Heading For Falcon Lake Texas

 

Adventure Location: Rockport Tx area

Adventure Date: 1-31-2023

The important part of the day was spent visiting with Don and Patsy who are winter Texans now from Michigan and we know each other for years now. They are lots of fun and the Teams will miss the visits when we roll out in the morning.

When we got back to our computer this evening we found that some names of folks we know, like Don and Patsy, have gotten to be unavailable from the computer list. So now we have to sort out the computer garbage and get things back in order after we get to Falcon Lake tomorrow afternoon.

Naturally the OFM had to leave the memory chip for the camera on the kitchen table this morning so we did not get any pictures for tonight.

However we do have the last coloring finished and please enjoy Flower Parade.

Our exact destination, we have decided, is the Falcon County Park right near the The Falcon Lake State Park and Falcon Lake Dam in Texas. That is a bit over a 200 mile tow using our preferred routing. This area is south Texas desert environment and has been in a drought situation for a couple of years.

We think we will be able to get in some trying to have tooooo much fun by playing in the lake.

Bird Whackiing

 

Adventure Location: Rockport Tx area

Adventure Date: 1-30-2023

Another very busy day of living a wonderful life with an RV. There are at least three herds of white tail deer in the park. They each have their zone they live in. The herd near the ranger station has an eight point (If the OFM counted correctly) buck leading that herd. The other two herds do not seem to have a lead buck in them. This evening we happened to get a chance to grab a picture of the smallest herd working the area where last weekend was a herd of scouts camping and spilling food all around about fifteen tents. So the deer are in there cleaning up the spilled food.

We think that lead doe was checking the OFM Teams out for corn getting thrown out. The OFM Teams do not feed wildlife but we have donated to a couple of TPW parks that asked for donations for medicated feed to treat a herd of deer for some disease.

Down by the marshes and other tidal water flood areas are signs to not feed the alligators or try to play with them. We still see limited brain capacity fools messing around with wild alligators now and then. This state park has done a pretty good job of putting marsh access platforms where you will likely find critters to see and photograph without being in serious danger.

Over by the boat ramps and cleaning stations lots of birds show up within seconds that a boat arrives at the ramp area. We have never seen a scrap last longer than three seconds after it was thrown from the cleaning table toward the water.

Here is an example of the small army of birds at the cleaning tables.

There are ten white pelicans in the picture. White pelicans are not small birds and they get way to aggressive at the cleaning table at times. The guides have been seen giving an aggressive bird a serious whack when it closes in too close. A pelican bite on your arm WILL leave a long deep serious wound that will likely need several stitches pretty quick. So the OFM Teams calls whacking an aggressive pelican proper self defense.

For those folks that have never been to this park, it has a lot of nice walking places along the roads and sidewalks. There is only one trail going through the brush and trees past a bird blind and coming out at a different location than you entered. It is a nice path that we have used several times over the past fifty years of coming here. The park is only ten minutes from the main part of Rockport tourist area where there are lots of decent places to eat in many price ranges. The Rockport Beach is about fifteen minutes away and in the summer is very heavily used.

Meanwhile we need to get busy resting up for a big day of excitement watching Sierra get repaired tomorrow. Then we will be getting ready to roll on Wednesday morning to our next location for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Really Busy Day

 

Adventure Location: Rockport Tx area

Adventure Date: 1-29-2023

From the time we awoke it has been a busy day. So we will hit a couple of highlights for our report tonight.

First thing this morning we hit the fishing pier at the Rockport Harbor that readers have seen a few times before.

It was a good place to work the kinks out of the OFM's absence from fishing casting. We did not get any bites but he did get a good refresher course in lure in the wind control. When we finished that chore we headed to the restrooms at the marina where we found a lot of fresh green growth on the shrubbery around the 

After visiting Don and Pasty at their rv for a good while, we decided to meet for lunch Tuesday after Sierra is repaired. It will be a goodbye lunch until we meet again since the OFM Teams is supposed to pull out the next morning. They are a fun couple and good friends.

