HALFWAY BENCH

5/31/23

Campground Scam Garbage

 

Adventure Locations:

Roosevelt State Park, Morton, Mississippi

Date: May 31, 2023



This park is a badly maintained park at an excellent distance for the OFM Teams on trips to and from Grand-kid Land. When we checked in today to camp for one night we did not get (our fault) the receipt and went on in to the old worn campground that we paid $18 a night to use for one night last January. That has been the approximate price for the three years before tonight. We got to the site and it was trashed with tree trimmings etc. We also noticed a sign saying that trash will no longer be collected in the park. You have to go up the steep hill and across a large parking lot to two small dumpsters overflowing with trash of all sorts. Not nice for sure. The OFM made a mistake of not asking price today since we had no other place to go anyway. Later after clearing our site to make it usable we noticed we did not have a receipt. So we checked our credit card account and found a charge for over $46 for one night. Back to the office the OFM went and found out new charges for several things had been instigated in last March. So the bill for one night was correct at $46 instead of last springs $18.

I hate to have to inform our readers but we are hearing of this kind of shenanigans at lots of places across the country. Fees for things like paying for a site and having a $$ fee added just to pay for the site since “it requires a reservation fee to stay here”. This is just our first time to encounter it in person.

So be careful with your camping details in the future. We are going to have to be more careful in the future because we are not good scammers like lots of the agencies.

In the meantime let us try to find places for having tooooo much fun.

5/30/23

Lot Of Report Tonight

 

Adventure Locations:

Lake Corpus Christi and Lake Sommerville and Martin Creek Lake SP, Texas

Date: May 29 and 30, 2023

We had no internet while at Lake Sommerville yesterday to write a blog entry. First off yesterday and today are not great days for health but the OFM is doing better today, especially after some very good Mexican Food in Tatum Texas for lunch today.

Yesterday was a not anything went right day but nothing really bad happened either. The OFM was having another health down day so we were extremely careful on our trip from Lake Corpus Christi SP to Birch Creek SP on Lake Sommerville and things went well. (225 miles) We arrived and found that a large number of folks were still enjoying the park but we got a nice site for one night and met some very nice campers.



This morning we got an early start on the 217 mile trip to Martin Creek SP near Tatum Tx. The site here is large and very near a restroom with showers if needed. Tatum is a very small town with a few nice restaurants, a small but reasonably complete grocery and competitive gas prices.

Here is our Martin Creek campsite.





The plan is to leave early tomorrow for Morton Ms.(320 miles) And maybe camp in a I-20 highway rest area for the night. We sill see what happens.



Back to Birch Creek now. When the OFM was married we owned a nice small mobile home in the subdivision next door to the State Park and we kept it very simple so it was easy to care for as a weekend place. As family life changed it got harder to maintain so we sold it and concentrated on high school events and our son. You might recall of him on this blog as Kiddo. Well the current owners are not doing well with the place as we found out by stopping by a couple of days ago and getting this picture.



It is not the OFM's house any more so he just carefully drove away from some fond memories of those days in his life.

That should catch us up to date as of 1656 today. Everyone try to have tooooo much fun please.



5/28/23

Rolling Get Ready

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Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 28, 2023



We are trying a new style for writing the blog. It may be written in parts during the day as events allow and then published in the evening as usual. The OFM has found he is forgetting things he means to report if he waits too long to record the event.

Here it goes.



We got a great nights sleep since the whole campground seemed to turn off at 2300 last night. So this morning the OFM was eating breakfast sooner than expected AND we had a nice slightly warm temperature outside. After breakfast it was walking time. We noticed quickly that staying in the middle of the roads and away from the brush was the place to be when possible to stay out of the mosquitoes. This area around the lake is rolling land and nicely picturesque.


A new feature to the park land is the addition of developed trails for walking. They are two folks wide and nicely rough grades. They wind through the brush and woods where the roads do not go. But for now they are mosquito highways.



Our walk this morning turned out to be 1.5 very nice miles. Back when the OFM rode bikes he loved to make loops on the several miles of roads in this park.

