Southern Adventure Winter 22/23

We reluctantly left Palmview on Saturday morning. We were later getting away than planned as we kept running into people who wanted to chat. We started driving along the border with Mexico then turned eastward. We drove through very desolate landscapes where nothing but mesquite and brush were growing. We would occasionally catch a glimpse of a large scavenger bird with a white ring around its neck. We finally determined that it was a crested caracara and we began to see dozens of them.  Our destination was supposed to be Garner State Park, although we had not made a reservation. As it was approaching dusk, we decided to stay overnight in Pearsall, an hour and a half from the park. We weren’t able to contact the park and weren’t sure that the park gate would be open.  Walmart fit the bill for the night.  We woke the next morning to fog, but it didn’t last long and the day just kept getting better. Garner State park is large and the campsites are well spaced with lots of s...

 It has been several days since I wrote in my blog. We have been busy enjoying all that Palmview Texas has to offer. We spent 3 nights at the Americana Bird Centre RV Park. It was an older park with a combination of park models and RVs. At the back of the park is about two acres of land that is a bird sanctuary. The residents of the park feed the birds and at any time of day you can see many different birds.  The park was only about 4 km for Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park. It is a Mecca for birders. There are several places in the park where they feed the birds. We saw many different species and some of them were considered to be rare. We went twice to the park but on our second day did not see as many birds as we were earlier in the day and it was cold by Texas standards.  We moved to a different park for 2 nights. It was very different as it was more of a resort. It has a clubhouse, woodworking shop, craft room, pool tables, pickle ball court, horseshoes, and a po...

We woke to a clear blue sky and mild temperatures. It was going to be a great day for the drive to South Padre Island (SPI). We visited there 45 years ago. It was miles of sugar white beaches and tranquility.  Crossing the causeway to the island, the view was shocking although after 45 years we should not have been surprised. Where there once had only been a Holiday Inn and small mom and pop fishing motels, there was mile after mile of restaurants, hotels, typical beach shops and condos. Imagine Grand Bend on huge quantities of steroids.  Oh well, not to worry as we were going to camp on the beach like we did in Port Aransas. The SPI website said it was possible and some faceBook groups talked about it, so why not give it a try. There’s nothing like listening to the waves lapping on the shore to sooth the soul. Our first clue that this was not a good idea was squeezing past the parking attendant booth. We eased through with mere inches to spare. Turn left at the beach and ther...

 We made a short hour and a half drive early in the morning to an RV park in Kingsville. The purpose was twofold. I needed to have WiFi access to do some work and we wanted to visit the King Ranch.  At 825,000 acres, the ranch is larger than the state of Rhode Island and is the largest working ranch in the US.  Richard King was orphaned at the age of eight and had not attended school. He had many adventures before ending up under the care of a steam boat captain. He eventually became a captain and bought many steam ships that were surplus from the Spanish American War. He knew the railroad was going to take over from the steam boats and he knew he had to do something different.  Land in Texas had been deeded to Mexicans by the Spanish but had never been claimed. He was able to buy his first parcel of land, 15000 acres for $300. His son and son-in-law established the Santa Gertrudis brand of cattle, 3/8 Brahma and 5/8 Shorthorn. Although the KingRanch owned the rights...

We decided to break up the drive to South Padre Island with a stop at Port Aransas Beach. I had heard quite a bit about camping on the beach from travellers in a FaceBook group.  We selected a route from Galveston that avoided major highways. We travelled through miles of rice farmland. Texas produces 7% of the rice grown in the US. We also passed through areas where they were preparing the land for cotton. They use a piece of equipment called a hipper that creates ridges to plant the cotton.  The area is also home to many petrochemical refineries. At one point, there was a huge cloud visible on the horizon. It looked quite ominous and I wouldn’t want to live near there.  We had to take a short ferry ride over to Port Aransas Beach. These ferries that we have been on are free and efficient with a number of ferries at each roof. We saw dolphins playing in the water.  The beach road is very hard packed sand and you can camp for free for 3 nights in a 3 week period. All...

The problem with doing a blog is that you have to remember to blog when you have an internet connection. For the last 2 nights we have not had reliable internet.  On our last day at Galveston Island State Park, the weather cleared and we got the canoe in the water on the bay side of the island. The water was warm and quite shallow in places (less than 12 inches) to a maximum of about 5 feet. We canoed through wetlands, heading towards the bay. There was very little wildlife to see and the winds were still quite strong, so we opted to not go too far. We also cheated on the canoeing part and used our trolling motor.  The biggest challenge with the canoe is getting it up onto the roof of the Jeep. We aren’t as young or as strong as we were back in 2002 when we last took a canoe on a trip to Alaska. We used it quite a bit and were able to load it on the truck that was pulling our fifth wheel. We thought we had it securely fastened to the truck but one day as we were driving throug...

There are many differences between this trip and our trip to Alaska. The one that I notice the most is the traffic. The congestion and the speed of the drivers is insane. I am quite content to sit in the passenger seat and drive from there as Lawrie claims. I am glad that Lawrie doesn’t mind the driving. I have not driven yet but maybe when we are in Big Sky country off the interstates I will. Instead of taking I10 to Houston and then going south to Galveston we opted to leave I10 early and take a ferry from Bolivar to Galveston. The road went right along the shore and the surf was pounding hard. I was thinking it might be a bumpy ferry ride but it turned out the crossing was in a bay and quite smooth. We were hoping to get out on deck for the 18 minute crossing, but we were packed in so tightly that if we tried to open our door, our steps would bang into the vehicle beside us. There was a lot of marine traffic waiting at the mouth of the harbour and we saw some dolphins. Arriving on G...

I have heard from home that people are looking for our blog about our current trip. We have been gone for a month so I am not going to try to recount all of our adventures. I will give you the highlights.  We left on December 14 and headed down I-75. We boondocked our first two nights - once at a Walmart and once at a Lowes. By the third night we were in Florida and stayed at a campground near Lake City, which is pretty much due west of Cape Canaveral. We were able to catch a view of a Space-X rocket being launched.  Our home for the next two weeks was Hickory Point RV park at Tarpon Springs. It is a small park on the Anclote River not far from the Gulf of Mexico. We were in a park view site that afforded great views of the water on the other side of the park. The campground is a mix of seasonal and transients like ourselves. There was a community centre where there was something going on each day.  We spent the first week settling into the motorhome again. We accomplishe...