veloxseeker

The Book That Started It All…

When I was around 12 years old, my family had a trip to Colorado planned. I knew nothing about Colorado except that it was a long drive to get there. At the time I was a voracious reader of history, Native American culture and skills and various other things. I was never really interested in comic books or Mad magazine. Anyway, I was strolling through a Woolworth/Woolco store and noticed a paperback on the wire rounder by the title of Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen. It was $4.95…which I didn’t have. My mind started whirring and processing ways to make five dollars so I could buy the book.

So what does every desperate future entrepreneur do? I worked up the courage to go door-to-door in my neighborhood asking if there was any chores that needed doing for five bucks. On the second knock I found an older lady who agreed to pay me 5 dollars if I would edge her front yard. It’s a deal lady! I’ll do it.

I ran home and rummaged around until I found a pair of scissors. I raced back to her house and meticulously trimmed her front yard edge all the way around the curb. Man, my hands were sore after that! But I had the five bucks and ran all the way to the Woolworth store and bought that paperback.

On the ride to Colorado I leafed through it and stared at the pictures intently. I read it cover to cover and was desperate to start trying all of these skills out. Are we there yet? How much longer until we’re there? Yes…I was that kid!

I had a pretty good childhood. I was raised as a “latch-key kid” and my parents were all about kids being allowed to “free range.” I knew the rules and what time to return to camp…other than that, I was free to roam.

And roam I did! Up mountains, through meadows and along streams. The whole two weeks we were camped, that book was my constant companion. I tried almost everything that book mentioned or depicted. Bows and arrows, rabbit sticks, shelters etc. I tried to make fire with the hand drill and bow drill methods but failed miserably. But it all planted a seed that has remained with me to this day.

I still practice those skills. I wore that little paperback out years ago and currently have the 6th Edition of it on my bookshelf. I figured out pretty quickly that reading a book on something was only part of the equation. The other, more important parts are going out and trying it firsthand. Taking a class from a knowledgeable person really speeds up the learning process. I figured out that success and failure were both sides of the same coin and I could learn a great deal from both.

All of our children have received a copy of this book…among many others. I guess in a way I wanted them to have the same sense of freedom that I had and we free ranged our kids as well. None of them took to the woods like I did…yet each of them has an interest in it…be it fishing, hunting or camping. Maybe there is hope for them in the future. If not, that’s fine too.

I just fondly remember that book and the world it opened up to me. And I still thank my Dad for taking me to Colorado!

Local Lake Outing 12 Sept 2021…

I was talking to my Dad last night via Facetime and he was giving me a little grief about not fishing. He said, “you say its too hot yet you’re running around all over doing other things.” He was right! We were trying to come up with something to do today so opted to hit both of our local lakes. We got up early to beat the heat and headed out.

The first lake was a bust since it is completely overgrown now and fishing from the shore is virtually impossible. We caught zero fish after walking all the way around it. As usual I was on the lookout for plants. Here is just a few of what we ran across.

Indian woodoats (Chasmanthium latifolium)

After getting skunked and picking all of the burs and stick-tights off of us, we opted to try the other lake near us. As we were driving down the gravel road we were witness to a Bobcat crossing the road carrying a rabbit in its mouth. We watched as it loped across the road and coursed up a steep hill. We thought that was pretty cool…especially with how big it was.

We reached the next lake and chatted with a local. He was out on his 4-wheeler with the grandkids and was letting them burn off some energy. We know the feeling all too well.

All told we caught 5 largemouth bass, a perch and a crappie. I wanted to get a few pictures for the blog and quit fishing after an hour. Remember me mentioning that this area was covered by the Western Interior Sea during the Cretaceous Period 145 million to 66 million years ago? I took some pictures of the fossils that cover a large portion of this area.

As we were roaming around the area just looking, we ran across this guy!

Eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos)

It was pretty docile despite the flared hood. They come in a remarkable range of coloration.

After interacting with the snake we decided to move on and see what else we could find. As usual, there were numerous plants in bloom in the area.

Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) Watch those thorns!

Common whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia) When reeling in I hooked some weeds and it rode them all the way in.

