Just A New Egret Picture

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 22, 2024

We did not get out early this morning but it was a morning walk for the OFM. We took several pictures of an egret fishing but this one was the best. That was an extra cautious egret that could tell right when to move to mess up a photo.

We did not see the egret get a minnow even in several try's.

Back in the campground it was a good day of visiting folks both long term campers and folks passing through. And we did learn about several popular places to go “camping” this side of the Mississippi river. Of course eating at very expensive locations was the reason for going to see the place.

Yep we are still waiting on notice the truck part is in and ready for installation. It will be nice when that tranny is repaired fully.

And the important event was setting our leaving date and clearing it with the campground folks. It will be November 18 unless more bad luck bites us. That's it from our end. Have a great night.

Neighbor Moved Away

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 21, 2024

A really nice morning that needed a light top for warmth at first but finished the walk carrying it on my arm. Just a beautiful day of walking. Here are a couple of pictures from the path.

The first is a meadow used for staging events that need space. We took the picture from the path right along Flint Creek from the hike and bike trail. It was a really nice view in the morning sunlight.

We kept on walking and really enjoyed it for the whole nearly three miles. Sure enough we got another interesting shot of the slough coming from Flint Creek. The authorities have lowered the water level a couple feet more and caused this reflection that the OFM had trouble getting it figured out exactly what he was looking at but it sure was nice.

A neighbor bought a house recently so they could hold all their grand kids for overnight adventures. The kids were too many to fit in their rather large rig, so they chose to go back into normal housing. This evening they rolled the trailer out for the new house location. They told me that it would be on the market soon as they get it cleaned out. It will likely be a very good rig for someone from what we have seen about them and the great care all their stuff gets.

And that is all from this peaceful location in Alabama. Good Night. 

Lot Of Visiting

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 20, 2024

We got going reasonably early this morning and made a loop through the campground to the dumpsters and out the back gate of the campground down along the water and back up to the Castle in the campground. 2.5 miles of good walking turned out to be the distance. That is good enough for this OFM.

Along the trail two snakes were spotted. The creek is way down and the water snakes have lost their normal living rooms. One was about nine inches long scurrying across the path. The next one was about two feet long and .75 inches diameter. A very non-aggressive by its actions snake. A woman passing by was ready to try to kill it but the OFM interfered. The snake was not acting bad just wanting to cross the trail. These snakes eat too many bad bugs and bad rodents to be killing them just for crossing a trail. Any way the snake got to live another day and posed for this picture. Its head is on the leaf on far left.

This evening we went to put more trash in the dumpsters. That ten minute one way walk turned into over two hours of visiting with newly arriving campers. It was great hearing the great stories these folks had to tell. And we picked up some more blog readers.

You might say it was a wonderful day. Good night every one. 

Delicate Clouds

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 19, 2024

We got going reasonably early this morning and made a loop through the campground to the dumpsters and out the back gate of the campground. The first thing we noticed was how pretty the sky was. Then we noticed the wispy nature of the light clouds in the sky.

As we meandered our way along the graveled trail we ran into a couple we know from walking here for years. He is 84 and she is 83 and they will walk your legs off at a very brisk pace. So we walked along for a while and a nice fellow they know came up the trail and paused for a visit. Soon the older couple went on their way and the fellow and the OFM talked about RV travel subjects for about twenty minutes. The OFM blog address was given to him and he got all excited about meeting a long time RVer especially getting info from an RVer who started in 1972. Finally we split up and the OFM went on along the trail and completed his walk in good shape. This sort of thing happens about three times a week here in this park and the OFM loves it.

We did a bit more cleaning and some getting rid of effort as we gently move to our planned rolling date of November 18.

A nice half hour nap late in the afternoon was wonderful. Another good point about RV traveling is you can easily take an after lunch short nap in your RV to more easily keep the old body feeling fresher and alert while driving. The OFM aims at a maximum 300 mile day which normally translates into a six hour travel time per day. We looked at our situation carefully again today and everything looks like we will finally get to roll. The first two days is I-67 south and right onto I- 20 to near Morton Ms. For the first boon dock night and then just inside Texas for the next night. After that we are free to roam wherever we get the urge.

WOW THAT SOUNDS GREAT TO US.

Sierra Returns For A Few Days

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 18, 2024

Today was all about getting Sierra back for a few days. Sierra was supposed to be gone one over night. Last night was night 2 and we did not hear from the dealer this morning. So we called and left messages we need to know what the schedule is since we are about out of food in the Castle.