We finished the watercolor pencil training picture last night. It was several sessions of work and we feel it was excellent training in handling the newish medium of water color pencil. A lot of fun is expected as we work our way up the ladder of knowledge.



After supper this evening we started to get ready to roll tomorrow. That means four days away from the summer location in Decatur Alabama. We are looking forward to it this summer of trying to have tooooo much fun.


 

5/27/23

Lost Child Excitement Today

 

Adventure Location: Lake Corpus Christi SP, Texas

Date: May 27, 2023

We awoke on schedule and things were ready for moving out right on time. We even stopped to dump the waste tanks after 13 days. The OFM even remembered how to do it nicely. And away we went to the exit. Suddenly we realized that the lighting harness to the Castle was not plugged in. So another new stop in the park got the connecter installed far enough to stay in the socket for the rest of the trip( push it in until it clicks) old fool man.



So on the road we were until about twenty minutes into the trip when the OFM noticed the bedroom window was flapping in the wind. So we got the rig pulled over to the shoulder and went back to see what was wrong. A latch had been knocked loose and allowed the window to flap open while going down the road at 60 mph.

The OFM took a wire tie strap to the offending lever and latch to fix it from coming loose again anytime soon.





It held up just fine all the way to the new campsite.

We got to the campground about 1130 and found about 8 vehicles in front us at the guard house. We were checked on through very nicely and given a well marked map on which roads to turn on to get to our site, and the directions were exactly correct! The camping area is a big loop road with loop campsites next to the road. It certainly made setup a lot easier.



Word came around the camping area that a young man teen had come up missing so a missing kid alert went through the park in a hurry. Then EMT folks and police in good quantity showed up and groups who knew what he looked like formed up and scoured the park intensely for a good while. Every thing came out well in the end. The child had got into a vehicle and took a long nap in a back seat. A lot of folks were excited when he was noticed and awakened.

During some evening walking the OFM took this picture of one of the loops crowded camping area. 


So far the crowds have been pretty nice and reasonable to our surprise. Hopefully they will stay like that all through the day tomorrow. Then we will have a wonderful day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

5/26/23

Easy Tow Today

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 26, 2023

We awoke on schedule and things were ready for our one night location change here in GISP. It was about a ten minute slow drive over to the new location. Getting backed in too a bit of time due to a tree to the left in these next pictures. But we got the Castle moved in and set up and moved into in just a few minutes.

The Castle can do everything without added utilities except run the air conditioner. The solar set up is big enough for everything else to be easily handled except the AC. This picture of the utilities side shows only the electric hooked up for that reason.



Since were rolling out in the morning we did a minimal set up. Tomorrow after hitch up we only need to unhook the electric line and stow it. Then release the wheel chock and store it and we are ready to roll to Lake Corpus Christi State Park and enjoy Memorial Day holidays. We had snagged 2 night there for our pleasure.

Check out our nice front yard. Just out of the picture to the left is a nice fire pit with a grilling surface. The picnic table is a nice clean eight foot model.


We lunch splurged on a nice sized senior plate of BBQ brisket, cole slaw, and mashed potatoes with sweet tea without ice. It was wonderful and about 6 million calories.

We are ready for sleeping so we can get a good start in the morning. Our designated spot at LCCSP is a short walk from the fishing pier so the OFM might get in one more fishing effort before we break the rod down and put all the fishing gear away into long term storage. Over all it has been a very nice stay here at GISP. We think it is about an hour and a half tow. It will be a different style of trying to have tooooo much fun.

5/25/23

Castle Clearance

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 25, 2023

Tonight we did not have a fancy light show but it was a nice viewing anyway. The wind was blowing just right to keep the mosquitoes down and the OFM only got one bite. The sight of the clouds and sun was very nice if not spectacular.



One of the things that popped up today was that we had not verified the clearance needed for the Castle to clear overhead objects. The OFM got his ruler out and got busy measuring the Castle vertical dimensions. Our final verdict after the efforts were finished was that we will use 11' 0”as our required clearance in the future. We think not hitting an overhead object is a very good idea.

