Beach Park Fun

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-31-2020

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It was a great start to the day. A touch cool but warming up fast. The sun was coming up fast and we missed the sunrise but the early morning sun was still dramatic in out eyes. We had chosen the beach park for the morning walk and hurried over there.  Sierra had barely gotten us into the park when the OFM just had to grab this first picture.  It was changing very rapidly and two minutes later it was not near as nice.

A couple of minutes later Sierra had gotten parked at a good location near the start of the beach and today’s walking. This is how the whole day looked and by noon it was 70+ and wonderful.

The OFM got us over to the start of the beach walk and decided we needed to show our readers how crowded it was on this Saturday morning. 

We got on along at a good pace since the OFM body was doing well for a change.  In fact we ended up with over three miles covered today. There were all sorts of things to distract the OFM but we kept him moving briskly for the most part. Photo ops were relegated to 30 seconds and get moving now!  We were nearly the first person on the beach this morning but not quite. There is a runner that runs most morning right along the water. That runner was a couple of minutes  ahead of us.

Here is one of the distracting things we found.  The small salt water wavelets were making foam piles on the beach sand.  We took several pictures in attempting to get a photo that showed the bright sparkles. This was the best we could get and it is fairly neat but not quite as bright sparkled as the real thing was.

We came back along the beach and then headed on along more of the park. The morning was so pleasant  the OFM did not want to quit even after we had been walking for an hour and a half. But we had already scheduled more to be done and we climbed into Sierra and went on with the rest of the wonderful day searching for more places for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Bird Nesting Area

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-30-2020

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Once again too much stuff going on, so we chose the bird nesting area the OFM circled on his one mile walk this morning for tonight’s blog.

The bird nesting area is closed to folks each year while a few hundred birds make nests and raise their children to adult hood. We have seen it in action several times and it can be quite interesting. But today there are no birds there and the powers that be are working on getting it ready for the feathered visitors.

Hurricane Harvey destroyed the last viewing platform.  Now a new nicer one is in progress. It over looks the main area and can hold about 8 camera tripods at one time we guess.

The fencing provided to protect the area is a wire rope nailed to 8“ posts about 2 feet high. To the best of our memory it was put in about 8-10 years ago.  In this next picture you can see the temporary repair they had to make at one spot where the wire rope has already rusted through. Salt water corrosion is a mean enemy.

At another location in the area, some blue crabs had been turned into a meal for some of the birds it looked like. This claw was about 6“ long and the body was nearby. Lots of signs of birds having a feast was all around the spot. The claw is from a female blue crab. How does the OFM know it was a female crab? Well he has been around the salt water events since 1946. His mother taught him that the female blue crabs have red claw tips like they are wearing red fingernail polish.  His observations since then have found that to be true.

And at another waterfront spot was this unusual scene. A dragon fly was floating on the light green water of the bay. After watching it for a few minutes we decided it was dead.  It still makes an interesting picture we think.

And there you have another way we enjoyed  trying to have tooooo much fun.

Beautiful Sunny Day

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-29-2020

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It was cool to cold the first thing this morning when the Teams headed to the beach area to walk. The wind was strong and the chill too much. But the high water from the hurricane was gone and the flags were waving goodbye to the storm effects.

So we meandered the beach park inside Sierra and did some looking around. This picture of the wooden pier in the beach park shows the upcoming bright sunlight that showed up mid morning. By 1400 it was 70F and very nice.

When we left the beach park we moseyed on down to the boat entry to the harbor. The usual guards were on duty there to announce any arrivals.

The highlight of today was going to Tackle Town and purchasing a new fishing rod for our use. Now we can have two rods with different baits on them ready to use when an occasion calls for quick changes.

Then when we came out of Tackle Town a higher highlight came on. The restaurant with the best chicken tacos in the county is a two minute walk down the sidewalk from the fishing gear store.  Yep the OFM destroyed a wonderful plate of chicken tacos and trimmings. Ole Big Belly managed to get back to Sierra to head out for more fun.

Last year certain things were so undesirable to the OFM that he had told many folks he was not coming back to Rockport until things changed for the better. Our running around since we got back has found that most of the objections have been resolved.  Things in this area are looking up it seems. At least it is improved enough to stay a little longer this year even though the personal reason we came back is now finished. We will still have to see how things work out, but it looks promising.

