Leo's Surprise

Since The Trusty Companion didn't get to make the first trip of the year, I feel obligated to give him a post of his own. After all, he is a co-host of this blog.

When I returned from the Spring trip, I found Leo in pretty sad shape. During the cool months, when Leo wears his coat long, I try to give him a bath weekly. This keeps his coat fairly white, soft and fluffy. It also keeps him smelling pretty good.

However, toward the end of the season his coat gets so long it begins to mat if he isn't brushed regularly. So, by the time I got home from my trip, Leo had been well over two weeks without a bath and had been out in the yard a lot. His coat was oily, he smelled pretty ripe and was really beginning to shed in patches.

As a reward for his patients waiting for me while I was gone (and to make him pleasant to be around) I got him to the groomer on Monday. Since the weather is warming, I ordered him up a summer cut and also treated him to a pawdicure and ear cleaning. I'm sure he felt quite pampered, right?

When I picked him up I was treated to quite a surprise. Leo has grown spots!

 I'm not sure if these are new or if this year his coat was cut a little longer than last year. But in either case, he has clearly developed tan and gray spots on his back and neck and the spot near his tail has grown larger and multicolored. These spots don't show up at all when his coat is long and I don't recall ever noticing them when he has been trimmed for summer before. I think they look real good and Leo seems to be pleased with the overall feel of the shorter trim.

So, now he's fresh and preened and ready for his travels during the upcoming months.

Pappy

It's A Wrap!

The wrap-up of my first vacation trip of the year was great. The week was capped off with the Old Settlers' Music Festival Austin. The music was excellent and the weather was beautiful. Bit the best part was being able to spend the time with my kids. Having Doug, Kim and Maggie all together without the distraction of spouses, boy friend, kids was a special occasion.







Then when you add in the Austin crazies that always show up at Old Settlers it was a blast.







I arrived in Austin Thursday afternoon, after spending the morning on my guided fishing trip. I stayed at Maggie's apartment for the weekend. She had class Thursday, and didn't get home until after nine. This gave me a chance to get my laundry done from the first part of the week and catch a nap. Since I had been up since 4:00 am, the nap was welcome. When Maggie got home we went to Taco Cabana, where Maggie was startled to discover the they served margaritas!! She said she may become a regular!

I had planned to go to the festival on Friday, but found out that the headline act, The Avett Brothers had canceled their appearance due to a birth in the family (that's a new one on me). Since that was the act Kim was most interested in seeing, she decided not to go Friday. Doug wasn't arriving until Friday evening. Since Maggie was working Friday morning, I decided to skip the Friday show also and just focus on a great time together with all three on Saturday.

So I spent Friday morning with Kim. We shipped the kids off to school, then went to breakfast at Mimi's. Then Kim gave me a tour of her house under construction.
As you can see, it is now under roof and really beginning to look like a house. Walls are framed out so we can begin to get a feel for the rooms and the flow of the house. It is going to be a real showplace. More importantly, it is a house that the Waters family will always think of as “home”.

In the afternoon, Maggie and I spent some time looking over the information she had gathered about the Nutrition major at Stephen F. Austin State University. It is clear that if she is going this direction we need to get a trip to SFASU as soon as possible to understand what courses she can take at ACC before transferring to SFASU. Right now that is very unclear.

Then, while Maggie went kayak shopping with Jonas, I returned to Kim's house to wait for Doug. He rolled in about 9:00 pm, Maggie and Jonas were right behind him. From then on the party was underway. We finally adjourned about mid-night with a plan for the next day.

We kicked off Friday with a plan to meet at Starbucks at, as Kim put it 9:00ish. By the time Kim and Doug caught up with Maggie and me, it was”9:00ish-ish-ish-ish”. Flora's Mexican restaurant was open, so we went there of breakfast. When we finished it was close to 11:00 so we headed for the festival. A stop at Starbucks was called for in-route, then it was on to the Festival.




As always at Old Settlers, the music varied. There were over-ampted Canadians, a great Irish band (complete with fiddle, accordion and bag pipes) and plenty of traditional bluegrass.
And no festival is complete without "festival food"

And, remember what I said about the Austin Crazies? I do my best to fit in!

Next up....Stars Over Texas for Memorial Day.

Pappy

Now 'at's what I'm talkin' about!!!!

I don't know why, but on a fishing day I always seem to wake at 4:00AM. It may be because that's when Dad always got us up if we were going fishing, so we could be by the water at dawn.