Then for a few hours around lunch time the OFM worked on the shells page we are trying new things on about coloring. We have come to a 87.4653% probability that we will switch to watercolor pencils when we get to Alabama and see how that works out.

A phone call to Alabama put us in the know that tomorrow they leave for the vacation they had planned and will likely be gone the next two weeks. That will coordinate with our arrival very well we think.

Now we need to get rested for the wild day of having tooooo much fun we have planned for tomorrow.



5/24/23

Campground Emergency Today

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 24, 2023



We think we are healed from whatever it was making the OFM sickly. Speaking of sickly, as we left for lunch we passed a camping site with a Texas parks truck in the yard, a local fire and EMT truck with flashing lights on the side of the road and another authority vehicle we do not recall the owner of. Then on our way out we pulled over to give an ambulance in full siren and lights coming into the campground room. We have no more information on this event yet.

A bunch of today was going around seeing old memories areas for goodbyes. And we also went over to goodbye a few folks. Nobody was home but Tim and Gabby the pup. I caught them heading out for a nice walk and went along. Then we sat in Tim's houseboat and talked for a good while.


Tim and Gabby

Tim and Gabby are great folk and pup to visit.

A bit of unfinished business took us back to the last campground we were forced out of because they had folks due in the day after we were forced out. Our old spot from a week plus ago was still empty with no new tire tracks in the site. Hmmmmm.

Tonight we went down to the fishing pier to try for another good sunset but it was a no show for the sun due to the heavy clouds. But we had a nice long visit with a lady also photographing things. Her husband was on out the pier catching fish. She and the OFM had been to a lot of the same places over the years. The OFM found out he was out of date on several pieces of information and she was nice enough to politely get the OFM straigtened out on the current way things were. We really appreciated that because we HATE to pass out wrong information.

We have two more nights here at GISP then we move over to Lake Corpus Christi SP for two more nights. Then we start the four days of rolling to GRANDKID LAND and a campsite waiting for us. It has been too long coming but it seems to be coming together finally as another great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.




5/23/23

Sun Was Trying To HIde

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 23, 2023



We had a slow day but healing progressed we think. The morning was gentle and mostly inside until it was lunch time. Crispy shredded chicken tacos, beans and rice and sweet tea makes a good lunch when you have a not just right tummy.

When we got back from lunch the OFM noticed his physical rehab weight just waiting to be used.



We had not been using it since the mosquitoes kept us inside mostly. So the OFM's rebuilt left shoulder was not getting its proper exercise to keep it working well. The trouble was that the OFM had not figured out a place inside the Castle where we could make our reps of the required moves safely. A bit of thinking and trying things and we found a spot inside the Castle where we had a couple of inches to spare to do the exercise. So both arms got the fifteen reps needed as a minimum. Tomorrow if the joints do not ache too much we will do more. Both shoulder joints do much better if they get the daily minimum of work out.

Anyway the OFM was doing pretty well on the stomach sickness by now. But we still took it easy on the old body.

When we headed out for the sunset to see what happens , we met a wonderful couple from Hillsboro Texas. That certainly made the waiting on the sunset really nice. Thank you folks.

The sun was not exactly cooperating very well but we did the best we could figure out to do. It was not nearly as nice as last nights. There was many variations of swirling and wild clouds with all sorts of wild lighting views. When it got down to the real sunset things were still pretty bland for a sunset. However we feel that the cloud show was nice and pleasant even though the sun went behind the bridge to hide.





But the sun could not stand it not being the star of the show and started peeking out from under the bridge to see what was happening. We grabbed a shaky in the wind long hand held telephoto picture of the sun peeking out at us.



It turned out to be a very unusual but fun sunset adventure for trying to have tooooo much fun.









5/22/23

Sickly Today

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 22, 2023

The OFM had a nagging stomach ache almost all day. We think he did not agree with something he ate yesterday. But as the day moved on along things got less bad so we think tomorrow will be an all clear day for running and playing in the hot humid area.

