Leopard Moth find near Mont Belvieu, Texas

This is a leopard moth (Zeuzera pyrina) identified by the distinguished biology professor Mary Wicksten of Texas A&M University.  I just could not figure out exactly what it was, except I thought it a moth and not a butterfly, so I asked her to help me out.  She graciously obliged.

I photographed this next to the Chevron station on SH-146 as you exit Mont Belvieu.  Isn't it beautiful?

Give me Liberty – Liberty, Texas History

I spent yesterday in Liberty, Texas.  It’s an old town with a lot of history.  Although I had traveled through Liberty many times and my Bride and I got our marriage license at the courthouse, I had never visited one of the parks or drove the back streets.  I can’t say I have ever even eaten a meal in Liberty, Texas.  Now I can.

I wasn’t in Liberty on business, but pleasure.  My brother TJ Bustem and I were once again, geocaching and now, we were waymarking also.  Read about waymarking here. and of course geocaching here.    In short, geocaching is looking for hidden “caches” of goodies and logging an entry in a logbook located inside the cache.  Waymarking is simply finding interesting places, landmarks, and historical markers.

Baytown has many historical markers and two are at Bayland Park on Business-146 down by the boat ramp.  There will be a third added by September when the Bayland Guards marker is dedicated.  The two that are there are the Bayland Orphanage marker and the Confederate Naval Works of Goose Creek marker.  You can read about the dedication of the naval works marker here.  Make sure you watch the slide show posted at the top of the page.

My brother has often commented that the real reason he loves to waymark and geocache is because it takes him to new and interesting places he wouldn’t have experienced without following the GPS receiver to a point of interest.

This is how it works.  Using what is called a GPSr (global positioning Satellite receiver) or a smartphone with a GPS Ap (application) you visit (usually) www.geocaching.com, create a profile (free or paid) and then download close to home geocaches or waymarker points into the device.  You can also print maps and instructions and carry them if you do not possess one of the higher end devices, or bring it all on your Smartphone or laptop/Netbook, etc..

Then you go look for them…and its fun, a lot of fun, especially if you do it with a friend.

When you created a profile on geocaching.com, you created a unique user name.  Mine is of course, BaytownBert, so when I find a cache, I sign the date on the little logbook, located inside the cache and my username – then after I am back home, I log in my find on the cache’s site and upload any photos I may have taken.

Most geocachers carry a swag-bag.  Swag is cool stuff you leave in caches for other cachers and the basic rule of thumb is if you take something from a cache, then you leave something of equal or greater value.  As a geocacher, you also have to beware of muggles.  Muggles are non-playing observers who may watch your activity and then come over after you have left and remove or rob the cache.

Snakes, spiders, and poison ivy may be present in remote wooded caches and then there are the thorns and thorns may be so thick that unless you approach the cache exactly as the cache owner did, you will leave a scratched-up treasure hunter.

Baytown is home to what can only be called, an evil genius geocache hider.  His name is Aaron Barbee.  You may know him as the Texas Computer Guru and he writes a weekly column for the Baytown Sun.  I’ve posted a humorous youtube video here concerning finding one of his easy caches, but trust me when I say he has very few easy ones.

Now keep in mind that caches come in a number of sizes and shapes.  Some are tiny and only hold a small log (Nanos and Micros), but my favorites are the small, regular, larger all of which hold swag. And sometimes Geocoins and travel bugs.  Geocoins are trackable coins with a unique set of numbers that cachers record the number as a find online and then move to another cache.  The same with a travel bug, but it looks like a dogtag and has a small chain and hitchhiker item attached to it with a story.


I’m not much for finding nano-sized or even micro-size geocaches, as they are usually found in higher traffic areas and it doesn’t appeal to my sense of adventure.  I would much rather be visiting a remote forested area, an old cemetery with historic headstones and markers, or someplace that involves learning about history.

So far I have placed six caches and all are quart-sized regular caches with cool swag.  Three are in Barkaloo Park and three are in Jenkins Park.  It’s a great family activity, gets you and the kids out of the house and is fun to boot and a big plus is as my brother said: “it takes him to new and interesting places he wouldn’t have experienced without following the GPS receiver to a point of interest.”

Suspects connected to 21 crimes only get 7 months!

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By Shannon Daughtry
The Baytown Sun Published April 23, 2010 Two Houston men arrested last week in Baytown were found to have much more than one crime under their belt.

The Baytown Police Department estimates that number a little closer to 21.

Police arrested 25-year-old Michael Ruiz and 34-year-old Abraham Segura at approximately 7:30 p.m. April 14 after a witness reported seeing two men breaking into a vehicle and then leaving the area in a white minivan.

