What Is It?

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-25-2020

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

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

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

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

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

Fun Folks

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-24-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great Sierra News

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-23-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HOT AND SWEATY

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-22-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Journey Completed (Updated)

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-21-2020

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

Third Leg Complete

 Adventure Location: Lexington, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-20-2020

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

First Day 303 miles

Second Day 320 miles

Third Day  270 miles

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

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

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

A Different Whataburger Interior Decor

 Adventure Location: Tatum, Texas

Adventure Date: 10-19-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Repeat Picture

 Adventure Location: Roosevelt SP, Morton Ms.

Adventure Date: 10-18-2020

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

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

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

New Plans Needed

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-17-2020

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

We thought it was a particularly nice evening type picture.

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

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

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

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

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

IT Arrived

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-16-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bird and Snake

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-15-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sometimes the OFM’s imagination runs away with him. 

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

Walked Too Far

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-14-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arrested By The Police

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-13-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Storm Damage

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-12-2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good Morning Rain

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

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

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

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

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

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

TS Delta Caused Internet Interruptions

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-10-2020

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Tropical storm Delta has saturated this area with rainfall today. It was never severe but it also never really stopped. This in late afternoon the Internet in the area stopped. Then harder rain started. It is a mess but not a lot of destruction it seems. 

This is written mid evening around 2030 and the Internet is still not avaliable. We will publish it when we can. Not a lot of serious damage is visible.  Probably leaks in structures will be the biggest trouble in the area. As for us we are planning on ways to still have tooooo much fun in spite of the weather. 

Gamma Grass

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-09-2020

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Today was dedicated to a visit with the grand kids and their parents.  The grands were in a somewhat subdued mode today. It was nice to get in a visit with them without all the usual hyper activity. We had a nice lunch from a Greek place and the OFM got to experience some new to him food styles. It was good but it did require some patience for the good to show up since it was quite different in taste.

Lots of nice visiting and then it was time to head home to get ready for the hurricane remnants coming to town tomorrow. The big worry is if it rains too much and floods in the campground again. We will see.

How about a new painting to laugh at? This one is named Gamma Grass and was a fun one to paint.

We have never seen one of these in the wild so it was a paint from someone else’s photo cactus. It was a good experience and a nice way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Dewey Webs

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-08-2020

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A great morning it was to start with and THEN  it got better. The OFM decided to go back to his old walking pace of just into aerobic deep breathing and see what happens. Four miles happened with minimal joint pains. In fact he did not even need a dose of ibuprofen afterward. Well as least we know to stay away from higher speed exercise walking from now on. He will likely forget and try it again and pay the price.

During the walk we noticed it was visible spiderweb time with the high humidity collecting on the webs. All too often he just runs right into the web and thrashes around like crazy getting rid of it from his face.  BUT when you see them ahead of time they can be pretty nice pieces of art. Here are three of them we photographed during the walk today.

This one was right next to the trail first thing this morning. The dew was hanging heavy on it but that helped show up the webbing. We feel it is very nice looking.

This web was about twelve feet above the trail and sparkled in the sunlight to attract our attention. We wish the camera had been able to catch the sparkling. Take our word for it, the web was gorgeous. 

Then the third web was back in the trees a little bit and would have been missed if not for a little breeze through the trees moving the leaves caught on the web. We had to stop moving and watch closely at first to see the web.  In the photo you will be able to see a few strands of webbing by the droplets on it. If the light was not just right the leaves looked like they were just floating there in space. It was a neat scene to enjoy.

As it worked out there were several more photos of other neat things to admire and photograph while we were working hard on trying to have tooooo much fun.

Easy Peaceful Day

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-07-2020

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What a nice peaceful day it was!  Folks out and about on the trails, golf course, stores and in the campground were friendly and conservation oriented. Nothing particularly exciting happened. It was a generally all around pleasant day.

On the trail this morning even the egret was cooperative to getting its picture taken.

A lot of nice conversations about who is going, when they are going and where are they going. That sentence brings to mind that the campground we tried to contact at Rockport has not returned our call. After the first call we have twice left them a message to call us to confirm if we have a reservation or not.

In the mean time we will sleep really well tonight so we will be ready to have another go at trying to have tooooo much fun.

