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Post 21 Feb 2023, 12:59 • #1 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Back from Arroyo, worn out, wonderful trip, terrible fishing.
OK, terrible meat fishing - dink fishing was still fun, pedaling the NWR and wanting more, great times with friends, were all over the top.

Our beating tailwind for the drive down was a beating cold front into our face Thursday night, lingering cold on Friday.


I caught 20 fish Thursday night, We finished the night each with a large spec caught on RB77.



20" and 22-1/2" - both upper end of slot, both filleted out female.
The conditions somehow kept bait from concentrating at our dock, so no schoolie males ever arrived.
Top it off with an extended family moved into the dock next door Friday and Saturday nights, blowing their ghetto blaster through the dock piers - they caught hardheads (catfish), and the kids all hooted and hollered, which was the good part.
The prevailing SE wind and the tropics returned on Saturday. Think I caught one fish each for those two nights, and then 15 on Sunday night after our loud neighbors were gone.
Again, all nursery trout up to 16" and all fun on light tackle and lures - caught many fish on the metal jigs - it's always fun to have success on new lures (and I didn't have to fillet 50 fish).
I let Susie take my big fillets home to bake an exotic feast for Lou - they were too big to saute for my favorite fish tacos.

Before the trip, I sent out an e-mail that mesquite and yucca chert on the trails would require bringing spare tubes - not that Lou ever listens.
We discovered Saturday you can't get into the NWR from the county park, and that was a good ride right up to Lou's flat.
My saddle bag has 3 tubes and a fold-up tire - Ice Mule and beer in the front bag.


Then most of Sunday was spent chasing down a tube at Walmart, so we only got enough taste of pedaling the NWR on Sunday to want more,
but it's in the Ten Best Things You Can Do on a Bicycle.



We made Granjeno loop - we have to go back for the Upper Cayo loop.


The star of the trip was the palapa and Steve's fire pit.



Steve's firepit with screen top is safe on the wood deck, kept the girls warm and entertained on the cold nights - and even better,
Steve has it set up as a pizza oven with a 700-degree stone.


Susie's melt-in-your mouth beef stew + perfect cornbread was a warm welcome on Friday night.
We got creative with the pizzas, picadillo, nachos and Abuelita's home-made tamales (from Jerry's bait shop across the road) for other meals.
Susie's star for the trip was a lemon buttermilk pie. No words to describe the quality of her pie crust.


Everyone had a blast, relaxing time. Enough fishing to make it fun, enough adventure to want to go back next winter.


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Post 21 Feb 2023, 13:04 • #2 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/23/19
Posts: 371
Location: North Central Oregon
Very nice Bulldog! Now I'm hungry and want to head to warmer climates!


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Post 21 Feb 2023, 16:50 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Awesome Ron. Sorry the weather/wind didnt work out. Nice work, great food and bike ride. Thanks for sharing!


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Post 21 Feb 2023, 16:55 • #4 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Mike, when you can have fun paying your dues, it's a successful trip.


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Post 22 Feb 2023, 08:25 • #5 
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Joined: 11/09/10
Posts: 1355
Location: US-CA
Still outstanding.


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Post 22 Feb 2023, 09:08 • #6 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
The house is huge, and real estate (rental) that far south and that remote is a bargain.
We had 2 empty bedrooms and beds for 6 more guests. The rent is the same as a 2 BR canal house far up the coast.


I always bring a DVD player and a selection of movies, to give us the option of winding down on a lazy afternoon.
Two movies that were both hits with the group were Hopscotch (1980) and The Train (1964).


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Post 22 Feb 2023, 09:46 • #7 
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Joined: 05/22/16
Posts: 1760
Location: SJC
Looks like a good time, and good eating !


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Post 22 Feb 2023, 10:31 • #8 
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Joined: 03/21/22
Posts: 172
Location: US-PA
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Looks like a beautiful area and spent with good people. I really liked his deck and firepit set up, would make for a nice way to wind down a day.


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Post 23 Feb 2023, 05:56 • #9 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Very nice rental Ron.

Hopscotch is certainly a delightful, refreshing classic comedy for sure!


