12 Times! The Record Falls!

After a solid month of climbing and running, I caught a lower GI virus that basically knocked me back to little or no training status. It really made me feel weak and lackluster and I missed my Veteran’s Day deadline to break my record.

On top of that, it was unseasonable hot and humid and the timing was all wrong. I was determined to do it though and yesterday, I climbed the big structure 12 consecutive times. It took me 1 hour and 35 minutes. The temperature was about 60 degrees F. and humidity was close to 40% and there was just enough of a breeze to remove the heat as I generated it.

So that’s it. I broke my own record and as far as I know, only a guy named Robert Marshall has climbed in 6 consecutive times and I doubled that yesterday. My next attempt to break this record is Memorial day week, if I’m still physically healthy and willing.

Week 5 a Total Bust!

Week 5 came and went with me sick with a GI (Gastro-intestinal) virus, so no climbing and no running.  I've been off work 12 days, so tomorrow I go back to work and resume my climbing! 

Week 4 of Training!

The training continues

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Last week I climbed the big structure 1 time each day and various other structures, plus a 2-4 run each day.

This week I am climbing the big structure 2X per day, plus the other structures and running 2-4 MPD.  Each week until the week of Veterans Day (Nov 11th) I will up the number of times...and then go for the record of 12 concecutive ascends and descends

To Break a Record!

Beginning October 1st, I am going to begin training to break the climb record on the big structure at work.  The current record is 11 ascents up the 278 foot structure.  On or close to November 11th, I will break the record and climb it 12 consecutive times.
In preparation, I've been running 2 to 4 miles a day and walking and climbing everything in my path.  The effort should take almost 2 hours without stopping.   I owe it to my son, Sgt. Nick Marshall to continue on without him.  R.I.P. son.

Big Climb Record Falls...Yet Again!

On May 10th I found myself with all my work finished and I still had 3 hours to go before my shift ended. I stood at the bottom of the giant nemesis structure and looked up towards the top railing and said to myself that this was the day. Today I would make an attempt at felling the record of 10 continuous climbs by going 11.

Back on April 30th I posted I had been training for this day for the last 3 weeks and now I had another 10 days of climbing and running behind me. There’s no time like the present, so up I started. In the back of my mind, I kept telling myself to take it easy and if worse came to worse; I would log it as a training day.

3 times up and down and I began to sweat. The ambient temperature was the high 80’s and the saving grace was the strong wind. The wind was both savior and menace. On one hand, it removed the extra heat my body was generating. On the other, it all but blew my hardhat off many times during the climb.

The climb became a blur of slow ascensions with rapid descendings and nagging doubt and then renewed determination as each flight came and went. 284 steps up and half that amount descending, as I took the stairs 2 at a time coming down.

By the time I started up for the 8th time I was an hour and 10 minutes into the attempt and kept telling myself I only had “3 more to go” after this one. Coming down from number 9, I pondered "I had this one in the bag” and I just needed to knock out number 10 to do my last climb…number 11.

Finally, as I slowly stepped up the structure for the 11th time, I walked around a bit and then sat down on the top step and let the wind wash over me. So who did I beat? Nobody, or just me, or everybody – you decide. One thing is for sure, come November I’ll have to challenge my title by going for number 12.

Maybe I’m running and no one is chasing or maybe, just maybe, I’m having the time of my life.

59, Here I Come!

Next month I will turn 59 and I can still lift heavy stuff. In celebration, I plan to break the Plant record of 10 continuous climbs of the giant structure by climbing it 11 times.

It’s been a long cold winter and dry spring on the Texas Gulf Coast and it’s taken its toll on my motivation. I simply cannot motivate myself to Indy Trek when it’s cold and windy and dark and ugly outside. It’s to my detriment I know, but that’s the simple truth.

About 3 weeks ago, I broke out of my funk and started climbing again – and running, or jogging really. I start my day with a one mile meandering walk through the Plant, getting my closing readings and then home in on my nemesis, the giant structure with 284 steps. After leaving work, I began jogging on a side road and I’m now up to 2 miles. This is after working 12 hours in steel toed boots and Nomex.

59 never looked so youthful. More to come.

Team Fits Tackles - One Huge Smile Series

On January 14, 2011 a group of 9 intrepid geocachers & 1 geodog assembled on the northwaste side of George Bush Park in Houston, Texas intent on tackling the infamously thorn-laden One Huge Smile series of 25 caches deep in the scrub bush and swampy bogs. The team consisted of veteran cachers, HoustonControl, MuddyWaterGirl, TeamTroglodyte, and Ags91; sub-1000 find cachers Nebulus703, myself, and Latitude_Attitude, along with the sub-100 finders mom/daughter team SavvySireGirls 1-2 & geodog Eowyn.

I had spent the last few days worrying over the near freezing weather and over-analyzing everything from the terrain, food, and how much water to carry, to how many layers of clothes I would need.
Let me back up a bit – I did this series October 1st, 2010 by myself and it was 80+ degrees and later hit 90 and back then to my amazement, the park was in full pollen bloom, most of the open areas had waist and higher vegetation and the hike took me 7 hours with not a single break, other than to sign a cache log, or untangle myself from the multi-layer thorn matrix. I also depleted my water and towards the end of the search, I was pert-near staggering.

