38 Fishing Charter

     On one of our afternoon trike trips we visited the Laguna Atascosa wildlife refuge. Nice ride however it is  so large 98,000 acres that unless you are extremely lucky or spend a lot of time there your chance of seeing anything is pretty slim.  This is the closest we came to an Ocelot, seemed harmless enough.
      That evening the motel group had organized a pot luck.  Bring your dish to pass and something for the grill.  We had a hamburger with a grilled portabella mushroom on top.   What a great evening.  Early to bed, tomorrow was going to be a big day.   From the first time Lonnie and Jane had  

mentioned our Texas get together, they had talked about the fishing trips they take on the bay side, they had suggested that we join them if we visited them..  Since that conversation Ruthie has been looking forward to this fishing adventure.   Lonnie and Jane made the arrangement with a guide they had used before.  On January 23 we set off on our fishing trip.  Lonnie drove us to the dock and during breakfast Capt Cliff Fleming joined us for introductions.   We soon  loaded our gear and headed out to the Lower Laquna Madre Bay.  It was a gorgeous day.  As we went thru the Isabel fingers channel  he pointed out the unique houses that lined the water  way.   One of the homes reportedly belonged to the virus software billionaire that had went goofy in Belize.  Supposedly he had this mansion built and hasn't used it since.  It was a beautiful morning, we had on light jackets and were quite comfortable.  It didn't take long to reach the first "spot".   The Capt  supplied us with poles and fishing instructions.  Cliff's idea of fishing is artificial bait, casting and working the bait to imitate live bait.  The Capt refers to fishing with a floating bobber like we do on the Mississippi  back home as "sandwich eating and beer drinking fishing."  The poles had 10 pound test line and 5 inch Zman SwimmerZ Smokin Shad. ( I have no idea, it's what the Capt told me.                                         

 I think it's fisherman talk for artificial bait. ) The only thing I do know is that ten pounds isn't much for the fish we hope to catch.  We stayed at first spot for a short while casting and reeling in trying to imitate the Capt's actions.  I enjoyed this as I'm not a patient person, it gave me something to do.   We moved to a spot closer to the bridge that leads to the South Padre Islands and Cliff ( formerly the Captain, I feel like we know him now.)  had us change our cast and reel in procedure.  Soon the skipper had a hit. ( the fish know technique) immediately he knew it was a big one.  He made sure the hook was set and handed the pole to Jane,  for the next 30 minutes at least she fought the monster.       By having the brake set on the line so that when the fish starts to run away it will give and not snap the line you are able to land a much heavier fish than the line is actually tested for.  She would reel and then all of a sudden the fish would turn and run,  we didn't see the fish during this struggle.  While this was going on the rest of us continued our casting and reeling procedure's. Ruthie seen what she thought was a large sea turtle off the starboard bow. (Navy talk for right front.)  Cliff said he thought it was a black drum which he surmised we must have on Jane's line. 

 By this time Jane was getting pretty tired and asked Lonnie to take over the pole.  Lonnie continued the fight with several runs on the fish's part countered by Lonnie working him up to the boat.  We finally caught a glimpse of the monster, and Cliff confirmed it was a black drum.   Finally on the boat, approximately 39inch 40 pound,  on a ten pound test line.  Exciting!  We received a call from Lonnie and Jane after their return to Minnesota and found out Lonnie had caught a large black drum off the pier and was going to have his picture in the Port Isabel  paper.  Because it did not reach the required 52 inches to keep this black drum was returned to the water.        We moved on and several times changed our fishing technique for the different locations.  We spotted several dolphins working in less than 30 inches of crystal clear water on the flats.   Not a common site on our local river.  We were catching and releasing several white trout as we moved across the bay.  They had to be at least 15 inches to keep. 

        The map inset shows (on the water, at no time did the good captain did take his boat off the water,  That would just be wrong.) our fishing path.

     Ruthie was gaining a reputation on the boat, every time a fish was brought in she said now that's a keeper and the patient Capt Cliff had to get out the stick and prove it was just short of the mark.  After several of these challenges Ruthie said okay I'm not going to say it anymore. However the excitement of a fish brought on board would bring up "Now that's a keeper"   she just can't help her self.  It was getting late in the day and everyone had landed a keeper except for Ruthie.