Today was no exception. I had my alarm set for 5:00, so I could get showered, dressed, packed up, and checked out of the hotel by 6:30. That would put me at Rio Raft to meet my guide, Kyle Kenter, at 7:00. At 4:00 I was wide awake and by the time my alarm went off I was loading the truck.

After stopping for an apple fritter and coffee, I headed to the rendezvous spot, missed the last turn on my instructions and arrived at Rio Raft at 7:05. So, now I know why a wake at 4:00!

Kyle had his boat in the river. We shuttled his truck to our take out point and then we hit the river. Kyle rigged my line with two nymphs. The first was about a size 12. He tied a 6X tippet to the bend of that hook and 8 to 10 inches below the first fly he tied on a size 20 nymph. Above the first he added a small split-shot. Above this he added a strike indicator.

The strategy on the Guadalupe is to drift the nymph rig through limestone cuts in the river. They are identified by areas of dark green against lighter water. Over the next four hours I had several strikes, on which I missed the hook set. I also had four on which I set the hook successfully, but lost the fish before landing. I could tell these were large fish.

Then, just as it looked like I was going to have another day when I'd say “that's why the call it fishin' instead of catchin'”, I nailed my catch of the day.


It put up a good fight, with three or four good runs. I'm sure if Kyle hadn't been there with a good big net and coaching, I would not have landed the fish. But I did!

And what a fish! 22 inches and a good 5 pounds or more. I know in the picture it looks like I'm hugging the fish. That because I was! When I tried to hold it away from my body for the picture it would flip and was so strong I thought I would loose it over the side of the boat! After a picture with my camera and Kyle's, we eased the fish back into the river to fight another day.

My decision to hire a guide for my first outing on the Guadalupe was rewarded with a great guide, a good morning of fishing and a great half hour of catching. No question, this area is high on the list of winter base locations.

Now, I'm Austin bound for the Old Settlers Music Festival. What a great week!
Pappy

Scratch Hondo

I've been exploring the last couple of days. Yesterday I visited the area around Canyon Lake and the Guadalupe river. It is a very appealing area with rolling hills, heavily wooded, though the trees are mostly cedar. The Guadalupe is beautiful and I can see why it draws the “Toobers” during the warm weather. There were some in the water today, but the season really starts with Easter weekend. I located a fly fishing shop (Action Angler) yesterday, but when I visited the shop about 10:30 in the morning, it was closed. I spoke with a young man named Lee who was a friend of the owner, and was keeping an eye out for anyone stopping by. The owner was out on a guide trip and was only around the store occasionally this time of year. Lee suggested I call the owner, who would meet me at the store sometime in the afternoon. Pretty laid-back time of year here.

While exploring the river area, I found an RV park that looks like it holds potential as a winter base once I retire.

The picture above shows the RV section of the property. The Guadalupe river is to the left of the line of parking slots. Below are pictures of the typical view from the riverside slots.

River-front slots here during the winter season (October-April) are well within my budget.

Back to the subject of fishing, I decided to engage a guide for Thursday morning. When coming into a new area I find the cost of a guide well worth the expense. Particularly on the Guadalupe, where access to the river is limited to paid access, stumbling around trying to find the good locations can be frustrating. I'll update the Wanderings with a report on that experience tomorrow.

Today I decided to check out the Escapees Co-op location in Hondo, Texas.

For some reason I thought Hondo was in the Hill Country. Wrong! It's is due west of San Antonio, which seems to be below the Hill Country. The terrain is pretty flat, and marked with scrub cedar and mesquite trees. The town of Hondo itself is a typical Texas country town. It has one street of storefronts along a railroad track with US 90 running parallel to the railroad on the other side of the tracks. It's got a population of about 8,000 and its most prominent structure is its grain elevators. Not bad, but nothing to get excited about after seeing the Guadalupe.

Unfortunately, The Escapee Co-op park isn't in Hondo. It's actually about six miles further down US 90 in the town of D'Hanis, Texas. D'Hanis is a wide spot in the road, and not a very colorful one at that. The RV park itself is pretty nice, with good paved streets and good spacing between units. But it is really in the middle of nowhere. If I'm going to be in the middle of nowhere, I want nowhere to be nice to look at (like mountains or beach)!!! So, I'm scratching the Hondo Escapee park off my list in favor of the New Braunsfels/Guadalope River area.

Fishing news to follow.

