Busy Day

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

DECEMBER 31, 2024

It has been a busy day of picking out new battery power for the Castle but we got it done and ordered. It is a Universal Power Group UB121000 like what we have had for almost five years of hard service. After all the research we chose to go with the proven performer. A big development was when the OFM remembered the big change in the Castle a couple of years ago. We changed the Castle from incandescent to LED for all the lighting and any thing else we could do to lower our boondocking current needs. After a few hours today bouncing ideas around the OFM decided that the batteries we have now made about 5.5 years before giving up. We think that we have no more than eight more years to enjoy traveling before aging gets to us. The new batt is due to be delivered here to us within a week

The next big event is that the OFM lost his camera he has had for nearly forever. It had the pics of the Tule trail we walked this morning for the first time since the trail was totally finished. It is now a very nice trail especially when the winds are roaring like today. All the trees and other growth knocked the 30+ mph winds down to a pleasant breeze.

That is about it for tonight. We hope to find the dumb place we put the camera tomorrow. Good Night

Beautiful Weather Today

ROCKPORT TEXAS

DECEMBER 3, 2024

At least the day started great with unbelievably beautiful weather. We happily got going on another walk at the Beach Park. Part of the way through the walk a pelican took interest in supervising the OFM Team on their walk and set up a nice supervising post.

We just minded our own business and kept on moving and looking at all the great scenery around us. We finally got out of range of the pelican and it moved on out across the bay. We just kept on meandering.

Down the road we took this picture of the dunes in front of the beach and between the picnic area to show how nice the skies were for plain old daydreaming. But we kept on moving to prevent getting older, yeah right. Basically we just meandered all around the beach park just enjoying the day and scenery.

As we looped back to the north we got this nice photo of the Ski Basin. It is a section of the back bay set up for water skiing and laid out as a huge elliptical course for safe practice for doing all sorts of fancy skiing tricks. It is fun to watch some days. Other times it seems like a place to watch skiers do all sorts of WIPE OUTS. 

Then in the afternoon we got to work on research for purchasing new trailer batteries so we can boondock with 12 volt power to keep us comfortable. What we are finding is the Castle is so old some batteries cannot use our original recharging system for charging the newer better batteries. The good news is that the solar system we installed in 2009 is still functional for newer types of batteries. So we have a research effort in front of us now to find out what is what and upgrade things as required. We only have three weeks to get this mess resolved.

Well at least we will not have boredom as a problem for a while. Good night.

Busy Day

 ROCKPORT, TEXAS

DECEMBER 29. 2024

We were not expecting to have a very interesting day but we were very wrong. Our walk today turned out to be at the Rockport Memorial Park where we walk often. Things were going well but the OFM could not seem to get going up to our usual brisk speed. Nothing seemed wrong, cool air, nice weather and friendly howdies all around us. The first section we were doing is only 1.56 miles and we usually do it in nice time easily. But today along about a mile the OFM started not feeling " not right" and we paid attention. The next bench was a few feet away and we sat down to see what was going on.

Nothing hurt or felt weak or anything in particular, it just seemed right to pause and relax, so we did. In a very few minutes things seemed OK so off we went at a gentle pace.

Within about a hundred yards we were back up to our normal pace and had no more funny feelings so we finished the mile and a half at usual speed and decided to halt the walk. No farther funny feelings happened all day.

When we were later at the Beach Park we did some faster speed walking down there with no trouble. But we always listen carefully to our body.

We did the house battery checking out on the Castle and sure enough we need to replace the house batteries after five years. These are the batteries we use when not plugged into 120volt and camping and are five years old with a lot of boondocking time on them. So tomorrow we will start the search for new batteries. The website claims Walmart has the right batts for about $125 each. If they have them readily available that is  what we will purchase so we will be ready to roll as soon as they are changed out. Yep full time RVing is not free of expenses for maintenance.

And as if that was not enough the OFM also started unpacking and resorting his art supplies this afternoon to tally up what we have and if there is anything we need to order for this fun we have. Out in the west Texas desert we hope to have plenty of time for colored pencil efforts for excessive fun.

That is about it for today.  Have a great evening.

Major Fog

 Rockport, Texas

December 28, 2024

We had a very heavy thick fog this morning that made getting around very difficult but we managed. The Beach Park was the setting for our morning walk today

Distance of visibility was in the fifty foot range so driving was delicate. We parked down by the wood pier for the start of the walk. Here is a picture of what we could see of the pier.

