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.