We had fun with the few hours we were out. We tend to free-range the chickens on the weekends so we decided to head home to let them out for the day. As I sit here typing, I’m surrounded by foraging chickens. There is shade at the moment and a breeze blowing through the tree tops.

They do a good job of keeping the raised beds tilled up…so I don’t have to do it!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Shore Exploration 11 Sept 2021…

Both of us had a really busy week and wanted to get out and relax for a bit and stretch our legs. The high temperature for today was forecast at 99F so we opted to go early in the morning. This particular area is relatively close to our house and it’s generally quiet without too many people around. We ended up seeing more Whitetail deer than people.

When I’m not fishing, I tend to just roam and explore. As I’ve stated previously, I am always curious about what’s around the next bend or over the horizon. And both of us continually learn something new every time we get out and look around.

The shoreline is covered with Willow trees, Buttonbush and Cockle Burs. We like to pick our way through it all and see the animal tracks and anything interesting we might come across.

Halberdleaf rosemallow (Hibiscus laevis)

We had fun even though we were only out for about 3 hours. We covered 4.91 miles and collected 8 bags of trash on the way out. I managed to find two other plants I wasn’t familiar with so didn’t include those as it will take me time to identify them. Below I will show 2 books that I use most often. If anyone from Oklahoma is interested-they are available from the Oklahoma State University bookstore.

One of the better books I have seen and used in relation to my area.

Taxonomic key. Not for the easily frustrated!

A few of the things we found (Knife is for scale).

The belt-kit I was using. I really like the Maxpedition Roly-Poly Dump pouch. It’s perfect for storing things when exploring or even foraging.

Thank you for reading. When the temperatures cool off a bit we plan on doing more fishing…but until then, we’ll keep exploring.

An Oasis…

The wife and I decided to get out to one of our favorite spots and take a look around. It had been awhile since we visited the area and summertime is as good of a time as any. In the Cross Timbers, water is life, and where you find water you also find life in abundance.

Several years ago, we were looking around in this area and stumbled upon an atlatl point. This area is perfect for a camp so I wasn’t surprised to find the artifact. I will discuss that atlatl point in another blog post at a later date. Back to the story…

Spring fed and drops into a pool down below the ledges.

We really enjoy visiting this area. We’ve seen snakes, bobcat, coyotes, deer, raccoon, beaver, opossums and mountain lions. To date we’ve managed to explore an area of about a 5 mile radius centered upon this area. Just to the South you will find a labyrinth of sandstone cliffs then it opens up onto a savannah, all the while surrounded by your typical Cross Timbers habitat of Blackjack and Post Oak as well as Hickory and Cedar.

Vibrant reds. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Brilliant whites and yellows. Prairie Fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) and Sneezeweed (Helenium amarum)

Subtle purples. Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) and Lesser Snakeroot (Ageratina aromatica)

Being surrounded by color in the dog days of summer is a nice change of pace. Usually by this time of year, many plants are going dormant due to the intense heat. Yet water and shade allows some plants to hold out until the end of their natural life-cycle.

Tucked away in the shade and grateful for the breeze.

Both of us are amateur naturalists and are continually learning the plants and trees in our area. We consider ourselves “life-long students” and as such spend a considerable amount of time researching things.

I am forever taking notes and making observations.

I am a nerd at heart, and as such have a vast library on outdoor related topics. Everything from botanical taxonomic keys, anthropology, all the way to spelunking. We don’t own a television for the simple reason that we are too busy doing other things to bother with watching one. We try to spend as much time outdoors as our schedules allow and find that we are the happiest when in the wild.

My choice of gear. I use the pencil and canteen the most!

Addendum: in a previous blog post on the Cross Timbers Ecoregion I mentioned the variances that it contained. Below are 2 photos we took today to illustrate those.

Fringe Zone where the Cross Timbers meet the Prairie.

Thank you for reading and I hope you found this interesting. Take Care…

Gratitude…

This post will be a rant and might get somewhat political. So if this isn’t your thing then I would suggest skipping this blog post. Furthermore, I will be writing specifically about the United States since that’s where I live.