   .   Cliff moved us to several places, we tried everything, and still no keeper for Ruthie,  I knew we were staying out past our chartered time limit however the good captain was determined to get a keeper for little miss "that ones a keeper".  

      Evidently the stars were aligned that day and the last catch of the day was a "keeper for Ruthie.  And the relieved Capt plants a kiss on her head.

 

         

  Another golden day for our memory bank, thanks to all who made it possible.  Now on to the Alamo, the town,  not the shrine.  

     A parting shot from Port Isabel!

    

37 Port Isabel

     Mr Google said it was around 180 miles to Port Isabel  we were again on a highway designed for speed and not scenery.  Highway 77 took us by some farm land that was actually tillable.  We hadn't seen much of that in Texas, mostly barren pastures with rocks of all sizes.  I had hoped to see some of the rice farmers we had heard about in Lago Vista.  Because of the drought the water controllers are threatening to cut off the water for them to grow their rice.  We were on our way to an appointment.  Last summer when we were letting our friends know of our travel plans, one of my former classmates ( you must think I was in a large class, not so 39 wonderful souls.)  invited us to Port Isabel.  They had been going down there for a month in the winter.  We had the information and were determined to join up with them. 
     On the way we drove through San Benito the birthplace of Freddy Fender.  I mentioned it to a lady later in the week when she said she was from there, she didn't seem impressed. We seen several of these truck/car caravans, we were told they are being transported to Mexico.   Our GPS brought us to the Southwind Inn, looking for a place to stop we drove past the front parking area and around to the rear in a vacant lot next to the motel,  immediately people on a upper deck started talking to us, from Canada and the upper midwest, they all knew Lonnie and Jane,  many of them do this get together every year.

Banana tree behind SouthWind, reminded me of
little shop of horror's.  

We were getting to know this friendly bunch when a man came around the corner and said dinner was ready, (who was that?  The friendly deck  group didn’t seem to know.) I left Ruthie visiting with the welcoming committee and walked around to see if we could get a room.   It is the off season here so Ron and Cecilia soon had us all fixed up with a reasonable room.  We pulled up in front of our room, this was going to be nice, a small kitchenette in one corner with a folding table,  we were set.  We were covering the trike and Mr "dinner is ready" came again and said come join us for dinner, it’s all ready out back, (who is this man) I know, but this is how we meet people.  We followed him to the rear of the motel.  He had the grill going beef, chicken ,  fish, (he says he likes to be prepared you never know who is going to drop by) Ruthie checked our cooler to see what we could contribute to the get-together.  Cheese and crackers, wasn't much but Manny and his wife didn't seem to mind.  They lived inland from here in Mission TX and just came here for a little getaway.  We dined and visited with them until Lonnie and Jane came home.   It was great to see them again.  We visited until late, cleaned up and went to bed, quite a first evening in Port Isabel.
  

    The Southwind is directly across from an interesting cemetery.  In this area they make an art out of decorating the graves of their loved ones,  It seemed that a few of them made their living by shrimping and had shrimp boats etched on their markers.  Lonnie and Jane are quite the tour guides,  we usually walked to a local restaurant for breakfast then maybe out on the fishing pier to see how Joe the pie man was doing.  Joe and Carol are from a small town near us in Minnesota,  they have a apple orchard and reportedly make awesome apple pies.

  One afternoon they drove us down the beach on South Padre Island.  Very relaxing, I climbed a near by sand dune with a chair, relaxed and watched Ruthie, Jane and Lonnie strolling the beach searching for shells and hermit crabs.  Sometimes Ruthie and Jane would outpace us and go looking at the shops, they get along very well.  I like to think of Jane as Ruthie on steroids.  Lonnie and I just hung back and stayed our of their way.  We purchased a couple of souvenirs and they are hauling them home for us.

     We were very much at home here, unique shops and restaurants within walking distance.  In the afternoon sometimes we took a trike ride.  Old and new friends.  What's next?