Now we need to rest so tomorrow we can continue the rampaging and maybe get some miles on the OFM’s shoes over at the Community Park. Who knows what the OFM will do in the name of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Fish Caught

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-28-2020

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We need to give The OFM a day off to rest. This is the second day in a row he pooped out and had to have a short nap. The photos are piling up in the computer waiting for their turn at being edited. Today we added several more.

Anyway it was a fish catching day as well as a roaming around day. The camera was a busy little devil all day nearly.

Enough of that, let’s get on with today. We did some shopping and sightseeing. There has been a lot of changes since we left  here late last January and we are still finding new changes. However the OFM did take some time for fishing right after lunch. Here is one of the two identical 18 inch speckled trout he caught.

Then on another excursion down by the Fulton bridge we got to see this nice sized catch by a very nice fellow. This is a nice sized black drum and definitely will be worth eating when they take it off the grill tonight. We think there might be a bit of a party at his place.

Then late afternoon The OFM went down by the wooden pier. He chunked the lure out to get a kink out of the line and while reeling the lure in this small 14 inch red fish rushed out of a weed bed to hit the lure. 

We were surprised to have several more red fish come out of the weed beds and chase the lure on later casts also.  Several other folks were seen landing fish at many places around the waterfront today. We guess the fish must have been feeling frisky after the cool front came through.

The OFM got in a good bit of walking today but it was in several smaller chunks. It is in the plans for another trip to the Community Park track and walk that track the opposite direction to get pictures to add to the piles of pictures on the computer already.

One thing for sure, there is a lot of trying to have tooooo much fun still out there around town.

Beach Walking

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-27-2020

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The OFM is beat to a pulp with all the doing things we did today. So tonight we will present part of our Walk On The Beach event. The Rockport Beach is a man made beach that is about .9 miles long. It is frequently very heavily used but today it was nearly empty. That was probably due to the very bad for this area weather.

It was a little over cast, very cold at 62F with a chilly north wind and a week day. The OFM thought it was just right for a good adventure walk. He was right. We shot about 60 photos to edit.

Since he needed to get  back into some decent walking exercise, we chose the beach for the fun of it.

We started at the far inside the park end at the famous wooden pier where the OFM catches loads of fish at times. This is the view from the starting point.

The beach is a man-made beach. The beach material (sand) comes from inland about 100 miles away. It is sand with a bit of gravel mixed in it. The mix is very comfortable for walking barefoot in.  The gravel gathers in rows on the beach from the wave action. This is the OFM foot on one of the gravel rows to give you an idea of the texture and size of the particulate.

During our walk today there was a minor influx of jelly fish washing ashore. They were smaller than the Teams had seen in a long time. Here is the infamous OFM toe again.

Another interesting item is these yellow seeds. The green seeds are mangrove plant seeds.  The yellow seeds are shaped like the mangrove seeds but we have never seen yellow ones before. So naturally we had to have a picture here tonight.

 Also today there was a good number of critter homes (shells) washing ashore. Here is a nice looking home right in the wash line. Some one must have been at home since the shell was blowing bubbles. We liked this picture quite a bit.

For the whole walk the OFM got in a bit over two miles and he could tell he had not been out doing proper walking in a little over a week. He needs to get back at it so he will be in better shape for trying to have tooooo  much  fun.

High Tides

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-26-2020

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The weather did not know what it was going to do this morning. Bright and sunny or cloudy and wet or windy or not. Check out this early morning weather picture from near the wooden pier in the Rockport Beach Park.

Apparently the new hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico is pushing water into the Rockport area. When the tides are normal the pier stair shown in this picture goes down to the dry sand of the beach. The flooding sea water was about a foot deep at the bottom of the stair this morning.

Later in the day we headed down to the Light House Lakes area to see what had changed. Not much was changed. However the higher tides had flooded a bunch of the small dunes area. As you can see from the picture the weather turned out bright and sunny. We are really glad we are not in the Denver Co. area instead of here on the Texas lower coast.

We visited with lots of old friends and toured a big chunk of the area to see what had changed since we left here late January.  There has been a good bit more changes than we thought there would be. However we still have plenty of space to rampage around trying to have tooooo much fun.

What Is It?