The morning was very calm weather wise so we tried to get in a walk at the waterfront area. The winds were negligible and the mosquitoes were only bad. We hoped to stay far enough from the grass and brush to skip most of the mosquitoes. It was not good enough.



The picture above shows how calm it was along the water. This is one of the stairs to assist wade fishing and yak launching near the campers on the bay front. Look carefully and you can see the oyster beds and sea grasses that waders have to contend with and the lack of wind to run the blood suckers off. We gave up trying for a nice walk.

Later in the afternoon we hopped into Sierra to go somewhere and got this pic of the dash read out.



We are glad we have good AC in Sierra and the Castle. It is definitely time to head north to grandkid land.

With the mosquitos too abundant and the heat and humidity being mean we chose to practice and learn more about using watercolor pencils. We have a not so great images adult coloring book about sea shells. This particular page is getting no intent of making the shells look real. It is all about blending, water brush control, and getting nice colors and color schemes education. Nice pictures will come later once the OFM can handle his tools properly.



The nice apple, cranberry salad with a grilled chicken breast made a good supper and seems to be helping the stomach misery get better. Maybe tomorrow we will be in better shape to run around trying to have tooooo much fun.









5/21/23

Night Tours By Boat

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 21, 2023

What a day! Morning was slow and all day long things kept on speeding up. It was so much happening at sunset we did not get back to the Castle until about 2100 to start on the blog. So most of the day will go unreported as we just visited and looked around and gathered all sorts of stuff for blog entries but the real gathering started when the OFM went to the boat ramp to see the sunset. The next hour and a half was very busy.

We did make it to have a mile and a half walk in spite of the mosquitoes.

We went to the boat ramp in hopes of some sunset pictures and ran into lots of nice stories for tonight.

This next picture is about what we call the night boats.

Night boats picture goes here.


This area of Texas has lots of boat tours for all sorts of stuff. We frequently see boats leaving in the late evening for night time tours of we have no idea what. But they are frequent and and well attended. In his younger years the OFM has been on the water at night in Galveston Bay several times and found it to be a very interesting boat ride in the dark when the moon is bright. From what we could hear this was going to be an exciting boat ride tonight.

A very nice fellow was fishing right next to the bridge to the bay front camping and the OFM was on the bridge taking pictures for tonight's blog. We had nice long conversations about traveling and the western USA sights to see. He was from South Dakota. The skies were active tonight and wonderful viewing. The shapes kept on changing every few minutes. We finally had to choose one of them for tonight's pic of the litter.





Then a nice lady from the Philippines came along the bridge taking pictures. She was brand new to the area so we spent a good while taking pictures and talking about her trip in the area. She is a good adventurer it sounds like from all the “correct” questions she asked about the area. Her camera handling and pictures she chose to record were all first class. She will have a lot of neat pictures from this trip we are sure. We get a big good feeling helping folks enjoy an area.

After a good while working with our pictures of the sunset we finally chose one we like for our sunset picture. We hope at least a few folks will like it.



Every one get a fantastic rest tonight so you will be ready for the start up of the week leading to Memorial Weekend and all the excitement having tooooo much fun it will be.





5/20/23

Fish Cleaning

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 20, 2023

It was a nice day with some rain after lunch. At least the mosquitoes have eased back a little and we got in a nice walk today in the camping area of the park. The hot humid air kept the OFM to a slower pace and only 1 mile .

We got only one picture to show. These folks were having a nice day at the shore fishing and just being happy. That is the cleaning table on the right where a person is harvesting some of the catch.



And speaking of cleaning, the Castle had about sixty three pounds of dirt and mosquito carcasses vacuumed out this afternoon. We had to empty the vacuum cleaner three times to get it all gone.

A couple of neighbors were visited and we had a nice conversation until they were ready to pull out and then it was Goodbyes.

Hopefully tomorrow will have more nice easy visits as a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

5/19/23

Yellow Tree Flowers

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 19, 2023

Did you know that live oak trees have weird medium size flowers on them at times? We noticed several of them around the park today so we finally had to grab a pic of one of them.



