprise. We have had warm days and colddays just like the last few years. Therain or equal has not been any worse either. It is a good thing my blog works since my memory does not.

Now gray days seem to be in greater abundance this year than in thepast. The sun shining mitigates a lot ofcooler weather for my body. The wind isalso running about normal. When it is all said and done, so far it is a normalwinter and I am complaining just like the last four years. The good news isthat it is fairly consistent that by Valentine’s Day the winter weather is overand the spring WINDS will be back with extreme vigor. It looks like myEstimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012 will be an interesting time for blogging.

Along about noon the clouds went away and the sky got bright withsunshine. The air temperature was stillchilly but the afternoon was very nice. The fish catching was horrible. No bites, tugs or nibbles at all on my lures here on the pier.

Later down at the end of the beach park a nice group was having fun. If I heard correctly it was grandpa, daughterand two grand kids out for fun and excitement.

The young kid on the bike would ride up the sloped sidewalk and come backflying down for his mom to catch him. They were having a giggling good time. Now that is some serious trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Red Green Man

2011-12-25T19:20:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

It was a great day for not being outside so the Team went down to visitBillyBob in Port Aransas. The deck crewson the ferries were looking cold when we boarded the ferry coming andgoing. Sadie Mae was on the alert whenwe arrived. She announced my arrivalloud and clear then went back to the couch to the nap position. Naturally she got a little ear scratching fordoing such a great job.

BB and I had an excellent visit. Wetalked of many things including where we will be going next. At this moment we happen to be leaning towardgoing toward the same general location. But who know what the reality will be in the next month.

Back in Rockport in the late afternoon some fishing was tried but it wasjust too cold for my hands. Then it wasback to the Castle to admire my new Christmas presents from my son andDIL. She knitted these for my thin hairhead. Don’t they make me handsome?

Actually they were requested to help keep my head, neck and ears warm. As it works out one will be used to keep my headwarm at night when the temps drop below 45. The wall at the head of my bed seems to let incold and causes me a cold scalp. Nowwith this cap tied on my sleeping should be much better.

And we all can agree that a good night’s sleep really helps when you aretrying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Big Present

2011-12-24T19:29:00.004-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX
Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012

For the trivia fans an accounting for the cost of campground fees includingelectrical for the last year came out to just under $11 a day. During that year there was not even a smidgenof effort made to keep the campground costs down. The Team went where we wanted to and stayedwhere we wanted to for the whole year. That made the cost about $330 amonth. With a little effort at notpaying daily rates and taking advantage of cheaper places like San PedroCampground for $2 a night or New Mexico parks boondocking areas for $0 etc.that amount could easily have made a noticeable drop. Now the Team has a goodhandle on the expected maximum cost of camping fees for the next year. Yep budget planning for the New Year is inprogress because that Estimated Next Rolling Date: February 12, 2012 is not faroff. That would be four months in onespot, amazing.

The weather was just right for going to do laundry.

But the visiting was great. A couplefrom south west Canada and I had a great visit. They are on a six week loop around inside the USA. Usually they go straight down into Mexico forthe warm weather. Their travels havetaken them all sorts of neat places in South America. The experiences they have had were wonderfulto hear about. You meet lots of interesting folks when you get out of yourshell and talk to folks. Even with cold, wet and windy weather there are neatadventures available all around us.

This evening a Christmas present was opened and in it was a HUGE bread machine.

That sucker is bigger than my counter in the kitchen. Oh my goodness it is large. I bet it makes good bread though. No wonder the present was taking up half ofmy couch waiting for Christmas Eve. There are more presents to open so I have to get to work tonight.

Merry Christmas to everyone and may 2012 be your best year ever for tryingto have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Another Burner Test

2011-12-23T20:52:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The sun came out for a few minutes so the Fishing Team hit the harborpier. The sun may have been out but thecold attacked my poor finger joints. After about six casts it was time to warm my hands up. We headed back to the Castle and somecooking.

More chicken stoup was made and it is delicious. Here is the mountain of food getting readyfor the freezer.

As a side event of cooking for three hours plus, the Castle was kept closedup tight to test the production of CO by the stove burner. It was getting to where the oxygen needed tobe replenished by then so some windows were opened. Here is the CO reading right before thewindows were opened.

As you can see, once again the stove is still a clean burning flame like theBlue Flame type heaters. So the burneron the stove will continue to be my boondocking heater. Of course needing to heat during boondockingwill be a very seldom experience in my life. If it is cold enough to need heat then “dem wheels need to be rollin.”

There is a lot of hustling going on around town since tomorrow is ChristmasEve. The Teams will be staying out ofthe way in our effort of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

The Fall Guy

2011-12-22T19:47:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: Mustang Island State Park, TX

The day turned out great as you will see. So it was back to MISP to do some Red Tide checking andbeachcombing. Along the way is BillyBobsRV in Port Aransas. A pass by his RV wasmade but his Jeep was gone so a visit did not happen. It was the same story on the way back. The Truck headed on out to the State Park andadventure. The team checked into thepark and scrambled on the soft sand down to the Fish Pass Jetties. The tide was way in and we had to run thebeach close to the dunes where the surface is a bit soft for a heavy truck.

After parking and paying attentionto all the hordes of folks out and about the decision was to just walk out onthe jetty checking things. All went verywell all the way to the end. There weremany surfers out trying their luck on the rather small waves coming ashore.

They did seem to be having a great time anyway. Every now and then a wave barely big enoughwould come in and they would get a short ride. The view back toward the shore showed more and more folks coming ontothe beach. It must be time for the Teamto be somewhere else. So the scramble back to shore was started. The difficult part of the rocks was passedwithout event. About the second rock onthe easy section had a piece that broke under my foot as my weight transferredforward. Down my body went among the cracks and edges of the boulders. It hasbeen many years since my last fall on this type of surface.

It was nice that all my old training and practice came back and got me toroll into the impact. All the visibledamage was two small scratches on my hand. However a somewhat twisted right ankle was noticed when my body got upright. That put an end to any thought ofwalking the beach looking for junk. Here is roughly where my acrobatics took place.

An extremely nice fellow from South Africa saw me go down and got over tocheck on me as I was getting up. He saidhe happened to be looking at me when the incident occurred. He said my foot made an ugly twist and then Istarted down. I think he was surprised Idid not get hurt worse. He and hisfamily were down to enjoy the winter weather. It was delightful visiting with them for a few minutes. Tonight the ankle is sore but a little restshould fix it right up.

On the way back to the Castle we checked BillyBobs rig and he was stillgone. So the Truck headed on to the Castle until the idea of fishing at theharbor came into my head. The Truckthought it was a good idea and diverted to the Rockport harbor pier.

Of course my progress along the pier was a bit slower than usual but theFishing Team still got out on the pier for some fun. About the third cast a foolish fish hit myfour inch paddle tail grub in the color of electric chicken. To my amazement the foolish fish stayed onthe hook until the FF was over the walkway then fell off.

After the required picture, the FF was put back into the water to fightanother day. The other fellow on thepier managed to catch three FF on a 4 inch one quarter ounce DOA white shrimplure. All of his FF went back it to growup also.

For fun tomorrow it is necessary to call Polk County in East Texas to seewhat to do about the jury summons I received in the mail today for a date oftwo weeks ago. That piece of mail wasoffset by getting the notice of my SSA going up a few dollars for nextyear. It was an exciting day of tryingto have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Frustration

2011-12-21T19:36:00.003-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

My DIL and son have given me a new phone for Christmas. It came a few weeks ago and is, for me,incredibly complex to use. This is froma fellow who spent the last 15+ years operating CAD computers designing allsorts of industrial things. So computer likethings do not frighten me at all, especially while my hammer is close by.

