Galveston Island, TX

Yes, I was humming the famous Glen Campbell song (apologies to those of you too young or too old to remember Glen) driving up Galveston island.

It was an interesting day of driving yesterday because as you can see from the map, I took primarily secondary roads travelling close to the Gulf the whole way. I got to see some of the countryside and I went through some small towns along the way and it really drove home that Texas is a resource state. All along the way, I saw refineries or shipping/loading facilities either in use or under construction. And from the look of all the construction, things are booming here at the moment. Projects underway before the cost of a barrel went south, no doubt.

I arrived onto Galveston Island from the south over the toll bridge along the Blue Water Parkway. Once I’d hit the coast just before heading on to the island, the method of design of the homes instantly made you realize you were in hurricane territory. Everything is built on stilts or on berms or hills. It was a beautiful drive along the beach all the way up to my RV Park near the south end of the island.

Galveston Island RV Park is one of the newest and nicest Park’s I’ve been in, more than making up for the previous night. The shower/washrooms were some of the best I’ve experienced and the cement pads were ample for the hugest rigs making my little house look even more dwarfed than usual.

After I set up, I headed along the seawall drive for my orientation cruise, and to get something to eat, a late lunch once again. Had a great steak at one of the many restaurants along the beach. As I was heading home and after an overcast and windy day, the sun came through the clouds just as the sun was setting producing a glorious sunset.

Today, I spent the morning doing some trip planning at my friendly neighbourhood Starbucks, without which I wouldn’t have been able to survive this trip, BTW. Then I was off to explore a couple of the historic homes here in Galveston. These two both survived the 1900 Hurricane which levelled much of Galveston and killed over 6000 people. They also survived Hurricane Ike, in 2008.

The first is the Moody Mansion, built in 1895 for Mrs Narcissa Willis, was interior designed by Pottier & Stymus who had just completed the White House. Colonel W. J. Moody who grew his financial empire originally from cotton, and eventually expanding into financial and land development, bought it for his wife, Libby when it came on the market. The docent told us that Col Moody didn’t really want to buy the house, but his wife wanted it so he put in a really low bid. After the bid had been submitted, the hurricane struck and the home was left in a sea of devastation around it. Now the amount he bid, $20,000, was a terrific bid, and he went ahead and bought it anyway because there was little damage to the structure or upper floors. We couldn’t take pictures inside, so I can’t show you, but Colonel Moody’s daughter Mary Moody Northern had the home restored to it’s former glory and the family allows the building to be shown to the public.

The second home I saw was Bishop’s Palace. I have to admit to not really paying attention to the history too well, but it started as a private home, to someone named Walter Grisham (I didn’t think to ask if he was any relation to John!), and then was sold to a church Bishop and so it gained the nickname Bishop’s Palace.

Then it was off for an early dinner on the pier in the old historic town. Beautiful shrimp in light parmesan batter with a light tomato sauce and angle hair pasta. Yum.

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Corpus Christi, TX

This morning, it was with regret that I left the most friendly campground I’ve been in since I left home. I don’t know if it’s because it’s in Texas or because it was a good mix of “seasonal” and “transient” campers or what, but it was hands down the most friendly. The KOA organized events were well attended and cheap! ($3 for French toast and/or pancakes and sausages, juice and coffee and $5 for margaritas and wings with country western entertainment.) But the campers also had multiple organized activities that I was encouraged to participate in by several people. There was the “Sunset Deck” crew and at 11 am on Sunday mornings there was a gathering of whoever wanted to participate at one RV Site for Bloody Marys. Plus there were multiple opportunities to join groups of people going to do stuff on the island. I ended up having dinner last night with a woman from Melville Saskatchewan at Pier 19, a few minutes walk from my trailer.

But this morning it was time to move on and the weather helped ease me into leaving by threatening rain and cooler temperatures. And in fact, along the way it dropped 7 degrees C in a matter of a mile or so and it rained on and off.

One of the experiences I’ve had several times on this trip that I don’t think I’ve mentioned in any of my blogs is that on many of the northbound highways there are Border Patrol stations where all vehicles must stop and answer questioning by the agent there. It’s just a quick in and out for Canadian and US citizens, (particularly those with blue eyes, I suppose) although at one I was required to show my drivers licence and thought for a moment I was going to have to go digging for my passport. He backed off after seeing my photo ID. I went through one this morning again and thought it might be the last since I’ve now left the Mexican border area.

Something else I forgot to mention is that it’s great to be back in sight of the water on a regular basis. Coming through western Texas, the landscape changed from arid desert to a more green landscape from what I had been used to since arriving into California, and there was actually water flowing in creek beds, and rivers, etc. And then when I arrived at South Padre Island, it was great to be on the Gulf and to smell the ocean air again. I was not meant to live too far away from the ocean I don’t think.

My destination today was Corpus Christi, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, north of South Padre Island. No particular reason for stopping here, other than it was a doable distance and had a RV Park. Not a great RV Park, however. It’s one where it’s 99% permanent or seasonal campers and I really don’t like stopping at them. In any case, it’s just for one night and I’ll be on my way.

After setting up I headed for some lunch and decided to go see the USS Lexington. The Lexington has been turned into a museum and is docked on an island on the way to Padre Island, the largest barrier island along the Texas coast. There are all sorts of beach activities nearby as well as an Aquarium.

In 1990 it was announced the Lexington would be removed from active service as a training ship after it’s stellar history as an active war ship. The community of Corpus Christi put a community engagement and fundraising plan together and along with the history of the Navy in the area, they won the opportunity to have the Lexington come to Corpus Christi. It was opened at it’s North Beach location in October 1992. Since then over 5.5 million people have visited the museum.

I’m not that interested in the history of war, war ships or aircraft, and so I went through the exhibits faster than some of the folks. I particularly enjoyed seeing what life would have been like on the ship, and have determined for sure that I couldn’t make it in the navy. Claustrophobia would have been an issue for me if it were at sea and in some places throughout the ship. The 3D movie on space exploration that is shown in a theatre on the ship, and is included in your admission price was excellent and worth the cost of admission alone. The “Canada Arm” was prominent in several shots and Chris Hatfield was in a couple of shots.

I spent 2 and a half hours there, and saw 4 of the 5 self guided tours and watched the 3D movie on space exploration. The pictures are not great because of the lack of light in most situations.