Thus you can see my concern going out this time.
Of the 25 finds in this series, I lacked 2, as they were missing. Since then, cache maintenance has been performed and frankly, I just wanted to go along, grab the missing 2, visit with this good bunch, and get in some exercise, so I volunteered to tag along and shoot a silly video to boot.

We started off at the crack of 8am and entered the woods and within 10 minutes we realized we had ran into a wall of thorn bushes. Making a group decision to push through, it wasn’t long before we arrived at #1 and signed the log. We all high-fived around and congratulating each other began to pick-off the next caches like mutual veterans.

Latitude-Attitude had an aerial view of the smile (the course was laid out to project a giant face with eyes and a mouth with a circle going around it as the head) and a proposed course for us to follow and since it was his idea to mash-up and tackle the series, we all gladly followed his route.

One by one we made our way to each cache with me finally checking off the 2 that I did not have. Along the way, most all of us took a thorn strike (or 10!), stumbled, became entangled, fell flat on our face or buns (ouch), stumbled again, had a vine wrap around our leg or foot, or had our hat ripped off our head. No one complained, not even MuddyWaterGirl when she stepped off in a hole and fell so hard, it broke a strap on her pack. Our traveling geodog, which was a leashed pit bull, had to be dethorned a number of times also.

Our group was a unique mixture of ages, sizes, gender, and experience, but what amazed me is how equally all were treated by each other. The veterans did not show-out or put on airs and were quick to help out those of us with less experience. They also get tripped up just as fast in the heavy thorns and bush.

We saw no snakes on this trip, but we saw numerous deer and a herd of feral hogs ran in front of Latitude_Attitude. We had a great time and when we exited the woods we were met by 4 Constables wondering what all of our parked vehicles signified. We ‘splained to them our hobby and I gave away a couple of my Baytown Bert wooden geonickels after giving them my name, rank, and serial number. It was a fine geocaching day to remember and we will meet again soon on yet another geocaching adventure.

Geocaching Adventure in Kingwood, Texas!

Big Climb Record Falls...Again!

Yesterday, in honor of Veterans Day, I set out to break the Plant record (I hold it) to climb the giant reactor structure ten times.  I was successful.  The structure is 14 long flights of stairs and a total of 284 steps to the top.

After a long very hot summer of sporatic and sweat-soaked Indy Trekking and many many long geocaching hikes, the weather has finally fell into the 60 degree F. range.  I didn't bother to post the internal treks, as they are basically a good solid work-out which I've covered many times before this article...and there is only so many ways it can be written where it is of interest.

I am very close to 58 1/2 years old and I do realize the importance of pushing my body, if I want to be able to get around when I am really old.  I'm afraid many of my younger co-working friends have yet to learn this.  They languish in the control room awaiting the time when they can leave work and go to the gym, or worse, do nothing physical.

Geocaching the Alphabet Soup Series GC253NY

 Well folks, Nebulus703 and I did all the Alphabet Soup series, plus 14 more yesterday in 7 hours.  We started at the Pond park and finished on the west end at GC194VC (Come one come all).  I goofed up and didn't load GC253px (Eager...), but we detoured way too far north and found Heme the Hunter, so we got the 40 we were after.

The weeds were even worse than described and I say that w/o exaggeration, with pollen plumes exploding around us to the point that my arms and face were yellow. There are at least 4 levels of thorns close tot he woods and the path to each cache takes you side to side to experience them, then there is an evil weed which wraps around your feet, necessitating a lift of the knee straight up repeatedly, or you will fall face first to the ground.

The bayou had at least 3 good crossing points and we took the one closest to GC252F0 (The point of no return).  I filmed Nebulus703 crossing after I made it across.  Crossing the second half of the bayou, the log broke and I plunged one foot into the water to my knee.  However, all 3 logs are doable if you have the confidence to go over the water. 

I found the whole trip exhausting after the fact and slept real hard last night.  The time after I got home at 3pm was a bust and I crashed at 8pm.  I cant speak for Nebulus703, but I've had my fill of uncut power lanes.

Baytown Bert does the One Huge Smile Cache!

Houston Control does the Brawndo series!

Baytown Bert goes after Maude!

Brawndo Series of Geocaches

Not too many days ago, I watched the totally stupid movie ‘Idiocracy’.  I thought it was stupid and idiotic and the more I thought about it, the funnier it became.  I especially loved the movie population’s infatuation with Brawndo (a futuristic version of Gatorade) and their devotion to its electrolyte properties.

Whenever the word Brawndo came up in a conversation, any and all would repeat the commercials by-phrase of “Brawndo’s got electrolytes!  It’s got what plants crave – it’s got electrolytes”.  Apparently in the future, people are so brainwashed by advertising that they believe any and everything.  If it comes across the TV, then it must be true!