So anyway there was a message left on the phone that needed to be heard orat least that was my thought. The operating manual was written in English bysomeone that has zero logical ability. The instructions were written for someone who was already an expert indesigning and operating the phone. Forinstance “press the view key”. There isno view key on the phone or a key identified by the operating manual as a viewkey. That sort of stuff is not my ideaof good instructions.

Finally a little pamphlet was uncovered called a Quick Start. It was written by a human for a human. In that pamphlet was the instructions thatshould have been in the manual that has been fighting me for severalhours. One amazing weird phenomena ofun-natural occurrence was that I actually remembered my password from a fewweeks ago. WOW miracles still happen.

Finally the message was obtained. Itwas left over from yesterday to come get the glasses on my face right now. And I was successful in clearing the phone ofthe old message. THE MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH was that now it is known how to turnthe speaker on and loud so my bad Viet Nam rocket damaged ears can hear thephone well. Yea Me.

The day was gray, cold and windy but learning something new, especiallysomething worthwhile made it a great day of trying to have tooooo much fun.TheOFM.

Attack Hound

2011-12-20T20:23:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Port Aransas, TX

The first worthwhile thing done today was to vacuum the Castle. It not like it needed it after only sixmonths in the desert and in sandy Rockport. The vacuum cleaner was only emptied three times so it was not toobad. Then while the vacuum cleaner wasout the Truck was attacked also. When itwas all over the new floor mats were installed. Now it will be easier to clean the sand out of the Truck.

Since old BillyBob is now in the area, it was important to go over to PortAransas to visit with him. After the long hard trip over to Port Aransas (PA)the Visiting Team finally arrived at BB’s RV all worn out and ragged from thethirty minute ride. When the Teamknocked on the door, Sadie Mae started in her protection and alarm mode. She was ready to leap at my throat and rip meto shreds or at least sounded like it.

As soon as she got a look at this fool she quieted down and got ready forsome serious ear scratching. Then she climbed on the couch and lay down. Now she was ready for all the hot air aboutto flow.

BB is looking good isn’t he?

We visited for a couple of hours and covered many subjects of greatimportance to the universe. We even discussed future plans that each of us wasconsidering. Surely we will cross pathsagain this next year. Heck we might evenget in a golf round somewhere in 2012.

My need for my new glasses caused me to cut out and head back in the earlyafternoon. They were ready at the opticshop and WOW do they make a difference. It was definitely a good move to get these new ones.

Back in Rockport some fishing happened at the harbor jetty but not even onenibble was felt. But at least somesunshine came out to play for a little while. It was a mostly gloomy day.

But my readers know by now that a gloomy day will not stop me from trying tohave tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Babe Magnet

2011-12-19T19:57:00.003-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The Truck has me over at the harbor pier checking on the Red Tidesituation. As my feet are motivating meback to the Truck a sound attracts my attention. My head looks around for the sound and thisreally pretty young lady says to me “Yes I am following you”.

Then she says she recognized me from this blog. WOW what a surprise! She and herhusband are camped in the area and recognized me and the Truck. Boy that Truck is a babe magnet it seems, becauseit is a given fact that TheOFM is not. After a few minutes chat, we head over to where her husband is trying toconvince some sheepshead fish that they should do battle with him. John and Becky are great folks for a visit ifyou get a chance. We had about a halfhour of fun and then they had to head on down the road to an appointment. And John did not get any sheepshead to takehome.

After a wonderful encounter like that the rest of the day was prettyordinary. The Beach Park pier area waschecked for Red Tide also. The day wasbright sun, 73 and windy. You can seethe wave action on the beach front and the folks out on the pier having fun inthis next picture.

The concrete bulkhead close by was catching a lot of wave action. The waves were coming into the bulkhead justright to splash high. Then the 20+ mphwind would blow the spray across the grass area onto the parking lot. The birds seemed to be enjoying the waterspray where they were bunched on the parking lot.

A longer walk seemed in order since most of my body was feeling decent. The path turned out to be across the parkinglot, down by the channel, loop around the roped off swimming area then aroundthe picnic area on Little Bay with the big Christmas Tree in the middle andback to the Truck. Something a bit overa mile is my guess. It certainly didfeel good to get out and walk without being chilled.

Warm weather really helps in the attempt at trying to have tooooo much fun.TheOFM.

Severe Beatings

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The last time the carpet in the Truck was vacuumed, the sand from the beachesand fishing expeditions would not come out of the floor mats until they werebeat severely on the picnic table. Andthat even took a lot of time to get the ultra-fine sand to let go of the pileon the carpet.

Here is just one days sand from this afternoon’s fishing attempt near thePort Aransas ferry.

When the team arrived back at the Castle and pulled the mat out to knock offsome of the dirt the decision was made that something else needs to bedone. Brushing with a small broom didnot clean the mat decently. Finally alate evening trip was made to the “answer store” (Wal-Mart). But this trip took an hour instead of tenminutes.

When my body neared the fishing rods, a short look at a rod or two lead to afellow just arrived in town this afternoon asking about fishing the area andyakking. We had a great visit and he wasgiven lots of great information to use.

He has had lots of experience fishing freshwater in Indiana so he knew theright questions to ask. He even knewwhat type of fishing he wanted to do. His goal was shallow water and light spinning and fly fishing. In a few minutes a nice lady joined in theconversation and then her friend, another lady fisherperson, joined us. We had lots of fun discussing the varioustechniques that work around here.

After that fun session was over it was time to get after my problem. A visitto the automotive section resulted in noticing some vinyl floor mats that looklike they will clean up well. Afterreading the label to make certain they would fit the Truck, they werepurchased.

However by the time they arrived backat the Castle it was getting dark. Tomorrow will be clean up and install time for the new mats.

Making the Truck easier to keep clean, especially of the fish smell sand,will go a long ways toward trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Identification Made

2011-12-17T20:20:00.003-06:00

Adventure Location: Multiple Beaches, TX

About eight miles of beaches were combed today with very little treasure toshow for it. The beaches were basicallydeserted and all mine to play with.

Down on Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) was my big almost find.

This pile of yellow stuff had cracked sunglasses, several fishing weights,lots of leaders and the bottom half of a fishing rod and broken reel. None of it was worth keeping. The yellow stuff that was asked about in aprevious blog entry was finally identified. The Malaquite Visitor Center fellow was able to identify it as Sea whip coral . It isa critter!!!!!

The surf was full of jelly fish and pushing lots of them up onto thebeach. The stinging tentacles were allover the place. My technique was to walkamong the jellyfish first during my searching. Then walk back up in the dry sand of the dunes to wear off the bits oftentacles from the soles of my shoes. Yes they can transfer from your shoes to your hands and then to whoknows where and make you dance a jig.

All of the beaches were having this jellyfish event like shown in the abovepicture. What a mess!

Lots of folks on the RV forums and blogs ask about driving a motorhome onthe beach. This motorhome was aboutthree miles down the beach from the entrance. It looks like it will be there for a lot longer.

This set of ruts was down at the required turnaround point on one of thebeaches.

From the looks of the sand someone got a good sized pickup or van stuckthere. You can usually dig one out ifyou have shovels and boards. The indicationswere that someone came and winched the vehicle out of the soft sand. The proper place to drive most vehicles onthe Gulf of Mexico beaches is where the sand is wet but not in the waves. Actually you can drive in the waves justfine, but your vehicle will be a rusted hulk in a year or so if you do.

