Weedhaven, TX

Port Lavaca, TX

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.

Kingsville, TX

Harlingen, TX

South Padre Island, TX

Pharr, TX

As you may recall, I dashed off to the Balkans in September, in the midst of my No Fixed Address North American Tour. That trip was a group tour, and one of the Canadian couples who call Sarnia home, are also “winter Texans”. They have a place in Pharr, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, where they can forget about Canadian winters for three months of the year. When we discovered while touring in September that I would be travelling near them on my travels back in North America, they very kindly invited me to visit with them in Pharr. So today, that’s exactly what I did.

I headed off South Padres Island, on to State highway 48 over to Brownsville and onto Interstate 69 north and then Interstate 2 west and then over to Pharr. I had no problem finding them and we a lovely afternoon and evening.

After a quick catch up, they took me on a tour around the area to give me a sense of this place. The Rio Grande is the border between the U.S., and Mexico on the west side of Texas and our first stop was the one of the many border crossings over the Rio Grande. The unique thing about this crossing is that it is the only hand-pulled ferry on any of the border crossing along the US/Mexican border. We didn’t actually cross into Mexico but rather stood on the edge of no-mans land at the customs plaza to watch the traffic come and go by ferry. (Don’t worry, the US Border patrol told us exactly where we could stand without leaving the US of A). It was too far away to be able to make out the mechanism for the towing process, but it appeared that they used the momentum of the current and a pulley system and pushed and pulled the rope running from bank to bank, instead of hand over hand pull the ferry across. Quite odd, but it worked and we saw several loads of cars and pedestrians safely crossing. This crossing is used primarily by people visiting with family back and forth and not much commercial activity.

It appeared from the surrounding dilapidated buildings (some that still had duty-free signs), that this used to be more of a well-used route, perhaps before one of the nearby bridges was built. Now it’s pretty sleepy place, but with quite a large, new-looking school and a cute little church with beautiful cobalt blue stained glass windows.

Next it was off to another small town further to the east, near the Rio Grande, Hidalgo, where there was a former pumping station originally for flood irrigation of the cotton fields and eventually for irrigation of citrus trees and other crops using a system of irrigation canals and water from the Rio Grande. Problem was the Rio Grande flooded back in 1933 and the course of the Rio Grande changed so much that the pumping station was left high and dry. So a channel was dug to bring water to the pumping station until 1983 when it was closed down. Other pumping stations have taken over the task, using the same system of irrigation canals.

In recent times the old pump house was made into a museum and park. It was interesting to see the huge pumps, input pipes, and boilers, and other equipment in the plant and to read about the huge amount of water that was used to flood the fields. (I recall 1 million gallons to grow one bushel of cotton but don’t quote me on that)

There is a World Birding Centre on the grounds around the pump house, where they have landscaped to attract birds and butterflies. There Is also a display of the town on a brick walkway that shows the street set up of the town as it was before the flood in 1933 including a creek representing the Rio Grande. And a lovely little amphitheatre.

We saw a photographer there and a young family with a young girl in a huge big beautiful dress and tiara and Carolyn explained to me that there is a Latin American custom of celebrating the young girl’s 15th birthday and coming into womanhood with a huge party and festivities. This celebration is called a Quinceaneras.

Then it was back to Carolyn and Wayne’s for a delicious dinner and more chatter. A thoroughly enjoyable day. Who knows maybe we’ll next meet in Sarnia when my trailer goes on its Ontario tour.

South Padre Island, TX

South Padre Island is a small barrier island off the southern coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s 55 kilometers long, although you can only drive a small portion of that before running out of road, and is less than a kilometer wide at it’s widest point. Think giant sand bar with hotels and resorts running along both sides of the main road which runs north south. Padre Jose Nicholas Balli, was an early Spanish missionary on the Island and his family had accumulated significant land holdings throughout the south Rio Grande Valley, and it’s after him that the island is named.

The island is joined to the mainland by the 2 mile long Queen Isabella Causeway, named for the Queen of Spain who financed the Spanish exploration of this region. Although thankfully I wasn’t the cause for any of them, (and yes, my episode with the Confederation Bridge did come to mind as I travelled over the causeway) the Causeway has had a couple of calamities according to Wikipedia and the locals.

