We're Creeping Up on San Antonio

The view of the dunes and beach from our bedroom window.   Very tough to take :)   But you can only  stay 14 days at a time and then you have to be gone for 48 hours before you can come back again.  We pretty much had our 14 days in and the weather forecast was for snarly weather for tomorrow (packing in mist and rain isn't any fun), so.......

We are on our way again.. headed toward Arizona..  But we only got as far as Pleasanton, Texas.   Actually, we are about 30 miles south of San Antonio.  We left Malaquite Beach Campground this morning and spent two hours washing and rinsing the salt spray off the travel trailer and truck.  We found the S-L-O-W-E-S-T McDonald's ever.  But the food tasted good.  Then we hit I-37 and will hook up with I-10 at San Antonio.   We are thinking about taking in the Alamo tomorrow, IF there's a place to park the RV.

We're in the Pleasanton, Texas Wal-mart parking lot.   We always call ahead and they gladly gave us permission to park.  The generator is going so we have TV and some of the creature comforts that electricity brings.  We're also giving the batteries a good charge.  Looking at the weather channel on TV, it looks like we might have some mist tomorrow.   It doesn't matter.   It'll be a good day.

I might have confused some folk about where we have been camping.  Corpus Christi is the closest city to North Padre Island.   When we leave the island, we are in Corpus Christi.  North Padre Island is a barrier island that is over 60 miles long.  Once we cross the bridge from Corpus Christi to the Island, we have a 20 mile drive south to get to the campground.

Last Monday, while at Malaquite Beach Camp, we took the day and visited the USS Lexington Memorial.  It's really awesome.  The "Lex" (dubbed the "blue ghost" by "Tokyo Rose") has the longest service record of any U.S. Navy Carrier - forty years.  She saw service in WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and then became a training carrier, training pilots out of Pensacola, Florida before her retirement to Corpus Christi.   We shot some pictures:

The entrance to the ship.  The parking is behind me.  An easy walk and they had a shuttle that picked us up and took us up the gangway.

The flight deck shot with aircraft in the background shot from where the catapults would have been.
 

Carriers have lots of guns.

One of the Navy's training planes.   And one of my pilot buddies can help identify it.  It's not a Stearman.

 

It flies almost as fast as our Lark 180.

The engine room controls.  

The Lexington reportedly came here under her own power with her steam turbines.

It's time to publish the blog..  We looked outside a few minutes ago and parked in front of us is another RV with a Michigan license plate.  I wonder where they are from?   Ummm...  Maybe we'll find out tomorrow.  Tomorrow, another day of adventure.

We've moved on down the road.

We've traversed the wondrous roads of Louisiana..  Did we tell you we stayed one night at a Walmart in Sulphur, Louisiana..  That's right - Sulphur.   It was right outside of Lake Charles, which is home to one of the biggest oil refineries in the U.S..  We entered into Texas and stopped at the Texas Welcome Center where we made the decision to head to the Padre Seashore near Corpus Christi.

From the welcome center, our route took us toward Houston.   A stop for gas and a McDonald's gourmet meal prepared us for the long trip from Houston to the Padre Island area.

I think it was Tom Cunningham who told us that in certain areas of Texas, there was a "whole lot of nothing."   We found one of those areas, driving on State Route 59 through Victoria and then getting on route 77.   There's a lot of scrub brush and not much else.  It was dark by the time we arrived in Corpus Christi.  After quite a bit of re-routing ourselves, we finally got on the road to the Padre Island National Seashore and the campground that we wanted - Malaquite Campground.

 
 But when we arrived, we discovered it was full, so we headed back up the road and across the island a bit to Bird Island Basin Campground on Laguna Madre Bay for the night (it was first come first served).   Some helpful folks from upstate New York helped us get parked and we got to bed.   The next morning we left the trailer at Bird Basin and drove the truck back to Malaquite, just in time to see some people pulling out of their parking spot.  We jumped out of the truck, claimed the spot for our very own (just in time 'cause some others had the same idea), wrote out a check for the lot rent, and Sheryl stayed on the lot while I went back to Bird Basin to hook up and bring the trailer over.

The first few days here have been cloudy but warm enough to enjoy.   And there's always a wind.  We stopped at the Visitor Center and got the information about camping on the beach for free.  We drove down the beach to check it out.   After looking at the seaweed and thousands of jellyfish on the beach, we decided to keep paying $4 per night (with our senior pass).   We have restrooms not far way if we need them, and there is water available.  Here's our view of the Gulf of Mexico from our door.

Here are some more pics that will give you and idea about where we are:

These ducks were always hanging out in this pond right by the road in the park.

Notice the Coyote?

Nice Buck - he knows he's safe from hunters as long as he stays in the park.

Something really special we got to enjoy for two nights was bio-luminesence in the breakers as they headed onshore.  The crash of a wave creates a neon blue light effect, and a free light show in the water for spectators.   It is awesome - like an electric light show in the water.

We went down on the beach and watched for awhile.  It was in view out of our back window when we went to bed.   Totally awesome.

People are here from a wide variety of geographic areas:   New Hampshire, Maine, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas and other places.   And they come in all sorts of RV's.   While at the visitor center, we talked to a couple from Minnesota who are volunteers for three months at the Visitor Center - They both work 24 hours a week each and get free lot rent including full hookups.  Umm???