Officers quickly located the vehicle, which was being followed by the witness, and attempted to stop it. The suspects evaded the patrol car, leading the police on a short-lived one-mile pursuit. When the vehicle finally stopped in the 200 block of Williams Street, the two suspects were taken into custody.

While investigating the getaway van, officers noticed items reported stolen in other recent burglaries, leading to a whole new line of questioning for Ruiz and Segura. Those finds connected the two men to a string of 21 other burglaries and two credit card abuse cases committed over the past two weeks.

Detectives interviewed both suspects and obtained confessions regarding three other motor vehicle burglaries they had committed April 14. And though the two only confessed to a few other crimes, Lt. Eric Freed said police were able to clear at least 21 other cases committed by the suspects as well.

“From the information obtained by the crime victims who contacted us regarding the other motor vehicle burglaries, we were able to match the confessed locations, types of cars and items taken from the vehicles to the suspects confessions,” Freed said.

Freed estimated that thousands of dollars in property had been lost in the crime spree.

Ruiz and Segura recently plead guilty in a Harris County courtroom, and both men received seven-month prison sentences.
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In this article by Shannon Daughtry concerning the two thieves who were connected to 21 crimes and received  7 month prison sentences, I couldn't help but think they actually got 7 months amongst their own kind to hone their skills.  I seriously wonder if anyone, including the judge thinks they will come out of jail rehabilitated and contribute anything positive to society. 


I also wonder what effect it would have on them individually if the judge would have ordered one whack from a rattan cane across the back for each crime they were convicted of with a promise to double it if they fell back into their old habits.


Too bad these 2 didn't have 5 pounds marijuana in their van, because they could have been locked away safely for 2 to 20 years with a fine of $10,000 and besides that, they would have been slower and easier to catch.

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.

Trash Versus Criminals

I am going to be called a racist and bigot for simply writing what many think. It's time someone called it like it is.

“White” people have a name for lower class and (surprisingly often) under-educated white people and we find it socially acceptable to use this term – white trash. This negative word is not normally used by white people to describe the criminal element in white society though. We call white people who commit crime - criminals.

I hate trashy behavior and detest this culture and inwardly moan when a white trash family moves into my neighborhood. They inevitably cause property values to fall, as they do not tend their yards and this is always the initial sign of neglect. The next flagged behavior is home maintenance and usually a lot of junk appears around their house.

In their defense, they are often friendly people and other than the sloppy way they maintain their house and property they are normal, law-abiding, and fundamentally productive citizens. They work and often that is their excuse as to why their property is in need of maintenance.

I am a “white” person, so it is politically safe, if I call them white trash. In fact, it is a safe-phrase to use by everyone.

A long time ago I learned to differentiate between a person’s skin color and the culture they embrace. I have no problem living next to a family of a different color or nationality, heritage included. The problem I occasionally encounter is culture clash. When a person’s culture clashes or overlaps with mine, there is no longer harmony in our coexistence.

I can certainly appreciate other cultures, especially from a distance, but that doesn’t mean I want to embrace them. For instance I can appreciate beautifully and brightly colored homes, but in the culture I embrace, we paint our homes a more subdued color. I can appreciate a culture which believes in front yard loud parties – the block party, but in my culture, we have our parties in the backyard and friends are pre-invited. When both cultures abide in the same neighborhood, culture clash is the result.

I cannot appreciate the thug world mentality that gangsta music promotes and so many American kids embrace and the avarice and sexual excess it pushes as success.

Culture, not color is the deciding factor for me. This said, in some cultures criminal activity is over-shadowed by an inherent distrust of the police department and this is a problem that needs to be addressed by the civic leaders who so often scream injustice. They should be screaming at the choir.

I personally do not watch the bank job/mob/mafia movies, as I am repulsed by the crime syndicate glorification. I do not watch the Sons of Anarchy series for the same reason. I do not view either of these cultures as white trash, but criminals and they are predominately white people committing the crimes for the record.

Criminals need to be ratted-out for what they are – criminals. No longer should they be tolerated and harbored as neglected, under-privileged, down-trodden, or whatever other excuse is thrown out in their defense. They have predatory and often violent propensities and are a threat.

Time and time again surveillance cameras record men robbing and stealing and no one can recognize them? These men are criminals, not down and outers. It’s time and high time the community moves to rid themselves of these bad people. Read the police report folks. Our police department is diversified and they make no bones about arresting people of their own ethnicity, as is proper.

It is getting very common for people to be robbed at gunpoint in our city and more times than not it is being done by a very well-defined group of men. Enough. Rat out the offenders. Put color aside and go after criminal behavior. Culture is one thing, but crime is crime and is a threat to ever law-abiding citizen.

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.

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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Colorful Speech is as American as Moon Pies!