Against all reason, my fellow geocachers are a lot like these future Brawndo worshipers in that when they could be sitting comfortably on their couches, they are instead wandering ankle deep in goopy mud, or having their arms and legged scratched to pieces by thorns so they look for something a stranger hid.  It’s totally crazy.
Each outing is the equivalent of a blood donation to the mini blood-sucking mosquito phlebotomists and then there is the ever-spreading poison ivy rain forest over-taking Baytown and surrounding area they deal with on a daily basis and all of this is beyond normal reason.  Then there are snakes.  Why?

Take today for instance.  For the last two weeks, I’ve been pouring over photographs of a wooded area in Baytown, which adjoins the Goose Creek Trail, using a ruler to figure out how in the world I can place 11 geocaches inside this area without violating the 528 foot rule between caches, required by geocaching.com.  Yes, there are rules to this game.

My Bride is confused (she’s always generous towards me, as she well understands I do things like this as a form of self-abuse).  “Why do you continually put yourself in predicaments like this, Hon?”  “Because I must” I spout and we both know it’s a Bert thing and sacrosanct.  Move on, there’s nothing to see here.

My problem was indeed self-inflicted and early on, I confided in my friend Levi McAllister, known as Skathious in the geocaching circles, as I hashed out the logistics in my head.  In the long run, we agreed I would go solo and figure this entirely out and this would enable him to “find” the caches and ensure the secrecy of the cache locations.  The fewer people who know, the harder the hide and it’s that simple.

Over the last week, I created 11 unique containers to hide in the most difficult locations I could think of and I must admit, most all of them will be difficult for cachers to find.

This wooded area is a wet, snaky bottom land beside a small slough or bayou and today, it was snaky indeed.  City Manager Garry Brumback came driving by and stopped to ask me what in the devil I was doing when he saw me starring at the thick underbrush close to “The Loop”.  When I told him I was hiding geocaches to attract people to the Goose Creek Trail, he told me city employee Patti Jett was also a geocacher, so I gave him a couple of my Baytown Bert Wooden Nickel Geocoins to share.

Here I was, loaded down with containers, busting brush with fogged-up steamy glasses when in the back of my mind, something screamed DANGER!  I came to an abrupt halt, tried to find a dry place on my clothes (no luck) to wipe my eyeglasses, and there in my path was a short fat wiggly thing my brain told me was a cottonmouth rattle-moccasin.  It actually was a cottonmouth water moccasin this time, but it knew this was its territory and I wasn’t supposed to be there. 

Since this adventure is getting long-winded, I’ll continue it in part two.

Brawndo Series of Geocaches - Part 2

I backed up a bit and I kid you not, I was as soaked as a wet Billy goat (and just as gamey I imagine), as I dug around in one of my 2 shoulder bags for my water-proof camera.  I snapped a quick photo and then put the camera away.  Looking around my feet for the snake, I realized it was…what(?) – gone!  I back-tracked a bit kangaroo-style and made my way towards the direction I needed to go for my last cache…number eleven.

Number ten and eleven are both deep into the thick and overgrown terrain of the Texas Gulf Coast mixture of giant thorns and heavy underbrush.  Bear Gryll’s while hiking south of New Orleans commented that this was the worst swamp he has ever seen – even worse than Borneo. We have swamp like that here and heavy underbrush and this is what I was encountering.  Each step may or may not have a surprise and my fogged up glasses were not helping a bit.

In our wooded areas live a very large species of spiders.  Most people call them banana spiders, but they are actually a golden silk-orb-weaver spider.  They are usually about face-high and that is usually where they end up when you are bush whacking and results in face whacking.  Their webs are very hardy too.

Texas has many varieties of thorns also and some are dark brown and the size of your ring finger.  My arms look like I’ve been in a cat fight – and lost and I now have some sort of rash on my arm that’s not poison ivy.  I have bruises on my legs and my eyes itch.

I’m having the time of my life.

Anyway, to make a long journey shorter, I finally sloshed back onto the Goose Creek Trail close to the existing Rusty Hands cache, which requires the finder to creep along the outside of the bridge over the bayou.  Thus, the rusty hands and one that required me to make 5 long trips before I found the geocache.

I made my way back to my geocachemobile, drove home, shucked off my dripping clothes in the garage, showered, ate, and submitted the cache data to geocaching.com for approval and publication.  Maybe my efforts will draw people to Baytown.  I have a feeling this endurance series is going to be a real bonus for our restaurants.

Custom Geocoin Wooden Nickel!

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About 3 months ago, I decided I wanted to create a signature item to place in the *geocaches I visit, instead of putting in a small toy, erasure, chip clip, or doodad, so I began looking around. What I found was custom printed wooden nickels.

The cost of these was a tad much in my opinion, until I came across a fellow in Wisconsin named Fred. Fred’s prices were good – real good. He was willing to take my design and text and print it on a 1 ½” wooden blank, with no set-up fee for roughly 1/3 lower than anyone else – so I placed an order for 500.

After 3 months, my first 500 are almost depleted and I have had a blast placing them in the various geocaches I visit. Here is the basic design, but on the real coin, one side is in red and the other in blue.

You can get your own wooden nickel Geocoin by following a link on http://www.baytownbert.us/ to the Ads-Tuit Wooden Nickel Company, or by clicking this link. http://adstuit.com/

Of course, you can call them at: 715-528-4352 Tell Fred I sent you and have fun with your own special and custom Geocoin Wooden Nickel!