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-25-2020

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Mostly everything that was planned for today did not happen. Hip and knee pains during the night kept sleep and real rest to a minimum. The morning walk planned to get sunrise flower pictures did not come anywhere close to happening. Sometimes being OLD just gets in the way.

Since the good stuff was not happening the OFM Fishing Team took over and we went to the harbor for gentle fishing and letting the Ibuprofen do its work. It helped but there was no fish biting anything we threw into the water.

So we headed home to the Castle and did laundry and ate lunch, which included two more Ibuprofen tablets.  Finally some relief came into the OFM body.  But to be careful we headed over to a friends campsite and had a huge long visit with several others in the area. WOW that was fun.

We have a new header plant picture for the week of a plant at the Community Park that we took during yesterday’s walk. If anyone knows what it is please let the OFM Plant Fools know the name of the plant.  It made a great header picture we think. In the meantime we are going to take it easy tonight. Planning on a painting is what we hope to accomplish tonight and tomorrow. It has been over two weeks since any painting effort has been expended and that is way too long.

We are still getting organized for this area of saltwater fun instead of pine trees and marsh of north Alabama. There is a big difference between those areas in the ways of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Fun Folks

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-24-2020

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We got a good start this morning and had a busy day. After the early morning computer work we headed to the marina area to walk. OOOPS way too many folks and a really chilly wind ripping across the area.

On back through town we went to the Community Park walking trail.  At least the trees sheltered us from the chilly wind. This park trail system has loops through the trees to keep it interesting. Here is a map of the park.

We did the blue trail with intentions of two laps for over three miles. There were so many camera distractions we managed one lap and 45 pictures for inspiration for more art efforts NOT in a coloring book. Then it was time to have lunch. The OFM has not yet been through all the pictures but we hope it generates several nice paintings.  Paintings are a lot of fun for the members of the OFM Art Society.  That is the newly formed group that is a member of the OFM Teams.

After all that nonsense we finally got started down the trail. This is the same park and trails we have covered many times in the OFMAdventures blog. But this year we are here in the Fall to see what we can see. Very quickly the Teams camera went to work photographing inspirations. The “leafy” scenes were in abundance during most of the walking. Those pics have not been processed yet so they will have to wait for their future exciting opportunities to improve blogs.

However when we got to the duck/turtle pond, the OFM did slip over to the side of the trail for a nice picture of it.

The rest of the trail wound around and provided many more photograph opportunities. When we got to Sierra the OFM Walking Team was ready to take a rest so we left to check the in town pier for “population”.  It was getting crowded. Soon to be too crowded for Covid-19 spacing.

For the rest of the afternoon we did a bunch of marina piddling around ( fishing) and visited with several folks visiting the area.  Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez were particularly interesting to visit since we discussed RVing at length. Thank you folks the OFM Team really enjoyed the long visit.

Now with pictures to edit tomorrow and more adventures to go and do, you can be sure we will have a great effort at trying to have tooooo much fun.

Great Sierra News

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-23-2020

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It was a good start to a worrisome day of Sierra’s repair. After breakfast we hit up the marina area for about 30 minutes of fishing before we head to the repair shop. Nothing special was happening until the last cast. The large speckled trout hit the lure and the fight was on. It was a larger than usual trout.  After the OFM got the trout flopped onto the parking surface the trout looked even larger.

When things calmed down a bit and the fish was unhooked it turned out to be 18 inches long and fat. It was definitely a nice size fish but guess what Castle still had the camera in it.  So the fish went back into the water and we headed to the repair shop for some Sierra surgery.

We got to the shop a few minutes ahead of schedule and the repair bay opened up right on time and in Sierra went. Rex, a well proven mechanic from previous repairs, went right to work on the alignment planned. However he quickly found that the alignment was not the problem.

Both of the lower ball joints on Sierra were loose and worn. So the OFM approved replacing them. New joints quickly arrived. In the mean time Rex started the disassembly required of the front suspension parts.  The OFM asked how the brakes and rotors looked for wear. The disk pads showed more than 60% pad left. The rotors showed no significant wear. The other parts all passed with flying colors. The only trouble was the two lower suspension ball joints.

They were soon replaced. Rex did a careful alignment test and found the alignment still in specification, but just barely.  So a full fledged alignment was done on Sierra.

When Rex was finished, Sierra had had basically the entire front suspension assembly on both sides carefully examined and now was ready for another 100,000 miles of running and playing. WOW we like that. Total repairs cost was $403.