When the Team got back to Rockport, we stopped at the harbor to fish for abit. A really nice lady came walkingdown the pier and struck up a conversation about fishing. She is here for three weeks from Wisconsinand wants to try for some fish. We had awonderful conversation for about twenty minutes before she headed on out. That made a great finish to a day of tryingto have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A New Shirt

2011-12-16T18:36:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: Corpus Christi, TX

The time had arrived for a repeat of one of the few right things I have doneall my life. It was Blood Donor timeagain. The trip to the Coastal BendBlood Center was pleasant in the cold weather. The folks at the center welcomed me with ready needles. It always surprises me how little time ittakes to do so much good.

Afterward they supplied some good lemonade and cookies. While sitting there letting my body acclimateto the weight loss, this very nice quilt came into view. Actually it was already there but I finallypaid attention to it.

The nice black shirt that the Blood Center gave me was my immediate rewardfor the donation.

The day was misty with cold temperatures and cold winds. Still time was taken to hit up Hobby Lobbyfor some artists tape to hold my papers still while some fool scribbles onit. Then it was back to the Castle for aresting day. That included at nearlythree hour nap. It has been evident the last few donation days that taking itreally easy is a requirement. Tonight achicken breast and some yams were cooked for dinner. Now it is just rest and recuperation timeuntil we find out what tomorrow brings.

Most likely it will be a great effort at trying to have tooooo much fun.TheOFM.

Treasue Hunting

2011-12-15T19:47:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Mustang Island State Park beach, TX

After lunch in Port Aransas, the Meandering Team dropped by the jetty tocheck out the fishing. Catching did nothappen but the wave action was dramatic. While tossing a lure into maelstrom infront of me the thought hit the top of my head that with the surf this activeit might be better beachcombing than fishing. That turned out to be very correct.

The Truck chose to park near the Fish Pass jetties. Then the Beachcombing Team set out to thenorth for a change. The south jetty hadthis large piece of a boat sitting on the rocks.

Somewhere out there is a boat that really would rather have kept thatpiece. It looks to me like a seriousproblem.

Meandering the beach brought many interesting to me things into myeyesight. This pattern from the sea foamafter it has popped the bubbles reminded me of all the pictures ofsnowflakes. No two patterns areidentical.

While you are near the waterline is a good time to see how impressive yourdynamic personality is. Here is apicture of me controlling the waves washing up on the shore. They soon learned better than to get my feetwet. Otherwise they might get a spanking.

Another item that caught my eye was this fig shaped and sized seed. It was well up on the beach. In the bottom was a hole to theinterior. Something inside rattled wellwhen the seed was shaken. Nope my finger was not used to try to see what wasinside. Remember this is Texas whereeverything stings, sticks or bites.

There is a lot of yellow string like weeds on the beach. It balls up and has some dark other stringlike weeds entwined in the ball. Thisparticular ball of stuff caught my attention because it had a fishing lurecaught in it. If anybody knows the name of this yellow plantplease comment.

The lure was retrieved. It is a CatchJr. and cleaned up really nicely. Twonew hooks and it will join the rest of my fishing arsenal.

After over three hours of searching the beach, my body cried “UNCLE” and theTeam headed for the Truck. Here is apicture of all the “Treasure” that was brought home with us.

A fishing lure, a quarter, several orange beads and two sea heart seeds wasa great load for me.

But wait for the next part. When theTeam got back to the Castle there were two boxes of Christmas presents from mysister waiting for me. They are largeand take up a serious portion of the couch. They will stay there until Christmas then look out for the wild man.

Beachcombing is definitely more strenuous that it seems like it should be,but the exercise was definitely needed. The excitement of the unknown findshelps greatly in the task of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Thigh Deep

2011-12-14T19:34:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Shrimp Boat Channel, Aransas Pass City, TX

A beautiful day was getting going as breakfast was being eaten. RATZZZ it is going to be wasted trying to fixthe Truck. So with a cannot failATTITUDE the Working On The Truck Team walked out to the Truck to getbusy. The Truck got so scared that it decidedto operate correctly and the Team did not have to do anything to the Truck.What is going on is beyond my knowledge!

WOW that leaves a lot of sunshine and warm weather to do the next chorewhatever that is. Oh yeah install thenew chain ring on SightSeer. SS wastaken from the back of the Truck and flopped on its topside for the operationon the chain ring. Since the propertools are now in my possession it was a relatively easy change out. Then it was time for test riding. A small adjustment here and there and now SSis a much improved bike for my wants.

Christmas time must mean that a Christmas tree is in order for theCastle. My extremely limited abilitieswere used to paint a Christmas tree for the season’s excitement. It is pinned to the valance above my mainwindow that is my normal seating anything I am in the Castle.

How’s that for really getting into the spirit of the season?

While out making the Truck prove it was going to behave we passed near theshrimp boat channel outside of Aransas Pass City. The water was looking beautiful and the sunwas warm on my shoulders. Hmmm thewaders are in the back and my fishing rod for jetties is in the back seat. There are lots of places to park and wade totry my luck. Ok let’s do it and we did.

But were there any fish? Yep therewere two fish that were fooled by my lure. Both of them were speckled trout and both of them were long enough to belegal to keep. However they are stillswimming with the other tonight. Here are their pictures in the order they werecaught.

This one put up a nice fight and was my first ever speck to catch while wadefishing.

This second one was caught when my wading water depth was deeper than normaland the camera could not be held still as the speck jerked around on theline. But it was released successfullyalso.

It was a very interesting battle inthe deeper water. The waves and windseemed to be coordinating their efforts to knock me around some. At least the knowledge of maximum depth thatis my comfort zone has been earned in the real world.

When the time for fishing was over, my body was getting tired, it was niceto only have to take off the wading boots and put on my normal shoes to befinished with the getting the Truck ready to go. Wade fishing is a good bit more strenuous than my mind thought it would be. This was a lot less mess than using a kayakand WAY less trouble than having a power boat. The number of fish caught while wading/pier fishing/jetty fishing andsurf fishing seems to be about the same as in my past lives using boats. Hmmm the Fishing Team may be onto something.

It was nice to learn today that being thigh deep in the water with thecritters can be another great way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Innards

2011-12-13T21:21:00.002-06:00

Adventure Location: The Beach at Fish Pass, TX

With THE ATTITUDE, even a day that starts out like this cannot hold youback.

With the Truck dash air control system acting up what else is there to dobut go to the beach. So the Beach Team loadedup and headed out for Mustang Island to play in the sunshine and sand. Good grief it was a fantastic day down there.

Everyone else but TheOFM was out somewhere else leaving the whole beach forthe Beach Team to explore and we did explore.

Up and over and around the dunes, across and between the rocks of thejetties and all along the water line we meandered. The goal was to look for something tosee. We were very successful. Now thequestion is have you ever seen or wondered what the inside of a sand dollarlooks like?

Hang on to your hair because you are about to find out. Here is the partial sand dollar that wasfound reclining in comfort on the beach.

For some weird reason it occurred to me to check the internal structure ofthe critter. And now you have the answer to the burning question that hascaused you so many restless nights.

Now wasn’t that an exciting adventure. Of course the Team found other things that were of interest including aneat seed. In fact several seeds werefound. It seems that it must be gettingclose to time to hit up the Padre Island National Sea Shore beach. In the winter is when lots of great stuffwashes ashore there. The word that wasreceived today is that the Red Tide down there is gone, so meandering the areais possible again.