What happened to GRATITUDE? America is a great nation and while it does have quite a few problems, it’s still a pretty good place to live. I don’t see many American flags flying like I used to. Why is that? The flag represents We The People…NOT the US Government! If the government had a flag it would be the scrolling US Debt Clock or a $100 dollar bill.

Why can’t we be grateful for what we have, what we can be or any other multitude of ideas or concepts?

I’m just a humble outdoors guy, I’m quite apolitical but versed in what’s going on. I am a registered Independent because I’d rather use facts and critical thinking to decide my stance. It makes me sick that there is no dialogue in America anymore. What little that occurs is heavily censored. That’s NOT the America I know and grew up in and served. Free speech is under attack…that is a fact! Notice I didn’t say anything about hate speech…that should be handled, but when there is only one side allowed to speak and the rest get censored, demonetized, deplatformed or cancelled…we have a major problem. Healthy debate is good for a Nation. They still teach debate in schools for a reason. Yet our leaders do not really debate, they rule by fiat or dictate. The “my way or the highway” mentality is childish.

What can I do to help fix the problem…speak out! I’m not afraid to speak out against wrongs and have many times. Will it make a difference…probably not. But I DID SOMETHING.

I get tired of social media companies promising transparency yet hiding behind the AI program they created. The Terms of Use that essentially says, “whatever we deem to be negative” when they purposely write the “Terms” to be a little ambiguous. Or worse…one company does it just because another company does.

I have stated this a gazillion times…I don’t care what color, creed, race, religion, gender, sexual preference etc etc etc…I value your opinion. I value you as an individual. I value you as a countryperson. My mentor and best friend is at the polar opposite from me in regards to the political system. Yet we talk and debate often, the end result being that we realize we are not really that far apart. That the issues we discuss COULD be solved by working together. It’s not that hard-we just have to engage in dialogue.

TRAVEL….please travel around the world as much as you can! You WILL be grateful for what you have. You WILL be grateful for the people you meet. You WILL be grateful for the different cultures you encounter.

I would have even more Gratitude if our leaders began to work together to solve the issues at hand. They work for US…We The People. They NEED to be held accountable for the job we elect and pay them to do.

And with the current political slant, I’m not seeing much in the way of facts. And the last wasn’t any better. Postmodernism is a sham. Neomarxism is a scam. We all know that Capitalism is doomed to failure. I see a lot of people pointing out faults yet offering no solutions. Yes, this system is complex and the issues are more complex. That’s where dialogue comes into play. That’s where debate becomes necessary. What if we started with GRATITUDE for what we have and are as a Nation and worked upwards from there?

End of Rant…LOVE TO ALL

Outing 5 September 2021…

Due to the heat, we haven’t been doing much fishing lately. Today was the first time in weeks that the temps were below a 100F. The high was slated to be 87F but ended up being 90F. No worries…we’ll take it!

We opted to hit a lake relatively close by and try our luck catching catfish. Spoiler Alert: We didn’t catch any. We each managed to catch a Drum and a White Bass so we still had fun. It was kind of nice to just sit there and watch a rod tip as opposed to wading mile after mile.

For bait we used a cast net to gather shad. It’s hard work and takes both luck and skill to catch them. We cast probably 50 times and ended up with 5, but it was enough to get us started. Later in the day I managed to spot and throw into a bait ball. I could hardly drag the net in because it was so full. We tried using slip bobbers but the wind kept blowing them by us way to fast. Plan B was to fish on the bottom or a little bit off of the bottom. Not ideal because this lake is full of turtles.

Early morning quiet with the sun coming up.

We arrived at about 0815 and left around 1315. Up until 1230 we had the place to ourselves. A nice quiet cove entrance, sunshine, moderate temperatures and a breeze. Then the Jetskiers and Kneeboarders showed up, making waves with their stereos cranked as loud as they would go. Time for us to leave. Besides, we promised our son that we would stop by his house on our way home to help with some carpentry work.

Sure beats working!

The Cross Timbers Ecoregion…

This blog post is not about fishing obviously, instead I thought I’d share some information about where I live.