After a few hours of no replies we pushed a bit harder with the messages we left on the phone. Finally around noon we finally talked with the service writer and found out a bit. Sierra is getting a new solenoid that is on order and will likely show up next week they hope. So we requested the Castle back so we could get out and around town to take care of things like eating and grocery shopping.

The person who does the pick ups and take backs would be right over to pick us up in twenty minutes. An hour later he had not shown up. We called again and was told he went to lunch and the OFM was next on his list. About a half hour later he showed up. His story did not agree with what the OFM was told but now the OFM was ready for the stupidness he expected to encounter at the shop. Surprisingly it went really smooth and we rolled out with Sierra reasonably quickly. Sometime next week when the new solenoid arrives we will be taking Sierra back for that installation. We shall see what good that does. Sierra is definitely not running right but is still getting us to where we need to be in time. This dealer is Lynn Layton Chevrolet in Decatur Alabama.

Anyway the waiting time was spent doing house cleaning that needed doing and preparing the Castle for our planned and hopeful November 18 rolling west on I-20.

Try to have some fun for us OK.

Too Much Excitement

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2024

The morning was very brisk. But the sunshine was wonderful. The illness the OFM had turned out to be some diarrhea caused by bad food the day before. About 1400 that all cleared out and the OFM has been fine since.

Since we have no transportation and cannot get a return phone call to find out what is going on with Sierra, today was a piddle around day with several short mile length walks wondering what to do next. At least the OFM is not sickly any more. Hopefully tomorrow will have better news to report. After two days we are not expecting the shop to know exactly when they will finish but at least let me know some idea of time frame of the situation. Like we will be at least two more days or tomorrow afternoon or whatever. Is that more than I should ask for?

Just to break up the excitement we got a call about a credit card we have being involved in a big scam someone is running involving Walmart Internet Shopping. Sure enough we were involved in the card numbers being illegally used. The good news is Walmart and some other folks caught it about two weeks ago and have shut it down. Now the OFM card is already shut down and another one on the way to us. This only involved Walmart shopping by mail delivery. We never do that so it was easy to be spotted. Supposedly the scammed money will be credited back to us within a month. The OFM is wondering how they got his card number since the card never leaves his possession. Watch out folks the crooks are getting sneakier by the month.

Thank heavens that is all the excitement for today.

Have a great day.

Sickly OFM

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 16, 2024

The morning was very brisk so the OFM was clothed for fairly cold weather and he needed it for taking Sierra to the dealer for them to figure out why it shifts so badly so frequently. They have it for at least tonight. We will see the situation some time tomorrow. In the mean time the OFM has a mild fever and upset stomach. Frequent short naps and then move around a bit seems to be the trick to getting by.

That is about it for tonight. Everyone have some fun for us. Goodnight.

Point Mallard Reality

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 15, 2024

The morning was very brisk so the OFM was clothed for fairly cold weather and he needed it for the first half of the walk. But mornings around here warm up very fast once they start to warm up.

These were the cold looking clouds we first had when the walk started and we needed all the clothing we had on. About thirty minutes later when we got to the turning point it was a good bit warmer. By the time we got back inside the campground the OFM was wanting to be back in a tee shirt and shorts to cool off. Yep in this area almost year round plan on two sets of clothing. A daylight set and an evening set. The temps range a significant bit.

Now we need to bust another bubble. Apparently the OFM needs to clarify the happy camping ground bubble we seem to have painted in some minds. This is a nicer than many places around the country. And it is not cheap but in the middle range. We pay $580 a month for our site that includes the site and all utilities. The campground is a bit rustic but very functional and pleasant. Next is a picture to show the snugness of the sites to each other.

The grass area to the right is a utility easement that the rest of the sites in the campground do not have available for using. The other sites have another row of rvs right across the one way street from them just like the one you see to the left in this picture.

So you can see there is not a lot of room between sites to spread out. All the trails we write about are outside the campground in the rest of the park and golf course properties. As you can see this is not the place to go to “get away from it all” if that is what you are hoping for. There is a little over 200 campsites inside the campground. A good feature is the campground is city owned, patrolled by city police and only 4 miles to the little Walmart and the local hospital if you need either of them.

If you make trouble you get one reasonably nice warning. The second time your warning will be from the police officer escorting you from the campground.