Pappy

Reunion Time

I just wrapped up the first leg of my Spring Vacation. The 6th Battalion 11th Artillery Reunion in San Antonio far exceeded my expectations. Of course I should say, my expectations were not very clear to begin with. I really wondered what it would be like to go to an event attended by guys who had mostly never met or, if they had met, it was only as acquaintances 45 years ago. What I found was, the years and lack of contact didn't matter. As soon as we gathered in the hotel, it was like a family reunion. The bond we share is that of being Vietnam Veterans who served in the same unit. It was that shared experience, and the impact that it had on our lives, that put us all at ease. While individually we each served 12 to 14 months at some time between 1967 and 1971, the shared experiences quickly turned a gathering of individuals into bunch of guys hangin' out and swapping stories. And the stories weren't just about what happened in Vietnam. Much of the conversation was about how that experience had impacted our lives after we returned home. I count myself lucky as being one of a small percentage of the gathering not wearing a hearing aid. It should be no surprise that in a room full of artillerymen the most common word you hear is “What?”. On Friday evening we had a "Meet and Greet" during which we reconnected with folks we knew briefly 45 years ago and made friends with those we hadn't met before but knew anyway. This was made easy by the name tags we received when we arrived. Each contained our name, the Battery to which we had been assigned and the years we served with the unit. In addition, the name tag contained our picture as we appeared when serving in Vietnam. The pictures were a big hit. My name tag:



As soon as we saw the picture of one of our unit mates (who look little like that now!) a connection was made. I was quickly greeted by several as “Lieutenant”. I found that no one had known my fist name when we server together. I was Lieutenant White, not Fred White! That evening I was pleased to meet up with a handful of folks that I had actually served with directly.




During the evening and weekend, our bond of friendship grew. Another rewarding aspect of this gathering was that a large number of the Veterans were accompanied by their wives. It became clear that as the weekend passed, the wives gained a deeper understanding of the significances the opportunity this gathering had for all of us. Several of the wives mentioned that if anyone had told them they would be attending a reunion of Vietnam Veterans 45 years after protesting the war in which they served, they would not have believed it. Not only were they in attendance, they made it clear they were proud of the husbands and of the husbands' service.

On Saturday morning we had a session with a Veterans' Services Officer who explained various benefits to which we may be entitled. I was surprised to learn that my high blood pressure may be considered an effect of exposure to Agent Orange and may entitle me to some Veterans' Disability benefit. I plan to check on this when I get home.

After the meeting, I spent the afternoon visiting some of the historic missions in San Antonio. Many years ago, Lynda, Kim, Doug and I had made a trip to San Antonio with my Mom and Dad. We visited these missions on that trip and this gave me the opportunity to revisit the locations and remember that time we spent together.




I find the missions very interesting and relaxing to stroll through.

Saturday evening was capped off with a banquet for the reunion. Good food with good friends.

After dinner, we attempted a "C Battery Group Photo". I'm not sure how it turned out.


Sunday was spent touring downtown San Antonio with Glen Adams and his wife Peggy and Hector Cuecuecra and his wife Isabel. Our exploration got a little out of hand and turned into a long hike on a hot day. It really pushed my legs and left them sore the next day.





However, it turned out that Peggy suffered more from the outing than I did. We were not aware she has chronic back problems and the walk took her out of commission before dinner that evening. She was a trooper, giving no indication she was in pain during our walk. If she had, we could have caught a cab. I sure would have voted for it. Dinner at County Line Bar-B-Que on the River Walk with Glen, Hector and Isabel wrapped up the day and my time at the reunion. I'm glad I made the trip.

Now it's off to New Braunfels to explore the Guadalupe river.
Pappy

April 28, 2011 Update

Group pictures from the Reunion have now been published (Click to enlarge). Here are the Vets:

Here is a group photo of the Reunion party:

Spring in the Hill Country

This Friday will be the first of several trips I have planned for 2011. I'll be headed to San Antonio, the Texas Hill Country and Austin. The Trusty Companion will have to stay behind for this trip, because it involves activities the aren't pet friendly. I wish we could take a more European attitude toward dogs, where well mannered friends like Leo would be welcome in most establishments. But, since he can't attend conventions or join me in most restaurants, he'll be happier at home.

The first stop on this round will be a reunion of the 6th Battalion 11th Artillery, with which I served in Vietnam. This will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday in San Antonio. Then I plan to spend the next few days on the Bluebonnet Trail in the Texas Hill Country, with camera in hand. Weather permitting, I'd also like to get in a little fly fishing on the Guadalupe. Then I'll wrap up the week at the Old Settler's Music Festival in Austin. It should be a relaxing week.

Pappy