We somehow managed to meet two new couples  that are starting their full timing and swapped stories and concepts about many Rving things. The last couple was down at the campground waterfront while the OFM was trying for a sunset photo. This is the picture that came out of that new friendship happening.

It might get to be a coloring if the OFM can make it happen and do it justice.

We talked until it was plain old dark before the OFM started his 2 mile walk back to the Castle. We were lucky that a bit of a moon was slightly lighting the roadways. The OFM only stepped in one shallow puddle on the way back . We found it an interesting long walk in the dark and may need to try that again soon. But a flashlight with him would be a good safety precaution. Tomorrow promises to be another wonderful day of trying to have tooooo have tooooo much fun for our own good he he he.

Fishing Pier and Bay Front Camping Tour

 

Adventure Location: Rockport Tx area

Adventure Date: 1-28-2023

The nasty wet drizzle went on all day into tonight. The temperature was cool but not cold so we lucked out on that. But we did manage a tour of the bay front camping facilities and the fishing pier.

The pier has been refurbished a few times in the 50 years the OFM has been coming here but this pier is from Hurricane Harvey wiping the old pier clean off the face of the earth a few years ago. The day was very gray and drizzling so the pictures are a case of what we see is all the OFM could get.

The pier is a very long and nicely designed one for lots of folks to have room for using it.

At proper spots there are stairs down to the reefs that cross under the pier at places. A person can go down the stairs and wade or walk along the oyster reef and have fun messing around. Here is one of the stairs.

We took this next picture from on the pier using zoom of the bottom. The water depth is about three feet in this shot.

On the way to the pier you get to drive through the Bay Front Camping sites. They are just a few feet from in the water and usually get well splashed by the salt water of the bay. We NEVER camp where our home gets soaked in saltwater.

We camp back inland a few hundred yards where the fresh salt water does not get to. BUT the salt air definitely does get to us. Here we are driving carefully to our current site in the heavy drizzles of today.

At least the towns in this area have Mexican style that is flavorful and not bland. We choose the lightly warm gringo sauces on our food but there are a couple of places the “heat” can get pretty dramatic. Our buddy Don would be the one to tell you where they are. Tonight we had chicken tacos with mild heat and they were wonderful for the wimpy OFM. And that is a fantastic way to finish off a day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Memorial Park Walking Path Report

 

Adventure Location: Rockport Tx area

Adventure Date: 1-27-2023

It was a day of lots of visiting with old friends and good Mexican food at San Juan restaurant in Aransas Pass Tx. The day passed quickly with lots of joviality and smiles.

The Memorial Park path system has been part of the OFM walking program every time we come here. We went to check it out to see what shape it is in. We are reporting it in good walking shape.

The paths are in good surface repair and no danger to the walkers from surface defects.

The bird life is in good shape. The dog park was busy with happy dog dogging around.

The large pond had a few ducks on it and they seemed very healthy. So we consider the pond to be in good shape also.

The vegetation has not had the serious freezing damage we had in north Alabama. These vines and berries next to the path are in good shape so winter was kind to them.

At another spot on the path we stuck the camera into the green growth as far as we could and took this picture of the “interior” growth of the trees and other vegetation. It looks to be in good shape to explode in growth soon.

It is soon to be warmer weather around here and likely sweating weather by the end of February.

Check out this video from TPW.

The OFM Teams are not birders at all but here on the Texas coast around Rockport is a lot of birder activities. We see lots of different birds when fishing or walking. In fact here is a video put out about the area and birding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=api8-IqqrPc

So   it was a great day on the coast of Texas and tomorrow should be another great day of trying to have tooooo much fun in the sun.

Craigs Auto Shop

 

Adventure Location: Rockport Tx area

Adventure Date: 1-26-2023

It was a day of lots of small chores intermixed with some fun and forgetfulness.

The first thing outside this morning had the OFM doing a bit of walking the loop road that encircles the camping in this area of the park. As we meandered the road glancing at all the different types of RVs we were wondering if a just right RV exists or can be designed for the OFM wishes. So far the answer is a resounding NO.