As the weather cools off again it will be great to be beachcombing in thesearch of having tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Road Running Requirement

2011-12-12T21:30:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Wide eyed driving was exciting this afternoon. After the Doc got finished with my verydetailed eye exam, it was late in the evening. My dilated eyes had some trouble finding my way home. Along the way the Whataburger came into fuzzyview and buying instead of cooking seemed like a good idea.

It is a good thing the menu is oneof the things in my memory bank. Myorder of a Whatachicken sandwich and a free senior drink was pleasantlytaken. My feet stumbled over to thedrinks counter and got me some beverage. Then the nearest table sort of in focus was taken.

The good news is that my eyes are progressing just like an Old Fat Man’seyes can be expected to deteriorate. The bad news is the cataracts, especiallyin the left eye, are moving along well also. No disease or other bad stuff was found to be concerned about at thistime.

One cute item of interest is the Christmas tree in the Docs office. It is an artificial palm tree decorated forChristmas. It was very cute. Maybe tomorrow when the itty bitty buttons onthe camera are visible again, the picture that was taken can be added to thisblog entry.

Having decent vision is critical to running the roads trying to have tooooomuch fun. TheOFM.

Tears And Pain

2011-12-11T20:42:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Tears are running down my face, severe pain is raging through my body and myhands have taken a beating from the simple act of watching Victor Borge performa few acts on PBS tonight. He has to be one of the best comedians of alltime. It is still in my memory when my “cool”son first watched punctuation by Borge. He fell in love with it as badly as I did. Oh those were some funny menand women. If you were never luckyenough to see a Gracie Allen performance, you have missed a side splitting goodtime.

It was raining or misting all day until right at night time. The coldest today was this morning and it hasbeen warming up slowly all day. Something required me to leave the Castle in mid-afternoon again. What it was is not recalled so it must havebeen really important! Anyway a stop wasmade at the harbor pier to check if some folks were braving the miserable coldwet weather. YEP there they were.

My walk out there was good since a couple of nice visits happened. A couple of the folks were from Indiana andstaying here the winter in a cottage they rented. The good news is that as my path neared ayoung man landed a redfish. It was tooshort to be legal, but at least there are game fish back in the harbor areaagain after all the Red Tide mess.

A lady was walking her wonderful Pit Bull on the pier. It was an exceptionally friendly pup thatloved getting its ears scratched. Friendly pups are lots of fun. But the bitter cold was too much for me, so my feet got me on back tothe warm Truck to head for home.

Now my memory has kicked in again. After some research in Tamia’sblog, the shopping Team had gone out to buy a cutting board. Tamia is a great resource for manythings. This board will help me work onmy ability to create bad drawings.

She has been a major mentor to me on blog writing. Her information was a main cause of thepurchase of SightSeer for my needs. Ifyou have a question about outdoors play, there is a good chance she can helpyou. When she finishes the book she is writing,it is my intentions to be one of the first purchasers. Check her blog for inspiration on things todo for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Windfools

2011-12-10T19:45:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Cold drizzle with a bit of breeze put a stop to all the adventure efforts inmy area. In the midafternoon time theCastle had shrunk too small for me to stand it. A short trip to the harbor to watch the crash of the waves and the raincome down was as exciting as the day got.

There were two tough guys out playing in the waves with their kiteboards. Mind you it is not warm outthere. The Truck thermometer was reading51 degrees of misery.

The OFMAdventures may miss a day or so if the outdoor ability does notimprove drastically soon. Playing in thecold wet wind is not part of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Work Day

2011-12-09T01:48:00.000-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Chore days are always so much fun. Atleast now the Truck is cleaned inside, the Christmas presents all sent on theirway and the laundry done. The big eventwas putting Comfort Castle back into “normal” mode. All the work getting things done to be fullboondocking capable are now finished. Nomore experimental power cords running loose in the floor to trip on and thingslike that. It certainly feels good to finish a project successfully for achange.

Over the course of the day as my path had to leave the campground fordifferent tasks three pictures were taken of minor interest.

The new breakwater is progressing well. It looks like the walkway on top will be nice and wide for clumsy folkslike me.

Near the harbor pier was this fellow who rides a motorcycle most places hegoes. He is a Catch and Releasefisherman so no fish carrying ability is needed. Notice the fishing rod pointed to thesky. Visiting with him is fun.

Then this evening there was some fire in the sky to go with the Christmaslights on some of the palm trees. TheRockport Beach Park is getting into the festive mode of the season.

A work day from get up to dusk that is successful at preparing for futureadventures can be another way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Shoreline Walk

2011-12-08T20:31:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Highway 361 East of Aransas Pass city, TX

A lot of this area you about to see is Texas Government Land Office propertyand available for public use. There aresome small inholdings that are private but there is plenty of open area to goaround most days.

The location is on highway 361 headed toward Port Aransas from Aransas Passcity on the south (right) side of the highway. Watch for the cuts through the brush to access the area. Please be prepared for some brush pinstriping on your vehicle as you enter/exit the area. The area is also normally excellent fishingexcept when TheOFM goes there. So if yousee the Truck there go somewhere else to find fish.

The Team zipped off the highway onto the dirt/sand/muck road and found aspot to park on some not likely to get inundated by any wave action sand. The tide had been running high so the areahad plenty of puddles to dodge to prevent needing my boards and shovel to getout of the area. If you mess around on the sand and do not carry boards and ashovel you will be spending a lot of time on occasion waiting for an expensivetow truck. At this site the view wasacross the bay. Most of the bay is veryshallow.

My walking was started to the east along the shoreline. Lots of salt water grasses and other busheswere scattered around. No rattlesnakeswere seen this time. The mangrove bushes are a rather pleasant and attractive plantto me. They are in great abundance inthis area. Here are a few at the water’sedge.

The shore was followed for about a mile then the path had to turn onto amajor road through the marsh to get to an area out to the south from thehighway.

This followed around for a while meandering (oh how I like that word andconcept) past many places to put a yak in or do some wade fishing. Look closely at the white spot across the water in the upper left area and thereis the Truck waiting for my return. Thefellow in the picture managed to catch two fish as my path kept him in sight.

When there was no more dry land to walk on the Team turned back and foundour way back to the Truck. But there wastime for more walking so the Walking Team just kept on going past the Truck forabout a mile until we hit a channel cutting through the area. Swimming was not on the agenda so we turnedback toward the Truck. On the way back we stayed closer to the grasses just tohave a slightly different experience. This is along the same road Sightseer was ridden more to the east and onthe other side of the highway. There isstill several miles of walking available here before paths start to berepeated.

A nice walk in a new area on a sunny day is another great way of trying tohave tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Casting Help

2011-12-07T19:50:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

A decent write up on the Red Tide has finally been found.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_cd_t3200_0763.pdf?u=http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/comm_exec/forms_pubs/pubs/gi/gi-367.html

Read it and weep as the saying goes!

Checking on the Red Tide over on Lamar peninsula was the objective. To get there you go north from Rockport andcross the Copano Bay bridge. The newbridge construction has the open bridge shut down to one lane with pilot carleading you across the bridge. This islikely to be the last time the Team goes to Goose Island SP until the bridgeopens up for two lane or better traffic again.

The super low tides and cold miserable north wind had dissipated theaerosols and bad water. It was very tolerableto be in the area. On the Goose Islandfishing pier was a nice fellow and we visited for about an hour. During that time another fellow in wadinggear passed us and went down the stairs to the land below part of thepier. From there he was able to wade aloooonnnngg ways in his effort at catching fish. This picture was taken at maximum zoom on my camera.