   

36 Anchors away

  Today was pretty staight forward we packed up as quickly as we could, double maybe triple checked every thing.  Stopped by the club to return some DVD's say our good bye's and we were on our way.  To JW and Carla a sincere thank you.   It was a big relief to not have to think about accomodations for a few days.   One more low water crossing on the way out.     We made our way toward San Antonio to drop off the keys.  From there it was interstate 37 all the way to Corpus.  At 75 miles per hour it doesn't take long to cover the ground,  you hate to leave those extra mph laying on the table.      We can't save them up and use them when we are in Minnesota.    Our destination was the USS Lexington Museum.   This was our first view of the "Lady" as we started up the bridge to the bay.  Admiral Niemitz said "a ship is always referred to as "she" because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder."  We stayed at a motel on the beach and ate at Blackbeard's,   we shared the talapia and it was amazing.  The pirates stew had been recommended by the Aircraft guard.     It was spicy but very tasty Arhhh ( that's pirate talk for very good) Ruthie keeps warning me about my spicy food choices. We had talked about going for a walk on beach until the margarita hit Ruthie.  We watched the sunset from the balcony, even better. 
    We bordered the USS Lexington and started our tour.  I had served on the USS Enterprise and Ruthie had always wanted to see what it was like.  This was a smaller version of the carrier I was on.  One of the staff said the Lexington could hide behind mine.  We had over 7000 service men on the Enterprise we worked 12 hour shifts.   I was assigned to RVAH 6 squadron out of Albany Georgia.  Our mission was to maintain the Vigilante jets which were originally designed to carry bombs and then converted for photo and reconnaissance missions.  If you would like more information or to see the Vigilante in action  click here!  It is an amazing plane.
    I joined the Enterprise just as it was departing for Vietnam after being repaired from self inflicted flight deck explosions.  RVAH 6 and the Enterprise battle group were part of the largest battle task force since World War ll.  It was quite a site to look from the flight deck and see ships in every direction.  

    Ruthie was determined to see it all.  I had not thought about the ladders to get from one deck to the other.  She gamely went up and down them all day despite having knee surgery just prior to our trip.   There could be as many as 90 airplanes on board.  The planes are kept in the hangar bay and then transported to the flight deck by an elevator.       The flight deck is over 1000 feet long, to help launch the planes heavy with armament and fuel a catapult is used to give it a boost.  Think of it as sending a small model airplane aloft with a rubber band sling.  Now we have it in the air how are we going to get it on board.  It is an amazing feat of crew and pilot skill.

    The Vigilante weighing over 40,000 lbs and coming in at over 150 miles per hour has to land and stop in less than 500 feet.  There is a tail-hook on the rear of the plane that will catch (hopefully, sometimes not.) cables stretched across the flight deck to bring it to a stop.   This is a picture of crew berthing.  I don't remember the locker in the middle.  My bunk would have been on the top right.  There were small directional air vents to bring in fresh or air conditioned air above each bunk.  One time I rotated and turned it on and my area was filled with talcum powder.  Doesn't matter where you go there is always a comedian.   Must have been okay, I still smile about it this day.   The ceiling was actually the flight deck where the planes landed, can you imagine sleeping with a 40,000 lb plane landing 6 feet above when the tailhook hits the deck followed by the scream of the arresting cables. That's probably why I can sleep anywhere to this day.  We were probably given this area since we were the ones that brought all the noise on board.  The ship's company slept lower in the ship.

      The chow line was just like this, as I remember the food was always pretty good only not the type they are representing here.   I think I recognize the server.  
     It was a lonely time away from friends and family, during missions communication was stopped both ways to prevent ship location information.  The result family didn't know for months our status.  And we had no word from the outside. 
    The hallways and ladders continued to amaze Ruthie they are designed to save space by not having normal stairs and landings.  A ladder is the smallest way to get a person from one floor to another in both directions.

       If you just wanted to go down it would be a pole in a fire station.  The halls have a door way with a secure closure designed to contain fire or water from entering the next compartment.   New sailors usually have a mark on their forehead from bumping the top of the hatch and a scar on their shins from not picking their feet up high enough to clear the bottom. It seemed you were always hurrying thru the corridors on your way to or from something. 
     It was a fun day that brought back a lot of memories.  I wish I had kept in contact with some of the men I served with.  However that was before Al Gore and the internet. 
   We finished just in time as over 500 boy scouts and their chaperones were assembling to spend the night on board.  I think the one carrying the teddy bear will be in for a hard time.