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Post 23 Feb 2023, 09:19 • #10 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Glenda Jackson is hot for all us old goats.
The Train is Frankenheimer's Best by far with great characters, train-wreck gags, and A Man for All Seasons changed from saint to super-villain.
It also has the best 650b constructeur bike that ever made the movies.


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Post 23 Feb 2023, 10:06 • #11 
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Joined: 10/09/09
Posts: 2796
Location: US-NM
That pie looks great,and at least you got to ride the bikes.........Aurelio


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Post 23 Feb 2023, 10:34 • #12 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Yes she was!

Thanks for the historic link on Constructeur bikes. Great info. I can sort of understand the fascination and freedom of randonneuring "in style" with a proper bicycle. I dont ride a bicycle much but if I did it a gravel bike of sorts might be something I would consider. The closest thing to a 650b constructeur I ever had was a gas powered 650klr. I used it to (moto) bike camp all over NE Washington and N Idaho to flyfish of course. Aside from kayak fishing/camping in N Vancouver Island on the Inside Passage these are two of my favorite things to do that I havent done in a while unfortunately.

Found this great link of a Herse/Singer display in Seattle...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ratrocket ... 335870141/

Here is my 650(non b) in N Idaho...



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Post 23 Feb 2023, 12:15 • #13 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
There are 3 schools of bikes - roadies and gravel mostly from China aluminum, all-road steel bikes for grown-ups (Rivendell), and all-road bikes that have been here since Herse and Singer.
Jan Heine (Bicycle Quarterly) currently owns Herse, lives in Seattle, and is the champion of the All-Time, All-Road Steel bike.
(damn good tires, on 2 of my bikes, and here on Lou's Chapman 650b rando)

avoiding the China aluminum production, we've been in a long-time mode of buying steel frames and building our bikes.
My Viner on this trip is a '92 Pro CX frame, built as an upright rando - I have a good set of clip-on fenders when it needs them.
I've squeezed 38-mm tires between chainstays, but there's room for mud with 35 mm, and plenty of control for gravel and single-track (even with a brewpub on the front).

ps Mike - looks like a great adventure in Idaho.

Aurelio, we had a gestalt trip and adventure, so that, fishing was a still-successful part of it - we just didn't get the bait phenomenon that has spoiled us here.


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Post 23 Feb 2023, 13:06 • #14 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Thanks Ron for the additional insight. Nice classy bikes there. I need to stop looking too deeply as things (starting a new hobby) can get very expensive. I have a $1k mountain bike with flat tires I havent ridden in about 15 years. I dont have any adventurous bicycle riding friends but I still have a couple dual sport fishing buddies. I sold my KLR650 several years ago and downsized to a more dirt oriented lighter (but HWY capable @70) dual sport. I strap a small backpack on the rear box and enjoy going minimalist more now. A bunch of lakes open Mar 1 (except most will be frozen) but when it warms up I plan on taking my WR250R from my doorstep 1-2hrs to fantastic spring flyfishing spots with a couple buddies also on 250s.


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Post 24 Feb 2023, 13:07 • #15 
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Joined: 05/22/16
Posts: 1760
Location: SJC
Nice bikes ! I had an old-school Yamaha 650 dual sport thumper when I lived back east in the early 90's. Kick start. Rebuilt the engine one winter and still have the piston somewhere...

Gave up on motorcycle riding after crashing my sportbike and breaking my ankle. Started mountain biking instead after rehabbing, which I still do, though i hike a lot more these days.

(sorry for the digression Ron)


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Post 24 Feb 2023, 17:52 • #16 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
No worries. Bikes were an important part of this trip, and will be next time we travel here, also.
If you noticed the food, if we didn't ride these things, you could roll us down the NWR macadam.



My late friend who built the telescopes at McDonald Observatory loved thumpers, both 1-c 500cc BSA he raced hill-climb (just the right age to be McQueen-cool) and Kawasaki 1-c 750cc.
He also had a 100-pt Tiger that stayed in his kitchen - he was always rouge-polishing the transfer case covers in the machine shop. .

ps - Thomas & Thomas began making fly rods to pack them on their Harleys


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