I just ordered another 500 geocoins!

Note: Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world.

Geocaching In La Porte, Texas July 4th, 2010!

The Record Falls Once Again

In 2009 on Veteran's Day to honor my son and all veterans, I climbed the tallest structure at the Chemical Plant where I earn my living and I climbed it 8 times.  This was a new record for me and as far as I know, a Plant record.  Read about it here.

Yesterday was my 58th birthday, so to bump the record, I set out to do it again and top it by one if possible...and I did.  The new climb record is nine back to back climbs and descents.

The ambient temperature was 92 when I began and one hour and fourteen minutes later, I believe it was a bit higher.  Humidity was high - probably about 80+ %.  Starting with a slight breeze which helped me remove my heat, I ran into the wall at ascent number six when the wind stopped dead.

I knew this was a bad sign and my body temperature began to creep up.  Ascent seven was the same and I became hotter.  Fortunately, the wind began to pick-up a bit when I started ascent eight and then nine came and... went.   I briefly entertained the idea of going one more, but I thought it would make it that much harder later on to pass my own record.  So, another milestone and a new year for me for new challenges.

Geocaching Texas Brazos Bend Endurance Series

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We did it! My nephew, Andy Tallant, better known in geocaching parlance as Ateezy and I (BaytownBert, of course) completed the 15 geocache series in Brazos Bend State Park yesterday.

It’s known as the Brazos Bend Endurance Series and was voted by the Houston Geocaching Society as the most physically challenging cache series of 2009. We found 13 of the 15 and just could not spend more time in the heat and humidity to search longer.

I was unaware of this series before my friend; the geocaching evil genius AaronBarbee did it early this past May. He went with his geo-dog and found all them all. We were not that successful.

Each cache is known by a unique GC designation (geocache) and name. The first is: BBES #1 Endurance Test Starts Here. We followed a Long/Lat set of coordinates to the best parking area, then 2 more sets of numbers to get us where we could actually begin to travel to the first cache. It was the most intensive set of guidelines I’ve followed, requiring widespread land navigation and orienteering.

Both Ateezy and I downed a quart of Gatorade in the car on the 70 mile trip to the Park and carried numerous bottles of water – all of which were about 50% of what our bodies actually needed. We were sweating it out faster than we took it in and eventually ran out of water about 4 caches before we exited the woods to sit on a park bench.

I upgraded my Garmin Geko 201 to the respected Garmin Oregon 450 and man this thing is solid gold. For most of the trek to a cache, which incidentally was 30% briar patches and 50% heavy underbrush, I used the compass mode, switching to Map mode when I needed a sure beeline or when I was within 30 feet. It helped put us on top of 75% of the caches.

After a week, I am still suffering from chigger itching from geocaching north of Crosby, Texas with my son-in-law, Michael Sievers (I have 14 chigger bites that itch like the devil), so we layered our protection with a blend of Cedarcide and conventional Deet-based spray and we wore long pants and long sleeves to protect our bodies from spiders, briars, thorns, etc.

Brazos Bend is rated as one of the top wildlife parks in the United States and it did not disappoint us in that regard. Walking in, we came upon a broad-banded water snake that stood its ground and struck repeatedly at my walking stick, a turtle, 2 rabbits, an alligator, moor ducks, and a nutria rat, which ran across the path in front of us.

Leaving the path we plowed off into the woods, which are not the woods of fairy tales, but the heavy underbrush of the Texas Gulf Coast. It was the last manmade path we saw until 500 feet past #15 cache.

Almost immediately we were greeted by a large yellowish flying bee, which sounded like a miniature buzz saw. It had the same flying ability as a bumblebee and after about 5 attempts to swat it, I gave up. Through-out the hike, we were shadowed by these flying devils, along with biting flies, mosquitoes and stuff that jumped on us. Add in the spiders, which I figure roughly weigh about 10 pounds per half acre and you have an environment that is over the top for 99% of city dwellers. There is a tree-web dwelling spider in this park that is the size of a walnut. Last year one fell from a tree and bounced off the brim of my Tilley hat and I thought it was a large nut.

Down a gully, over a creek, up the gully, through the waist deep grass, under the brambles, around the briars when we could – through them with the machete when we couldn’t, we travelled onward. Numerous times (too many to recall as I grew weary) I saw things moving out of our way in the deep foliage.

Buzz-buzz-buzz all around us, I ducked under a weaved blanket of underbrush only to have the toe of my boot catch in a vine and after staggering 12 feet - fell flat on my face. “You all right, Uncle Bert?” “Yea, I’m good, just a root.” If I remember correctly #8 through #11 were solid walls of underbrush, briars, brambles, and downed giant logs which required scaling.

Andy stopped talking somewhere about this time and even though he can play full-court basketball for hours, he confessed that this was something requiring more than he expected. I was holding my own due to my Indy Trekking, but that’s about all. At some point he asked if it would be easier to just turn about and make our way out, but I told him the fastest way out was to finish the course. The woods were winning this contest.