A big surprise awaited the OFM when we drove off to get some lunch.  Sierra drove a lot better than it had been driving. Sierra was a lot firmer to the road than it had been.  This was a real nice feeling for certain. Now we REALLY can feel comfortable that the brakes and front suspension is ready for more running and playing.

After lunch we went by the “fishing gear “ garage sale  that a couple of friends were helping at. We visited for a little while and headed to get some new lures. They were out of stock.

Later we went back to the old friends RV and visited for a couple of hours which put a wonderful end to a fantastic day of trying to have tooooo much fun

HOT AND SWEATY

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-22-2020

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 After a bad nights unrest the OFM headed to Whataburger for egg and potato  rolled in a soft tortilla.  They were wonderful.

Then it was back to the campground and move the Castle. It was not a hard job but it was a HOT AND SWEATY job. It took about 45 minutes with a couple of cool off breaks.  Winter has not even started to approach here yet.

We got it all done. The good part is the sites are not crowded near each other. Here is a picture of the new location.

After that a light meal was in order and a nap since the OFM was not feeling decent from the high humidity and 90F.

When he woke from the nap, we headed to the waterfront to do a bit of fishing and shade seeking. The OFM ended up in a great  long (2 hours+) visit with a nice couple from San Antonio. We saw good old Joe from Missouri catch one nice sized trout.  After the long visit, the OFM worked the water over pretty heavily with no fish bothering any of his lures.

Back at the Castle another nap captured him and he feels a lot better tonight.

Tomorrow Sierra heads into the shop to find our what is causing some serious weird tire wear on the front driver side tire. You should not let front tires of your tow vehicle blow out while towing. It can be more excitement than most human hearts can stand. Hopefully Sierra will be well soon and the OFM can relax a little as he is figuring out what is next in the search for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Journey Completed (Updated)

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-21-2020

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Well we rolled into Rockport right at noon after a little under 200 miles on the road.  The rolling went well with very little traffic.

When we got to the campground we found the owner gone but a camper told us the story. The owners pregnant wife started having a trouble so they ran off to a hospital to see what was the trouble. The Teams did the normal thing in that situation and chose an empty site and set up. A meter reading was taken. Then a note that we were here was put on the door to the mail room.

It was night before we remembered to grab a picture of the new campsite.  We chose one very near the campground entrance so we can go and come easily. Here is the site lighted by the area night lighting.

 

10:00 PM The campground owner just came back to the campground and politely notified me that I had to change spots since this spot is for a camper coming in in about two weeks that needs the 50 amp plug. So within a couple of days the OFM Teams will be going to a different site. HMMMMM.

Earlier we had been running around checking out the new stuff and changes since last January. We were greeted at the marina with palm trees and yellow flowers.

We have our walking route worked out and hope to start it tomorrow. If we get it going there will be pictures for sure.

So far the really high spot of the day was freshly made delicious chicken tacos for supper. Man they are good here in Rockport. 

Enough things have changed we will take a little while to sort out the area. Then we will go nuts trying to have tooooo much fun.

Third Leg Complete

 Adventure Location: Lexington, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-20-2020

The third leg of the journey is complete with one more to go. In response to those who have asked how far we travel each day, here is this trip. 

First Day 303 miles

Second Day 320 miles

Third Day  270 miles

The usual goal is around no more than 300 miles or 7 hours whichever comes first. The third leg is a slower than average speed than the first two since it is no Interstate and the first two are nearly all Interstate. In the past we have done a little over 500 miles on the Interstate while towing but that takes really special circumstances for the OFM Teams.

We have found that our odometer records a few more miles in a trip than the mapping with Google does. So anyway we are safely set up at Sonnys RV Park in Lexington, Texas. We recommend the place for a stop over spot. It is grassy spots with W/E/S and very easy in and out. The folks who run it are really pleasant to deal with.

Tomorrows run is a bit less than 200 miles on state and local roads and small towns to pass thru. It usually takes the Teams about four hours. Then we will be in Rockport Tx for about two months working on depleting the supply of fish available in the Gulf of Mexico. After that we have no plans for where we will be going to try having tooooo much fun.