We're hoping to tour the WWII aircraft carrier USS Lexington which is docked at Corpus Christi - maybe on Monday.  It's sunny today and we're enjoying the warmth.

We are travellin' AGAIN.....

Sheryl and I left the Fort Pickens Campground near Pensacola Beach three days ago.. but first, one more sunset on the beach.

We headed for the Davis Bayou Campground at Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  We got on I-10 west.  When we got to the Mississippi border, we stopped at the welcome station.  Not only was it very nice, they had GREAT COMPLIMENTARY COFFEE. 

WOW!  True "Southern Hospitality."

We finally got to the Ocean Springs area, got off of I-10 and headed toward the campground.

 There were two RV's in line in front of us as we pulled into Davis Bayou.  We quickly noticed that the park was almost full and it is "first come, first served.."  the two RV's in front of us kept on going around the loop in the park, leaving behind the parking spot we took.   They found spots but we really like ours.

Davis is a beautiful little National Park Campground nestled in Ocean Springs but still part of the Gulf Springs National Seashore. We are parked next to a huge Live Oak tree with water and electricity for $8 per night (with our senior pass). 

Davis Bayou Campground has nice restrooms that are heated, with showers and everything.

Yesterday was DAY TRIP to New Orleans.  Take I-10 and follow the signs to the French Quarter.  Here's some of what we saw.

We drove Bourbon and Decatur Streets. We saw the Mississippi River.  We went from the French Quarter to the area around Tulane University.  Would you believe they have street cars.

It was time for lunch.  We were looking for authentic gumbo and jambalaya.   We read a review about a place called "Crabby Jacks."   A six mile drive to an "industrial area" produced this:

Crabby Jack's should have been on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives.  There was very little seating and lots of character AND lots of people inside.   10 minutes after ordering, we walked out with gumbo, jambalaya, and a king-sized pulled-pork "po-boy" sandwich.   We sat in the truck, eating our delicious food, listening to smooth jazz and contemplating New Orleans.

We saw a lot of people wandering around a zillion restaurants and joints looking for "something."   They probably heard that New Orleans is "the place to be" during Mardi Gra."   To put it kindly, the areas we checked out around the French Quarter looked kinda dirty and crowded and we noticed the voodoo shops and porn pits.   We're just not into "that kinda thing."   I will say this:  New Orleans is interesting.

We worshiped this morning at Crossroads on the Coast - a Nazarene church here in Ocean Springs.   It reminded us of New Covenant somewhat.  They were friendly and we heard a great message.   The nearest Free Methodist Church is 3-4 hours away.

Sheryl just did a load of laundry in our portable RV washing machine.   We are headed out tomorrow with the goal to get to Arizona eventually.   We're not sure yet where we will wind up before we get there.

It went down to 28 degrees HERE at Davis Campground last night and it's going down to 30 degrees tonight.  We are still looking for warmth.   Maybe we'll find it in Arizona or sooner.   You can find out during the next blog.

Fort PIckens and beyond.

We are enjoying another day at the Fort Pickens Campground on the Gulf Islands National Seashore.   Campers keep leaving and arriving.   It seems like there are a lot of people here from Illinois and Wisconsin with a smattering from other states, even Maine and California.   There is a motor home behind us from Oregon.

Evidently this campground was here for a long time until a couple of years ago when it got put out of commission by a hurricane.  It has been recently reopened, for which we are thankful.

Fort Pickens is one of three forts built in the mid-1800's to protect the entrance to Pensacola Bay.

We enjoyed the tour and learning about the fort.  It's an interesting place.   Fort Pickens only war action was during the Civil War, and there were very few engagements.  And would you believe that Fort Pickens remained in Union hands throughout the war.

There are many extra gun emplacements outside the actual fort itself, called "batteries."

We are standing on one of the gun emplacements with the Gulf of Mexico in the background.  Most of the guns are gone, leaving only the supporting structures.

If you google Fort Pickens, you'll find an interesting history and discover "a gentleman's way of fighting" during the civil war.  A better way for you to discover Fort Pickens would be for you to hook up to your RV and make your way here.   You can reserve a site online or there is a telephone number to call.  Make sure you get a long enough site as they don't allow parking your vehicle on the grass at your site - only on the pavement.

  

We were down at the Fort one day looking across the bay and we noticed this futuristic ship sitting at a dock over in the Navy yard.   Looking at it via binoculars only  heightened our curiosity.   When we got back to the trailer, we "googled" navy ships docked at Pensacola and discovered that the ship is the USS Independence, a "littoral" ship (littoral means "coastal").   It's the latest and greatest for the Navy - a "tri- hull" with all kinds of electronic gadgets.   The problem is, the ship has been out of commission with all kinds of problems - from propulsion to software.   Does anyone know of anyone who can fix it?  :) 

We have water and electric at each campsite but you have to go to a dump station to rid yourself of you know what.   This is a pretty classy way of making that trip.

I just tow ours with the Silverado.  That's classy, isn't it?

There was a guy at one of the churches that we pastored at who claimed that every missionary that came to the church and showed slides ended the presentation with a sunset.   This is for him.

Some people just parked across from us with a barking dog..  our stay may be shorten if the barking keeps up.   More to come..  Meantime, we are going for a walk in Florida.