At this point, I set a course as straight of a bee-line as I could, determined to put this series in the bag and I can’t count the times I ate a mouthful of spider webs as I raked my sweaty face. With my Tilley hat for protection, I lowered my head and pushed through the heavy growth, a quiet Ateezy in my wake. It was at this point my cell phone became waterlogged and quit working and I lost my printed cheat sheet. My Vietnam sweat towel is out there too.

All caches by geocaching.com rules have to be no closer than .10 miles apart, which works out to 528 feet. Almost all of these were .11 miles apart, so we were looking at 600 feet or 2 football fields apart per cache – but a beeline is impossible, so if we were real careful and picked our trail, we could arrive at the cache only going about 1000 feet.

To shorten a 5 hour trek in the woods to a few paragraphs is difficult and unfair, but I will sum it up with a question my Bride asked me and my answer: “Why do you do it?”

“Because we are men.” If you don’t get it, I cannot explain it.

Back in the Saddle Again

I started jogging again. It’s been about 2 years since I last ran and even though I am fast approaching 58 years old, I have been active. Last Sunday, after work, the sun was shining and it was dry and perfect, so I hopped out of my car on the way home, striped off my work uniform to my running shorts and tee, donned my running shoes and off I waddled.

At first I was going to run about a third of a mile, then that became a half and finally I decided to run down to Sens Road (from Miller Cut-Off where I started) and this would be a 2 miler. I ran along what we in Texas call a feeder road and is beside SH-225, a very busy, but safely distant road. I can hear the cars rushing by at break-neck speed, but I am on the shoulder of the feeder and as safe as can be expected.

Anyway, it was convenient and all I could expect in the Houston metropolitan shadow, so I did it. I amused myself watching the Union Pacific railroad engine and train as it rocked by. This is what I love about jogging; what a person does with their mind when their body goes into the robotic this foot that foot mode. If a person cannot conquer their mind, they will soon stop running and it’s that simple.

I passed the 2 miles this time in almost a blur, the weather and sunshine warming me both inside and out. I didn’t feel like a 57 year old man, even though I was running sub-11 minute miles. I felt more like I was 49 again.

I went home feeling euphoric and that lasted the rest of the evening. When I went to bed, I was physically and mentally ready to rest. During the night I dreamed the most colorful and exotic bunch of dreams I have had in a long time. When my alarm sounded I swung out of bed rested, but when I went to stand up, I realized my hips were quite stiff and my knees were protesting loudly.

I expected this though and once again I was waddling. Making my way to the kitchen, I gulped down a coup of French Market New Orleans blend chicory coffee…I grabbed another before I cleared the house on my way to work. All day long I went through the process of limbering up as I had a stiffness relapse every time I sat down for a few minutes.

The next morning all was better and after a couple of yawning stretches, I set out to repeat Sunday’s performance…and I did. The day after the second jog wasn’t bad at all, so after taking a break yesterday and being off work today, I went out and ran 2 miles this morning. Now I can’t say how often or how many miles I will be running in the future, but it sure is a good addition to my Indy Trekking while at work, which I have been doing on a regular basis.

Getaway Car GeoCache Adventure in Baytown Texas

Great time stomping around in the woods today! Not a whole lot of exercise, but I mowed the lawn (pushed it) and that got the desired results.

ChessKingDav and I Geocache In Baytown, Texas!

BB's Baytown Geocaching Adventure

This is a little video I put together while geocaching yesterday. Using my Garmin GPS, I found five and all of them required leaving my vehicle and hiking, climbing and spending a lot of time outdoors, which in perfect harmony with Indy Trekking!

Along the way I picked up an old friend ChessKingDav. He was trekking off of Evergreen Road, in Baytown and on a 10-mile hike.

I asked if he would like to Geocache with me and he agreed. An hour and a half later (5 caches), I deposited him where I met him and he resumed his hike.

It was a great day of hiking and fun and it didn't cost a dime other than a little gasoline.

*The music in the background is the Cornell Hurd Band out of Austin, Texas.
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Texas Camping and Hungry Varmints

If you camp over-night in a state park, be it Texas or any other park, you will have varmints visit your site while you sleep. It’s what is called, “a given”. In other words you will have animals in your camp looking for nibble goodies; little scraps of food, or more - unguarded loads of food.

The number one camp bandit is the raccoon and in state parks, the raccoons have ninjas-on-steroids skills. They have seen and will open almost any kind of container, cooler, box, or chest. They’ve seen it all and unless you place a heavy rock on top of your cooler, there is a good chance you will awaken during the night to the sound of “coons” rummaging through your stuff.

Raccoons make a very peculiar sound, especially when they are excited after finding something edible. To me, they sound like an alien from outer space, something like Mel Gibson’s character heard while standing in the cornfield in the movie “Signs”. It’s a major creep-out to novice campers, who huddling inside their tent and in the dark have no idea what it is.

I will attempt to describe their sounds: bubbles, clicks, purrs, and a cooing sound - kind of like a mischievous little monkey or a hideous malicious and drooling alien. Add to this the sound of a bungee strap slapping repeatedly against the side of an ice chest, aluminum and plastic cookware and eating utensils falling from the picnic table and the tree limb rubbing against your tent and you have everything you need to plead the mercies of your God.