     One last picture and then Ruthie and I are on our way to our next "Port".

35 Admirals and Camels, oh my!

 Jan 14,

  While I describe the next few days you can come up with a caption for Ruthie's activities.
     We had been riding pretty regularly and with the hunt for lodging taken care of for a few days we were going to try and slow it down and relax a bit.    We walked over to the community club.  ( How about the street cleaner missed some leaves?)  The community is described in the brochure as a private resort community.  Pretty nice, pool, hot tub, and club house with a restaurant.  Homes of all kinds and RV's.  People of all ages, during the off season it tends to be inhabited with mostly retiree's like ourselves.  Great group of people.  ( Maybe, "I've fallen and can't get up."?)  Some met for breakfast and a get together for  bible studies.  They were all willing to help us in our travels with points of  interest, maps and brochures.  We couldn't have asked for better travel agents.

   As we have seen so much on our travels the drought has struck a major blow here also.  Lake Medina is now a fraction of itself and homes that once were lake front property now overlook cattle grazing in the lake bed.  The rancher has fenced it and is now using it for pasture land.  ( Maybe, the tread on this tire looks like it will last this trip.?) 
    Jan 15 ,
       28 degrees last night , I think they moved the bathrooms further away last night, a little nippy walking across the parking lot.  
     We stopped in Bandera for breakfast.  Old Spanish Trail restaurant.  It seems that every small town has it's meeting spot, if you walk in and haven't lived in the area for at least seven years it is advisable that you avoid the well worn seats.  If they aren't there already they soon will be.  Drinking coffee, playing cards, dominoes or dice.  Just a break in the day before their busy day.  It takes a long time to fit in.  Today it was easy, we rode in on our trike and Roy one of the regulars already had his VTX trike parked out front.  Nice looking trike, he had made some nice modifications to it.  While we were waiting for breakfast we tried to figure out who was on the trike.  No luck.  Soon he spotted our trike and came looking for us.  Roy is a promoter of the area, chairman of the historical committee,  a missionary passing out penny's with a cross cut out of them and thankfully for us, he always carries a supply of the hill country motorcycle roads.  ( Wish we had met him two days ago, we wouldn't have missed one of the twisted sister roads.   He also let us know we were in the second oldest Polish settlement in the US. 
     We had planned on riding today but sometimes your plans change.  We met Roy,  Ruthie was having a conversation with Eldon and Ann in another booth,  they were from Michigan and on their way to the Stillwell Ranch and RV park by Big Bend park.  Ruthie said they preformed at the museum at the RV park.    They invited us.  Wonderful, another destination.  Wonder if we will see them again?  It could be interesting.  Sometimes we just don't know where roads are going to lead, do we?  Roy ended up manning the camera to take our pictures on the saddle seats.   We modified our plans, Ruthie got her hair cut.  I made my way to the lumber yard to check out some plywood.  Our plan was to replace the end of a booth in our loaned camper that had suffered moisture damage.  Soon Ruthie was driving and I was carrying a two foot by four foot plywood board.  I'm sure it looked strange with just the top of my head and frozen fingers visible.  Laying the original end piece over the board we traced, cut, sanded, and stained.  It said stains and seals on the can.  However when I read the directions.  (Always, don't assume anything.)  It directed us to cover it with a polyurethane,  A call to the manufacturer confirmed, and they apologized for the misleading label.  Didn't help! Back on the trike, remember it had turned cold, a quick trip to Bandera for sealer.  We would let our little wood project dry while we rode tomorrow.
 Feb16th

     Stopped for breakfast at OST seen Roy and met his friend Dan, they were going to have a birthday party for him tomorrow.  I believe he was going to be 91.  He had a photo album and a mind filled with memories.  He had been born in New Mexico, the picture of his boyhood home has an arrow pointing to the room his grandmother lived in and the room he was born in.  He remembered times were hard and his father sold the 320 acres to a neighbor for an old car and four hundred dollars and they moved to Texas.  Dan's plan that day was to go home and tile his bathroom floor.  Happy Birthday Dan! Many more.

