Camping McKinney Falls and HonkTx!....

 For the third year in a row we camped at McKinney Falls State Park outside of Austin, Tx and used that as a base of operations for attending the HonkTx Street band Festival. HonkTx is one of those things I always yearned to attend when I was working and it seemed like that's what I was doing every time they scheduled it but now I'm free and the festival is like a band geek paradise if you want to dress up, dance around and fit in like you have never fitted in in your life because you were like this weird guy or girl that played a horn that no one else did. 

Water was a little cold but on hotter days Cathy and grandchildren have jumped off that rock she's standing on at the Lower Falls.      

One thing attending HonkTx re-enforces for me each year is that there is a place in the world for everyone.  

Our old friend Darwin, who lives in Austin stopped by our camp for a visit and some biking on the trails. 

Great park for bikes. Probably 40 years ago me and Darwin would have been scrambling down that cliff to get down and fish and swim in the creek below and would have done it carrying an ice chest full of beer. Now days I don't drink beer and while with the getting down part gravity would be your friend but getting back up might be a challenge as would taking the long way around looking for a short cut.   

HonkTx is a free festival. It's all kinds of music from everywhere and it's for everyone. If you were a band geek and never really quite fit in here is your chance to dress crazy, find a place for your music and dance wildly. It guess you could say it's woke and it feels good.     

I think I took some of the best photos of live music I have taken in some time and I was using an old kodak camera from several generations back after a couple of newer ones became causalities of rigorous outdoor use.   

I also met some internet friends, Dylan in purple on drums with Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band is in a Doom Brass Band I have been following called Eight Foot Manchild. It's distorted guitar and tuba with lots of effects pedals. ENSMB and Eight Foot Manchild share members and Dylan writes the music. I had on Eight Foot's tee shirt and I think I snapped this photo when Dylan saw my shirt.  

Looks like Alison, on tuba for both groups also saw my shirt and at the end of the day we all met and introduced ourselves.

The Kosmonauts from France. 

Many tubas. 

My friends think I have nice adventures and I tell them I just do free stuff like this festival. Of course they ask for donations to support it and the bands sell music and tee shirts which of course we bought but these are my people and it's good.   

 

High Tides and Alligators Forever...

 I always say I'm one of those life long learners. Earlier this summer camping at the beach, we were still in the Rpod and I learned that winds gusting to 20mph would nearly take the pop out tent off the back of the camper. This trip I learned that the combination of a gusting NE wind, a nearly full hunters moon and probably a storm down south around central America will produce tides 2.76' high which is enough to reach the dunes where we have camped 3 times already this summer when the water did not even get close.  

We made a good day of it meeting Jim and Sandy and Rose and Tim and crew at the beach for some good hang time. This set up is pretty close to the edge of the water and when we left the occasional wave was washing under our camper in the background. There were more campers up and down the beach, none close, than other trips and one guy drove by to say the waves washed sand out from under his tires the night before till the slide out was on the ground.  

At least I did not get skunked on the fishing with the score one whiting which was one more than my brother in law caught. Whiting are a pan fish, no limit or size and while not the glamor of trout, reds or flounder they are decent eating. I'd like to fry up a bucket full on a cool fall afternoon and serve them up with a horsey cocktail sauce. 

The water approaches. Jim had moved his truck three times at this point. 

The tie eventually forced us to withdraw to Rose's driveway in Lake Jackson. Electricty and water is free there, I run the black water tank into a neighbor's flower bed and S'mores taste the same there as they do at any camp ground. 

Brazos Bend State Park is just north of Lake Jackson. We have tried to reserve there before but like most state parks near metro areas the weekends including day passes are often booked. No problem getting a Monday night campsite. We stayed the one night and enjoyed the park trails and sightings of many birds, humming birds, butterflies, deer, squirrel and alligator.   

The park is famous for the gators and though there are many swampy lakes, creeks and old river oxbows it's no boating or swimming allowed. I always find this a curious rule because locally I'm boating and swimming around gators already. Great place for the bikes and I wish we had had ours.  