However, once you realize what it is you are hearing, you have a couple of choices. First and the one I recommend is exiting your tent and chasing the critters to the far side of your flashlight’s beam (that’s all the farther they will retreat - trust me). Secure your stuff and then go back to sleep, hoping you didn’t miss something.

Your second choice is to suffer in silence while the raccoons ransack your site, again and again. My first experience with this phenomenon was about 30 years ago while camping at Camp Strake with the Boy Scouts. We were a bit sloppy in our camp discipline and the raccoons triple-teamed us all night. There is a reason they have the bandit band over their eyes. I think it has evolved along with their skill to rob campers of their goods.

This past camping trip I heard the hanging trash bag rattle as we sat around the campfire. Turning my powerful flashlight on, I spied a large coon peeking inside the bag, only halfway concerned with my awareness and about twenty feet behind it was a small fox. The fox is a second tier thief. Its modus operandi is to rob the raccoon and split the scene before the coon can catch it.

To me, that is justice served.

Meat on a Stick Time - Part 2!

We came, we saw, we camped, and cooked meat on a stick! Last Sunday, we wrapped up a four-day camping trip to Pedernales Falls State Park and due to my many obligations, I am just now finding time to write about it.

My brother TJ Bustem, nephew Andy Tallant, coworker “Big” John Graham, his son “Texas Slim”, and buddy “Texas Shorty” arrived at the quiet and mostly empty park Thursday about 2pm and began the process of setting up our tents and gear. I began worry about rain on this trip a full month before we arrived and I must say; we couldn’t have dialed in better weather, even if we had that ability.

The day before we left, I defrosted Elk and Axis deer back-strap my friend Brian White brought me and soaked it in milk overnight. Draining the milk and washing it, I put it in a one-gallon freezer bag and added Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning. Thursday evening, we skewered the tasty meats and held them over an open fire.

It was delicious! It was more than delicious, it was heavenly delicious.

The milk removed the normal gamey taste and appeared to tenderize the meat also, as it almost fell off the skewers. There we were, hunkered down, each of us as pioneers of old, cooking meat on a stick. Our two 10-year old “Texans” were getting both a taste of outdoor cooking by their own doing and the secure fellowship of men who actually care about their future development.

The Baytown Hiking Fellowship was enjoying its first campout. As stated in the previous Blog, our fellowship was founded last year to honor the memory of my son, Sgt. Nick Marshall and to promote fellowship and personal development. We all agreed we will have many more hikes and campouts, in the future.

I was determined to attempt a number of methods and new equipment on this trip, as possible for my own development and one of these is a knife/magnesium striker device, for lighting fires. In preparation for the first fire, I made cotton balls soaked in melted Vaseline, a fire-starting trick I saw on the Internet, but widely used by the Boy Scouts, hunters and hikers.

We gathered around the fire-pit and I pulled 2 cotton balls out, placed them in the pit and struck the magnesium rod with the edge of the knife blade. Like magic (and to my utter amazement), the cotton balls ignited and just like that, we had the beginnings of our campfire. My only regret is, we failed to video it.

Friday and Saturday we hiked as a group and Geocached. We were blessed with sunny days, but the nights hovered in the mid-30’s, which was fine, albeit cold. I opted to sleep in my tent with no heater, as did Andy and TJ Bustem and although my sleeping bag kept me comfy, my face was cold as ice and my only option was to wrap a fleece blanket around my head each night.

Once again, geocaching is a high tech treasure hunting game using a GPS device to locate “caches”. Pedernales Falls has close to 30 approved caches hidden within its borders and our first objective was to locate a number of them on the 4-mile loop trail. However, the Pedernales River had the only crossing flooded, so we went off to find other caches, eventually locating nine.

By Saturday, our two pint-sized Texans were weary of the slow-pace us seasoned campers were keeping, so Andy took them off to Pedernales Falls for four hours of hiking while TJ Bustem, Big John, and I hiked part of the Wolf Mountain Trail and located more caches. At the Pedernales Popcorn cache we found our first Travel Bug, which is a cool-looking dog-tag thingy and this one was attached to a travel boot ornament. The idea of a travel bug is the person who “grabs” it, carries it to a distant cache according to the wishes of the original owner and all of this is recorded later on geocaching.com.

This Bug is going to be placed Saturday, March 6th on the Goose Creek Trail, helping it on its way to the Appalachian Trail.

Raccoons, accosted our camp as always, but we kept a clean site, so they got very little besides a couple of my favorite Los Toritos bean, cheese and jalapeno tamales and a can of bean dip. Jackrabbits, deer, and even a fox passed through our site as we sat by the fire and who knows what else while we slept.

It was a weary bunch of trail-broke happy campers who rolled up their gear Sunday morning. At this point all of us could have stayed on without reserve, but commitments and our folks at home beckoned. As we drove out of the park, all were making plans for the next adventure.

Pedernales Falls State Park Texas Camping trip Feb 2010

I am posting this for future reference and for anyone planning a camping trip in possibly very cold weather and especially if the people are novice campers.