     We continued on our plan from a couple of days ago that had been modified due to meeting new people and the visiting that followed.   We rode to Fredricksburg to visit the Nimitz museum, hotel and Pacific war memorial. If you visit make sure you get an audio player, our volunteer guide failed to make us aware of them.    It was interesting, educational and depressing.    The way man treats man will probably never be understood unless you are in that position.  An enemy that was so determined to overcome that suicide missions were an honor.  The bravery of both sides to aid their country.   I was aware of the five Sullivan brothers that died on the same ship.  Today I seen a letter one of the brothers had sent requesting that the five brothers and two buddies be allowed to serve together.  They were all members of the same motorcycle club and were determined to do their part to help the cause.  There were many examples families had shared of their loved ones.  Very touching.  The lives lost, the sacrifices, and the injustice's.   The internment ( the governments wording, it looked like prison to me.) of American citizens of Japanese decent will be hard to forget.  When you hear of people not liking the census you might want to remember that it was the census bureau that identified a lot of these innocent victims.  Although others nationalities were "detained" the Japanese Americans were the largest group. Just think about it, what if the Nimitz family had been interned.  Would we have had an Admiral Nimitz? 
      Sobering, lets ride to clear our minds.  On one of the forums someone stated that at times it takes a tankful of gas to clear his mind. 
     \

     So what is a camel doing on the Camp Verde general store?   It is because our secretary of war Jefferson Davis ( we will be hearing that name a lot.)  decided to experiment with camels from 1857 - 1969 for the calvary and imported them to Fort Camp Verde.  When the civil war broke out there were 53 camels on hand.  The fort passed into the hands of the Confederacy,  and who was the president of the Confederacy?  Very interesting.
     Here is  a map of our travels in and around the "Hill Country"  if you would like an interactive map click this link.   Map

Almost forgot,  Ruthie lost another earring.  Finally found it when I stepped on it.  My apologies! 

34 Water crossing

  Now you know why I couldn't finish a post with such beautiful scenery with this one image.  Yes it is the urinal in the bathroom,  use it, just don't drink the beer.   Koyote campground.  Unusual, just had to share.   I always feel strange taking pictures in the bathroom.

       That evening we received an email from our niece with an urgent message. "There are heavy rains predicted and Carla & JW said their camper site won't be accessible if the rainfall is too heavy, due to some low bridges on the way there.  Drive & Stay safe - we love you!!!!"    We had already noticed that road construction was much different in this part of the country than we were used to.  In Minnesota at the bottom of every gully or low lying ravine they put in a culvert or water way and then pave over it.  Here they just follow the contour of the terrain and if it happens to be a potential waterway they just put a flood gauge there.  And sometimes a warning. "Turn around, don't drown." 
     The ride today was going to be part of the Devils Backbone, ( nice name)   Compared to the three sisters it should have been a nice scenic ride.   It started out with a little mist, and we would skirt the rain all day.  It started out just fine.  We seen these longhorns resting in the prairie grass with their youngsters.  I thought it would be nice if Ruthie stood beside them to give people a comparison for size.  Well anyway they are huge.  It was 73 degrees and nice to ride without a jacket or gloves.   My goal was to head to Wimberly Texas and take FM 32 across the top to Blanco.   It was my fault, I had the GPS on shortest route on the way to Wimberly.   When I seen we were on Mail route road and then turned on a John Knox Road, I should have recalculated.  However the scenery was pleasant and the road was paved. 

     These signs may have been warning enough for most riders.   As you can see the yellow light was on but if they really wanted to warn us it should have been red.  And the barricade wasn't across the road.

We continued down the road, kind of neat isn't it? 

     Here is the local constable going back across the crossing.  He had came down to check the water depth.  He called it "Slime crossing"  so named because it is so slippery.  He said if we were on two wheels he would ask us to turn around.  No guarantees!

A local couple came by and stopped to talk to us.  It is called Indigo crossing but some call it "slippery crossing"   their favorite summer past time is sitting on the river playing dominos and wathcing motorcycles try and make it across the river.  Most fall right away,  others as they try and give it some gas to make the incline on the other side.  "Good Luck"  
Ruthie held the brake while I went down to give it a look see.