We stepped out of the roadway to let a camper drive by and decided that our readers needed to see the density of the difficult vegetation lining the roads and campsites. This area is mostly scrubby oak trees with thorny vines filling the gaps between the limbs. It is NOT just push the vegetation aside and walk style of growth.

After getting checked in and taking care of a bit of other business we were clear to mess around with whatever popped up in front of us. The State Park is across a causeway from Rockport. We needed to head to Rockport to check out the status of the beach area and marina for meandering. As we crossed the causeway the sky was beautiful and the clouds pretty.

We crossed that causeway about a thousand times it seemed to us today.

A glitch in our plans has popped up maybe. Today Sierra started the engine temperature gauge sending unit to not sending signal to the computer. That makes things not work quite right. So we did our diligent effort and have an appointment on Tuesday of next week for Craigs Auto Shop in Rockport to get Sierra back in good running shape again. We have plans already to head out Wednesday February 1 heading westerly. Now we have to add if Sierra is ready.

The OFM was hearing funny noises when we arrived yesterday as he opened the door of the Castle. The refrigerator was screaming it wanted 120VOLT electricity or LPG RIGHT NOW. It had run out of LPG during the trip here. Well guess what Old Fat Fool forgot about the LPG since the Park campsite had 120 volt electric and we are plugged in. Yet that was him. It was a bit late in the afternoon but we grabbed the empty bottle and headed over and got it filled for $17.50 for the 20# bottle. When we left the full bottle started feeling lonely since nobody was paying attention to it.

But when we returned and got the freshly filled bottle installed, the door side bottle calmed down and every one started smiling again.

From our chair in the Castle it looks like we are going to have another very busy day tomorrow. BUT we know how we plan to have tooooo much fun tomorrow night. At the Vallarta Mexican Restaurant having the Friday chicken fried steak special for supper.

Tired From Driving

 

Adventure Location: Martin Creek Lake SP

to Goose Island State Park

Adventure Date: 1-25-2023

We got rolling right after the park gates opened for the day. It was still wet everywhere from all of the rain from yesterday but the roads were open.

Here is the highway just outside Henderson Texas this morning.

Then we got farther on down the road to Rockdale where we turned due south and this was the road scene.

When we got to the coastal plain area this is what the weather was like just outside of Tivoli Texas.

Our trip today required that Sierra be fed twice during the trip. The best we can tell from Google Maps is that we made right at 400 miles of distance. We managed to arrive at the Goose Island SP about 1640. We are in our home for a week.

And yes the OFM is a bit worn from all the hours behind the wheel. To our surprise today ALL of the traffic was well behaved and sparse. Tomorrow starts the salt air adventures again. It might be interesting to see what we do for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Good Lunch

 

Adventure Location: Martin Creek Lake SP

Adventure Date: 1-24-2023

Time: 1100

We spent a lot of time tracking the bad weather front moving across our planned path this morning. Finally we hit the time to choose what to do. Suddenly remembering that we did not HAVE to be anywhere at this point in the OFM life, we chose to sit the nasty weather out in this very nice State Park and relax with some Mexican food for lunch at a local restaurant and get busy coloring our latest effort. It certainly feels good to relax instead of fight a travel schedule.

Time: 1900

The continuous rain quit about 1800 this evening and it was a good thing. It has rained hard since a little after we awakened.

Here is a picture we took from the door of the Castle about 1700.

As the day moved along the rain got heavier and heavier. There are some flood warnings posted now for a few local creeks but not in this State Park thank goodness. For those who might want a nice natural park to stop in this is a very pleasant place in general and well maintained.

Body wise the OFM has pretty well recovered from the hip and knee difficulties of yesterday.

Lunch was Mexican food at the Rancho Grande restaurant up in town on the right about five miles away. It was mild on the burn factor but very well prepared and the vegetables were fresh. The OFM got to talk with the owner and talked salt water fishing for about fifteen minutes. It was a very nice lunch.

Then we went back to the Castle and got out the colored pencils and went to work on the next coloring coming up. The full page colorings take several weeks and this one is getting close to nearly finished.