Twisted Tightly

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-06-2020

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The morning was beautiful and the walking wonderful. Just cool enough and a bit of breeze with bright sunshine. WOW that is a good recipe for comfort.  As we walked this trail, we greeted several folks who seemed to also be really enjoying the morning walking.

Naturally the OFM was paying attention to all the stuff around us and taking lots of photos of the vegetation for inspirational reference in paintings. When we rounded this bend in the trail the scene seemed really fine so we stopped and grabbed a nice photo of the trail awaiting the Teams.

Along the way we came to the spot that had the sand art a few days ago. We meandered down the short trail to see if there was more art work. Nope nothing but neat sand waves from the lake water gently washing back and forth.

However when the OFM turned around to go back to the trail, it hit him right between the eyes. We have been to this spot lots of times in the last eight years and never noticed what you are about to see. We are guessing that the brush has died off exposing this highly twisted vine for our admiration.

We wonder it some human had twisted the vines together years ago or if it is a natural occurrence.  Anyway we are very glad for the little meander that got us the picture of the twisted event.

Tonight the OFM was working on a project when he realized it was supper time and he did not want to go to town.  So we sorted through the refrigerator to see what we could throw together. The OFM got lucky tonight. We ended up with a stir fry of bell peppers, onions and potatoes for the vegetable portion. Naturally it had Italian seasonings by McCormick added as it cooked. For those who have asked, there is never any salt added to the OFM cooking.

When the veges were almost done they were transferred to the dinner plate. Then the pot received the last two eggs to be scrambled with a good dose of fresh ground black pepper. When they were done they were laid into a puddle of BBQ sauce on the plate waiting for the eggs.  Here it is in all its glory.

And yes it was scrumptious to the Nth degree and a a good end to another excellent day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

Forty Eight

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-05-2020

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It was a major step in the recovery from the left arm damage from a fall on March 3, 2020. The OFM has been doing exercises to rebuild the strength in his left arm and seemed to be making slow progress.

Today was exciting proof that the recovery is in progress.  After lunch the OFM went to the golf course to do some light club swinging as part of the recuperation process. It seemed to be that the shoulder/arm was ready to try playing golf.

We meandered over to our friendly starter and visited a bit. The course was not busy at all so we would not be holding anyone up as the OFM learned how to play golf as a decrepit old man.  

The green fee and cart fee was paid for 9 holes. Yep the OFM started having to ride a cart last year. So today we headed to the course not having played for over a year, with new to us clubs and uncertain physical ability with regard to the left shoulder.

The good news is the OFM put all his shots in the fairway. They were not necessarily in the best spot in the fairway but still not having to play several shots from the trees and brush was a new  style for the OFM Golf Team.  Now the putter was a totally different story. The OFM never did get a feel for the distance the ball would roll. A six foot putt going one way could easily turn into a ten foot putt coming back. Well at least we know what to practice the most now.

Here is the scorecard for the round of nine holes and a score of 48 from the gold tees.. We were well pleased with the fairway play and sadly disappointed in the putting. And at the end of the nine holes the OFM was very sure that we had played enough for the first time in over a year. Ibuprofen is our good friend again tonight.  We really enjoyed the golf again as a great way of trying to have tooooo much fun.

RV Moteling

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-04-2020

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A bit of contorted body effort at some maintenance yesterday with a sore hip this morning so it was an easy on the joints day. As we started out on a high speed meander this morning, the scene inside the campground showed what this campground is really like. Going camping over here is not much like in the desert or mountains of the west.

 

It is a lot closer to RV Moteling to the Team members.

We made the meander a relatively short one. But we did have some good fun. The sun angle was just right for some more some more reference photos for the art section of the hard drive.

There was one spot where a few turtles had commandeered a floating bit of brush that looked cute.  As the OFM was fiddling with the camera all but two turtles slid off into the water with nary a ripple to show their leaving. That is some sneaky turtles. The two turtles left are in the right lower part of the picture in the small floating brush clump. Look for the turtle head sticking up.

The OFM bought a package of thin cut boneless pork chops at the store this morning.  Research on the Internet on how to prepare them only came up with coating them with huge amounts of unhealthy coatings and fry them in heavy oils. yuck.

Then we tried a site of stir-fry and that came closer to his concept of what he wanted.  In the end he improvised and it was fantastic.  Cut the pork chop into 3/8“ wide strips after trimming any excess fat off the meat.  He put the strips in a bowl and spread fresh ground black pepper on them and stirred it to get good coverage.