The morning was really beautiful as you can see from this picture of the pier just before we went for a walk on it.



The plan was to use the pier as our walking trail without mosquitoes. The wind was just enough to keep the mosquitoes blown away. All we needed to do is walk a few laps to get in enough distance for our wants. Well it did not work out very well for that. It is only a .3 mile distance and at every fourth step more nice folks wanted to visit. So we made one lap and it took an hour with all the friendly folks. However it was a very entertaining time on the pier if you like meeting very friendly folks.



While we were out at the end of the pier we took this picture of part of the waterfront camper row. They are very popular camping locations that are seldom clear for a drive up camper to get a sight. The lady at the office said that they as booked months in advance normally for all weekends not just special holidays.



We bet the rigs are badly salt encrusted when they leave the campground after a couple of days of salt air condensing on the rig.

For those that do not know you can tell a female blue crab from a male crab by looking at the crab claw tips. The girls wear red fingernail polish and the boys are shades of black, gray and dark green normally. Here are a couple of small blue crab claws we found on the handrail this morning.



Someone had apparently used the crab body for fish bait and left the claws for the sea gulls. Look at the tips of the claws and see the red tips. Definitely from a female crab. Be aware that even small claws like these can open you up like a freshly sharpened carving knife. We have experiences in seeing the results of a careless crab handler getting educated in handling live crabs.

The Friday evening special CFS at the Vallarta Mexican Restaurant was very good and over half is in the refrigerator for lunch tomorrow. YAHOOOOO

In the meantime everyone have a great day trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.

5/18/23

Dumpster Diving Fun

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 18, 2023



Today ended up being a mosquito fighting day. The first three places we tried walking did not workout at all again. So we roamed a good bit. The wind was very calm so the blood suckers were thrilled to be able to land lightly and get sucking before the victim knew what was happening.

No pictures were taken but we did get to visit a few folks. And learn about the raccoons in the campground. When our morning trash run got to the nearly empty dumpster there was a raccoon messing around in the inside of it. The OFM is experienced enough to know all wild animals have serious defense ability so we left it alone. A little later a volunteer was doing a patrol and the OFM stopped him to find out about dumpster diving coons. He told the OFM not to worry. The coons are agile enough to jump from the ground to the top of the dumpsters and strong enough to open the lids to get inside to the coon edibles. He has seen them do it numerous times during his volunteer times at parks. Sure enough we checked again in about an hour and the coon was gone and the tied shut bags were all ripped open.

The best thing that happened today was an accidental 45 minute nap. The OFM back was aching some so he laid down on the bed to think about our traveling future. KAPOW it was suddenly nearly an hour later. Yep it was wonderful.

We have nine more nights here until we have to change campgrounds. So let us kick back and relax until we find out what excitement we will have while trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.

5/17/23

Lots Of Mosquitoes

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 17, 2023

We have no idea where lots of the day disappeared but it was another busy day. Taking a walk was a big loss. We went to three different locations and the mosquitoes were impossible to tolerate for walking at all three. So tonight we get just stories that go with a picture we took during the day. This is a new area to the OFM on where to stand for the best pictures on scenery shots.

The GISP pier has some left over pilings from the original pier standing near to the new pier. The worn top of one piling has some shoreline vegetation growing nicely in the top of the piling. We wonder how well that will last this summer.





Another wild shot was made from the pier tonight as the sun was going down. There was a barge tow going along the Intracoastal Waterway about four miles away and the setting sun was reflecting very golden and bright from the tug and barges. It was interesting to see. The photo was taken at maximum zoom from on the pier while the OFM hand held the camera and wiggled slightly.



Both of the above pictures came about because the OFM was out there trying for a spectacular sunset picture. Well it was a lot plainer picture we got but overall it is a nice shot that we will be checking on getting some better ones in the future.



Tomorrow we will be back at the mosquito war. No telling what we will find for having tooooo much fun.