Committed now,  We had been warned not to give it any gas once we entered the water.  Just let it idle.  As we started across I knew our idle speed was not going to be enough to climb the other bank.  I twisted the throttle ever so slightly.  We were moving along I could feel the current playing with the front wheel.  I would discribe it as driving on wet ice.  Making the smoothest of steering corrections we danced our way across the crossing.  I couldn't imagine what would happen if we had slipped off of either side.  It seemed slanted toward the left side where the current was coming from.  As we reached the other side we both gave a sigh of relief.  I don't think we will be doing that again.

   Wimberly turned out to be a great little town.  A unique tourist stop, lots of little shops and places to eat and drink.  We ate at an outdoor cafe.  Ruthie is standing guard at a place that offered daddy day care.  Kind of neat, you just drop your husband off, they will watch after him and all you have to pay for are his drinks when you pick him up. 
 It was a pleasant ride back to our loaned camper on Madina lake.  It was going to be a little colder tonight.   We stopped by Bandera on the way home to stock up so we could stay home if the weather was bad.  But we didn't mind at least we could still ride and no snow to shovel.  And as we brushed our teeth outside, we thought not many in Minnesota are doing this tonight.  

33 Hill Country

January 11

     We continued past Utopia on the road to some popular motorcycling roads referred to as the three or twisted sisters.   If you are checking our progress with the gypsy tracker you will notice we do a lot of U-turns and backtracking.    Sometimes we miss things, sometimes there are arguments about what we seen and sometimes we are just lost.  We seen coyotes hanging on a fence in several places, we found out later the trapper on that ranch was basically proving to the rancher that he was getting the job done.
We turned around one time because Ruthie had said we had passed a dead cow.  I disagreed.  Obviously I was right this time because I'm posting it.  It was a large white dog sleeping by the fence.  Here you see his cousin.  They are Great Pyrenees, we seen several of them on this ride.  They were imported from Europe as live stock guard dogs.  The story we were told was that they are raised with the sheep as puppies and become their guardians.

  .  We were not disappointed in any of the roads that day.   We seen prairie grass with rolling hills in the background.  Rock filled pastures with small bushy tree's with sheep and goats grazing with their watchful protectors.  I was surprised at all the sheep.  In the westerns I watched as a child the cattle ranchers hated sheep ranchers.  Now I find out they were here before the cattle.  Were Roy and Gene lying to me?

        As we approached the three sisters which are comprised of RR ( ranch road) 335, 336 and 337.  The terrain was becoming much more rugged.  We entered 337 from the East at what we will describe as the bottom of a triangle.  It was a nice introduction to what we were about to see.  Pleasant scenery, tree lined water ways, it was a real treat.   Often we turn our little rig around to take pictures or just sit and soak up the scenery.  As we started up the West side of the run it ran along with #55 we missed where 335 branches off from 55 and continued on to Rocksprings Texas.  It was still a great ride the curves were getting tighter and the view from the road was getting more panoramic.  At times there was no shoulder only rock lined passes that you could have reached out and touched.

      When we hit the top of our run we turned East to catch 336 on the other side of the mountain   Part of the road was on open range.  You were made aware of it as you crossed over the metal livestock guards.  Now besides the rock barrier on one side and a drop off on the other you have not only the native animals to be aware off.  You might be speeding up to a herd of cattle,sheep or goats.  I do not want my obituary to say.  Done in by a  goat.       This country is wonderful, I still keep wondering about the settlers and the hard ships they endured.  You wonder if they could admire the country they were seeing with broken wagon wheels, harness's stretched to the breaking point and bodies raked with pain and sickness. 

    These motorcycle roads were everything we had been told.  One of the roads that had free ranging stock on it had a warning telling how many motorcyclist had been killed in the last few years.
    One of our new neighbors at the camper village had told us about a popular fish fry in the village of Medina.  It sounded like he was going to attend so we thought it would be nice to meet him there.  We had been riding the hills all day and were a little tired but we hate to pass up anything.   Key Madina into the GPS. Done!   It was now late afternoon and we were on the last leg of the run.  The sun and shadows were giving us more depth to our view. 

