At Last! I Am a Trout Fisherman

Today was a big day for me! After three days of trying I finally caught at trout! A rainbow trout. Two of them, actually, but one was about the size of a pickle so I threw him back. The keeper I gave to a guy from the Denver area (I didn't catch his name) who gave me some instructions on how to catch a fish. He had already caught about ten fish by the time I asked him for some pointers. With my 5:43 deadline rapidly approaching the pressure was on and I rose to the challenge.

Earlier in the day Vicki and I went for our final foray into nature and took one last hike to the top of a small mountain. We hiked along the ridge until we came to an outcropping of rock that overlooked Lake Isabel (the site of my famous fish encounter a few hours later).

Today was our last day in Colorado and we had a great time. We leave for Sugar Land tomorrow morning bright and early after one last stop to visit our new best friends at the Amish Bakery downtown. Greg, if you're reading this - thanks for letting us hang out at your new crib for a few days. It was awesome.

After three days of trying I finally hauled in this behemoth.

My second catch was actually legal size.

Vicki at the summit overlooking her favorite lake - full of childhood memories.

Yesterday We Got Gorged

This is Thursday morning, the last day of our Colorado vacation. Tomorrow we make our return trip to the blast furnace that we affectionately call Sugar Land, Texas.

I'm not sure what we have planned for today, but there has already been some real excitement! As I was sitting down to type up this installment of "The Hood" I heard some clomping sounds coming from the back patio. I turned around to see six cows staring at me through the patio windows, their noses pressed against the windows, smearing cow snot across them as they moved their heads from side to side. Greg warned us that in spite of the low voltage electric fence surrounding the house that this would probably happen. I went out and ran the cows off, resorting to throwing a few rocks at them to get the last of them to leave. I discovered that cows apparently don't really care much about being shocked by an electric fence, as evidenced by the fact that they walked right over it on their way off the property. I also discovered, however, that they do apparently mind being hit in the head with a rock the size of a baseball. Keep this in mind the next time you are shooing electricity resistant cows.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at the Royal Gorge, which is about an hour's drive from here. For those of you who don't know, the Royal Gorge is the site of the world's highest suspension bridge, which sways (literally) 1,053 feet above the surging Arkansas River. Vicki and I had been there back in 1986, and we couldn't believe how much things there have changed. Back in the day you drove up to the bridge, paid a few bucks to drive across, drove across, did a u-turn and drove back, and then left. If you so desired there was the option to buy a ticket for the tram ride across the abyss, or to take the inclined ride to the bottom of the gorge. Now the place is like a theme park, complete with a $24 admission ticket. For the price of the ticket you not only get to ride the tram and the incline (both definitely worth doing), but you also get a burro ride, a petting zoo, multiple gift shops and admission to a cheesy "mountain man" town where it seemed that most of the mountain men, and mountain women, were relaxing in the shade and trying not to make eye contact with the paying customers. Which reminds me, Royal Gorge broke our consecutive day streak of not basking in 100 degree temperatures. Our car thermometer read an even 100 when we left (although it was in the 70's within an hour or so of leaving).

After we left the Gorge we headed south, back down to Lake Isabel. Based on our observations from the previous day of so many people catching so many rainbow trout at the lake we decided that we'd try our hands at fishing. On the way to the lake we stopped at a hardware store (there are not Academy Sports and Outdoors in small town Colorado) and bought two deluxe fishing poles and two lawn chairs. When we got to the lake be bought some essential fishing tackle, some worms, and some "fire balls" which are salmon eggs that trout are supposed to really like. We made our way to the lake shore, found a spot among the fishing crowd, set up our lawn chairs, affixed a worm to one pole and a fire ball to the other and waited for the fish to show up. A picture of what we caught is shown below.

Here's Vicki at the bottom of the gorge.

Note the tram crossing high above her. Yes, we rode it.

Here's Vicki on the world's highest suspension bridge,

proudly displaying the Texas colors.

Rafters on the Arkansas River at the bottom of the gorge.

We'll definitely try this on our next trip.

Vicki at the bottom of the gorge.


Me contemplating the abyss.

Everything you could want to know about the Royal Gorge

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A picture of all the fish we caught with our Ace Hardware fishing poles.

(For the official record, Vicki actually caught one trout, but it wiggled off the hook and flipped back into the lake before we could get a picture)

On the job front, yesterday morning I had about an hour phone call with a Houston recruiter regarding an Benefits Director position with one the major hospitals in Houston. We agreed to talk more when I get home.