No catching was done while the Fishing Team was there.

Then it was over to the Rockport harbor and a new pic for the blog header.

There was a fellow at the harbor pier that the Team had met before. He was having lots of trouble casting hislure. In the end it turned into a twohour effort of teaching him how to properly cast and control his lure. It was fun and he was an eager learner. About dark we called it quits and a big Whataburgercalled me over for supper.

Getting to help an eager learner is another great way of trying to havetooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Bathtub Fishing

2011-12-06T21:49:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Usually a short list of things to write about is made before the blog narrativeis started. Most of the day was spentinside to avoid the cold miserable weather outside. At least there was plentyof hot chocolate to help me through the day. Back to the list, at first the thoughtwas nothing happened today to write about except for……. This and that and thatother thing and soon the list was too long to write about in one night. Maybe it is because the OFM is just full ofit, hot air that is.

Ok let’s get going here. If you needsome good laughs all the way down to your toes, here is the blog that kept melaughing loudly most of the afternoon. Oscar is a realcomedian. Enjoy but don’t wake the baby.

Mid-morning there was a knock on Comfort Castle’s door. Hmmmm was my thought. A glance out the window showed that thecampground owner was waiting with a large package. So he was invited in to visit. It turned out the package was not due inuntil Friday according to the tracking site. However it is ok for it to be early. The owner, David Walker, is a very nice manwho is fun to talk with. A visit withDavid is always a rewarding experience.

The box had some very important items in it.

One of the items was a new chain ring for my bicycle, SightSeer.

It is my desire to not have to usethe mounting points on the crank set that are the most outer and most inner. My idea is to use only the middle mountingpoint so the whole 9 speed cog set on the back wheel can be used whileriding. This new chain ring, a 110/34, hasthe smallest number of teeth that can be put on a chain ring with mountingholes at 110 mm diameter. It has twoteeth less than the factory stock chain ring that came on SightSeer. Now SightSeer will have the lowest gearingpossible without some very expensive changing of other parts.

The main reason for changing the chain ring was that the last couple oftimes SightSeer was ridden in the wind, the top speed was too fast. This change will allow for better hillclimbing with a load. This should giveSightSeer a low gear speed of under 3 mph. At a speed slower than that you ought to just get off and walk. For myability, that is about where my riding ability becomes wobbling ability.

The other two items in the box were the new tires as backup tires for ridingin remote places. They have Kevlar beltsin them to help prevent punctures. BigBend riding needs all the help you can give the tires, so the tubes for themwill be puncture resistant tubes with Slime in them. Slime hasbeen my friend for many years now. It is highly recommended for riding wherethere are objects than can put holes in your slow speed tires. Look out Bibe, the OFM is getting ready foryou.

One other thing of interest happened. The Truck took me down to the library to get a book or two tostudy. After that it seemed ok to take aride down to the harbor to check on the Red Tide situation. After all it is only a half mile from thelibrary to the harbor. When the Team gotto the bulkhead and pier there was a fellow out there fishing in this miserablecold weather. So me carried my bundledup but shivering body out to check out the water and see who was fishing. The water was nice and clear with dead mulletfloating around as a left over from the Red Tide.

The fisherman was an oriental fellow who is very friendly and a very goodfisherman. He had one nice size speckledtrout already. We visited for a minuteand my shaking body told me to get back into the Truck with the heater. I swear that fellow can catch good fish outof an empty bath tub. There is no picture because my hands were shaking toomuch to hold the camera still.

Back at the warm dry Castle, the rest of the afternoon was spent sipping hotchocolate reading the blog written by Oscar mentioned above. A funny blog to read and hot chocolate todrink is a pretty good way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Lunch With A Reader

2011-12-05T20:16:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

A big warning that was forgotten last blog is now here. When handling coarse black pepper and chilipowder while cooking, ALWAYS wash your hands before you scratch your itchingeyes.

Today was a wrap Christmas presents event. Then it was time for a trip to Port Aransas to have a nice pleasant lunchwith a blog reader. We had a great visitwith laughter. But it was time to finishup the Christmas wrapping and mailing so the Truck brought me home to get towork. At least the miserable cold north wind was keeping the Red Tide aerosolsaway from the land.

A couple of boats at the harbor are already decorated for Christmas. The rest of the town has also been busy andthose decorations will be shown in later bog entries. This first boat is atransient boat that came for the winter.

This next boat is the commercial boat that takes folks out to view thewhooping cranes and other wildlife.

I bet that taking a trip on the second boat could be a good way of trying tohave tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Stewoup

2011-12-04T18:55:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

It is tongue flapping, leg kicking, jumping around running in circles good.Today’s chicken etcetera stewoup (stew/soup) was DEAD CENTER PERFECT. Chicken breasts, three kinds of beans,creamed corn, bell pepper, onion, and carrots mixed with coarse black pepper,green chili pepper and garlic. Simmeruntil mellow and CHOW DOWN BIG TIME. Yepthe OFM did good.

On the way to the grocery store this morning a stop was made at theharbor. The Red Tide aerosols were waydown but still in evidence. My scenicwandering only lasted about four minutes. The Castle is still being kept closed up so my respiratory system can function.

About 1530 it was impossible for me to stand staying inside any longer. The Truck took me off to find somewhere thatthe Red Tide aerosols were not too bad. We ended up at the shrimp boat channel between Port Aransas and the Cityof Aransas Pass. The temperature was anice 75 and gentle southerly breezes.

My cheap carry everywhere binoculars were being used to see if any sign of fishlife was present. A small bird wasmessing around at the water’s edge. Here is a shot with the lens set at normal.

Then a shot through the binoculars was tried. The lenses in the binoculars are not reallysharp and the day was hazy so the pictures look like there was fog.

Well that sort of worked. How about ashot with the camera zoomed in and through the binoculars. As you can tell my hands are causing someshake in the picture.

It was a big surprise to me that it worked any at all. Now if my memory will work, that techniquecan be used in the future.

It was about 1630 and still 75 with a nice gentle breeze and the surface ofthe water was being disturbed like speckled trout were cruising the shore linehaving supper. So the fishing Team grabbeda rod with a gold spoon and went to work. After a few casts and no action the decision was to switch to a topwater lure named Super Spook Jr. and see what happens.

The Jr. performed well, walking the dog all over the place and nothingbothered it. The end came suddenly. A well-made looooong cast was made into thedeeper water near the channel. Beforethat cast was “used up”, the breeze shifted to the north, the water ripplesstarted coming toward me and the temperature dropped to 68 with the breezebeing damp chilly. My T shirt and shortsdefinitely were not enough clothes suddenly. When the lure was retrieved, the Fishing Team headed to the Truck andwarmth.

68 may not sound cold to you,but when that cold wet coastal wind hits that is enough wind chill to be hyperthermic in nature. You will be shakinginside of five minutes if you do not have the right clothes to add on to yourbody. That is why yakkers always carrysome extra clothes with them.

Back in Rockport the north wind was already moving the Red Tide aerosols outof town. Wal-Mart had a new 7’0” lightaction rod that followed me home because it knew I would treat it right. Now my rod will be able to help me betterclear the grass or rocks as a fish is retrieved. Light action fishing equipmentis another great way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Aerosols

2011-12-03T19:17:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The Red Tide aerosols were so strong today that the Castle had to be closedup and the air conditioner put into action. The Red Tide has been killing a lot of fish here at the harborarea. A very short trip to the concretefishing pier was made to gather some pictures of the devastation.