A Different Whataburger Interior Decor

 Adventure Location: Tatum, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-19-2020

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We got a good start this morning and were rolling well on down I-20 westward for a couple of hours before the FIRST slow down/stop and go. It was caused by a piece of construction equipment that fell off the transporting trailer. We will call this one a twenty minute delay. Then there were the two highway construction delays that slowed traffic from 65 to 35 for a few miles each. The good news is everyone was polite and orderly and the slow downs went very smoothly.

We got to Martin Creek Lake SP only a little over an hour later than was originally planned.

At one place in Monroe Louisiana we found out the Castles brakes are very capable of locking the wheels on the Castle so they slide instead of roll. But Sierra handled it all  very well and the trailer brakes are now set to have a little less gain than before. No harm and a great education was given to the OFM. He thought he had been very careful about the braking gain adjustment and he had. But with the new information we were able to make some careful adjustment. So we made the 320 miles in good time and the new rig weight lightening and weight distribution proved to be another good effort on the  OFM’s part.

The OFM rewarded himself for a safe two days of journey with a Whataburger at the Henderson, Texas  store. It has a totally different interior decor than all the other Whataburger stores we have been. Surfboards and guitars are the wall decorations within a 50‘s ish decor.

Now we are writing tonight’s blog during light rain disturbances from a campground that five weeks ago when we came through did not have Hotspot signal in the camping area.

We are a little over 400 miles from our final destination and plan on covering a bit more that 200 miles tomorrow. So that way we hope to roll into Rockport early afternoon. 

Then we can get busy harassing the fish as a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Repeat Picture

 Adventure Location: Roosevelt SP, Morton Ms.

Adventure Date: 10-18-2020

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Today we are back at where the header picture was taken five weeks ago.  The OFM did his best to get in the same spot on the lake dam to recreate the header picture for tonight. 

The Castle and Sierra rolled on down the road with no troubles at all. The OFM even parked the Castle into the campsite on the first try. Don’t expect that to be repeated again very soon.

Two more days of rolling to get to the fall location in Rockport, Tx.  Then we get to relax for a couple of months and catch lots of fish as our way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

New Plans Needed

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-17-2020

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A couple of days ago on an evening walk about, the OFM Walking Team captured this photo of a heron patiently waiting for supper to meander by.

We thought it was a particularly nice evening type picture.

The Castle is as ready to roll as we could get it before tomorrow’s morning rolling. We have about 286 miles to go tomorrow. The goal location is I-20 and the vicinity of Morton, Mississippi. It could be the state park or a nearby state rest area. We will not know until we get there what we will do.

If things go well the next night will be in Texas somewhere near I-20 or Tatum Texas.  That is about all there is to tell about the upcoming travels at this time.

It was a great visit with the grandkids and their parents. We had fried catfish and BBQ’d brisket for lunch. It was very good. The only “trouble” was the grands were not ready for a nap after lunch like the old folks were.

An important subject of discussion was about with the changes to the Alabama folks lifestyle with the kids getting bigger, schooling changes and the OFM lifestyle being torn apart by the campground’s new rules was productive. We still do not have a solution or plan for visiting but at least we are all on the same page now. A new plan definitely will not get to lay around being ignored.  The grands are changing and growing way too fast to just wait a while longer.

The OFM Teams roll in the morning and have a good chance of being incognito for a couple of days. Do not despair, we will return as full of it as usual. A site is reserved for two months in Rockport, Texas to chase flounder, photos for everyone to enjoy and the OFM Teams doing their best to try to have tooooo much fun..

IT Arrived

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-16-2020

It has arrived finally. “It” is getting ready to roll time. Tomorrow is a last visit to “Grandkid Land” for the year.

Tires were checked for the correct pressure in them and all the tires of Sierra and the Castle were right on pressure spec for the loads each tire has to carry safely.

Then the roof of the Castle was checked for branches or other junk that does not belong up there.  A couple of small twigs were removed. 

 However the solar panels looked like they were growing brownish green junk. So a little detergent and water was used to clean them.  We had noticed the output had been slightly less for the last three weeks or so but attributed it to the tall trees and lower sun levels. 

 However, after the gentle washing, the output was right back at specification again. The two original 100 watt panels are 13 years old now and can be expected to start losing some minor amounts of power output any time now.

With that stuff all done, and a general look around at things we are all set for the cold Sunday morning hook up and roll. Four days and a thousand miles later we should be rolling into Rockport Tx and the flounder catching time of the year.  