Another person was trying to see what the water looked like near his truck and could not see anything.

The walk was a trial today. Many parts of the OFM body were not working well but we pushed on for nearly three miles. The good news is the fog was lifting by the time we finished the walk so the drive home went better.

As it happened  the rest of the day was a day of trying to plan what to do with the next month we signed up for here in Rockport. While thinking about plans for us we stopped to help some new to fishing folks learn a bit about saltwater fishing. They were from Minnesota and fished up there winter and summer. Really nice folks. Mainly I worked with the son of about 12 years age and a daughter of about  7 years age and dad. We had a great time until after dark when the OFM went home.

Here is the sunset we enjoyed out on the pier.

We hope everyone is having a nice time like we are, Good Night.

Plans For Future

ROCKPORT TEXAS

DECEMBER 27, 2024

A nice morning greeted us today. In fact it was so nice we hardly stayed inside for anything. We hit up the City Municipal Park for some good walking in the trees and brush in order to stay out of the wind somewhat and it turned out wonderful. The OFM got in a very comfortable bit over 2 miles. Here are some nice scenes from the walk.

At the early start was some sort of soccer event going on with quite a few kids and parents doing soccer things that we know nothing about but they were very into whatever it was. Glad to see families in joint events.

The next thing we noticed was that the wild areas of the park had a lot of blooming flowers of several sorts. Here is one we did get a picture of. It sure was a bright flower.

The next thing to catch our attention was all the trees that were really showing off their gnarly limbs for everyone to enjoy. This area has loads of really twisted trees to enjoy seeing.

On down the trail a ways was this scene of a fellow and his pup enjoying the day also. It would make a nice painting we think.

Then we stopped to get a good look at the park map. To our surprise we finally noticed that the trails that are complete at this time are in blue and have the distance from point to point shown on the map. Now we can get more accurate  walking distance to help our exercise effort.

Several folks have asked about if the OFM has given up his art efforts. The answer is no. Since we were stuck in north Alabama for about eighteen months with no fishing  almost all the time due to the many difficulties we had there, we are making up time on fishing since we happen to be in a good fishing area at exactly the right time for the fishing to be better than average. We still have some art efforts sitting politely for their turn at the OFM when the mood is right.

We make no promises but for now we plan to roll some more some time starting middle to late January depending on the weather. We want it to be warm enough to be boondocking comfortably  near the Rio Grande River when we do roll.

Every one have fun tomorrow.

Nothing Day

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

DECEMBER 26, 2024

 We got up a bit late this morning knowing we had a Walmart run to make for a couple of items. Sure enough the store was pretty empty and things went well .As is expected the OFM cannot even recall what we picked up. Tonight he checked the camera for pics of what we did all day. The video card was empty. So with some heavy duty thinking we recalled that we stopped and caught one speckled trout at a usual spot.  Some time later while trying to get interested in a walk a small weak rain squall let loose with about two minutes of rain that we waited out in a shade shelter at the Beach Park

Probably the most exciting thing was that Whataburger was so crowded that we just turned around and walked out at lunch time instead of standing in the lllooooooonnnnggg line.

A half hour nap ending about 1700 did feel good. Home made stoup for supper was good.  Then publishing tonight's exciting blog entry was the big finale.

Have a good night.

Christmas Fish

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

DECEMBER 25, 2024

 It was time to get out of bed but the OFM was not ready yet so we laid there a few more minutes trying to figure out what to do today. Well we can at least get a good breakfast and head off to the beach park and try a new route to see how it feels. So we did just that.

We parked at the mid point of the planned travels and that worked out really well. Basically we looped the one mile long beach and a few short side trips hunting for pics to take. None jumped up and begged to get a pic taken. So we finished the loop and got back to Sierra with no special events to report.

This left us with the whole afternoon empty. The OFM had a thought and it scared us. It was a decent thought for a change. He suggest that the Teams go check out Light House Lakes Park over near the Port Aransas Ferry landing. we used to fish there a lot back in the kayaking days. We are sure glad we went.  It is a big wreck of a place to try to use now. About a half hour of looking around and we left not planning to come back this year at least. 

Back in Rockport w stopped to wet a line at Market St pier and ended up meeting a nice couple from Wisconsin. We visited for forever and then went over to the Rockport harbor to show them around there,

As luck would have it as the OFM was telling about fishing at the harbor and he caught a fish on the first cast,

From there we split up and the OFM went home for a bit.