We hope this presents a clearer picture of what it is like here. If you want more details go to Point Mallard Campground on the Internet. We like it enough to have been coming back here for 13 years each summer. Now get out there and try to have tooooo much fun.

Golf Course Visit

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 14, 2024

The morning was very brisk and the OFM wished for more top clothing but by the time we finished the walk he was glad to have only what he was wearing. The bright clear air was pretty darn good. After the walk we went to work on golf stuff. A session at the driving range was needed so we hot footed it over to the range.

The OFM pounded a few balls all over the range while making some decisions. The main decision was that the clubs we had access to are too light for the OFM Team. So now we have a basis for making more choices. The OFM was really excited to find out he still had enough muscles to hit the ball decently. After the fact finding effort was finished he wandered over to take a picture of Hole 18 which is the finishing hole right at the club house back porch.

Hole 18

Later we took the borrowed clubs back to the owner and visited a long time with them.

All in all it has been a very nice day.

Sprinkling Can

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 13, 2024

All the pics during the nice walk today came out bad like the OFM was wiggling horribly. So they all got thrown away.

That leaves us with the latest coloring named Sprinkling Can.

It is a coloring where we unsuccessfully tried some water color painting under colored pencil. The effect was not good and had to be removed. But a later try turned out well. We are guessing at this point we need to read more and do some serious practice using that technique.

And finally we did some more research into doing some more golfing again to give us a choice of excitement in our life. Over all it was just an easy going day for the OFM Teams.

RACE DAY

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 12, 2024

A nice day greeted the OFM Team when we finally got it going this morning. The whole area was alive and well and busy as could be. The cross country race event was well on its way when we got out to walk.

There was a large turnout for sure. The parking lots of the water park section were crammed with vehicles for almost the whole water park parking area.

Then closer to the main HQ for the event the school buses were crammed in on top of each other nearly.

The OFM meandered down the campground back trail to get near the race course. When we got there the people traffic urging the runners on was HUGE.

After all the race events were done we could hear the awards ceremony clear over here in the campground. It finished right on schedule and the area was clear by 1500. It is nice to see so many folks having so much fun and excited but being polite and happy.

The OFM just stayed out of the way and enjoyed everything from the side lines. Then in the afternoon and evening we wandered around talking with folks and having nice visits. I bet there are some sore parents and kids tomorrow morning. Everyone have fun and good night.

Race Ready

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 11, 2024

A nice day greeted the OFM Team when we finally got it going this morning. The whole area was alive and well and busy as could be. On our way to the planned walk we passed this nice camper in the campground. They are ready to fend off the local gremlins with their own critters.

When we got over to where our planned walk was supposed to start with vigor it was all blocked in preparation for the big cross country race tomorrow morning. We checked some of the area out but it was all being prepared for the big event tomorrow morning.

So we backtracked to the north side of the campground and the paved trail alongside the golf course. It is a nice surfaced trail that loops around the golf course for a 2.8 mile distance. It was a nice weather morning so the walking was good.

Once we got back to the Castle we stayed out of the way of all the activities frantically flopping around all over the place.

After lunch the OFM got serious and whipped up some delicious pork chop stoup with noodles etc. As usual it was delicious and we have four more meals in the freezer now. The OFM likes to keep at least seven meals ready to eat in the freezer all the time.

And that is about it for the nice day today. Have fun and sleep well. Good Night.

Short Walks And A Busy Mouth.

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 10, 2024

A nice day greeted the OFM Team when we finally got it going this morning. The day had several short walks but nothing special other than having several nice conversations with new to me folks from around the country. They were all fun and interesting. The OFM did nothing special but have about six shorter walks since his hips were not interested in taking longer walks. We probably got in five miles in less than a mile each walks between breaks piddling with other things.

The real product of this day was making massive progress on the coloring in progress. Which reminds the OFM that he stopped at Hobby Lobby and purchased some watercolors to try a new to him technique of putting a light coat of watercolor of the appropriate color on his art paper to give his colored pencils a boost in brilliance. That might be a neat new effect, We will see soon. In the mean time every one try to have tooooo much fun.

New Painting Planned

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 9, 2024

A nice day greeted the OFM Team when we finally got it going this morning. A nice sign greeted us when we got to the beginning of the gravel part of the trail.

Each year we have been here this race has been run and we think it is great to get the students out and show off there athletic abilities. We have witnessed only a small part of the previous activities but the student were very vigorous in their performance in each one. The enthusiasm was contagious.