The aerosols that I am talking about are emitted by the Red Tide. It is not the stench from the rotting fish.Being around rotting fish has been part of my life since I was verylittle. It just stinks but does notcause swelling and excess mucus to form in my sinus areas.

When you first arrive at the pier this is the sight that greeted you today.

Then after about fifty feet out onto the pier a look into the rocks gets youa view like this.

About another fifty feet out there was a flotilla of dead mullet.

On a normal day this water is so clear you can see twenty feet into it. TheRed Tide makes the water very murky with reddish brown tones to it. A thick scum type of foam is normallyscattered on the surface. The airpassageway irritants are not visible but many of us that usually use the pierhave trouble with the aerosols. There isno odor to them.

A migraine headache greeted me this morning so not much has been done todayother than the pictures above. Hopefullysome of my readers got out and worked diligently at trying to have tooooo muchfun. TheOFM.

Whats That Bird?

2011-12-02T19:20:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Around midnight some heavy drops of rain were hitting the vent above mybed. It started and stopped severaltimes during the night. When morningcame everything around the Castle was soaking wet. But the rains continued until around noon. Then the over cast stayed around slowing thebattery recharging by the panels on the roof. Late afternoon there was good sun for a couple of hours and the battsgot nearly a full charge.

The yard areas certainly needed the moisture. In the afternoon a bit of walking was donedown at the harbor to check on the Red Tide. This area got a strong write up by Parks and Wildlife folks about thenasty Red Tide that showed up yesterday. Well it was still here in force today. My sinus activity was nil until the door opened on the Truck at theharbor. About ten minutes later it wastime for me to get out of there. However we have three pictures for you tonight.

The first is a bird that was sleeping next to the pier. What breed it is I have no idea. It does have a long neck and streamlinedhead. My very own eyes have seen themswimming underwater chasing mullet. Thewings are spread out to help control the “flight” while under water, but thefeet are providing the propulsion. Theyare well established year round here.

On the concrete near some palm trees were a few caterpillars roamingaround. They were very active and ittook several attempts to get this one picture that was not blurry.

And, of course, there are flowers blooming. These are the very small flowers that grow well in the fields next tothe salt water. They are about the sizeof the tip of my little finger and very brilliant when the sun hits them.

Naturally with the Red Tide in the area, my fishing was nonexistent. My lures don’t even want to get in the waterwith that slop around.

It was a slow day around the Castle today. However a slow day or two can get a person recharged to really get busytrying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Shallow Water Visitor

2011-12-01T19:28:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

A big event today was going to Wal-Mart and buying a cheap toaster oven totry out. An old friend mentioned that helike the way his cooks fish. So far myfish cooking has left me wishing for a better way. Maybe this will be it.

Unknown to me, a blog reader apparently tried to cross my path today. An email was received sometime today whilethe Team was running around the country side but only read tonight. For exampletoday my path went to Wal-Mart, the Rockport beach, the Rockport Harbor threetimes, the Light House Lakes area south of Aransas Pass city, the library herein town and a couple of other places. Itis very hard to cross my path except by accident unless plans are made to makeit happen. The neighbors here in thecampground say that they never know if I will be around or not since “You arealways gone somewhere”. And my cell phone stays on the dinette table. Unlike lots of folks nowadays, internetservice is not carried around either. I always enjoy meeting readers but wehave to make a plan to make it happen.

Meanwhile the last trip to the Harbor was to try to get a new headerpicture. The sun cooperated and now wehave this new picture.

The toaster oven was $21. If it doesnot work out it can go to the local charity thrift store. My counter space is totally filled with thetoaster. So if more counter space isneeded at times, the toaster may have to sit on the floor or outside on thepicnic table.

Today was a warm day and the thermometer managed to hit 89 for a littlewhile this afternoon. The morningfishing trip to the harbor gathered the information that the water was lookinggood, bait fish were in the area and the winds were gentle. Looks good for speck catching thisafternoon. They usually move in after 1400and stay until after dark.

There was a fellow swimming down at the Saltwater Swimming Area. Notice the boat.

Later when he had finished swimming and rowing the boat, he loaded up andleft. He actually loaded the boat intothe van to carry it home. Wow that must be a FULLLLLL LOAD in that minivan.

Back at the harbor pier a few minutes later there was a visitor in theshallow water,

Visitors like that are one of the reasons for my fear of bare skin in saltwater.

It was a very busy day for sure. Itcan be hard work when you are busy trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Good Friends

2011-11-30T19:23:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Premont and Falfurrias, TX

Two hundred and fifty miles later the Truck rolled back into the campsitewith 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 outwith me in the driver’s seat to go down south to Falfurrias to see my oldfriend John of bloggingfame.

We spent a good while telling true stories and laughing. John is a really entertaining fellow andworth meeting if you get a chance. Itgot to be lunch time so we went cruising the town of Falfurrias. Suddenly a highway billboard that looked nicewas in front of us and caught our attention. OK let’s go to Premont, TX and trythat 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 soupstarted me off. It was followed with achicken fried chicken breast “burger” with a jalapeno flavored bun. On the side was a big handful of potatochips. As if that was not enough, thewaitress 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 Truckgroaned 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 toget going back to Rockport. Visitingwith old friends is another great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.TheOFM.

Wierd Trails

2011-11-29T19:52:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The cold weather has slowed some of us down and gotten me lazy about gettingout for some exercise. This afternoonthe issue was forced on my body and the Truck took the Team to the Beach Parkto at least walk. There was one fellowthere 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 lookingfor flounder beds to see if they had migrated into the area yet. The easiest way to look for them is to walkout on the wooden pier and stare into the water. For some reason today the water is waylow. Dozens of meters of bay bottom wereexposed, so it was nearly to the end of the pier before there was enough waterfor 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 soit is more visible in the photograph.

As my path went out on the pier, several odd trails or smears in the sand werenoticed. What caused then was not in my brain’s database. They were different widths and differentlengths. But the answer was waiting forme on the way back to shore. They arejelly 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 ofwater. The critter in the shell wasmaking its way across the pool to an unknown destination.

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

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

Checking Account Shrinkage

2011-11-28T20:02:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The weather folks were way wrong. A bitafter dawn my body needed to arise so my big thermometer was set outside for afew minutes. When it was retrieved after about ten minutes it was reading 32degrees. It was not supposed to get thatlow according to the weather station on the internet. So some clothes wereapplied 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 onthe 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 Xmaschores. Call me Mr. Success because allthe presents got ordered. Then it waswrapping time for the ones on hand. Onceagain it was a success. Now it is timeto wait for the orders to come rolling in. Then get them wrapped and the whole pile sent off to the happy folksanxiously awaiting Christmas morning.

On the traveling front, old friend BillyBob has made it fromNew 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 1700hours, 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 temperaturereading.

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

De-Wetting

2011-11-27T19:24:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Goodness the OFM is feeling inadequate after reading this blog entry aboutthe 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 alittle day walking in there soon.

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

Removing one dinette seat took away one hiding spot. The machine is too large to fit in overhead binsso at least the possible storage spots have been minimized. To my extreme surprise the first place thatwas 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 afew minutes and then go to work. Inwarmer weather the A/C dehumidifies plenty to keep things dry inside. In the colder weather the dehumidifier has torun 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 ofmoisture had to be removed. There weretimes last winter when it removed as much as twenty quarts a day.