Later the OFM got a call from his son and they talked forever. It sure was a great visit/Christmas present. It was a very full day of new and old friends. The OFM is ready for sleep and serious rest after all the extra walking today.

Rest well folks and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Morning Beach Walk

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

DECEMBER 24, 2024

Feeling frisky this morning the OFM chose a route we seldom take because of the unsteady footing. So we hit up the beach park and challenged the beach to a morning walk to see how the OFM could do with the unsteady footing. Too our surprise he did rather well so we may do this more often. Here was our starting point for all the excitement.

Another surprise is how many bird feathers were lying all over the place. The feathers ranged from black to white with lots of shades in between. They were randomly located between the grass line and the water line with no rhyme or reason we could figure out. No bird carcasses were in evidence so all we could guess was a natural shedding event.

One kind of jelly fish was frequent also. Lots of what we have always called "cabbage head" jelly fish were washing ashore. YES the tentacles will sting you very noticeably I am told. I never tested it myself.

Eventually we got to the end of the half mileish stretch we chose to use and looked the situation over. The final choice was to walk back along the park road to find out what we had missed.  It was a nice walk all the way back to Sierra just watching birds swooping around as more folks were starting to arrive. We hit it perfect for the morning walk.

Fishing was calling the OFM since we were ahead of the crowds expected. So we moseyed on over to a favorite spot at the harbor and on the first cast we landed the only fish we saw caught all the rest of the day. 

We only stayed about twenty minutes without another bite and chose to head on home to mess around. That seemed to have been a good choice since we went to Walmart about an hour later and the roads and parking lots were swamped with vehicles. Sticking close to home quickly became the preferred activity.

Merry Christmas and good night.

MORNING WALK

 MORNING WALK

ROCKPORT TEXAS

DECEMBER 23, 2004

This morning we decided to take a morning walk at the beach park before it fills up with folks for the Christmas holidays. This walk is a short part of a longer walk of over two miles. We pulled in and got parked at the restroom gazebo and started our walk from there not planning where to finish in case lots of folks showed up before we finished.

The sand in front of the gazebo is tough walking when freshly raked and it was very freshly raked so the heart beat rate skyrocketed for the moon. 

But the OFM made it across the parking area to the ski basin shore to continue our walk. 

The ski basin shore in this area is oyster shells loosely laid on the sand surface and the whole mess is fairly soft to be walking on.  It is very easy to stumble and fall in this area.

We followed the general walking path on around the whole area back to the road we came in on. Then we crossed over the road to go to the beach.

When we got across the road we noticed a fellow working the area over with a metal detector. It is a hobby of a great number of folks in this area of the state.

Then a few steps later we were out onto the beach and needing to choose which way next. One of the fun things about this area is frequently you have to choose which of several paths to take for the next part of your walk.

This choice headed us back toward Sierra and the main restrooms. Rest room locations are always of importance to old men. Then it was a left turn at the pier and straight ahead to Sierra politely waiting for us.

That closed the morning loop a bit short of the wanted mileage for walking the OFM. However we made a point of walking several shorter walks by parking at the far end of parking lots while out shopping for Comfort Castle's resupply stuff. As it turned out the whole day was a bright sun and cool breezes day to enjoy outside.

Merry Christmas every one.

Trouble with The Computer

TROUBLE  WITH THE COMPUTER

ROCKPORT TEXAS

DECEMBER 22, 2004

It appears my computer has had some program trouble or has been hacked. So we will attempt to carry on in this limp along mode and see what we can do.

It was a slow start day after the fever from yesterday calmed down late last evening. I have no idea what caused it. No other symptom but a high 101 +/- F fever. Any way the OFM got down to the beach park and took a leisurely 2.3 mile meander in the area. These next two pics were basically to show off the sunshine  that went along with the pretty nice temps all day.  

The afternoon was spent not being  able to connect to our C drive at all. Naturally that is where all the important info is stored.

We have decided to stay here another month which will get us past the normally coldest day of the year for the area.   From the looks of all the festival tents going up in town the next couple of weeks could be a bit congested around here for the Christmas thru New Years time frame.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas    

 OFM Adventures is having  a double whammy day. High fever all day and the computer is refusing to work right.  See you again when I can,

Over View Of Walking Area

 

Walk Over View

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT,TEXAS

December 20, 2024

We decided to show our readers the type of terrain we wander/walk on here in the Beach Park. Sometimes we stay on the pavement of the streets but usually we meander all over the place. But today we start across the street from the wooden pier where lots of fish get caught.