That is about it for a slow day in the rain. Tomorrow early we roll westward with at least getting to Lexington Texas as the goal. We regularly stop there for an overnight and then we get back to the Coast with several hours to spare that next day instead of closing time for the State Park campground.

As the OFM has aged he finds he much prefers to not tow at night any more. Arriving with plenty of time to set up in the day light gently after the tow is much better for trying to have tooooo much fun Rving.

OUCH and Cure We Hope

 

Adventure Location: Martin Creek Lake SP

Adventure Date: 1-23-2023

The OFM rolled out of bed clumsily due to major pain in his left hip and knee. This has been happening now and then for a few years and Ibuprofen took care of it before. Today the Ibuprofen was definitely helping.

The OFM put his mind to finding out WHAT IS CAUSING THIS SEVERE PAIN? After about an hour of thinking back the OFM finally noticed a pattern that we hope will stop this bad pain.

The steps to the Castle were damaged many years ago and are a pain to get from stored to usable and back to stored.

The OFM got used to getting up into the Castle at convenient times during travels by leaving the steps in the stored position. Then opening the door. Next put his left foot up on the entry plate and grabbing the sides of the door opening and pulling with both arms and lifting with his left foot to get into the Castle during short stops. Then more or less do that backwards to get back out. All this was to save wrestling with the steps to deploy them. The steps have been slightly damaged by bumps while navigating close quarters locations. That “step” is 26” high when the steps are stored.

This morning is the first time in the many years of occasional hip and knee pain trouble that finally we finally connected the leg/hip pains with the no steps entry and exit move.

We played with the steps some this morning and think that this occasional maneuver is the cause of our severe pain that awakens the OFM on occasions. So now we will NOT be doing in/out maneuvers without bringing the steps in/out to ease the load on the ancient bone joints of the OFM. We will let you know the results of the effort when we figure it out for sure.

We will be moving on down the road in the morning to Lexington Tx and Sonnys Campground for a night. One thing for certain having this rest day for the first trip in seven months has been the right thing for the OFM teams to do. We looked up Sonnys on the internet and found that they have gone up $5 to $30 for an overnight stay after several years at the old price. It is a very nice stopping spot and the gas station across the highway is extremely easy to get a rig in and out of for refueling.

This evening we meandered around the boat launch and island part of the park looking for pictures. We decided on this two pictures to attempt to show how nice the park is.

This first picture is from the right boat ramp dock looking across to the left boat dock. The boats launch into a finger of the lake that stays fairly calm even in strong winds. We feel it is a very nice scene to start your boat travels.

About 200 feet away is an island that has camping on it for the rugged tent campers and sleep under the stars tough folks. This next picture is looking toward the island where a nice cove ducks into the shoreline of the island. It also made a nice picture we think.

It proved to be a wonderful day of healing and just enjoying being alive in a nice location. A gentle but very nice day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

First Dry Camping In Over Seven Months

 

Adventure Location: I-20 from Morton Ms. Into Texas

Adventure Date: 1-22-2023

We got rolling in good time this morning. The OFM was doing well after the good nights sleep dry camping at an Interstate Rest Area near Morton Ms. We let the Castle get down to low 60s inside and the sleeping was wonderful.

Rolling started early after dawn since we wanted to get in some miles while it was still Sunday morning. It proved to be an excellent idea as the traffic picked up right after lunch with all the weekend folks heading home.

Another great idea, Thank You Darrell Goza, was to use loop 220 around Shreveport La. Instead of fighting the I-20 road surface through town. 220 is much better to use to pass through that area without knocking your wheels off your vehicles.

The wet conditions followed us to Texas but stopped just before we entered the state.

We had nice rolling for the next about hundred miles to Martin Creek Lake State Park where we are tonight with electric service to fight the 30 degree predictions.

Here is the campsite we chose. Notice all the pine trees and vegetation with greenery.

We spent some time walking in the cold air but it was beautiful here. Take a look at this lake picture. They had a Bass Tournament here today. The lake is a cooling pond for the power generation plant on the other side of the lake. Any way we stopped counting boat trailers at 35 in the parking lot at the ramps. I was told the water is slightly warmer than the air temp out on the lake these days.