 Then he took some Lawler’s BBQ sauce that he likes and poured enough on the pork so it could soak in the sauce for a few hours until supper time. When supper time arrived, he took a 2 qt T-Fal brand pot and added a teaspoon of olive oil and heated it pretty hot. The idea was to use the pot like a wok and quick cook the meat like a hot stir fry. It was about a six minute cooking time. No vegetables were cooked at the same time. The meat was great and gone in a few minutes.

The T-Fal pot mentioned is what the OFM found cooked rather well when he had to give up cast iron in deference to his arthritic fingers inability to handle the heavy pots. The lighter cookware when cooking gives painful hands a decent chance at trying to have tooooo much fun.

A Good Meander

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-03-2020

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The OFM was sluggish this morning so we stayed inside in the warm Castle waiting for warmer trails to walk. Sitting around in the Castle resulted in the OFM getting busy poaching some frozen chicken breasts.  The broth created resulted in attempting some wonderful stoup. Attempting some stoup resulted in three meals of stoup waiting in the freezer.

When the day warmed up to about 60F it was time for a walk. The OFM could tell it SHOULD not be a brisk walk.  So the Meandering Team grabbed the camera and set forth on a meandering walk along Flint Creek.  We had a great meander and shot 61 pictures. About one third of them made it into storage in the computer with three of them in tonight’s blog entry.

Meander: A slower style of a walk where EVERYTHING you see is looked at as possible blog material.

As we meandered in behind the water park along the creek a strange item was growing from the roots of a nice tree. The OFM could not tell what it was until we got fairly close.  The item must have been put in place a few decades ago and the tree grew around it. Check out this contest for space.

We read the writing on the marker and decided to take a picture of the writing for future reference.

Our meander was only 2.1 miles, but it was full of nice things to see and enjoy. Most of the photos will be serving as inspirations for more paintings in our future attempts at trying to have tooooo much fun.

Chilly Weather

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-02-2020

The last few nights have been downright brisk. Temps have been in the low 40s but with the electric heater running on the 500 watt setting it has been cycling and keeping the Castle and the OFM very nicely warmed. Even the colored pencils have been warm enough to do a good job of laying down the color.

The OFM did put the insulating foam into the windows to help keep the temps more even in the area. Sleeping was great last night for some reason and it felt very GOOD.

The morning walk was after a grocery store run so the OFM would not need so many clothes while walking. It worked out perfect. When he left to walk he wore a tee shirt and it was a bit chilly in the breeze. An hour later on the way back he had worked up a bit of a sweat.  Overall it was a beautiful day but we did not find any pictures needing taking.

However we did get in some time smearing colored pencil on some paper. So another painting has been started.

That is about it for a great day of trying to have tooooo much fun.

 

His Pants Got Bigger

 Adventure Location:  Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 10-01-2020

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It has been eventful today, but first things first. As the OFM was putting his pants on he noticed that they were awfully loose on him. Then he noticed that his belt would not tighten properly. Examination of the belt showed he needed to punch another hole to tighten it more, WOW.

Then while checking his pants it occurred to him that maybe his pants were too big now. So he tried on the last pair of pants he had of his old size from a few years ago.  They fit rather well. So it looks like the cutting back on the calorie intake is doing some good.

Next it was off to brisk walk the new loop on the walking trail. It is about 2.75 miles. We made it right on the 20 minutes a mile time.  A 20 minute cool down and rest and the OFM body was good to go. Yep we had been pushing him too hard it looks like.

As we walked the trail next to the golf course, it was noticed that the crape myrtles were full of fresh flower buds.  It looks like we will soon have a huge burst of bright flowers to enjoy on the walk. That will be nice.

On down the road a ways the OFM spotted some pink pretty “flowers” or whatever they are. They are a really pretty shade of pink. We have no idea what their name is.

This brisk weather reminded the OFM he needed to pick up a couple of long sleeve tee shirts for the south Texas winter. It gets pretty cold down there, so a long sleeve tee shirt is needed now and then in those miserable cold 45F nights. The Decatur Super Walmart is still rearranging the store so nobody knows where anything is. But we got part of what we needed and headed back to the Castle.

We made a big dent in another painting effort and had a great time trying to have tooooo much fun.