At this moment we are thinking we will roll again in late December at the earliest. We need to wait for some packages/mail to arrive in mid to late December.  

Other than staying in warm climates, we do not have any other plans about where we will be or what we will be doing for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Bird and Snake

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-15-2020

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It has gotten to blog writing time with no special idea available to write about. So you will be reading whatever pops out of the empty head of the OFM.

A couple of days ago someone was commenting about the Alabama cold weather in the winter. They made the statement that since Alabama is more north than Texas, Alabama  was colder during the winter months. We disagreed that Alabama went farther north than Texas and said so. The reaction was traumatic since apparently the OFM stepped on some ego toes. We left that discussion still on speaking terms.

Today was a day of thinking of things to do as we ready for rolling Sunday morning.  Well the OFM thought of that conversation above and went to the Internet to check some maps. Well the fact is that the north boundary line of Texas is a little over 100 miles farther North than the north boundary line of Alabama.

So naturally the OFM had to check the southernmost tip of Texas. We thought it was about the same 100 miles farther south than the southern limit of Alabama.  We were wrong by a good bit. The southernmost tip of Texas is about 300 miles south of the most southern point in Alabama. 

Whew now that that is out of the way we can  relax.

Here is a nice picture of a creek that comes from on the local golf course and runs out into the Tennessee River. It makes a nice fall picture we think. 

This next picture is two pieces of wood sticking out of the water in Flint Creek. The piece on top looks like a bird taking flight to get away from the snake (another stick) swimming up to the bird.

Sometimes the OFM’s imagination runs away with him. 

At least he has a vivid imagination for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Walked Too Far

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-14-2020

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Twas a nice day all around for a change. Not a lot of excitement and good food. That can be a very pleasant day can’t it.

After a great sleep the morning moved along peacefully. When it warmed up enough we got busy with the morning walk and what a walk it was. The walk was not planned exactly, just follow the nice for until you get back to the Castle. 3.8 miles later and an hour and a half we were back at the Castle. WOW.  But the ibuprofen taken later was a warning to not go quite so far next time.

Any way we got a few nice pictures during this nice weather. The sky was bright blue and the crepe myrtle plants leaves were turning bright red and contrasted very beautifully with the bright blue sky background.

At another spot along the trail was some shells in the water sitting as if two clams had died and the shells opened. Since Wheeler lake is lowering water for the winter, the shell were in about a foot of water and nicely visible. Here is a view of them with the reflected vegetation of the trees and vines camouflaging the shells.

Near the end of the walk we paused to get this picture of the trees and the reflection from the calm water to enjoy. Actually we stood there enjoying the scene for a few minutes. It was down right great.

After we returned to the Castle it was time for a shower, some ibuprofen and rest. Then we headed to Lawler’s for a stuffed baked potato. Good grief the potato was huge today.  When we got back to the Castle with it, the OFM went over and borrowed the campground fork lift to take it to the door of the Castle and slide it inside.

After the lunch half was completed the other half of the potato was put away for supper. Even the part for supper was almost too much.

Tomorrow starts our planned getting ready to roll Sunday morning. Saturday is a grand kids day so most of the get ready needs to be done by Friday. It will be the usual four days of travel for about a thousand miles total. A nice part is that each stop usually ends up with a minor adventure to provide a good way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Arrested By The Police

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-13-2020

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Just as the OFM was about to publish last nights blog, all the Internet in the area went down.  We ran the tests recommended and they said that a part of the system not local had failed. So  when the system came back up about 1600 today we were ready for it to be back online.

We did find out how to use the new reservation system for Point Mallard when it starts up January 2. We are thinking we can make it work for us pretty well. We will see.

Preparation for pulling out Sunday morning in the cold weather is under way.  We will be leaving at a good time. Four days of towing back to Rockport Texas will be the time frame. Then we will be there until the personal Christmas stuff is taken care of and them who knows.

Today the OFM did not do a long walk but rather did several 1 mile +/- walks to work on some calf cramps that he was suffering from. It worked out well and healing seems over with.

This picture of the red green leaves caught the OFM’s attention on the first walk and are a nice calming photograph we think.

Then on a walk along the street next to the golf course we spotted this health looking tree except it has fungus growing up one side of the tree. Here is a close up of the rather nice looking fungus.