     It was around six when we arrived in Madina we really hadn't intended to be out after dark but we thought we were close to the fish fry location.  We made a pass through town and didn't see any place packed with cars.  Matter of fact there didn't seem to be much going on at all.  Looking around for someone to get directions on, we found two men still working on an old truck in a garage.  They said the place we were looking for must be ten or more miles up the road toward Kerrville beyond the Children's home.   This was going to be a longer day then we had anticipated and we knew we would have to ride back to our little camper home very carefully because of all the deer in this area. We finally arrived at Koyote Ranch for the meal.   Nice place, campground, lodge and country restaurant.  It was obvious to all the regulars we had know clue what the procedure was.  They directed us to the buffet line, helped us gather our beverage and "Jerry" invited us to sit with him as he was alone that night.  Jerry was the almanac that answered our questions about the coyote, white sheep dogs and then a bonus.  He said that if we wanted a pretty ride we should ride from Lajitas to Presidio Texas along the Rio Grande river.  He was sure we would like it.    He had gave someone else the same information a few years back and after the ride they complained about all the Mexicans they seen.  Jerry's reply.  "What did you expect, Chinese?  Your 50 yards from Mexico."   Yup, part of it is the ride and scenery and the other is the people we meet. 

   I have another picture to post of today's adventure but I didn't want to spoil the mood and I really need to get Ruthie's opinion on it.  A safe cool ride home with our milk house heater to keep us warm.  Another great day we will always remember. 

32 Bandera

January 10th

Breakfast at the Old Spanish trail, saddle seats!

      We had heard much about the hill country of  Texas, we decided to use Bandera as a base and take rides out from there until we moved on.  Fortunately while we were in San Antonio we hooked up with a distant nephew of Ruthie's.  (pretty complicated, something about nephew thru adoption or something, I tuned it out, Easier to explain in person anyway. I know I have never seen him at any of the reunions, seemed like a nice enough fella. ) After visiting with them JW and Carla suggested we make use of their camper parked by Medina lake.   He was gracious enough to meet us

Very small white tail, and Ruthie in the mirror!

at the park and get us settled.  To avoid any more work on his part we didn't turn on the water.  Electricity and a place to sleep was treat enough. He was kind enough to introduce us to the next door neighbors so they wouldn't think someone had broke into his camper.   Then he drove us by the clubhouse so we could grab a bite to eat.  The sign said they were open until six, that gave us a half hour we said our good bye's, expressed our gratitude and poof he was gone.  Entering we found out the kitchen closed a half hour before the club house.  Now what?  I know we have some breakfast bars and popcorn but all the hotel yogurt was gone.

Our home for 8 days! 

Texas clean up crew, Vulchers!

    We will get by tonight and tomorrow we will run into Bandera for some supplies.  JW had told us there were items in the camper to eat and drink.  Ruthie looked in the freezer and found some Jimmy Dean sausage pancakes on a stick.  ( I'm guessing some of the younger generation only think of Jimmy Dean as sausage.  When I was quite young one of the highlights of our summers on the farm was a trip to the Dairy Congress in Waterloo Iowa.  Besides touring all the livestock barns and farm product booths we always did two things.  We got our picture taken with the new model of Oliver tractor and seen the hippodrome show.    You know now that I think about it the hippodrome show may not have been every year, but one year between horse shows the entertainment was Jimmy Dean he entered the arena on a very spirited quarter horse circled the arena at full speed stopped in the center by his band.  (yup, a Texas boy) Great entertainer, it was probably around the time his song "Big Bad John" was topping the charts.)  (Just thinking, that

generation probably only think the only thing George Foreman did was make grills?)  They happened to be blueberry.   We cooked them in the micro wave.  No syrup, however they looked a lot like a pronto pup to me so I figured mustard and catchup.  When I told our daughter what I had used, her expression was ewwww.  ( then I found out she puts catchup on potato pan cakes, something about a kettle calling a stove black.
      One of our first outings took us through Utopia TX.   As usual I had worked up an appetite.  We have made it a habit when possible we make a pass thru the town to try and see where the locals are parked.   Today they were parked at the Lost Maples cafe.  A real treat, good food, friendly people and then the "find".  I was snooping around admiring all the unique wall decorations.