Now it was back to attempting to figure our Commercial Christmas Presentsfor folks. This is hard since all of thefolks 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 mybatts getting back to only 12.6 volts during the day, the morning dawned verybright 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 forChristmas presents is a decent way of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Early Morn Again

2011-11-26T20:17:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

My body and some of the left over feast food are not in agreement with eachother so it was another early morning. The Truck took the Fishing Team over to the beach pier to check on ifthe flounder run has begun yet. Not yetis the answer. However the Team had towait 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 nofish was obvious. Can you say Red TideAgain? At least the wind was blowing theaerosols 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 itsjourney into oblivion. Tonight the body is doing well, so Christmas presentsare being wrapped in preparation for shipping to other parts of the world. Monday will have the Commercial Christmas Present Shopping Teamrunning 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 fighttheir way through the snow and ice. Farawaynorth 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 androlling. My guess is that Mother Naturethinks I need rocking to sleep tonight. It is supposed to be miserable cold here by morning with temperatures inthe forties. Temperatures in the fortiesare not good for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Toadfish

2011-11-25T20:21:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

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

At least while the washers and dryers were working a nice walk could betaken around the Foo-Foo area of town again. There are some excellent artists here a working in several differentmediums. There are some others to put issomewhat nicely. One of the shops hadthis tricycle parked in front of it this morning. Apparently someone runs around the areagiving rides to folks to this art shop. Very boldly in nice script where theriders have to see it is the inscription TIPS APPRECIATED or some words to thateffect.

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

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

Early afternoon a fishing trip was made to the harbor to see how the fishwere handling the strong winds of today. A paddle tail jig in Electric Chicken color pattern was put towork. Nothing was biting for the firsttwenty minutes. Then in rapid successiontwo of the ugliest fish in the world hit the lure.

Toadfish

They were not supposed to be hitting lures moved quickly through thewater. The two must have beenhungry. They were put back into thewater to scare any sharks away.

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

The Feast

2011-11-24T20:11:00.001-06:00

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 somewaders to use while fishing, in the yak or on foot. The confusion has been there are three typesof waders. Chest waders are one type andcome 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 ofpants. They are hard to find along the coast.

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

Why use waders anyway? One is theybecome needed when the water cools off and the air temperatures drop. Yes it does get cool down here on the coastand wet clothing can be deadly. Anotherreason is during parts of the year we have a critter in the marsh water calleda hydroid. They burrow into your skinand cause great pain and itching. Wearing pants is not good enough to keep them out. In that same line of thought is keeping thetentacles of jelly fish from contacting your skin. That is a never to be forgotten memory ofmisery 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 bringin onboard and onto your lap. Most fishhave slime on the skin to protect their skin. After few fish in your lap, you are NASTY. Withwaders and a SOT yak you can wash the slime off and it drains right out of theboat through the scuppers.

There are those who hold to a false myth that waders drag you down if thewater gets higher than the top of the waders. First waders are lighter than water so they float. Second the water pressure on the outsidekeeps them pressed against your body for quite a long time. If you stay in the water long enough for theslow leakage to fill the wader then it will be difficult to raise yourself outof the water with all that water in the waders. Simple high school physicswould let you understand that as long as the water in the waders is below thesurface of the water you are in there cannot be any downward force. For those who still do not believe plainscience 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 withat the Fish Pass jetty told me of his concept of the advantages of each type ofwader.

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

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

Since there was a new toy to play with, the Truck gladly took me and the newtoy 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 deepwas done. At that point my balance andthe water movement were getting to be in competition with me wanting to stayupright. So it back up to the shore alittle. As long as the water is kneedeep 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 thewater practice. Doing the stingray shufflerequires me to really pay attention while moving from place to place. About a half mile was walked in the waterwhile also casting a lure. Finally theTeam made the right turn into a channel running to a marsh area. It goes under the same bridge that SightSeerand I rode across a few days ago. Itcertainly was a nice bright warm day out there.

By now it was time to head back to the campground and prepare mycontribution to the feast. Thecampground 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 anap. This makes for a pretty full day oftrying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Junk Collecting

2011-11-23T21:05:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Mustang Island State Park, TX

With the strong north wind, it seemed like it could be a beach day with theRed 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 Parkwas nearly deserted. But the adventures started at the visitor center.

As my feet were carrying me up the ramp to the visitor center, the fellowcoming down the ramp looked like a friendly fellow. My question to him about some fishing gear inhis truck led to a half hour visit in the parking lot. Then when the Truck got to the jetty, he andI had a nice conversation about waders for fishing. Then he headed off to thejetty 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 inthe sunlight. As usual the camera doesnot do them justice.

The north Fish Pass jetty became in front of the Team as an invitation towalk out on it. From on this jetty wecould see Red Tide and RT foam. Mybreathing apparatus quickly let me know something was in the air. At least with the wind blowing most of itaway and dispersing the rest of it, my breathing difficulty was mild enough tolet 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 waveswere washing up on the rocks. In thisnext picture the high point of the splash was about six feet high or a littleover my head.

Naturally there were some surfers out there playing in the waves. Since the waves were wind formed, they didnot have good shape for surfing. Howeverthe folks still seemed to be enjoying their activities. As for me, it was a blast to get to be out onthe 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 overthere. It turns out not much of interestother than a very pleasant walk in and on the sand. There was one piece of sand sculpture thatcaught my eye. It looks like a big sanddune cliff, but in reality was about four inches high. A good writer could take that and make a biginteresting 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 onemade it into the collection of beach junk in the Castle. It is very easy to gather way too much junkinto an RV from all the neat places one can go.

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

Wore Slap Dab Out

2011-11-22T20:44:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport Harbor, Rockport, TX

A mosey down to the harbor this morning to test some casting theory turnedinto a meet folks event. Just after theTruck got me to the harbor a fellow in a white truck stopped, got out and askedif I am Barney. It is getting to be thatit is not so surprising anymore. He isKyle and a long time reader and email correspondent from the far North Countrynear San Antonio.

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

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

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

What happened the rest of the day until late evening is forgotten. But about 1500 hours the Truck took theFishing Team to the harbor pier to piddle around. But instead the next three hours were spentcatching fish. My feet carried me out onto the pier as my eyes watched forspeckled trout evidence. The littlesurface impacts that the specks make were showing up here and there. Within a few casts the first of what turnedout 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 arrivedand they had not caught anything to keep. An OFM walks onto the pier and catches two fish in the first fiveminutes. It did get some attentiondirected at me.

The catching was steady enough that picture taking quickly became too muchbother. Some folks fishing on the endgave up and left, so the OFM moved down there to let others have the spot wheremy fish came from.

As my feet got me to the end, my eyes picked out a small school of largeredfish cruising by the rocks. Nope noredfish for me tonight but plenty more specks. My style is to keep moving to free up rail space where fish are caughtto give others a chance at the same spot in case it matters. Here are two more pictures of fish caughtduring this orgy of catching.

It was quite an evening. It isamazing how much folks want to talk to you when you are catching fish. I motioned to one fellow who was politelykeeping his distance while I kept on catching fish, to come on in close to getin on the action. He came on in and wehad a nice conversation. In the nexthour he was there, my fish count went up by several and he got only one bite andhe 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 feettold 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 troutslime 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 eventhe smaller ones were fun to catch. Howmany were caught by me is not known. A count was lost about the end of thefirst hour.