The walk took a long time today since we stopped and talked for about a half hour each with two different folks that we met for the first time today. It is great fun visiting with the trail walkers. We have met some really wonderful folks on the morning walks.

With all the calm weather this morning it was no surprise to see some fishermen trolling for fish today. This fellow was taking it really gently on the trolling.

We did not see any fish caught but he looked like he was very happy out there to us.

And to top the morning off the OFM had a brilliant idea for a new totally self done painting. It will be based on a background you can see in this next picture.

It will be at least three weeks before we finish the current project so it is not coming up real soon. Don't hold your breath but it will eventually make to the blog, we promise.

We got on the internet to attempt to put together a short rving trip in the next couple of weeks. NOPE all the places we checked between here and east Texas had full weekend every week during our hoped free time to roll a short trip to check out the rig since all the repairs have been finished.

That is all the news we have so we are going to work hard at a great nights sleep tonight. Good night.

Happy Birthday Melissa

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 8, 2024

What a wonderful morning we had. We got to our daughter-in -laws house mid morning with her birthday gift (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA) and had a wonderful loooooong visit with her. She recently fell and did an excellent job of damaging her leg. She will recover all right but it was massive bruising and swelling when the OFM got to her home. We got to visit for a couple of hours and it was excellent conversation about many different things. Thank you Melissa. You are wonderful folk.

Dumpsters

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 7, 2024

The camp ground dumpsters were emptied Saturday early morning. Then the festivities got going. Now it was Monday morning early and this is what the OFM saw on his early morning walk.

Those dumpsters were running over already. We sure generate a lot of trash in this place.

During the walk today we did not meet any new dogs or humans to our surprise. But the walk was nice. We did notice Wheeler Lake is up a bit so when we finished we checked the river control site. They are allowing Wheeler lake to increase by another foot to put it at normal depth for shipping. No flooding is expected from Mother Nature soon.

That is about all of the excitement we can foresee for a while around here. Have a great night.

Big Weekend Party

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 6, 2024

This was the last day of the Oktoberfest weekend here at the campground and the campground was over packed for the weekend. However by 1400 most of the guests had gone home and the place was nearly dead quiet the rest of the day.

This mornings walk was pretty nice and we did get to meet a few new and nice folks. However the OFM is short on things to tell so we will just share several of the photos we took as we walked the Hike and Bike trail today. It was a nice morning for sure.

And that is all we have for tonight. Sleep well to be ready for all the excitement tomorrow.

Night Vision Trouble

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 5, 2024

Last night coming home from the store late the OFM had a lot of trouble seeing to drive in the parts of the neighborhoods that do not have street lighting. It seemed like the OFM could not see well enough to safely drive after dark. At his age we know night blindness is a real possibility. It had been a few weeks since we last drove in the real darkness so we were really worried about what is happening? Today we were reading on the internet all about night blindness and not liking what we were finding out. Like it can come on fairly quickly for some folks. So most of the day we have been thinking about how to adapt to the situation.

Suddenly the OFM remembered he has been meaning to polish the headlight covers on Sierra since they were getting a bit yellow and crusty looking. The kit we bought to do the job was found in the drawers and we read the instructions and got busy with those no longer clear headlight covers.

The instructions were clear and well written so we got busy mid-afternoon and cleaned up the covers pretty well but the covers did not clean up 100% like we hoped. We had done the covers on the previous truck and they cleaned up better than new it seemed. So we did as good of a job as we could get done and they looked a lot better.

So after dark tonight we took Sierra out for a “find out run“ to see what is what. The result is that they cleaned up enough to let us get by for a while but within a year or so we may have to get new covers installed. The current ones are 10 years old. They also have a couple of rock cracks each.

So the lesson is that the modern clear headlight covers do not last as long as the vehicle.

Today the walk was short and hot thanks to the 85+ weather. It was a sweaty event with the humidity being very high.

So now we plan on a great nights rest and a much less worrisome day tomorrow.

Sierra Is Back

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 4, 2024

Sierra is back with us today and running very nicely so our hopes for a quick solution to the tranny may have come to be. We will work with it for a few days to feel comfortable they got it fixed before we make any traveling plans. We need to be here the first two weeks of November anyway for grand kid events we want to go experience. The temps out west will start to be much better in late October/ early November anyway.