  There it was, a movie poster. "Seven days in Utopia" with Robert Duvall and the two actress's I had my picture taken with.( they claimed just to be part of the background in the cafe scenes, but I'm sure they are just being modest.)  
   Bandera has quite a history, the spanish word for flag, supposedly the oldest polish settlements, and the cowboy capital of the world.  Part of it's early growth was due to it becoming the staging spot for many of the early cattle drives because of a natural pass to take the cattle through.
   

31 An Apology

      Ruthie tells me that I should just apologize to people when I meet them.  It would save a lot of time.  She has this idea that I will do or say something inappropriate.  I don't know where she got such an idea.  Well I might as well get it out of the way so we don't have to go thru this again.  I have been trying to get my blog and ride dates closer together.  This post is an example of what happens when I try and share a simple idea.  I was going to tell you about our next stop and how we chose to go there. 

                    Next stop?  Sometimes our trip planning gets a little complicated.  An example:
     I monitor a Gold Wing forum occasionally.  A note about forums.   My explanation is that they are internet discussion group devoted to a particular subject. It is amazing the detailed information and assistance you can receive on forums.  Some are so helpful and knowledgeable you would think the poster may have wrote a product manual.  One thread I read was on oil filters, (I know, but it was interesting.) The detail and research was amazing, their were even pictures of dissected oil filters showing contaminants filtered.  Listen it doesn't get any better than this. However with every thing good their is some bad, I call it the drama or bully squad just like a school play ground.   I’m pretty much a lurker ( stay in the background and read others posts.) for at least two reasons, since we are involved in the trike building business I have decided on the forum we just want to be riders like most of the forum.   I have seen others use it to promote their business by building themselves up and degrading others.  Here is an example of the drama.  A person might ask the forum if anyone knows where he might get a headset that he can use without a helmet,  I hope he is sitting down because he has just ignited a flame that won't go out on it's own and the poor sap doesn't even know it yet. The replies will be many and harsh about the sins of riding without a helmet, accident statistics, how the brother of this guy I know  was saved by his helmet.  etc  It can go on for days with by now many not knowing the original question or no one having the courage to step in and post an answer to the poor guys question.  The original poster has probably signed off.   "All I wanted to do was have a way to check my intercom system in the garage without putting my helmet on every-time." he mutters as he posts on Craigslist,  "For sale "used computer"   Sometimes if it becomes heated or silly enough a moderator will step in and stop it and sometimes a forum member will interject and extinguish the flame.  One of those voices of reason is a gentleman from Boerne TX.   On the forum his posts ( it's hard to judge a man by his verb-age.) make him seem like the kind of person you would like to have living next door.  ( I don't know, maybe he's a son of a gun.)  One time the trike discussion was going pretty strong about the best riding trike.    Here is his post in that thread.  "As you can see, I have a '05 ( to avoid law suits I deleted the name)  kit hung on my '02 two wheeler. I got 38-40 mpg on my two wheeler. I get 22-24 on my trike. My Kabota tractor has a slightly better ride it and corners much better. It wears tires out like they were made of bubble gum. I buy stop leak by the case for the differential.  I have snapped two drive shafts and had a bent rim installed with the kit. I have spent over $51,478.46 on this trike since I got it. (this price does not include the price of the two wheeler) I bought the modified Steer triple tree under the advisement of this group. It has broken twice and the trike is not steering to well at present. Most of the kits are overpriced and work poorly, junk, if you will.....and I only have 129 miles on my trike...... Gee, I love that machine....

    Okay don't you want to invite him over for coffee.  I think of him as the voice of reason.  To avoid the drama I have used the private message to communicate with him about our current trip, places to visit, roads to travel and safety issues.  Lots of good info from him.  On his posts he has his picture with his current ride in front of  the old store at lukenbach Texas with the caption "if you haven't been to Luckenbach you haven't completed your journey."   There you go, that's why I'm behind on this trip journal.  Why couldn't I have just said.  "Somebody told us to go to Luckenbach?   ( Surprising note:  when I did a search for Kubota, after figuring how it's spelled it came back with two pages of results on a motorcycle forum?) Damm, there I go again. Anyway the result, here we are in Luckenbach.   A neat relic of the past,  a popular motorcycle stop.