In 1996 someone under the influence of alcohol and drugs flew a plane under the bridge and made it under successfully one direction however it crashed into a concrete pylon after turning to make the pass in the other direction. Then in 2001, just 4 days after 9/11, in the dark of night, 4 barges crashed into one of the support columns taking out 2 sections of the bridge on the upward slope leaving a hidden, gaping hole into which several cars drove. Eight people died in the episode, and the power and water to the island were knocked out. It took 2 months to repair and so a ferry had to be put in place while construction was going on. They intentionally keep this episode pretty low key because it happened so soon after 9/11 and there was concern it would unnecessarily strike fear it might be another attack.

I arrived from San Antonio just after 2 pm on Thursday and after starting the day with grey skies and drizzle, by the time I got here, the sun was out and it was 28 degrees and humid. The KOA is near the causeway, on the bay side, and once again, KOA has not let me down. The buildings are interesting and house great facilities, which are sparkling clean and well used. One unique feature is the “Sunset Deck” which is a deck with piles of adirondack chairs where campers converge to share nibblies, bevies and watch the sun go down. I joined the group tonight and learned quite a lot about RV Tours as one of the couples are wagon masters for one of the big companies that does tours.

But I’ve leaped ahead. After doing a basic set up on Thursday afternoon, I changed from my jeans and hiking boots to capris and sandals and headed out exploring. I went north as far as the road would allow and walked on the beach there, and at an access point back further south. The beaches weren’t quite deserted but I saw only a few other people walking along the beach. The surf was way too rough for swimming.

I stopped at a place called Clayton’s Beach Bar for lunch. The food wasn’t great, but the venue was outstanding. It claims to be the largest beach deck in Texas and I can believe it. The deck area was huge with hundreds of tables and chairs in the open, but also under cover from the sun.

I did some errands and finished getting set up, just before the wind kicked up. That night and all Friday, it was clear, but the wind was pretty intense. So Friday I did some work on my future travel plans and cleaned up the trailer. The KOA had a hoedown in the common room Friday evening, with a country western singer that was really fun and he liked the old country music that I appreciate as well. I had a chance to chat with a bunch of folks there, including a couple from Winnipeg and a woman from Saskatchewan down here on her own as well.

After the hoedown, I stopped in at Pier 19, which is a restaurant/bar adjacent to the KOA, for dinner. I had the most lovely conversation with some folks from Wisconsin or Minnesota (sorry, too many conversations to remember), and they kindly shared with me some ideas about RV Parks in New Orleans area. Once again, it’s the people you meet along the way that makes travel fun. My chicken sandwich was fabulous and the service was efficient and really friendly. Many of the “Winter Texans” (as they call “Snowbirds” here) are just arriving and the staff were amazing at remembering many of them from last season.

This morning, the wind dropped off to barely a light breeze and it got to about 22 degrees. So after the $3 juice, coffee, pancake, french toast and sausage breakfast the KOA puts on every Saturday morning, and some chores, I headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather. I discovered a market at the convention centre to which hundreds of people were migrating so I joined in and spent just a short while checking things out there. Then I headed up the island and went for a long walk on the beach and ended up once again at Clayton’s. Today they had a band and with the weather so perfect, I grabbed a tall table by the railing overlooking the beach and spent a good couple of hours enjoying the sun, some lunch and a margarita or maybe two.

I then headed over to Port Isabel, which is the small community just before you enter on to the causeway to do some errands and take some pictures. Port Isabel has history dating back to the Mexican War of Independence, and the port, town and lighthouse changed hands during the Civil War. As it’s name would imply, it is a port city and there is currently an oil rig in the port and it looks like it might be being revamped. I visited the lighthouse there, built in1853 after the war of Mexico. It’s light shone 15 miles out to sea to direct ships into the harbour here, and it was a prize fought over in the Civil War. It has been a State Park since 1952.

Port Isabel, TX

Harlingen, TX