Big Day in Colorado

Today was huge. We started early and went hard all day. We kicked things off at the Amish bakery in downtown Westcliffe. I highly recommend the pumpkin squares with vanilla icing, which I'll probably get again tomorrow. From the bakery we headed to the San Isabel National Forest for a nostalgic tour of Lake Isabel and vicinity - the location of Vicki's girlhood family vacations back in the late 60's. As the pictures below clearly show, things have changed a lot over the last 40 years. According to Vicki, this place wasn't exactly the Ritz when she was there as a kid and it's maybe gone down just a little over the last four decades.

After Vicki's memory lane experience we headed out on our hike for the day, which turned out to be awesome. We hiked up onto the local mountain to an old silver mine. At the end of the trail was an old miners' cabin and what's left of the mine itself. Just above the mine was a series of small waterfalls, where we had out picnic lunch.

Upon returning to civilization we checked out Lake Isabel and found it surrounded with trout fishermen, all of whom seemed to be hauling in plenty of rainbow trout. We hatched a plan to come back tomorrow and do some fishing. Maybe we'll have trout for dinner tomorrow night. Or, maybe we'll have leftovers from Monday night.

Upon our return to the metropolis of Westcliffe we had dinner at the Mahone's Poag Irish Pub. We'd heard that they had pretty good fish and chips. What we hadn't heard was that fish and chips are only served on the weekend. Small detail. We settled for chicken sandwiches and fries.

Our final event of the day was seeing a herd of pronghorn antelope crossing the road in front of us just as we got to "our house".

The Pronghorn Antelope Herd

Vicki and I at the falls above the old mine.

Vicki at the old mine.

Lake Isabel

Me trying to figure out which way to go?

Pine Lodge - Vacation paradise for the Sills clan 40+ years ago.

Vicki and her sister sat at this very spot many, many years ago when they were kids.

The Bishop's Castle - I forgot to mention this place in my narrative above. The "castle" has been under construction since 1969. It's being built by a guy named Bishop (image that) who has been working on it single-handedly for almost 40 years! The guy is well-known throughout southern Colorado as a certified nut case. If you're ever in the area make sure to stop by and see this place. Admission is free but donations are accepted. In addition to the castle itself, it's very interesting to read Mr. Bishop's rants against the state of Colorado and the U.S. federal government, both of whom are involved in a conspiracy to subjugate and enslave the population of the U.S. Call Mr. Bishop for more information about why it is unconstitutional for the states to require driver's licences of their citizens. Power to the people! By the way, that's me waving from high atop the castle, which is definitely NOT OSHA compliant.

Bishop's Castle
(Check out the dragon's head on the front)

Another Rocky Mountain Sunset

I Think I Have Altitude Sickness

Well, here we are, high in the Sangre de Christo Mountains in cool and refreshing Colorado. We had a great day, but am I tired! I think maybe the altitude got to me a little. This morning Greg and I went fly fishing. Actually, it was Greg who did the fishing. I pretty much spent a few hours tossing my line back and forth into the water, listening to the fish laughing at me. We were on the the Arkansas River about 60 mile north of Greg's house (which I will henceforth refer to as "our house" now that Greg has gone back to Houston).

After we returned from our fishing trip Greg left for the airport in Colorado Springs and Vicki and I headed out for our first hike. We hiked one of the trails in the lower reaches of the mountains behind our house. The combination of 9,200 feet elevation and uphill walking made for a fairly challenging two hours. Tomorrow we're going to drive over to the mountains on the other side of our valley - the Wet Mountains - and check them out. The majority of the trails on this side are hikes of at least five miles (one way) and they are very steep. Word on the street is that the Wet hikes are a little easier and a little shorter. We'll find out tomorrow. Our plan is to get started early, with our first stop at the Amish bakery in Westcliffe for sustinance.

Sunset from our back door.

Taking a break from our extreme hiking expedition.

Horn Peak - 13,250 Feet - An ominous presence out our back door

and everywhere else we go.

From the less exciting news department, yesterday Greg and I spent most of the day building some shelves in the living room. He wanted the shelves to look "rustic" so we built them with 2x12 boards. I'm not sure that they came out exactly as envisioned. Possibly a little more rustic than anticipated. We had issues with tools, and not having the ones we really needed to finish the job correctly. I was making cuts with a circular saw that should have been made with a skill saw. It was a little like doing surgery with a chain saw.

Tonight just after sunset there was a thunderstorm across the valley with some spectacular lightning strikes. Apparently the Wet Mountains get their name because it tends to rain more on them than on our side of the valley. We tried to take some video of the storm with Vicki's camera, but neither of us could figure out how to do video instead of still shots. We'll study up in time for the next storm.

