Movin' On

We have left the Corpus Cristi, Texas area.  We exchanged phone and email information with our new friends (neighbors)- Mark and Rhonda .

Mark and Rhonda, who live in a Dallas suburb, REALLY ENJOY wind surfing (especially Mark).  Rhonda has two dogs that she enters in dog shows.  Mark is an electrical engineer.

60 miles northeast of Corpus Christi along route 77 is Refugio, Texas.   It's the birthplace of one of baseball's great pitchers - Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers Baseball Team.  But we didn't check out his birthplace..  we sought out an H.E.B. Store (It's like a Walmart or Meijers)..

did some shopping, refueled the truck at the H.E.B. gas station, and discovered a close-by laundromat.  

While doing the laundry, I spent some quality time on the roof of the travel trailer fixing the TV antenna wire, which I broke while washing the top of the trailer.  

The roof-top TV antenna on the RV

The new connector attached to replace the one I broke.

We spent over an hour washing the salt off the truck and trailer before we left Padre Island.. sorry no pictures.. we just didn't think about it..  but you can use your imagination.   It was like washing an 18-wheeler by hand.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi River at Baton Rouge.  The bridge over the river was big.

 The amount of boat and barge traffic on the river is amazing.  

Sheryl and I headed for the Davis Bayou National Park Campground in Ocean Spring, Mississippi.  We were here last year and liked it.  

Our campsite

We have a lake view from our back window, or side yard.. 

Actually, it's a view of the Bayou and if we had a boat, we could launch it and travel out into the Gulf of Mexico from the Campground.

In addition of being close to civilization, the campground has electric and water at each site..  so, we've changed our electrical and water habits quite a bit.  We cook using electricity and did some laundry with the mini washing machine we have in the trailer. ($8 per day w/Senior pass)  The only problem we've had is with gnats in the morning and the late afternoon.  We are going to get something to KILL them.. they DO BITE.

Davis is part of the Gulf Islands Seashore which runs along the Gulf coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the pan-handle of Florida.  It's a beautiful area of the country.

On our first walk, we discovered lots of flowers..

We have lots of cardinals..

and other birds around the campground.  

There are lots of grey squirrels:

Sheryl and I visited another laundry (we don't have a dryer) and drove around Ocean Spring.  The town is located right on the Gulf of Mexico and has a beach.

Visiting a local grocery store, we discovered that they had fresh caught JUMBO Louisiana  shrimp.  We bought a pound and boiled 'em for 5 minutes - then Sheryl broiled them in the toaster oven for a minute w/ garlic butter.   

They were good - especially with the corn-grits as a side dish..  yes, I said "corn-grits."  Grits (serving for 4) and 1 can creamed corn and 2 tsp of sweetener.  Don't knock it till you try it.  Okay - we've gone native :)

We expect to be here for another week before heading to Lakeland, Florida to our mobile at Light and Life Park.   See ya...

We are seeing pink... and some videos

Look what flew by this morning:

Flamingos.   We found out that they don't come this way very often.

Here is a video of Mark the windsurfer:

The second video is of the peacock at the Rip Van Winkle Gardens.  We had no idea of what kind of sound a peacock makes but you'll hear it in the video:

Hope you enjoyed the videos and the pink flamingos..  we're still at the Bird Island Basin on North Padre

Rog and Sheryl

Enjoying the weather and the friends at North Padre Island

Hi-dee-O everyone.. Here are some more musings from from North Padre Island. You'd think that this is barren wasteland but actually, there is wildlife, bird-life, trees, shrubs, and flowers.

Some sort of track on the tidal mud flat.  Does anyone know what it is?

We still haven't figured these out completely but the ranger at the Visitor Center things  they are made by a gopher indigenous to this area.

You can see the size of the mound with Sheryl's hand in the picture

When the winds on the Laguna Madre died down, ducks appeared from somewhere.

This Blackbird of some sort kept us entertained with a number of different calls..

We're not sure what these are..

I think these are Plovers.

I looked out a window of the Travel trailer and noticed something scurrying across the ground near the motorcycle.   I went outside to discover this friend:

He or she is a sand crab - about 2 inches wide or long or whatever, from toenail to toenail..

Some new friends who are here on vacation- Mark and Rhonda from the Dallas area are parked next to us.  Mark is an accomplished wind surfer but Rhonda likes to fish.   

They are departing for a fishing excursion via their 12 foot Hobie

Mark is holding the Hobie paddle System which actually propels the boat.  He is holding the top part of the system - a pair of "bicycle pedals" connected to the paddles on the bottom.   The paddles slip through a slot in the bottom of the kayak and are held in.  The person in the front pushes the pedals (like riding a bike) and the motion is translated through some gears to the paddles which push the boat along.  Quite ingenious. 