Any questions about why signage in two languages is a good thing? 

How another life long learner be looking when she realize there's also a bigfoot in the park. 

Chicago Fishing Report...

We made the flight to Chicago this weekend for a visit to our daughter Katie her husband Peter and the grandkids Wallace and Hamish. The trip was just the right amount of time where there was no rush but we enjoyed various activities such as fishing, boating, some live music and returned home without those feelings of "now I need a vacation from my vacation." 

As you can see from the photos all are doing well. Even old Beefcake, the dog from Mary's litter of half golden retriever pups that was sired by a sneaky neighbor dog. Beefcake arrived from East Texas by plane in Chicago and has never looked back except when his own ass needs scratching. Although in a big city like this there is ample nearby park space to run and fetch he is basically a house dog. He does like sleeping outside in their fenced area that passes for a yard but unlike a Game of Thrones character he does not yet know winter is coming.   

Once when we fished Palmisano Park, an old rock quarry about a 10 minute walk from the Tulloch house, we caught good google eye perch on meal worms. Since then on our walks in the park we have only used artificial baits which the fish have rejected but even without the good fishing the Texas grandkids enjoy these boys will whip the water to a froth and their luck may improve since they do have a new boat which I'll post about in coming blogs.  

I'm not sure I've caught a fish with Hambone but he has a keep your hook in the water instinct which will surely pay off for him,  

Wallace did spot a large carp, probably about four pounds finning in the shallows. There is probably no telling what kind of fish might be in an urban pond like this. I had a nice conversation with an Englishman who stopped to watch us fish and while we compared British and Texas fish tactics he told me the quarry pond was 300' deep, probably out from the shear rock walls across from the dock. That brings visons to mind of fish that can swallow a Volkswagen  lurking along the bottom and just for a snack they snatch up the city provided blue rental bikes as they sink to the bottom after teenagers run them off the embankments and docks.  

I think the neighborhood bait shop where live bait was available has closed. Maybe next time I bring a pack of meal worms. We might not catch a thing but a day on the water with kids is always a full stringer. 

 

Another Day of Retirement Knocked Out and the Great 2022 Yearly Catfish Total...

 We went to the lake for the last fishing trip of the year (probably but this day is still early) and knocked another day of retirement off the calendar. This marks a year Cathy has been retired and I'm seniority riding along at 2 years and 8 months. Our retirement/financial advisor, a guy who calls me up a couple of times a year which through diligent internet research I have discovered happen to be on the two very worst days of stock market performance assures us that at this pace we have enough money to last until we are 90 years old and that takes into account the cost of buying the name brand Cheetos. I'm not sure where the yearly catfish report figures into that plan but here are the numbers. 

         The count is down somewhat from the past couple of years. Seems that we caught 286 catfish in 14 trips which averages to about 19 fish a trip. Cathy had big fish at 8 pound 7 ounces. This total does not reflect other species such as bream, bass, white bass, whiting, speckled trout, snook, the single ribbon fish I caught or does it count salt water, swimming, skiing or canoe trips.

The count for past years was 572 catfish in 2018, 582 in 2020 and 492 in 2021. 2018 was a really good year and 2020 and 2021 might reflect COVID isolation when we did not go anywhere else but the lake as 2017's count was more in line with this year's numbers at 252. I could not find a count for 2019. If you do let me know. 

It's good to run those numbers like this. I would not want to show a documented decline that might indicate to the kids we are slipping and require more assistance and supervision. 

By the way we did catch 7 catfish yesterday and it was pretty slow. We came home and that was exactly the right amount, along with a few fries and hushpuppies and a poor man's spinach Rockefeller that Cathy made for us to have a good supper.

Actually I had a taste for grilled or broiled fillets with sautéed bok choy and onions but Cathy wanted the traditional southern thang so you see how that seniority thang is working out.    

In case you are wondering people that fished with us took a few of the past year's catches home, we donated a bag of fillets to the Joseph House so that residents and staff could have a good fresh dinner and I traded a few pounds for produce from a friend's garden. The rest we ate. No fish were ever frozen. 