I live on a cuesta in the Cross Timbers Ecoregion. This is a unique transition zone between the Ozarks to my East and the prairies to the West. It consists primarily of a tangle of Blackjack Oak and Post Oak trees. It is a mix of woodlands, savannah and prairie, some of which are found together in a 5 acre stretch, or a 5000 acre stretch and sometimes one or the other are in an exclusive swath spanning many miles.

I keep a half acre wide patch of my property in its natural state. Since I have horses, they have pretty much manicured the rest of the property to their liking. But there are areas around me that are true old growth forests. You couldn’t tell by looking at the trees that they were actually really old.

This particular Post Oak is at or near 100 years old and it might be 30 feet high at the highest point.

Not far from here is a preserve named the Keystone Ancient Forest that holds 500-year old Eastern Red Cedars and 300-year old Post Oak trees. It is a sight to behold.

The landscape is rugged, water can be difficult to find and the heat can be oppressive. Anything growing here has to be hardy. But it has a beauty to it that has to be experienced to fully understand. I’ve ventured through forest areas that were so thick and intertwined that you were forced onto your hands and knees just to traverse through a section. I’ve meandered through areas of savannah that had knee to waist high prairie grasses that remind a person of the African Savannah complete with non-native Mimosa trees. And the rocks…they are everywhere! They comprise every shape and size from pebbles to house size boulders.

No shortage of Prickly Pear Cactus around here.

If you spend the time and do the research, you begin to notice the abundance of edible and medicinal plants in this ecoregion. I have cataloged 63 different varieties on our property so far. What most people call weeds are actually very useful plants. And for those who don’t know…Botany is another hobby of mine! I just read an interesting article this past Friday about the effects of Taraxacum officinale on the COVID-19 virus…that’s the Latin name for Dandelion by the way. And as a side note: look into the US Pharmacopeia Book from the 1800’s–before modern pharmaceuticals took hold.

This is a picture of the soil in this area. Since this area used to be covered by the Western Interior Sea during the Cretaceous Period 145 million-66 million years ago…we have LOTS of sand.

I could literally start another blog just on the topic of edible and medicinal plants but I’m sure there are plenty of those out there.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on. I thought I’d share a small snippet of the area I call home. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. The pioneers weren’t too impressed with this region and saw no economic profit potential here. That’s fine by me as they ignored it and left an amazing old-growth area intact for us to experience today.

MONACHOPSIS: the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.

Change is inevitable. That’s a fact and a fundamental law. We are surrounded by change and are a function of that process. Not all change is good and not all change is bad…we know that, we see that, we experience that, but more importantly, we deal with that.

As humans, we are generally disinclined to change unless we are forced to. Yet all around us things are constantly changing and we have to adapt or die. Sometimes we can be overwhelmed and we struggle with it.

I struggle quite often. I try to keep my bearings amidst chaos, amidst responsibilities and balancing my life. Thats where my passion for fishing comes into play. When I step into a stream all of the bullshit fades into the background. Somehow when I’m at the car and gearing up, I do a cursory check of my gear, and consciously decide to leave all of that unnecessary “mental detritus” locked up in the car. I hit the key fob and begin to relax and calm my mind.

I focus on being present and trying to blend into the river. My mind begins the process of focusing on “solving the puzzle.” I try to find my place! Doing what brings me a semblance of joy and happiness. I feel completely out of place surrounded by coworkers or mobs of commuters and being choked by the hustle and bustle of change.

I am not an “escapist” by nature and take my role as parent, husband, co-provider etc. seriously. But not to the point where I feel overwhelmed and lost. I know when to take a break and go somewhere that allows me to recharge my internal batteries. That place where I feel as if I belong. And for me, that is usually a place where I can fish and be away from people. A place where I find happiness. We ALL deserve a chance to not feel Out Of Place. To do something that brings us joy.

Tailwalk Troutia 55L Spinning Rod…

I have been curious about this rod for quite awhile. I like the price ( $137 shipped ) and the hardware. The fact that it has a screw-down handle is a bonus.

We finally had the time to go fishing this morning so I took this rod along to test out. I paired it with the Shimano Stradic FL 1000 and I think they compliment each other quite well. It is a 2-piece rod with 6 eyelets and it casts as expected. The reel seat and handle consist of nice hardware and geometry.