Here is our photo of a pretty scene near the boat ramps.

The OFM is doing so well eye wise that the extra travel day we had scheduled for “just in case” is not going to be needed, so we tried to book the extra day at Goose Island SP but they are totally booked. So now we are two travel days from the destination with three travel days to burn. We are betting we will find some way to use that day for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Rolling Happened

 

Adventure Location: I-65 and I-20

Adventure Date: 01-21-2023

After and extremely harsh night of worry and could not go to sleep, the OFM saw 0300 on his clock before he went to sleep. Then he was up by 0700 doing more worrying about things that might be forgotten or go wrong after so long off the road. We got rolled about 0900 and took our time to make sure the OFM right eye would be OK. It did prove to be acceptable and we kept on rolling.

A bit before noon the OFM called his son and let him know that things were going well enough that we would continue with the trip to the Texas coast and then elsewhere. So we continued to roll south towards Birmingham on I-65 with this for weather.

We managed to make the connection to Interstate 20 heading west with no trouble at all. The OFM was getting his rolling touch back and really glad it was returning. This ROLLING stuff feels real good. The weather got even worse as we headed west.

Between the lack of sleep and the cold and wet 45F weather the OFM called it quits at this beautiful boondocking campground just west of Morton, Ms.

We have stayed here a few times over the last thirty years and it is just fine after about 2200 at night. There is an automatic alarm clock about a half hour before dawn that sounds like 217 diesel transport trucks starting at the same time. We wonder about that a bit but just ignore it and go back to sleep.

But on a cold wet night this is not a great place for having tooooo much fun while boondocking.

It Finally Is Here

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 01-20-2023

It has finally arrived. The get ready to roll again evening was a long time coming this visit. Arriving on July 7 and not leaving until January 21 is a long time to the teams members. But it is here now. YAHOOOOOO.

We did a good bit of running around town today saying goodbye to several folks. But later in the evening we got busy starting the breakdown of the camp.

Here we are dissembling the utilities for travel. We like to get everything we can done the evening before travel to make the morning easier. Mostly we break down the sewer hose and supports and store it all. The sewer hose goes into the rear bumper.

Then we top off the potable water tank and wipe the hose off. Then coil it as well as we can and screw the ends together. Then into an outside access bin it goes. This hose is very stiff as if we need to consider getting a newer hose that has less hours in the sunlight.

And somewhere along the way the folding ladder gets strapped on the Castle's roof access ladder.

Check out the roof and you can see two of the three solar panels we use most of the time. We put the first two on in January 2006. The third one came about four years later. We have 350 watts of panels and two AGM 100 AH Deep Cycle batteries. Yes they do save us enough money to notice when in “plus electric” campgrounds. The AC and microwave in our rig have to have shore power to run because we chose not to add enough more solar to run them.

In the morning the Castle and Sierra are coupled, then the chocks between the tires are removed. Then the stab jacks are raised and the door mat placed inside the Castle. Now the critical last walk around where everything is looked at. The main trouble at this point is we have to proper way of checking the brake lights. However we do put on the emergency flashers to guarantee the bulbs are OK but that does not check the brake light switch for functioning.

For our normal situation the morning finish up takes about thirty minutes when not hurrying. Then we are ready to roll from the site.

Give a couple of practices without several months since the last time and from wake up in the morning we normally get rolling within about 50 minutes. Add a dump stop to that if we need one. The Castle usually makes about 14 days between dumps with just the OFM aboard.

The rig averages about 10 mpg towing. We try to refill the gas tank every 200 miles or so. We feel that the rig can comfortably make about 250 miles on a full tank of gas but we do not push it at all.

We hope the OFM can remember how to tow now after so long of a time. He is getting pretty old and senile you know. However he can be pretty good at trying to have tooooo much fun.