1. I would like each person who attends to "bring a skill to teach" to the camp-out and I would like a commitment asap. I know this sounds demanding, but we are not just camping, we are having a fellowship and workshop. Your skill can be how to prepare a simple food item, or how to make a homemade tent peg - I don't really care. However, you have the option of providing the necessary items for all or posting a list of things we need to bring. Search the Internet or youtube.com for ideas.

2. My selected skill is going to be teaching everyone how to use a GPS device. Please bring one if you have one, or purchase one immediately. The Garmin eTrex H GPS is an excellent choice and is $86 shipped on Amazon.com. I plan to teach Geocaching also to everyone who is interested. The park has many caches alongside the trails and this is a lot of fun to boot. Make sure to bring your manuals if you bring a GPS unit and you are unfamiliar with its operation.

3. Next item is transportation. Who is riding with whom and when do you plan on arriving? Two vehicles only are allowed at the campsite with additional parking not too far away. You can drop your gear at the campsite - we won't know which one we get until we arrive.

4. Each person is responsible for whatever food and personal items you need. It's the best way and proven course of action. Do not get too elaborate or it may be come difficult - due to weather conditions.

5. Footwear: Boots and no ankle socks. Ankle socks may be cool in town, but they are flat cold when camping and your ankles will get scratched to high-heaven while geocaching. Cotton socks are cold, so buy hiking socks and if you can afford wool, then get about 3 pair. Bring extra socks anyway and a second pair of shoes for around the camp area, so you can dry your hiking boots if they get wet. There is a water crossing or two on the trails. A small towel in your kit will help if you have to wade barefoot then put your boots back on. It happens.

6. Hot showers and warm toilets: The park has first class showers and restrooms. Bring flip-flops or water shoes for the showers and all necessary toiletries in Baggies.

7. Fees for the park per person: $3 per day, per person 13 and older, staying overnight- unless you have a park pass, which I do. It's $60 per year and well worth it.

8. Fishing: Fishing is limited to a small area, but you do not have to have a license to fish in a Texas State Park. The park will even loan you a pole, etc.

9. Activities: All group activities are optional, but encouraged. I personally plan to hike the 4 mile trail and the 7.5 mile wolf Mountain trail on separate days. All are welcome to come along and the 4-mile trail is a casual walk, but the 7.5 mile trail is a no joke no fooling around hike.

10. Cameras, IPOD's, chargers and batteries: Bring plenty of everything, but my personal experience concerning IPOD's, et al, is they alienate a person from the group. I have 2 and I'm not bringing either one on the trail. I have a camp radio that has an IPOD connection, which is perfect for sitting around the campfire for all to enjoy. Austin radio, which is excellent will also be available. Electricity is available at the campsite, as is potable water.

11. Firewood: One of us has committed to bringing a lot of wood, but we need back-up in the event that they have to opt out at the last second. The more wood, the better.

12. Containers: Rubbermaid makes excellent locking containers. You can get one of these at Target for about $35 and it will keep the raccoons out of your stuff. Rubbermaid 1172 Action Packer Storage Box, 24-Gallon

13. Raccoons:  Raccoons WILL get into your stuff if you do not secure it. Count on it.

14. Tents and sleeping bags. You must prepare for very cold weather. 20 degrees F. or possibly colder. Hopefully we will have moderate weather. Since we are sleeping in a State Park, we have the luxury of taking extra blankets, so bring some. Bring a pull over knit hat for your head while sleeping, or you will freeze to death regardless of how good your sleeping bag is. Trust me on this.

Geocaching and Hiking in Brazos Bend State Park

I had a good day today and so did “Big John” and “Texas Slim” Graham.  They’re father and son and since it’s a tradition of mine to award trail names to folks I hike with, these are the names they are stuck with from here on in.

John is a Safety Specialist at the Plant where we work and since his ten year old son, John Michael has never did geocaching, hiking, or trail finding, I figured it was time and high-time, he got a moniker fitting a real Texas boy.  Texas Slim and just Tex for short will do him nicely.

We did a shake-down hike and geocaching adventure this morning, to brush the cobwebs off my GPS skills, since I hadn’t looked for caches in about 8 years and teach them how to read a GPS device. 

You see, I bought a GPS (global positioning satellite) device about 10 years ago with the intention of participating in this hide and seek high-tech game of treasure hunting, but my bride was not interested in walking ankle-deep through water or knee-deep through briars out in the woods to accompany me, so I gave it up.

Now, years later, I decided to take it back up and use it as a tool to get my young friends off the couch and onto the trails.  This year we are going camping, hiking, kayaking and geocaching together and I see it as a win-win for all of us.

Today, I met my two trail buddies at the park entrance at 8am and we parked at the first parking lot.  Before I left my house, I visited geocaching.com and copied the coordinates to 6 caches and printed out a back-up copy of hints and instructions for each cache.  It’s a good thing I did too, as I had accidentally typed one number incorrectly into my device, throwing that location off by 8 miles.