I was a sitting in the breakroom at work the other day when I felt a powerful thirst for a good old Nehi belly washer. I jumped to my feet and arms akimbo I unabashedly uttered my thirst-quenching craving.

To my startled realization, I became acutely aware that I was declaring my need for this sweet and deeply Southern libation to an uncharacteristically dumb and ignorant gathering of confused listeners.

Well, let me just say I immediately plopped down in the nearest chair, threw my feet-clad brogans up on the table, and began an oration that would of made Stephen A. Douglas himself proud.

A Nehi belly Washer is a soda pop of some sorts. Read: "A Coke" is not necessarily a Coca Cola. "Y’all want a coke?" "Yes!" "What kind?" Nehi is actually a name brand, but as the question about wanting a Coke isn’t actually brand specific, neither is the word Nehi.

"Boy howdy, tweren’t yesterdee a honest to gawl-dang frog strangler?" "Dang tootin’ it twer! It wast a fer sure goose drownder!" "It rent so hard it filt up the holler!"

This colorful speech easily translates thusly: "It rained very hard yesterday" "Yes it did and it flooded the back of my property". But what fun is that?

Television programming and our standardized government sponsored education system are doing their dangdest to homogenize and mold everyone to speak the same and I say it’s a dad-burned shame. It’s got me plum tored-up on the insides. If I wanted to speak like everyone else, I’d git somebody to carry me smack-dab over yonder where they all talk like that.

"They don’t know diddlee-squat bout what I am or what I want to be and that’s got my nose out of joint. They need to keep their little put-togethers to themselves and kindly leave us shut."

Not too long ago, on our family mailing list I commented that I wouldn’t be posting for the rest of the day because I had "some rat-killing" to do and this caused my first cousin in Toledo, Ohio to question why I had so many rats.

Speaking of rats, I’ve been so busy here in Baytown lately, I’ve felt like a one-eyed cat watching nine rat holes.

By the way, here it is a day into spring and I stepped out of the house to go to work and a Norther was in progress. I’m plumb tard of this airish weather, how bout you?
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Ted Kaczynski is Sounding More Rational Every Day!

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Below are but a few of the tech articles in the news this week. I am up to my armpits in technology, but like the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, I think all of these technological advances can and will be used to strip citizens of their inherent freedoms and privacy, as envisioned in the futuristic doomsday novels Fahrenheit 451and 1984. Stuff like this makes me more neo-Luddite than optimistic.  You can research these articles using the bolded text (on the Internet, of course!)Read on.

Nano-based RFID tags could replace bar codes

Rice University and Sunchon National University researchers have developed an inexpensive, printable transmitter that can be invisibly embedded in plastic or paper packaging, cutting costs of RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags dramatically and replacing bar codes.

Darpa Wants Self-Guiding, Storytelling Cameras Wired Danger Room

DARPA is starting a new program called "The Mind's Eye" to create an AI-based (artificial Intelligence) camera that can report back on war-zone activity with the same detail a trained human operative could offer. (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Google TV Coming to Make Your TV a Larger Computer

Google, Intel. and Sony are working on Google TV, a platform and service that will funnel search, video, Twitter and other Web applications through set-top boxes and onto televisions. FCC plan would greatly expand broadband Internet connections The Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday its long-awaited plan to bring broadband Internet connections to every home and business in the United States.

Broadband Trojan Horse?

The Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil a "national broadband plan" Tuesday that is opposed by industry and without any of the five commissioners voting on it. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is moving to increase the reach of his agency and expand government control of the Web, with "open access" regulations. And he recommends forcing major broadband providers like Time Warner Cable and Qwest to share their high-speed networks with smaller competitors at federally set rates.
- Concerning the RFID tags, I see these as tracking devices for humans and well, everything else.
- Concerning DARPA and AI, I see a roving police force that virtually watches every little thing real time. Any infraction of any kind could result in a fine appearing in your email box, much the same way a red-light camera catches a red-light runner.
- Concerning Google, the FCC, and the expanding government control of the Internet, I ask this one question: Why would the government want everyone to have high-speed Internet access to the point they would have it provided by tax-payers dollars?
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Baytown Bert's Delicious 3 Onion/Meat Pinto Beans

 I’m making a great big pot of beans for a family gathering in Dayton, Texas  tomorrow and I’m listing the ingredients, but not necessarily the exact quantities, for the most part (I don’t roll like that and can’t follow the rules). Adjust the quantities of each to suit your tastes. No one said it was going to be easy, but you will figure it out.

Anyway, my Sis asked me to bring em and I must say they taste vicious delicious.  I'll probably make a steaming pot of rice too.