The first stretch is green grass near the saltwater swimming pool. It is nice comfortable walking for a short distance,

Next we come to a sand lot that has lots of interesting character designed to trip and splat you onto the hard sand. When it is wet it is sloppy nasty and not a great place to slip and fall.

If you make it across the sand lot you can try walking on the boat channel concrete wall with slimy surfaces and cracks.

Next in your agility training is the jetty sticking out into the bay. It was rebuilt a couple of years ago and is in great shape now or thats what the parks department says.

We started to cut across and go to the adjacent place to mess around down there but we thought this was interesting. Apparently the City has crews out cleaning the BBQ pits for the big Christmas parties coming up. We did not get close to the workers with some sort of air blasting equipment. So we called it a day and got out of the area to safer places to exercise,

In the mean time every one be safe and have a Merry Christmas.

Measuring Walking

 

MEASURED WALKING

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT,TEXAS

December 19, 2024

Our walking speed, distances, and locations have been a mess for a few days. Today major improvements in that situation were made. The day was around 57F most of the day with gentle breezes.

First this morning we went to the Rockport Municipal Park with the main walking trail in the area. We have mapped this trail system in the past on Google Maps so we know what the walking distances per route are for our chosen trails.

So we started off fairly briskly for the OFM. There was a lot of howdies exchanged on the trail today. As we made it around to the ponds the OFM meandered a few feet onto the platform over the water to grab this nice picture of the trail going by on the right.

We continued to finish the main outer trail back at the main restroom for a distance of 1.5 miles. Then we took one of the cut off trails that gave us an additional .5 miles and brought us back to the parking lot and Sierra were waiting for us. The new Christmas lights are being put up along the mail trail in this area. We bet they will be nice.

Since we were mapping walking routes we headed on over to the Beach Park where we do a lot of walking and fishing also. At this park we used Sierra's odometer to map the trails/roads we walk in this park. As it turned out our normal fishing spot to fishing spot for a morning of fishing gets up to about 1.25 miles of walking. We measured several other routes we can and have frequently used so that the OFM can get in his needed aerobic exercise (he calls it heart medicine) that he needs to stay healthy while going fishing. We think this will work out to be a good thing to know and do.

Then we ran into an old friend and had wonderful visiting while he fished and the OFM rested nearby. That was a wonderful ending to a great day. Good Night folks.

Laid Back Day

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT BEACH PARK, TEXAS

December 18, 2024

An entirely different day greeted us today. It was still nice and warm but a bit more reserved than yesterday. Maybe we could call it a day of chores. The OFM was down at the Rockport Harbor early and grabbed two morning pictures.

The rest of the day was walk a bit then help a visitor to the area with questions. Even in Walmart the OFM helped several folks with finding a campground or what fishing equipment to buy or where to fish from the bank in the area. And it happened everywhere we went today. The OFM likes to talk and visit. Plus those same folks usually can give him some great travel info about where they came from. It never hurts for a full timer to hear local folks talk about great spots back home.

But the OFM did get a chance to land a couple more fish to throw back in.

Mostly it was a visiting and enjoying the area just messing around and considering which of the many opportunities in front of us to enjoy next.

I hope everyone can appreciate a well laid back day now and then, Good Night.

Salt Water Pool

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT BEACH PARK, TEXAS

December 17, 2024

Another action filled day in Fantastic winter weather. How about bright sun and 80F to make you feel good? Well just add a slight cooling breeze to make it better. The OFM finally got to get in a multi mile walk down at the Beach Park and get a few pictures too. Wow he was on a roll all day. The official mileage was just over two miles but we added in a good bit more foot time running around catching fish. Then to top it off four times we had to stop and visit with nice folks for 20-30 minutes. That is always fun.

So we started the walk by parking at the SALTWATER POOL which is nice natural place the city restricts to people using and no fishing type things going on. However it is connected to the open waters of the bay so normal saltwater creatures live and play in it. The big excitement is when the porpoises swim into the area. We guess the pool area is near an acre in size.

Another part time restricted area is an area that is closed to folks yearly when the waterbirds are nesting.

