Guns & Outdoors Forum

Sit down, buckle up, and let me tell you this tale of my week..

So, I have some USE/Lose leave. I submit and get the bright idea of loading up the camping gear and heading to padre island Malaquite Campsite.
Before I left Monday morning, I checked the weather. NHV said less than a 20% chance the storm becomes something. So I go ahead and leave.
About 30 minutes from Corpus, I get a weather update on my phone.. the storm is now tropical storm Harold. I’m thinking WTF, but hey, I grew up in P’cola and an handle a little Tropical storm.
Tropical storm my Ask…that thing was a hurricane when it made land fall. My tent collapsed on me at 0430 Tuesday morning. I got out to fix it just as the rain started coming in sideways… I grabbed everything I could, threw in the truck and then climbed in the back. I drank a few beers and watched the storm blow in.
Sometime in the morning, I watched an eye come over and then climbed back in the truck for round two.
It was even rotating like a hurricane.
About 7pm I was able to pitch my tent again and reestablish camp.

Wednesday went great. Then Thursday morning at about 0340, an army of raccoons descended onto the camp site. And those bandits were brave. My cooler was arms length away from my tent… and they still got brave enough to open it and eat my stuff.
With all my food gone. I decided to call it. Get s hotel room for the night, get some good rest and drive back to El Paso.
15 minutes into heading home, I see two dogs walking the expressway… paired up like sled dogs, slowly moving along. I couldn’t not do something. So, I looped around and scooped them up. Two Dane mixes with no tags. Behaved. Sweet as hell. Good dogs. There went my idea for a hotel. I drove back to EP, trying to figure out what to do with those pups.
A guy I work with knew a foster network, and I was able to drop them off with a family when o got back into town..

Definitely the most adventurous week I have had in a long time…

More pictures

Bless you sir! Rescued 2 pups from a storm. They are clearly bonded and now safe. So that wasn’t a total disaster.

You had me at drinking beer for breakfast

Not the worst adventure, not the best, still sounded like it beat work, carry on

That sounds like a heck of an adventure. Good on you taking care of the pups.

That's certainly one way to do it...

My buddy always said the army took all the fun out of camping, looks like you had just as much fun without involving the army!!

Good Karma heading your way

I suspect your adventure was cut short for a purpose. I wouldn't feel bad about it, the pups are safe.

Castle wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 6:10 pm I suspect your adventure was cut short for a purpose. I wouldn't feel bad about it, the pups are safe.

A friend of mine said the same thing - Those Raccoons set the path for you to find those pups. The universe was speaking and I listened.

Soooooo, do you now own a raccoon hat?!?!?!

Some near disaster provide the best stories, that's a great one.

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 7:57 am Soooooo, do you now own a raccoon hat?!?!?!

Lol.. no, no new hat. I was really surprised at all the different wildlife I saw on the island. Deer, coyotes, raccoons, all right on the beach.

Centermass wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 3:20 pm

Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 7:57 am Soooooo, do you now own a raccoon hat?!?!?!

Lol.. no, no new hat. I was really surprised at all the different wildlife I saw on the island. Deer, coyotes, raccoons, all right on the beach.

That’s cool. Bumped into a wild burro in Nevada while hiking this weekend. That was a new one for me

There used to be a bunch of wild burros in the bottom corner of NV and the Mojave desert. Some of the old timers on here probably have some stories of running into them at NTC/ fort Irwin.

I used to see wild horses and burros when I rode my dirt bike between Peoria and Lake Pleasant, AZ.

It's probably a planned development today.

Centermass wrote: ↑Tue Aug 29, 2023 3:11 pm There used to be a bunch of wild burros in the bottom corner of NV and the Mojave desert. Some of the old timers on here probably have some stories of running into them at NTC/ fort Irwin.

HA!!!
You just brought back a memory. Unused to inspect the busses that moved troops from Ontario airport to NTC.
A few times I followed the busses to the base and would help the Unit Moved folks from MTMC. One morning me and the Units movement NCO were the first at the railhead.
The area was covered in poop. Nobody wanted to climb around the cars and attach the chains to the vehicles.
Next morning those little burros were there again. Hiking the horn scared them away.