3 lbs Mexican brand pinto beans

2.5 lbs Ground chuck

1 lb Chappell Hill ™ Texas green onion link sausage

1.5 lbs bacon

4 cans Hatch’s™ Diced Tomatoes

2 cans Hunt's™ Garlic roasted diced tomatoes

Louisiana™ Cajun seasoning

Yellow onion

Purple onion

Green scallion onion

3 beef bouillon cubes

1 container Pico de gallo pre-mixed (fresh)

1 container 3 chilies mixed (fresh)

4 cans chicken broth

2 large scoops sliced pickled jalapeno

2 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic

Rob Glaser Defines the Superphone and Predicts the Mobile Future

The future of media will be information consumed on superphones while on the go, said Rob Glaser, chairman of RealNetworks, today in his first public speech since stepping down from his CEO position. In the speech, given in Seattle at a Mobile Broadband Breakfast event, he forecast that by 2013 the installed base of smart and superphones (see chart for Glaser’s definition of each) will exceed the installed base of PCs, and those web-surfing devices will be mobile. In this world he sees five big opportunities:

1. People want digital persistence: They have an expectation that their content will be available everywhere at any point in time.
2. People want universal access to content across all devices.
3. The industry needs to make discovery easy, which means once people have access to digital content, they need to be able to find their stuff and new stuff they will like using semantic data.
4. There will be new ways to empower social expression and engagement, much in the same way Twitter created a new category of expression and a way to communicate.
5.The digital revolution will be a global phenomenon.
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Baytown Bert's take on the above story:  Just in case this morphing from Desktop PC's to Laptops to Smart Phones has never entered your mind, let me help with your education. The desktop PC is rapidly going the way of the 8-Track tape.

Evidence of this technology shift is most apparent in the under 30-year-old and younger users. Many of them do not have a home computer or even a wrist watch, as they access the time of day, music, videos, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Youtube, and the Internet using their phone only.

The handheld unit is the future and the future is now. What? You are still struggling with your Desktop PC and I'm telling you it is a thing of the past? Yes and I am sorry, as I too prefer it to looking at a 2 inch screen with ear-buds crammed in my ear holes.

What Rob Glaser is saying in the top 2 sections of this Blog is simply that the future is in the handheld models and he is advising everyone in the audience to get on board.

The future handheld units will be capable of projecting a screen, keyboard and even a mouse type device, which will emulate the real thing, so why should you own the real thing and that is their logic.

In case you missed it, he says this will be in three short years.

The next logical step for universal access is an implanted neural chip. I'm game.

Not the World John Lennon Imagined

Imagine you are driving across Houston, Texas - or any other congested city. You decide to catch a quick catnap before you begin your day. You lay your seat back in the plush interior module of your SUV shell; turn on the massage option to prepare you for the day and drift off.

All this will be made possible by technology. Your "car" is now a PTM or Personal Transportation Module and is incapable of crashing, violating traffic laws, or even getting lost. Everything is programmed to promote safety, the most efficient route (unless you prefer the scenic route, of course), and respect all laws, local, state, and federal.

Ten minutes before arrival at your destination, your PTM pulls through the express lane at Starbucks to collect your regular Danish and cup of mocha latte Joe, which has been preordered and debited from your bank account and whisks you back onto the city streets on time, or 5, 10, or even 15 minutes early as you directed.

Sounds like Utopia, doesn’t it? What could possibly go wrong? Plenty. Evidently.

Case in point happened on March 9, 2010 in California where a 61-year-old man took a wild ride in a computer-controlled modern automobile. The car decided it was time to accelerate upwards of ninety miles per hour. He could not over-ride the computer and shut off the ignition, or even shift the transmission into neutral. The car in question is pretty much like the cars we all drive. They have a steering wheel, a shifter, a brake, and accelerating pedal and they have a computer.

The computer makes a lot of choices for us we don’t even recognize. It controls how much gas we consume, when the car shifts, which tire gets horsepower to propel us and even controls the temperature inside the cab. How much the computer controls the vehicle is based on how much the vehicle initially costs. The more the automobile or truck costs, the more technology is inherent in the computer controls.

We are rapidly approaching a merger in the automobile and insurance industries and all of this will be accomplished whether we like it or not by government controls, under the auspices of the well being of its citizens. The "public good" we hear so much about is nothing more than rules and regulations, which removes our right to choose. On top of this, our government has decided it is in both the automobile and insurance business.

Smart cars are in our future and we are not as far from it as we may wish to believe. In a government-controlled car, you will have no freedom of choice or privacy. Your GPS coordinates (for safety’s sake - for god’s sake) will pinpoint you at all times. You will be required to purchase a universal module and the only upgrades your neighbors will see is the outer interchangeable shell.

John Lennon, where are you when we need you?

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.