The area is a large area of marsh, dry and wild growth that is heavily used by lots of birds when it is time for bird family activities. It gets very crowded during those months.

OK that covers a lot of the walking area. Lets get on to the fish catching. We got our rod fishing gear under control and hit up the beach park to try for some fish catching. We will let you decide if we were successful or not.

First we fished the wooden pier near the Saltwater Pool parking area. We caught a couple of small speckled trout there and visited with a couple of folks sightseeing the area. It was a fun time. And suddenly it was lunch time. A visit to Whataburger and then Walmart to take care of some personal wants went smoothly. The door guard at Walmart was an old friend from fishing days near the Marina pier. After a loooooooooong visit with him we decided to hit up an old favorite pier down by the harbor. It has been very productive in the past.

Here is a picture of one of the good spots to fish.

Well the speckled trout were in the area and HONGRY and all the same size.

Here is one of them snuggled up to the OFM shoe.

We caught eight keepers at this pier and then called it quits for the day. We feel like it was a great day of trying to have tooooooooooooooooooo much FUN.

DECORATING THE GOOSE

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

GOOSE ISLAND STATE PARK, TEXAS

December 16, 2024

Well here we go decorating the Goose.

Goose Island State Park that is. As we cruised the park we finally realized that a lot of Christmas Spirit was showing up in the camping sites all over the park. So here is part of the bunches of decorations we found through out the park.

we are hoping to get another run through the park to see what new has been added for more fun viewing. We hope everyone enjoyed the tour.

New OFM Style Coming

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

December 15, 2024

Ok the OFM again had to do a total cut off to allow himself to think clearly about his problem. The trouble is I had let writing the blog take over my life. Yesterday was a very busy day of gathering stuff to write about to the point I spent over ten hours working on blog stuff like pictures and checking out things l might want to write about and interviewing folks for their stories. Then I had to edit the data and start to assembling the blog. For me the blog normally takes 2-4 hours to get ready for publication every evening.

Yesterday I just plain overloaded again and it was time for a change. So I shut down to regroup and think.

This morning discussing the situation with a couple of friendly long term Rving bloggers another answer was suggested to the OFM. So here is the new plan I plan to attempt. First take my life back. Second choose a story and do it without worrying about a deadline. Publishing every day is not required. Telling the best story line I can is required. If a story needs three days to get ready then it does.

I really like the OFM character. He tends to do things his way and we hope to begin letting him have a little extra time to enjoy living while having tooooo much fun.

The Final Post

After another effort to continue this blog The OFM is now even more certain it is time to retire from blogging. Once again I thank all the readers for the fun times we have had.  This will be the last post from the OFM Teams.  Thank you for coming along for the ride. Best wishes to everyone.

Dodging Water Falling.

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

December 13, 2024

Most of today has been dodging water falling from the sky and casting fish lures to uncooperative fish.

Lunch was a Whataburger chicken sandwich that was pretty good. And no pictures were taken anywhere. So we are here tonight with nothing to write about except we are doing well and looking forward to tomorrow and all the excitement we hope comes along. Have fun folks.

Flounder

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

December 12, 2024

The day was a low tides day and Eric and the OFM fished pretty much all day. It was a bit windy in the afternoon but we kept at it. No fish bites were happening. Finally in early afternoon the OFM caught a small ten inch flounder. After Eric got to see it the OFM chunked it back into the bay waters to get big enough for a return match. This turned out to be the only fish caught all day.

So we went to a Mexican food place and found good food for ourselves. The best part is Eric and the OFM seem to have lots of stories to share so it never gets boring during the day.

Eric has to return to central Texas tomorrow and the OFM will miss his company.

TRAVEL SAFELY ERIC.

Low Tide Bottom Viewing

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

ROCKPORT, TEXAS

December 11, 2024

We had a great start of the day with very low tides this morning. It was a great time to study the bottom contours to determine the best areas to fish from the pier.

Along with knowing the location of low and high points in the bottom it is important to also know where there is vegetation. The vegetation can be giving parts of the food chain a place to hide or a reason to gather in a certain area and that is also a good location to be very aware of for finding fish to eat.

It is all part of being a successful fisherman.

As we were coming off the Market Street pier we managed to meet Eric a very personable fellow and we talked fishing until a bit after dark.

ERIC

We plan to meet up again tomorrow for more fun fishing and touring the area. That should be lots more fun.