5/16/23

Wild Mean Storm

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 16, 2023

We had a major kick in the get going early this morning. A severe rain and lightning storm that lasted a good while woke the Teams. The OFM has a habit of using the lightning strikes to see how far the storm is away. A reasonable five count between the lightning strike and the thunder is a mile. So when the first lightning lit up the inside of the Castle and there was not time to start to count we knew we were very close to ground zero.

Then the HEAVY rain started to roar down with the sound and light effects. After just a couple of minutes we could see the campsite was flooding and running off into the brush. A ruler was used to find out the water was already four inches deep at the Castle door mat. That was why we got the rubber boots out and put them by the door.



There was nothing we could do but flinch at every lightning flash and roar. This storm went on for at least a half hour before it started slowing on the excitement. We put the boots on and went on a walk around the Castle and Sierra to make sure there was no damage from falling things or lightning. There wasn't. However it really had the mosquitoes up in the air and hungry.

After about an hour and a half it calmed down a good bit and we took Sierra around the park to check things out. When we neared the long pier we looked back and OH BOY another front was coming.



Back at the Castle we just hunkered down and waited. The second storm wave was not as intense but it did have plenty of rain but not much lightning and thunder.

This afternoon we took a ride down to Goose Island that is a long slender island that the park is named for. The land of Goose Island is part of the park used for camping. A large saltwater marsh separates the land side from the island side. A bridge provides access between the two areas.

Here is a picture of the marsh that the bridge traverses.



And now we get to see the campground on Goose Island. These Bay Side campsites are very popular for some reason.



Most of the them have frontage on the bay and water/electric service. There are two full restroom/shower houses for for the campers and one restroom at the end where the pier is located.

Over all this is a great park for saltwater fun and killing mosquitoes. There is no swimming beach. It is about twelve miles back into Rockport and all the facilities you would normally need including the Rockport Beach with nice swimming.

We are hoping that tomorrow we will be rested and get a better chance of trying to have tooooo much fun.

5/15/23

GISP Loooooong Pier

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 15, 2023



It has been a busy day and near the end of the daylight we decided we would get a story out on the LOOOOONG fishing pier here at Goose Island State Park (GISP). So here we go. In the parking area for the pier is a sign that shows many of the types of fish you will see in this area of the bays.



A short walk from the parking is the entry to the long pier.



We are going all the way to the end tonight. The pier length as measured on Goggle Maps is about 1/3 of a mile from entry point to far end.



The nice wide pier was rebuilt after Hurricane Harvey made a mess of the area a few years ago.

The pier is built across several sand bars with deeper guts between the bars sort of like a beach bottom develops.

Shortly after getting on down the pier a little was is a section of the pier that is lighted for night fishing. It is a very convenient way to enjoy fishing in the summer when the daytime highs get into the high 90s.



In several appropriate locations there are steps down to the sand bars so wade fishing can be done along the gut next to the bar. Notice in this next photo that the bottom is visible on this side of the stair down. Please be very careful when using a stair as they are slimy and very slippery. And the oyster shells can slice you open badly during a fall.



And finally we arrive at the end of the pier. The end of the pier is very near the main gut that the power boats from the GISP boat ramp use to head out into the massive abundance of good fishing area available only by boat.



A special item of interest about this pier is that when Rockport has a fireworks event back at the Beach Park, the fireworks can easily be seen from the end of the pier right here and it is a really neat event to witness on a black night this far from shore. It made for a good date night over 20 years ago.

Now it is time for a shower and some serious sleeping to be ready for tooooo much fun again tomorrow.







5/14/23

Good Rolling Today

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 14, 2023



We took our time getting the rig ready to roll this morning. We needed to wait until our new site would be clear and check out time is 1100 at the state park. So we piddled around and had everything we could ready early. When 1030 came up on the clock we gently went to work putting the rig together for rolling. The great news is EVERYTHING went together just like it needed to be and EVERYTHING worked like it was supposed to. Around this salt environment the electrical connections are a normal trouble spot.