The lake is pretty in the winter, water is clear, 53 degrees and is still low. I would like to see it under the cypress tress for some slip corking. Judging from the water filling the Gilland Creek bottom on the way to the lake we got quite the rain the other night and it should start to fill. 

We didn't count those bike and rod expeditions either.  

Why not me? 

    

Summer Wildlife on the Lake...

Lot of trips to the lake this summer mean lots of opportunities for wildlife viewing. Here's a few photos from recent trips.

Blue heron fishes a shallow sand bar. I usually take a heron photo anytime I can and sometimes I wonder how often I take a picture of a bird I have already photographed. This guy was fishing right off the Hank's Creek boat ramp in a area that years ago was a sliver of beach that before designated areas and park attendants you could take the kids on a hot summer evening for a quick cool off.  

I sometimes throw a cast net on the concrete boat ramp and catching bait can be hit or miss. Maybe I'll take a hint from this guy and throw over at the sand bar.  

Here's a family of river otters also photo'd at Hank's Creek near the boat ramp. There are four otters in this pictures and one of them is trying to nurse. Some of the photos I made, while not as good as this one can be zoomed up to make out mom's teats quite well. They were not scared of us and put on a show doing all their tricks. I hope they continue to hang out around the high traffic area with lots of folks around. Makes it less likely some one might take a shot or trap them.  

How many times have I taken these guys photo? There are lots of the ospreys on the lake but these hang around one of my favorite areas. I don't know what their plans are but their nest was in poor repair. Maybe damaged by storm and wind or maybe torn up by the bald eagles we sometimes see harassing these guys. These are big birds but the bald is bigger. The ospreys do not lack courage when they need to defend the nest.    

Different osprey above the nest. 

Don't forget about that meeting at work tomorrow. 

Still Biking...

Our busy summer and the hot temps have cut down on local biking. We have still managed bike rides on a couple of our recent vacations. In New Orleans there is bike rental in the French Quarter and in Chicago the PK have a nice selection of machines. Cathy actually did find a bike rack for the car at the Salvation Army thrift here in Lufkin but the opportunity to transport and bike has not easily presented it's self. 

Here a few shots of New Orleans riding. Cathy heads up river with the French Quarter to her right and Canal Street up ahead. 

We loaded our bikes on the ferry for a ride to the West Bank. Great riding trail there. It was a bit nerve wracking riding bikes in the Quarter. The streets were designed for horse and buggies and as you ride you never get passed by the same vehicle twice. First it's a passenger car, then a dump truck, then an ambulance, a horse and buggy, a police car, a limo, a fire truck, a guy pushing a piano on a two wheeled dolly and anybody without a beer has been already given one. You can see our bike at the front of the ferry,.   

Ferry boat jumps the wake of a freighter for us. 

Statue of Louis Armstrong on the west bank. The other guy is a tuba player. 

Selfie. It came a pretty good rain on us but with the New Orleans humidity I was soaking wet already. 

Sights of the west bank. The old Duverje Plantation. The original home which was built by slaves dates from 1812 and was destroyed in the fire of 1895. This building was finished in 1896. 

Back down river in this photo. 

Now for bike riding in Chicago. Both Chicago and New Orleans are flat places I can ride a bike a lot further and faster than I can in Lufkin 

This photo in Garfield Park. It's the is this bike making my butt look big photo. I thought I looked kind of skinny in the New Orleans pictures, but wait those were made before all the shrimp and grits. 

Katie and Cathy get ready for a ride. 

Here's Peter on what they call the hipster Highway. It runs through downtown, Wiker Park and Logan Square. All popular hipster hang outs. Nice bike lanes in Chicago. 

Along Lake Michigan. I don't know how far we rode this day but we left at about 11:30am and returned 11:30pm. There were stops for the Science and Industry Museum, the Chicago Dance Festival in Millennium Park, a bit to eat and so on. Until someone advises me better I am going to guess 15-25 miles riding.