That's Rhonda up front doing the paddling

The Hobie also has a sail.  They use a regular kayak paddle in real shallow water and then switch to the Hobie paddle system in deeper water.

There was a windsurfing class out behind our trailer one day.

Sheryl and I motorcycled up to the Visitor Center on the Island to enjoy the view of the Gulf of Mexico..

There are always sunsets.. just out our bedroom window....

We aren't going to be here much longer.   We'll probably head for Davis Bayou Campground in Mississippi next.  We'll know for sure when we really get there.  We may find something else along the way.  :)

See ya...

Hello from Corpus Christi, Texas

It's been quite a few days since we've brought y'all up to speed on where we are.  The phone and Internet service is spotty at best, which is why we haven't put up a blog.  To post this, we'll probably have to drive 15 miles north toward civilization.

We are now on North Padre, Island in the Bird Island Basin Camping area.   It costs $5 for the year..  you can stay for 14 days then vacate for 2 days, then back for 14, and so on.

That's the view down the seashore from our campsite

While we were at Kerry and Renee's place in Lafayette, Louisiana, we toured Rip Van Winkle Gardens.  Part of the garden experience is up close and personal with a peacock.

This bird hung around for over one-half hour, strutting and spouting it's feathers.   Both Sheryl and I got up REAL CLOSE and I was able to shoot some great pics and video.   There were at least 4 or 5 peacocks running loose on the property.

As is evident, we enjoyed our day. :)

Sheryl, Lori (Renee's sister), and Renee Tilley Bellard
at Rip Van Winkle Gardens.

Leaving Lafayette, we passed through Lake Charles, Louisiana - home to one of the largest oil refineries in the nation - as we pressed on to the Louisiana-Texas border stopping at the Texas Welcome Center.

On the boardwalk over the swamp behind the Welcome Center, one of the friendly employees showed us the turtles and second picture, the alligator (just his head is showing about the right center of the pictures).

We got into Corpus Christi Sunday afternoon and after hitting the Dollar Store... 

...we headed to North Padre Island and the Malaquite Campground, right next to the beach on the ocean side of Padre Island.   

We grilled out...

took walks, and enjoyed the beach.

This shows the proximity of the campsites to the Gulf of Mexico.

A walk on the beach for Sheryl and me.

A couple of days later, we remembered what it was like last year to get the salt spray off the truck and trailer.  So on Tuesday, we moved to the Bird Island Basin Campground which is on the lagoon side of the island and doesn't get so much salt.

There are great sunsets.

Sheryl and I took a walk along the water Wednesday morning and found these unique white pelicans.

We found this "dancing" Crane.   

We finally figured out that he spread his wings and "danced" when he saw a fish in the water that he wanted for lunch.  We don't know if it confused the fish into holding still or the bird was just "happy."

Wednesday evening I managed to pull a filling loose with dental floss and I found myself in a Corpus Christi dentist's chair at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning.   

The dentist did great work, totally replacing the filling and sending me on my way.   Sheryl and I celebrated by shopping, eating at a great Chinese buffet, driving by the ocean...

taking a walk in a park....

We saw a nice view of the USS Lexington docked permanently at Corpus Christi as a museum.  

Friday morning found us on the motorcycle riding north from the campground toward "civilization."    We drove around checking out the residential neighborhoods with a stop for a rest at the entrance to the Yacht Club and the local Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Bird Island Basin is situated on the Laguna Madre, on the west side of Padre Island.  When I say lagoon, I'm talking about water that is over 80 miles long.  It extends from Corpus Christi all the way to Brownsville.   Where we are, the Laguna is over two miles wide.  It gets much wider than that.  The Laguna Madre is designated by the letter "A" on the picture below. 

The Inter coastal waterway runs north and south through the lagoon and there is barge traffic on it.

Yesterday was Saturday.  We got a lot of wind with sustained winds in the 30's gusts over 40 mph.  The wind surfers are already practicing their "art" or "craft" in the lagoon behind our trailer.

There is a kayak and sailboard rental right here on the campground property.   This is one of the prime areas for sailboarding in all of Texas.  We found this interesting sign behind the rental place.

Anybody wonder how far it is to Kalamazoo..  that's air-miles by the way.
Our neighbors were up at 6:30 a.m. this morning getting ready to pull out.   The only downside to these sites is that they are CLOSE together.  You hear everything from two trailers away on either side BUT most of the time, it's okay.

We're not sure how long we'll be here, but we'll have to leave by sometime late this coming week.  Bye for now.