We carefully pulled out of our spot for the last few weeks and rolled gently down the road. When we got to Hwy35 the OFM seemed to have his towing ability back in shape so when we turned right onto the highway we gently accelerated to our normal towing speed of 60 mph and everything rolled smoothly to the State Park thirty minutes away.

Check in did not go smoothly due to the SP computer having fits but they got it fixed and we got checked in. We were once again reminded by the vegetation that there is a lot of it and to watch for overhead obstructions. Here is a cute tree limb hanging across the road.



We slowly made our way to our camp site and the OFM kinda got nervous about the backing maneuvering required. We had to back into a site that was angled a bit the wrong way so we had a bit of a blind corner to back into. However it quickly showed that the park had to have the angle like it was to dodge an obstruction so they made the entry a nice amount wider. After the OFM got the Castle started turning he figured out what had been done and the rest of the back-in went very nicely and only needed the one try.



The site was a good black top paving and we only needed one 2x6 of leveling on the door side. In other words a very well designed site from all aspects. Here is the front yard and we shortly had the set up finished.



The site is water/elec and no sewer. The dump station is well designed and will not be a trouble if we need it before we roll again in 12 days.

We had one visitor early in the set up and she was very polite.



For some reason the OFM was nervous about this tow but he handled it just fine even with his right eye needing some more doctoring when we get to Alabama. But we are in good shape for a nice restful night in preparation for trying to have tooooo much fun tomorrow.







5/13/23

Morning Rain

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 13, 2023

We had an interesting morning driving around in the rain taking pictures of rain falling at the Beach Park. We chose this area since it has paved roads so we could stay off the sand and shell roads during the rains. The rain was not excessively bad but a very steady moderate rain that would guarantee that Sierra would have gotten stuck if we left the pavement.

This is the park entrance area and the rock pier from which we have caught a many a fish. It was not a good day for fishing.



On down into the area we found that a lot of the nesting areas were flooded with 3-5 inches of water. That is not an asset to having new birds anytime soon.



It was a big surprise when we saw this large family setting up for picnicking and fishing early today in the park. We would not be setting up in the rain for sure.





That just does not seem like fun to the Teams.

Back at camp we did some get ready for the rolling out to Goose Island State Park tomorrow for 13 days. The towing mirrors mounted easily onto the Sierra standard mirrors and Sierra is ready to roll again.





A short trip over to Goose Island SP to check for flooding found that the campground there was not having any trouble with flooding. When it is time in the morning we will be rolling. Our ultimate goal is Decatur Alabama and grand kids and eye repair.



The rain quit later in the day and we got to run around saying goodbyes here in the Rockport area. And now it is time to get some serious rest for trying to have tooooo much fun rolling tomorrow.

5/12/23

Wind Wobble Today

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 12, 2023



An interesting item we noticed during our morning walk at the Beach Park was the puddles still in the sand surfaces and above the seawater level just a few feet away. We were thinking that the puddles would have drained through the sand into the bay waters by now.



We guess that the birds are appreciating the fresh water to wash in and drink. This puddle is about 6 inches deep in the middle.



Another surprise was the presence of a nice flock of skimmers has arrived.



We guess we saw about forty birds in the flock. For some reason we like the behavior of skimmers. They seem to be a well behaved species of birds and definitely exciting to watch a flock of them in free flight. They fly in good formation and do not run into each other like sea gulls.

On the back side of the park we ran into old friend Rodney Jayroe. He is interesting to visit with but be careful on trying to keep up with him on a walk. He knocks out about 5+ miles a day and we cannot keep up. At one point a picnic table nearby provided a nice rest point and a chance for conversation. It was a great visit and then the OFM finished up his walk and Rodney headed on out for a lot more walking.

A slightly disturbing item of the walk today was the balance trouble for the OFM. When we were walking on the pier in the wind the OFM kept on wobbling and needing to use the hand rails to stay properly upright. But later in the day when out in the wind for taking care of a chore the OFM did just fine in the wind. Who knows why? But it is the way things were. I guess old folks just need to be extra careful when trying to have toooooo much fun.