We met a wonderful couple on the trail this morning who are thinking about getting an RV for clover leaf multi week rving from their home base locally. We talked for a long time and they plan to view this blog and contact the OFM with questions that pop up for their situation. The OFM loves to help folks get off on the correct foot when they start Rving.

Here is a picture of some of the morning clouds we found floating around in the sky just goofing off.

Then the first picture this morning near the start of the trail really seemed nice to us. Seldom does the lighting get just right like in this picture.

It was a big morning of pics but the rest of them need more editing still. They will eventually make their way onto the blog.

The OFM had a rough day physically so we spent a lot of easy time piddling with colored pencil experiments combined with different papers and mixed in with water colors. It was a pleasant way to feel rough ( so to speak) .

We plan to get in some healing of whatever is bothering the OFM during tonight so the world better watch out when we get it going in the morning.

Broken Sierra Again

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 3, 2024

Sure enough Sierra started acting up worse on the way to lunch. After lunch we took Sierra on over to the dealer that put the new transmission in about 6 weeks ago. They ran a couple of tests on it but no codes came back with trouble showing. So tomorrow sierra is due at the dealers shop at 0800 to find out what is causing the shifting troubles. So as of now all NEAR FUTURE rolling plans are canceled until Sierra is running right again AND PROVEN OK BY THE OFM. Now to good stuff.

The rest of the day was spent just lazing around trying to figure out anything but really just being lazy. Deciding about what to create next in our art efforts is about all we have been considering this afternoon. The OFM even failed at taking a nap. Everyone have a great night and tomorrow.

Too Hot Out West

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 2, 2024

The whole day was very productive and lots of fun mingled in with the chores completed.

The morning walk was great weather wise and the 1.4 miles going out was at a brisk pace. Then at the turnaround we went to a good pace but stopped to take pictures as they became available. So the final result was several nice photos for the blog, a sweaty OFM and 2,8 miles in a hint over an hour. The first picture into the camera this morning was these ripple reflections swarming toward us from the opposite bank of Flint Creek.

SPARKLING WATER

More will be in tomorrow nights blog effort. It is a really great time of the year here in the woods.

The Castle brakes were put through the testing today to make certain they were electrically good. It has been a long time since the brake work was done and the OFM wanted to be certain they would work. So they were plugged in with Sierra and gently tested. The result is that the last test of the Castle was passed with flying colors..red brake lights. Yahoo.

We have hit a bit of a stall due to high temps still in the area we want to roll to first. It is four days of towing from here in Decatur for the teams to get into the area of roaming and BOONDOCKING but the weather is still predicted for the mid to high 90s for the area. We do not want to play outside in 90+ weather so we are having another good look at things for where to roll. Remember we want to be back in Decatur November 1 to 17 for grand kid events coming up. After that we are free until late May.

And now for a really fun even this evening. We had nothing going on and the weather was great this evening. The OFM decided to do some art effort sitting outside by the picnic table enjoying the nice weather and trying to create art from scratch as if he were a real artist. A pad. Colored pencils. Folding chair. A pencil sharpener. And a good attitude all got together to have nearly two hours of wonderful fun scribbling color all over some paper. It was a really wonderful evening of relaxing effort. Here is what resulted.

VINE ON BROKEN LIMB

It is not great art but it was incredibly great fun. The OFM team will sleep well tonight.

Driver License Finally Arrived

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 1, 2024

The morning walk was very productive. We spent a little time this morning working out a slightly less than three mile walk route to see if it would help end the hip pains. Then we immediately put it into action at a brisk pace for the OFM. We made good time on the effort for the 2.8 mile route. By the end of the route we still had no difficulty with the distance but we could tell the hip muscles were getting tired. So we have a new route to work with. Then twice later in the day we made nice walks of less than a mile but close to a mile and had absolutely no pain or difficulty. So it seems we have a new pattern to follow for our healthy walks. That is a wonderful thing.

Then the bigger news is that the OFM's new driver license showed up today in good condition and ready to go play. That was a welcome feeling seeing that license in the envelope when it was opened.

Now we are clear to get some real plans made and roll some rubber again. Nothing much happened for most of the day but nice visits with neighbors around the campground. Here is the view we had this evening from the kitchen table in the Castle of my neighbors sites across the street. They are all very nice folks.

And after that picture we grabbed one through the Castle's door of the pretty sky we had this evening at supper time.

And that is about it for today. Everyone have a great night of sweet dreams.