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

Red Tide Report

2011-11-21T20:25:00.001-06:00

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 accomplishedwith 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 sanddepartment, 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 hourwith no bites. However a local bird wasvery 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 goodbreeze. No Red Tide effects in this areawere noticed. The fishing was great but the catching was not. Out of abouttwenty 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 camefloating by. They are another reasonwade fishing is not high on my list of fun things to do. My stomach reminded me that it was lunch timeso off to Whataburger for another cheap lunch.

After lunch the search for Red Tide mess was continued as we headed backnorth. The next stop was at the countyparking lot next to the Island in the Sun church on highway 361. You can see the remains of somebody’stent. From the amount and type ofgarbage 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 couldmake it if the driver is careful. No RedTide evidence in this area either. TheFishing Team noticed that some speckled trout were working along the grasslines, so fishing was attempted. This isthe 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 thesand, the A/C was turned off and the windows rolled down. Within thirty seconds my nose was running, mythroat swelling and gagging and hacking began with vigor. Red Tide aerosols were very much presenthere. The windows were quickly rolled upand the A/C turned on. A quick left turnand the Team was headed away from the contaminated area. By the time the Team made it to the ferrylanding 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 RedTide 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 theCastle. The Fishing Team beat the waterto a major froth. In this case at leastthere were bites on my lures now and then to keep me interested. By now the sun was very low in the sky and itwas 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 goodway of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

No Fish Bites

2011-11-20T19:48:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The high wind was a big factor in the activities today. Fishing was tried in several bank and pierlocations with the same results everywhere. Nothing was caught or even bit mylure. At least down by the harbor there was one unusual sight for ourentertainment. This fellow was enjoyinga day out riding his bicycle.

Some minor chores like grocery shopping were done. Nothing exciting happened but severalconversations with different folks was entertaining. The sunset over the bay was decentlydramatic.

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

Windy Ride

2011-11-19T19:42:00.001-06:00

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 parkdesignator. IE bibe, gumo etc. It is a commonly used shortcut for the longnames 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 wasnot a good idea. But Sightseer (SS) canplay on the land with lots of wind and not be in danger. But where to go??? The Cycling Team got into the Truck and awaywe went. Light House Lakes parking lotlooked inviting and the land area around here had not had enough carefulexamining. SS was gotten ready and anxiouslyawaited our adventure.

First we rode around the parking lot to make certain everything on SS andthe OFM was in decent riding shape. Thenout to highway 361 to cross over to the public land on the other side of thehighway. This is the road to the ferryso 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 highwayand the Team found ourselves in the lowest gear riding on semi-packed sand assoon as we left the highway.

There are “roads” cut through the vegetation but today the tides were way upso some of the roads were flooded. Butride 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 westfrom here following in the tire tracks of the vehicles that had gone beforeus. This is a big yakking and shorefishing area. Apparently it is a spotwhere some folks spend the night at times while fishing. The tracks in the sand make SS able to travelreasonably through the area. Howeverthere are traps waiting for the bicyclist. At any given spot there can be a soft spot to make you show your bikingability. 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 thehighway to ride. This highway has verywide shoulders that make for good riding. And then we came to the bridge with narrower shoulders and a strongcrosswind pushing into my face.

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

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

By the time we reached the business at the end of the road the Team wasgetting worn out from the wind. Later itwas heard that the weather station at Port Aransas had been recording slightlyover thirty mph winds at this time.

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

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

Truck Hospital

2011-11-18T19:34:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

The Truck repair was a success, thank goodness. It took longer than was originallyguessed. After the Truck was deliveredinto the hands of the Truck doctors, Sightseer and I went off for a couple ofhours of riding around town. Before wefinished 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 noticedwhen driving the Truck.

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

This is the part with the leak, but no sign of where it was leaking fromcould be located. The Truck doctor wasstruggling with installing the new part. Some bolts or nuts had to be put on from inside the Truck under thedash. He is a lot more flexible than Iam. But the part was installed in placeand certainly looks nice.

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

During the time of my sitting on the outside rocker waiting for the Truck tobe finished, a big truck and big airboat came rolling slowly into the shopdriveway. Somehow the driver had ruinedone of his wheel assemblies. It was anasty mess with bearings hanging out and the brake hub broken. What caused it is not known, but it must havebeen a serious mistake.

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

A Team Picture

2011-11-17T20:00:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

SightSeer modifications that were planned are now complete. The spanner wrench that was needed toproperly tighten the chain ring to the crank came in yesterday. So this afternoon it was put to work. It naturally would not fit the nut towork. So out came the power rotary toolto work over the slots on the spanner wrench. A little grinding here and there and a few fit attempts and some moregrinding and the tool is ready to go to work. It did not surprise me to have to “adjust” the tool to my needs. It happens a lot.

Next with the spanner the bolts were attempted to be tightened. Something is wrong. Out came the magnifying glass to check outthe bolts. It turns out that not enoughof the nut was ground off last time. Since the bolt/nut has to take up less space with the large chain ringgone, the nut shoulder was hitting the bolt head before the assembly was tighton the chain ring/crank assembly. Thelittle wrench is pointing at the nut that had to have some more length removedto function correctly.

A cutoff wheel on the power rotary tool was used to make the nutshorter. It took a lot of man hour timeto get the nut taken down and squared up for use. The chain ring now tightens up very well. The new tool does work very well now.

Here is a picture of the whole Team waiting for action.

The modifications to the yak have been completed. Sightseer is ready to go. Comfort Castle has seen the last change for agood while I hope. Now all we need isfor the weather to get right out in BigBend National Park (Bibe) and we are gone to play.

Since my knee and hip are giving me trouble with hiking hills it is planned thatSightseer will have to take over some of the action. My longtime dream ofriding a bike in Bibe should come to fruition this coming spring. As long as my body allowed the hiking, it wasat the top of the list. Now riding inBibe is hitting the top of the list. Myhead wonders how many neat things have been passed by without noticing whiledriving a vehicle between the “designated tourist sights” in Bibe.

Parts of Bibe are known to be very tough on tires be them bike or motorvehicle. So a new pair of tires needs tobe ordered to carry as a spare. Thetubes of choice for me are the ones marketed by Slime. They have proven time and time again to besuperior for resisting going flat.

Getting your toys ready to play is another pretty good way of trying to havetooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Hold It There

2011-11-16T19:56:00.001-06:00

Adventure Location: Rockport, TX

Stuff shopping this morning was a wasted effort. Grocery shopping was good. By the time the shopping was done and afantastic lunch was cooked and eaten it was time to get busy on the boatrigging. Everything that needed to bedone, except the anchoring system, has now been completed and is ready for mybody to be ready for the maiden voyage.

There is a lot of disagreement about anchoring yaks. There are serious safety concerns that differdepending on where you will be anchoring. So much time was spent reading and considering what my use will be likewith this yak. Finally late in the afternoon a decision was made.

The parts are now in my possession and staged for the big installationtomorrow. This could take all of fifteenminutes if my speed is slowed. Severaltypes of anchors were considered. Other considerations were about how to retrievethe anchor once it was time to move. Here are my cheap choices.

A pulley was needed and all the stores here in Rockport had high dollarpulleys. What was needed is what used to be called a clothesline pulley. Lowes in Aransas Pass had the item. So for $4 that part of the equation issolved.

Now what cheap thing to use as an anchor was the question. A lot of possibilities were considered. Then suddenly the answer was right at my bigtoe. This light weight dumb bell (or am I the dumb bell) should do the job justright.

Now that an anchor has been chosen all that is left is to get out and tryout the boat with fishing gear in it. Thatwill let me know of any other changes that need to be addressed.

There is something about messing around with boats that is a big move towardtrying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.