Good Walking Day

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 01-19-2023

We are late getting started on the blog tonight. Lots going on in the day as we prepare for rolling. The day was beautiful and the walking was even nicer. In fact it was so nice we got in 3.5 miles total. When we went out the back of the campground and out of the trees the sky was nearly overwhelming. Check it our

One of the first things we noticed is this new growth on the rose bushes over by the large pavilion. It was happening on about fifty of the bushes, so here is the easy one to get to.

And the walking continued until we got to the catfish hole where the fishermen were having success and doing a lot of friendly talking at the same time.

Down through another more grown up area near the trail was this vine headed for a spring head start. The green was even prettier than it looks in this picture.

We have been putting things away etc in anticipation of a gentle start on Saturday. We even opened a large plastic tub of “spare” stuff and got rid of over half of that. We have no idea why some of it was still being carried around. But it is not now in our possession. Since this campground does not have a FREE table all the stuff went into the dumpster.

We have been considering what to resupply with at the grocery store tomorrow. The cabinet search reminded us that this event had had to be rescheduled twice before now due to eyeballs troubles. So we are no where near as short of food as the OFM was afraid we might be. It seems that tomorrow will be a lot lighter food bill than we expected.

We found a package of Knorr noodles tonight and a few small sausages and combined it to have for supper but we a bit later found some small ham chunks to add to the mess.

When supper was all done we started filling the storage containers we normally use and filled three of them. So that is three meals right there. We only have four nights on the road for our start of 2023 travels so we are in pretty good shape.

The Teams are really noticing the automaticness we used to have on getting ready is seriously missing right now. We hope it returns quickly. Tomorrow should be an easy day for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Looking Good To Go

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 01-18-2023

Ok it was a new day so we got busy getting things back into traveling order. The seven months of not moving since July 7 and not knowing if we would ever get to roll again took its toll in readiness. In fact the OFM got a bit paranoid about what might be “not right” and we went through the whole Castle spot by spot and area by area to make sure we had things in rolling shape. It was not bad but definitely was worth doing. As things are now we feel we will be able to roll again with good safety and our mood lifted a lot when we realized that. As an aside we even managed to find some more to get gone and lighten the load.

Walking took a hit on the chin. It took three attempts in order to get in about 2 miles. Each time we set out something physical would object noticeably and we would go back to the Castle to take care of that ache. But we were very glad to get the kinks out and finally do a decent aerobic walk and it felt really good.

On the first attempt we started near a tree line as you enter the campground and noticed that a few pieces of vegetation were already sprouting spring growth.

That is a welcome sight for us. No more 4 degree days waiting to bite us again.

In the afternoon we had the windows open and enjoying the spring breezes through the Castle.

Tee shirt and shorts weather is very welcome as far as we are concerned. The last thing we carefully checked is all the tire pressures and to our surprise every one of them were right on specification on both the Castle and Sierra. Maybe that is a GOOD TRAVELING omen. Once again our plans are to be back in Decatur early summer for the eye exam. Until then we plan to cover some territory slowly and gently as we roll around trying to have tooooo much fun.

Rolling Plan

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 01-17-2023

Yep the get ready to roll started today. We have made arrangements with the folks that run the campground to return here soon after I roll out if my eyesight turns out to be not ready for rolling yet. We are thinking we will know if the eye is ready or not within an hour of rolling. That will be before we get to Birmingham and we can make a crossover and come back on the same day. These are nice folks to work with that operate this campground.

The morning was long and laborious as we started making and checking on final choices about things during the trip south. Everything seems to be back to working out. We have this planned as two days rolling, then one day of relaxing, then two days of rolling to get to Goose Island SP in Texas near Corpus Christi.

we have seven days reserved there before we roll somewhere again. How long we will be out rolling is not known. We need to be back to the eye doctor in June or July for the next(final?) exam.

During our careful get ready start, we considered any hard goods we wanted to add to the rig. Then we hit the big Walmart to get the items we wanted to add.

When we have some boondocking planned we like to have an electric razor to mow the OFM face now and then. We needed some new clothes pins after 16 years in the castle and we stopped at Hobby Lobby and their 40% off sale to purchase a small size booklet of watercolor paper to try out with watercolor pencils as the main medium of the paintings.