Greetings From Colorado!

Before I get started on the Colorado leg of our most recent trip, below are a few photos from Camp Bandina earlier this week.





Morning gathering at the amphitheater. We also got together here each evening for speakers, singing, and some fantastic drama presentations.


The crowd in the mess hall/cafeteria. The cook staff - composed 100% of illustrious members at FCCC - did a truly amazing job of keeping everybody happy in the calory department. The only people who were disappointed were the ones who didn't like burgers, chicken, spaghetti, bacon, eggs, pancakes, breakfast tacos, peach cobbler, cookies, brownies, more cookies, ice cream, and rolls. In the words of Matt Davis, "If you were hungry this week it was your own fault."


The following shots are from our first day in Colorado. We'll be here through next Friday morning. We plan to be home either late Friday night (if we mad dog it back in one day) or early afternoon on Saturday.

Here's a view of the house. Note the large pile of dirt and rocks in the front yard. This is not permanent.

Here's the view from the back porch. Those peaks are about a mile or so away and they're over 14,000 feet high. We'll be doing some hiking up there this week.

Here's the view from the front porch showing the moutains on the other side of the valley. Westcliffe is over there somewhere, but it's hard to see.

After a great week at Camp Bandina we arrived this afternoon in beautiful (and I do mean beautiful) Westcliffe, Colorado. Westcliffe is about 80 miles south and a little west of Colorado Springs. We're staying at my brother Greg's newly built vacation home, and let me tell you, it is nice (and I do mean nice). Westcliffe is a little town of about 600 permanent residents and as Vicki would say, it is "cute". We drove around downtown with Greg and we can't wait to go back later this week to really check it out. I can tell you this, milk is cheaper at the Westcliffe Super Market than it is in Sugar Land, so if we only eat cereal this week we'll do fine. However, that won't happen because for dinner tonight my good brother grilled us some bratwurst, to which we added some fresh Colorado corn on the cob. Yum! As you can tell from the pictures, this place is a real dump, and all you can see in all directions is mountains. And, if that's not bad enough, the temperature was only in the low 80's when we got here, and it's supposed to go down into the 40's tonight. How do these people live in temperatures under 100 degrees?

The drive up from Lubbock today was uneventful, except for Vicki getting stopped by a DPS trooper. As many (or probably only a few) of you may be aware, Texas recently passed a law that requires drivers to move to an inside lane or reduce their speed to 20 mph under the posted speed limit when they pass a police officer who has pulled one of his or her victims over to the side of the road. This morning as we sped north on Interstate 27 between Lubbock and Amarillo we came upon just such a situation. As Vicki went by the trooper she not only didn't reduce her speed from the posted limit of 70 mph, she didn't make much of an attempt to move to the left lane either. As a matter of fact, I estimate that she came within about four feet of Mr. DPS. I noticed the scowl on his face as we passed, and made not of such to Vicki. Her comment was something to the effect of "If he doesn't like it he can just get in his car and come after me." Apparently he was just finishing up with his most recent catch when we passed, because about 30 seconds after Vicki's comment he appeared in her rear view mirror, lights blazing. When he got to the driver's side window his comment was "Are you aware that when passing a police officer who is engaged in a traffic stop on the side of the road you are required by law to move to a center lane, or if that is not possible to reduce your speed to 20 mph under the posted speed limit?" The words "I told you so" were screaming in my brain, begging to be released, but instead I had to settle for Vicki's reply to the trooper "Actually my husband just mentioned that." She said she was sorry, he took her license and went back to his car, and then came back and gave her a warning.

That's about all I have for now. I need to get my rest so I can hike in the mountains and maybe go fishing tomorrow. I hope I can find my jacket.

Camp Bandina Summary

Hello everyone! Well, Camp Bandina is now just a memory - a good memory. Vicki and I had a very memorable week with the First Colony Church of Christ Youth Group. It was hot - over 100 degrees every day - but no hotter than Houston. Actually, in the mornings it was downright pleasant. The theme this year was FREEDOM! This freedom was the freedom from sin that we as Christians all have as the result of God's plan to send his son Jesus Christ as a sacrificial atonement for our sins.