We managed to catch 11 bass but didn’t bother taking pictures since they were only about a pound in weight. The rod performed well and I really liked using it. I am impressed with the Tailwalk quality and might look into some of their other offerings.

The obligatory trash pickup that we always do.

A Casualty of the Trip…

I had wanted to try this pack rod to see how it compared to my MajorCraft pack rods. I had an Abu Garcia Revo MGX Theta 1000S spinning reel that I didn’t have a rod for so I decided to pick one of these up to try.

This is the Abu Garcia Troutin Marquis Nano TMNS-575L-MB spinning rod. It is a 5-piece and fits in the packs that I use currently.

Nylon zippered pouch with integrated sleeves.

I broke it while catching my first smallmouth of the trip while using this rod. The fault lies solely with me. I lifted the fish and put too much bend in the tip section causing it to snap at the joint. I always advise not to high-stick or lift a fish with these JDM rods.

Upon opening the case shortly after receiving this rod, the wife commented that “it seemed thin and fragile.” I didn’t think anything of it but she proved to be right. I wouldn’t say that JDM rods are more fragile per se, but they are less forgiving to user errors. Again…the fault is mine alone.

I am going to see if I can fix it, if not, I might be able to order a new section. Time will tell and I learned my lesson…again.

River View Cabins, Oden Arkansas…

With it being “hell hot” we opted to rent a cabin on this trip. We had been watching a YouTube channel named Dome Life and they had stayed at these cabins. We were curious about the Ouachita River so took their advice and chose this place to base our exploration forays out of. Included in this blog post are pictures from Cabin #11 which is a 2-person cabin. They have cabins that run the gamut from 2-people up to 16-24 people if I recall correctly. I will include a link to their website for those who are interested.

The jacuzzi was a blessing after a day of canoeing or fishing!

Fire place and entertainment center. We watched movies during the evening hours. I brought 2 thumb drives full of movies so it was plug-and-play.

I’m normally not one for staying in fancy places. I much prefer to rough it and go on the cheap. However, the A/C was REALLY nice and worth it to us. Plus, staying in a cabin means we didn’t have to bring as much gear with us and gave us a comfortable base to explore the area.

River View Cabins and Canoes-Oden Arkansas website: http://www.riverviewcabins-canoes.com

Ed Banks Access and Brushy Creek Access on the Cossatot River 30 July 2021…

We woke up early and packed camp quickly. Our first planned stop was the Ed Banks Access point. We wanted to fish further downstream this time. We drove through a clear cut area along the way and also ran into a work crew who were prepping the area for replanting.

The Ed Banks Access area is one of our favorite spots. There are two primitive campsites, one on each side of the low water bridge. The Ranger told us that they were free to camp in, but we had already set up camp back in Cossatot Falls. Had we known, we probably would’ve camped there.

We ended up catching 50 fish in the 2 hours we were here. About half of them were perch, but they were fun nonetheless.

To reach the Brushy Creek Access Area we had to drive out of the Forest Area and take Highway 246 west a little ways. This is a really nice Day Use Only area that tends to be a major swimming hole during the summer months. We opted to head downstream to avoid the swimmers and also because we had never fished this section of the river.

This section required a lot of wading across slippery rocks and lots of boulder hopping. You WILL get a helluva workout. We fished downstream for about a mile and a half before the heat really kicked in and we decided to head back. The rocks were a killer due to being so slippery. You need to wade this section very carefully. Even the rocks that looked dry were sketchy with wet wading boots. You have to do it to fully understand.

We only caught 10 fish in this section before we decided to call it a day and begin the 3.5 hour drive home. We got home at 1635 and began the process of cleaning gear, doing laundry and getting everything put away. I updated my log book and we started making plans to do another trip. That’s how we roll!

P.S. We apologize for not taking many fish pics. Our cameras were stowed in our packs which made it time consuming to get pics. In this heat we generally release the fish immediately. Also, both of us were constantly leap frogging each other to explore and fish so we weren’t in close enough proximitiy to get pics of each other. Thanks for reading.