Off we went, packs on our backs and reasonably dressed for the cool and mildly windy weather. The sun was coming on strong and was most welcome to boot.  I think this was Texas Slim’s first venture into the wild and since we were off the trail, more than on it, he began muttering little ouches and grunts to alert (mainly his Dad) that he was getting poked, stuck and whatever.

Being the son of a man who showed little sympathy for discomfort amongst youngsters, I began explaining to him that everyone who hikes, camps or spends time out of doors will get irritations, injuries, campfire burns, etc. and it is just something we all learn to live with – yes, including the fact that our feet hurt after walking for 5 hours.  This had a calming effect on him, as he didn’t utter another complaint – a real fast learner.

As we headed from geocache to geocache, I explained to my 2 tenderfoot companions the things I learned from my Dad, hiking buddies, brothers, my brief exposure to Boy Scouting and books on how to keep safe in the woods.  I pointed out poison ivy, the very real possibility of venomous snakes near the caches and most important of all – watch for the American alligator, which inhabit this park and almost any body of inland water here on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Of the 6 caches we attempted to locate, we found 2, not bad when you consider that 3 of those 4 might be missing or damaged since they were placed.  I should have checked the online comments from other geocachers, but like I said, I am rusty.  One cache, called the “Just a Swinging” cache was apparently located yesterday and the folks who found it said it was hidden very well; we just gave up thinking it was missing and we were the loser on this one, to my shame.

All in all it was a wonderful experience and did indeed shake the dust off our equipment and ourselves.  We have a big camping trip planned for the end of February at Pedernales Falls State Park and there are about a hundred caches hidden there.   We plan to find most of them and in the process get exercise, sharpen our orienteering skills and most of all have fun in the great outdoors.

There is no Year Like This Year

I have very mixed emotions starting this year off.  Like many others, 2009 was not my best year.  Personal losses, family members whose great jobs disappeared and the general sluggish Obama-led economy all took their toll on me.  In a nutshell, I do not want a repeat of 2009 in 2010.

For months now, I’ve felt a lethargic weight on the back part of my brain and what I need is a panacea or elixir to pull me back upright.  I’m not a believer in astrology or fortune-telling and I have enough years in my poke sack to realize that if this year is going to be better for me, it is within my power to make it happen. I’ve stated this many times over the last 30 years and danged if I didn’t succumb to the wiles of misfortune anyway. 

I learned the hard way in 2009 that a person cannot prepare for every eventuality successfully.  However, each time something tragic happens, I am still optimistic that I will survive and in the long run, come out stronger.  That too is up to me.

As a fundamentalist Christian with a partial and practiced Zen Buddhist mind, I still became entangled in a state of depression that kept me mentally chained most of this last year.  No one can say with certainty how they will react or recover from something truly tragic until they have emerged on the far side, regardless of what they say beforehand.

Racking up over five hundred hours of overtime at the Plant kept my body busy enough, but mentally I ghosted most of the year away.  I wasn’t as strong as I should have been for my bride and family and I’ve determined that 2010 would be different, albeit ten days into January, I am just now getting my plan into motion.

I’ve booked four days at Pedernales Falls State Park, out Johnson City way for late February and plan to camp with my brothers and friends more this year than any previous year, excluding my teen years.  I camped for almost 3 months in Georgia with my brothers and life’s responsibilities prevent me that luxury now.

I’m going to call on my old friend and nemesis – exertion, to once again rejuvenate my mind.  Exertion has never failed me and as I age I realize that exertion is the one constant in my life that has provided me with true physical mental health.  As I told a friend recently, “I am not happy unless I am pushing myself physically to the point of exhaustion”.  I guess I could ask my niece Tiffany, what kind of mental problem this is, since she has a Masters degree in psychology, but I probably won’t, as it won’t change anything.

Back in the Stone Age when I was young and strong and thought I could take on all comers, I ran and ran and ran and lifted weights, did karate, push-ups and pull-ups like a fanatic and it kept my demons at bay.  In 2010 I will make fifty-eight years of age and these days my testosterone level is obviously not what is was, so I will simply tighten up the strings on my hiking or work boots put on my leather gloves and bang my feet on the trails and climb the ladders at work to get my mental buzz on.

I listened on the radio as the exercise sage and godfather of fitness, Jack LaLanne explained that even at 95 years of age, exercise is number one and nutrition is number two.  According to his bio, at the age of 70 handcuffed and shackled, he fought strong winds and currents as he swam 1.5 miles while towing 70 boats with 70 people from the Queensway Bay Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, so I think it is safe to say he knows what exercise can do for a person, both mentally and physically.  He is full of vim and vigor which is defined as a healthy capacity for vigorous activity and forceful exertion.

Forceful exertion breeds a healthy capacity for vigorous activity and that is my simple plan for 2010 to get my mental health back and in the process my body will benefit also.  Want to join me?

A Morning Stroll With a Dragonfly

I went for a walk this morning; it's cool - right at 56 degrees F., wind calm - perfect.

I happened upon this small dragonfly, perched on a fire monitor trying to catch some warmth from the rising sun.

I noticed its head is covered with dust and debris.  That must be awful to not be able to clean your own face and eyes, but I doubt the dragonfly knows this.  Anyway, it is a nice morning for a trek and I thought I would share this photo.