Tomorrow we plan doing a food inventory of the Castle to make certain we are stocked well for the five days of travel ahead. We are six months since last rolling and we want to be careful to be in full ready mode when we leave.

One big change, at least to us, is the plan to deliberately find a traveling pattern of rest vs rolling that is comfortable to the OFM now. We already have distance figured out on the rolling. Our planned maximum distance in a day is about 250-300 miles but we will be off the road by dusk if possible. That number is about 6 hours of comfortable rolling for us normally. We can comfortably get more on an Interstate but it is a good number overall for the Teams. It happens to be one and a half tanks of gas in distance on an Interstate. Sierra has been averaging 10mpg when towing normally. Those numbers put us at Martin Creek SP in Texas for the rest day. It is a regular stop for us and a nice pleasant place and a good place for trying to have tooooo much fun.

Met A Stranger

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 01-16-2023

Tomorrow starts the get ready to roll again effort. Saturday morning will be here very soon and so far nothing has popped up to stop the rolling. There sure has been a lot of plans gone poooof in the last four months, but we are still forcing the issue of getting gone at the first safe chance available. And no the right eye does not see exactly correctly but it keeps changing and getting better.

Today turned out to be a stay inside in the morning day. The OFM was feeling bit puny so we pampered him with lots of research time on the computer.

An interesting event at Burger King at lunch killed about three hours there. A fellow the Teams had never met before came in and got his order about noon. We said a couple of Howdys and the interesting conversation lasted until 1605. It was a very refreshing time with him. He lives in the next town east of the burger joint and is retired also. It is really wonderful when things like that happen.

A few days ago the OFM decided to start the get ready work going on a new self generated painting. So we grabbed the preliminary sketch pad and a few colored pencils and started to sketch. Then we switched to watercolor pencils so the roughness of the paper would not show so badly. When we minimally whetted the paper for the water color pencil to activate the paper curled up big time. We had forgotten about that happening before when we tried this technique of starting a painting. So now it happened again. Here is what we got after working on getting most the curl out of the paper.

AFTER UNCURLING

After that mess we took the paper and tried to just use colored pencil on it to continue the planning effort. We proved without a doubt that we started with the whole idea being wrong. However that is what this early type of effort is about--- working out the difficulties before going to the real painting paper.

That mug of hot chocolate made the frustration much more tolerable.

To those who do not know the OFM well, he does not consider this a failure because we know now much better about the materials we will be using. AND much better about how we will present the whole painting. Plus we had a good reason to enjoy a mug of hot chocolate while trying to have too much fun.

Trunk Lizard

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 01-15-2023

The day was nice all day but especially in the afternoon it was almost warm and folks got out of their rigs and did things. Guess what the OFM did. Went walking of course. As we exited the back of the campground there they were. About a hundred soccer folks practicing or watching and rooting. That soccer really has some strong fans.

The winter that beat down on the vegetation must be nearly over since there is almost no green anywhere now. However the darker colors of the area now can be fairy pretty too. At one point we stopped to consider a photo and chose no. Then the OFM looked behind us and thought Wow that is a nice path scene. So we fiddled around with some changing sunlight and took this photo that we think is very nice.

A little way farther along Flint Creek we came across a Trunk Lizard coming out of the water. They get pretty big. We hear they also get mean at times like hungry time so we stayed on back a ways and took this shot with a telephoto setting. It is a nice winter scene even with that monster in it we think.

On along the path we came to a spot of significance. This picture is of the I-65 bridge we should be on Saturday morning heading south (right) toward Goose Island State Park Texas.

We have a five day drive planned to get there. I-65 from here south to Birmingham Al. Then I-20 west to just inside Texas to Martin Creek State Park then follow the state roads to Rockdale then turn south and follow the roads to Goose Island SP. Since we have been off the trailering since July 7 we wanted to give ourselves an extra day to make the 987 mile tow. It is not a hard tow but it is a solid four days for us when the OFM is in good towing shape.

We hope every one is having a great New Year trying to have tooooo much fun.