Then back in the campground we spotted another live tree with a huge growth of very dark fungus on it. We are guessing it was about six feet along the truck.

Then we moved in close to see whatever there was to see.

We did a little running around town and shopping for minor stuff just to get out of the campground.  Not much was going on except at Walmart we saw two policemen come running out the other door and stop a fellow who was leaving the door we went in.  We just kept on moving into the store. Supposedly he was arrested and taken away peacefully.

When the Internet started working about 1600 this afternoon we finished yesterday's blog and published it. 

Now we are about to publish tonight’s tales of excitement and wild adventures while trying to have tooooo much  fun.

Storm Damage

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-12-2020

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Internet trouble most of the day 1-13-2020.

Since  Tropical Storm Delta had cleared the area and clouds were moving out fast the morning sun was warm and bright even in the cave made by the trees along the river path.

The walk turned out to be a bit over three miles and generally pleasant.  Soon after we started, the minor but important type of damage we spotted along the path made us aware the Castle had been lucky.  Quite a bit of downed dead limbs had showed up along the path. We are sure there are a lot more back in the woods too.

The first ones we saw were these about 5-7 feet long and bigger in diameter than an OFM foot. We bet they would have cause roofing material damage as a minimum if they hit the Castle’s roof.

A little way on down the path was this old trunk we have been watching to see when it would fall. Well it was recently along with a good sized limb.  We think this trunk could have cracked the siding on the Castle. That would be horrible.

There was a steady stream of limbs down along the pathway.  This next one was a limb that hit end down and rammed its way over a foot into the ground and was standing.  The logs on the ground came down a couple of weeks ago in a thunder storm. The OFM was not able to pull it out but it was slightly loose in the dirt. We are afraid that one might have penetrated an RV roof if it hit the roof like it hit the ground.

We were meandering along at at least fifty inches and hour when the OFM spotted this funny item on a tree trunk. We got close for a photo. It turned out to be a spider web with an entry hole in the middle. The foolish OFM put a finger on it to make sure it was a spider web. It was. Then he recalled that his finger is NOT spider bite proof.

There was a nice parade of folks on the trails this morning so we got to give out a lot of TEXAS sized HOWDYS to them. That was nice and a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Good Morning Rain

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al
Adventure Date: 10-11-2020
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The morning dawned looking like this and stayed that way until mid afternoon.

We piddled our little hearts out hoping for some sunshine as soon as the TS Delta got on past  us. It finally did in mid afternoon and the OFM Walking Team scrambled to get the walking shoes installed on the OFM so he would not have any excuse to get his ancient old body moving. We keep reminding him he has to take care of himself if he is going to see grand daughter Piper graduate from high school.

So we got him out the door and agreed to stay on the pavement and not walk the gravel and dirt trails.  We hit the road to the big park area near the soccer fields.  Tons of folks were out at the fields kicking the balls and each other around and having a great time. 

The Team went on around the soccer field and down by a couple of open air meeting places with roofs on them. Then we looped around the indoor ice skating rink near the big oak trees.  That is where it happened. A 47 pound acorn came screaming out of a tree giving a loud BANZAI yell and aiming for the OFM’s delicate bald head. The OFM managed to dodge the acorn by a fraction of a millimeter as it whistled by faster than a speeding locomotive.  It was a large 3/4“ diameter hard acorn. We could see the size but the way it careened off the paving we knew it had to be made of stainless steel at least.

After that incident we were careful to stay out from under any more acorn bearing oak trees.
Safely back at the Castle we took a break and figured out what was for supper. It was an excellent choice.  Bell pepper, yellow crookneck squash, onion, thin sliced boneless pork chop were the main ingredients. Spices were fresh ground black pepper, garlic powder and Mc Cormicks Italian seasoning.
A teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of water and the cooking got busy. Six minutes later the feast was ready for enjoying.

We have plans to leave Alabama on October 18 to head to Rockport Tx to check on an eye doctor that comes with high recommendations from a few folks we know. That will also put us there right at the start of flounder fishing season. We have reservations for two months at the Quiet One RV Park. It is $225 a month cheaper than Point Mallard here in Alabama and has more amenities but a lot farther from the grand kids. But we bet you we will find some way of trying to have tooooo much fun.