Our group was made up of nine FCYG graduating seniors, and this was a really great bunch of kids (oops! young adults). Vicki and I were both very impressed and grateful to have a group that was so willing to listen and learn, and so willing to do their very best to try and stay focused. This last thing, the staying focused part, wasn't easy because one of the tasks of the seniors is to stay up after the rest of the camp has lights out and do the final clean-up of the mess hall, set up for the next day, and generally hang out with Brian Bordan ("Bordo") to hear his wisdom and share the events of the day. Because this usually went on until the wee hours of the morning it made for some 5,000 pound eye lids the next day. But, in spite of this minor obstacle, we all had a great experience and learned a lot from each other. Wednesday night's "big event" was just that. We were all convicted of our sins in a trial conducted by Satan himself, shacked together in handcuffs and chains, and then led into the night for our eternal punishment. As we waited in the full moon for the final pronouncement of our punishment Jesus showed up to take our place. This is a very brief summary of an event that was actually quite thought provoking and impactful. Bordo and his summer intern staff did a really wonderful job.

On a somewhat less spiritual note, the Staff team beat the Camper team in the annual softball game by the score of 12-2. It could have been much worse, but we had mercy on our adversaries. This was one of my most satisfying moments at camp (yes, I am a shallow person) because the boys in our group were trash talking all week about the beating they were going to give us.

After participating in the "put 285 people in one long line and walk the entire length of the camp picking up trash" event, Vicki and I hit the road for Colorado via Lubbock. He rolled into Lubbock about 3:15. As soon as we hauled our suitcases into Kayla and Lance's apartment I hit the couch for a short nap, which lasted until 6:30. I guess that having to think and be serious for a whole week really took it out of me. We are off to Westcliffe, Colorado in a few minutes.

I have a few pictures of Bandina that I'll put in my next post. Special thanks this morning to the Sosa's - whoever they are and wherever thay are - for not securing their internet connection, enabling us to hack in and have some free access.

First Bandera - Then Westcliffe

Vicki and I leave tomorrow after church for Camp Bandina, which is in beautiful Bandera, Texas. Bandera is on the other side of San Antonio, about four hours from Houston (I think). There will be about 285 of us from FCCC, and we'll be group leaders for a group of ten FCCC kids who graduated from high school this past June. Our topic for the week is "FREEDOM!" which will develop the concepts of sin, forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and ultimately freedom from sin. We had a camp leaders meeting earlier today and it was verified that all we'll be doing is leading the group meetings - no staying in the cabins with the campers, no working in the kitchen, no keeping track of kids - just the nine group meeting sessions. We're excited to be going. Weather forecast - temperature in the low 100's every day.

When camp ends on Friday morning we'll be leaving Bandera and heading for beautiful Westcliffe, Colorado by way of Lubbock, Texas. We'll spend Friday night at Kayla and Lance's place in Lubbock, wash clothes, cool off, and then leave for Colorado on Saturday morning. We'll be staying at my brother Greg's new house. He'll be there for a few days and I've promised to help him out with a few projects. I figure it's the least I can do in exchange for a week of coolness. We'll also do a little trout fishing, which he tells me is great.

We got some great news on Thursday. Our good friends Greg and Debbie, current residents of Katy, Texas have sold their house and bought another one in Greatwood. We're looking forward to having them as neighbors when they move in about a quarter of a mile from us. They are "spontaneous" people, which means that they are fine with getting a 7:00 dinner invitation at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon.

I finished my "Life of Joseph" curriculum this week. My outline ended up being 55 pages long, which will used by our adult Bible class teachers to support a five-week study that starts on September 13th. If you're in the vicinity on Sunday mornings drop by. I'll be teaching the "Chapel Class" which is the people who are even older than me. I've taught in there before and they are a great group who loves to discuss. The best part about putting something like this together is the knowledge you gain in the process. I'm now almost an expert on the second half of Genesis.

This morning I changed the tail light on Kayla's VW Beetle. I thought this would be about a five minute task (it would be on a Toyota), but . . . no. If it wasn't for the wonders of the Internet I never would have figured out how to change that light. I actually Googled "changing a tail light on a Volkswagen Beetle" and like magic a complete description - including pictures - appeared. Whoever designed the Beetle did it with the dealership repair technicians in mind.

Speaking of repair technicians, Vicki had a minor accident in her Highlander this afternoon. She was backing out of her parking space at HEB and the person directly behind her happened to be backing out at exactly the same time. I think there's a physics corollary that says two things can't occupy the same space at the same time (I'm paraphrasing). It was her versus a pickup truck with a trailer hitch. The trailer hitch won in a unanimous decision. The damage is minor and it doesn't affect the way the car runs. But we probably won't spend the money to fix it right now, so her car will be ghetto for awhile.

I'm hoping to continue my blogging habit over the next two weeks, but I don't know what kind of Internet access I'll have at Bandina or in Colorado. Bandera is almost in the dead center of nowhere, and Westcliffe has a population of 340. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of us wearing jackets . . . maybe even gloves and hoods!