Geddings TX to Austin TX

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Our morning was spent on housekeeping chores. First since we had no coffee, we drove into Geddings to a McDonalds and had our first fast food breakfast of the trip! Our plan to buy groceries yesterday just did not work out and we had used all the coffee soooo…McDonalds it was. Behind McDonalds was a Wal-Mart so we thought we might do our shopping but not possible. This was a very small Wal-Mart and of my list with 20 things on it – they only had 2! So we just got the 2 so we could get some change for the washers and dryers back at the campground.

This campground had a very nice laundry with a recreation room attached…so we read, studied travel books, did some searches on the computer and before we knew it the laundry was done! I am sorry I did not take a photo because this was probably the first and last time our laundry was folded on a pool table.

By 11:30 we headed from Geddings toward San Marcos and New Braunfels. Jane wanted to visit a German Market that was being held in Gruene – an old German settlement near New Braunfels. We stopped at the first large Wal-Mart we came to in San Marcos. We had a picnic lunch in the parking lot, Ben had a nap and Jane completed the shopping. Wal-Mart had almost everything and we were soon on our way south to New Braunfels.

The Art/Craft Market was not really a German Christmas Market as Jane had thought but she did spend time looking in all the neat stores and at about half the Art/Craft booths before Ben arrived back to pick her up. Ben had decided to take a pass on the shopping – we think the chili yesterday had a worse impact on him than Jane. Yesterday Jane did not feel great but today is fine. The shops were very nice with a good mix of food, antiques, clothes, and Texas souvenirs. The crafts were very nice too but the only buying was a very nice leather fanny pack. Jane had been looking for one this entire trip and so far had not been successful in finding one. It will be nice not to lug a purse around.The spot Jane was to meet Ben in Gruene was very near the Guadalupe River – and yes Jo Anne it is still green. Not Kelly green by any means but it has a very greenish cast – I noticed this was also the case of the San Marcos River which is in this same general vicinity.



Cypress Trees at McKinney Falls



Upper McKinney Falls

We headed toward Austin and decided to stop early since Ben was not feeling very well. We headed to McKinney Falls State Park which is on the south side of Austin. We wanted to visit Cabela’s home store as well as the home of Jardine Foods for salsa, barbecue sauce, dips, jalapeno jelly etc. factory. We passed them by and will go back the 10 miles first thing tomorrow. McKinney Falls State Park is a nice wooded park right among the suburban home and urban sprawl area of Austin. It is a very peaceful wooded area and after cooking egg rolls to go with our leftover Pork with Cellophane Noodles and Oyster Beef from the venture to China Town in Houston on Friday. It was very good.

We have realized after talking to the ranger here that we best make arrangements for Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Evidently many people in TX travel over Thanksgiving and we might have problems with campsites. We have not had reservations anywhere and always found space so we had not given it much thought…tonight we will plan a little more than we have on this trip. It has been nice to just pick up the phone about 3:00 and call an hour or so ahead… guess we will have to do a little better than that for this holiday week! So after about an hour with all the travel books we have a general plan for the next few days…

Our entertainment for tonight was to watch “Song of the South”. One of Ben’s friends from college days sent him a bootleg copy of this old Disney classic that supposedly has been withdrawn from circulation for current politically correct reasons. It was certainly a journey down memory lane. The movie was released in 1946 and neither of us remembered seeing it but the music and Uncle Remus character and cartoon characters were certainly familiar so I am sure at some point we saw it.

Houston TX to Giddings TX

Saturday November 21, 2009

We had breakfast, packed and unpacked as we moved back into the Sprinter – it was much easier this time as we were a little more organized!

We made it across Houston to Traders Village the site of the Chili Cookoff; it was raining, foggy, and just plain miserable. We thought perhaps the event would have been canceled – but not a chance! The people putting on this event were already having a party and it was 10 AM ! Just a little information on Chili Cookoffs and Texas learned from conversing with people during the event…Chili is the state food of Texas. There are Chili Cookoffs held all across the state all year long. The Grandaddy of all Texas Chili Cookoffs is the one held in Terlingua – it was the week before we arrived there back in early November. Teams can enter Cookoffs across the state and win points by participating, winning etc. You have to build up points to be eligible to enter the Terlingua Event.

There were 20-25 teams in this event that was held in a large covered area in the center of a huge Traders Village type flea market. We wandered around the flea market area a little but it was wet and miserable so we just ended up wandering around in the cookoff area watching the teams prepare. They had to be there cooking at 8 AM and could have prepared the chili they were giving away the day before. Most of the teams had a “theme” and some decorations and “uniforms” if you could call them that! Most were cooking over gas stoves of some type. Teams could enter chili or beans or both. In Texas, Chili does not have beans in it.


Ice Sculpture at one Chili Booth

The process was you purchased 6 bowls for $5 and could taste 6 different chilies – then you voted for the one you liked the best and the one with highest number of votes was the People’s Choice Award. We started our tasting – some were made with ground beef and others with beef that had been chopped. They had all kinds of things in them – onions, garlic, chili sauce and who knows what else! One that was being prepared by folks representing a beer distributor, had so much beer in it you could hardly taste the chili! The folks could give away drinks if they chose to – and everything from beer, to soft drinks, to water, even hard liquor was given away at the booths. We stuck to water since we were traveling on down the road – I can’t imagine how some of those folks would be making it by 3 PM when the prizes were to be handed out! We finished our tasting, voted and were on our way a little after noon.


Jane At Chili Cookoff


We sat in the van and debated our next destination…we had thought we would be here longer but the weather just did not encourage us to stay and visit the flea market. We had two places to go between here and Austin – The George H W Bush Presidential Library in College Station and the Washington on the Brazos State Park where the Government of Texas was originally formed. We also needed to camp somewhere that we could do laundry – and it would be too far to drive all the way to Austin before dark….well we made up our mind and headed off for College Station to visit the Bush Museum and Library.

The drive was about 1 hour and to be honest it was nice to be out in rural Texas again…We did pass a Goode BBQ (recommended to us by JoAnne) in North Houston right after we left the Chili Cookoff. Our original plan had been to stop there for dinner after walking around Trader’s Village; but after all the Chili neither of us wanted any BBQ!


Texas A&M Stadium
We arrived in College Station, home of Texas A & M, about an hour before the beginning of their home football game with Baylor! We were in the midst of the ballgame traffic as the Presidential Library is on the Texas A&M campus. When we finally got to the museum/library they had given half their parking lot over to ball game participants but had kept plenty for those visiting them. It was much larger than either of us had expected. Having never visited a Presidential Library before; we were not sure what to expect. Included were photographs and memorabilia from throughout the lives of both George and Barbara Bush. They had recreated the Oval Office, Camp David, a White House Dinner and the Situation Room. There were very interesting displays of George Bush’s time as CIA Director, Vice President, and of course his Presidency and beyond. The museum seemed to tell the story of the Bush family well.


Lobby Bush Library - Bush jumping over the Christmas Tree



Ben in Bush Situation Room
When we came out of the Library, it had finally quit raining and the sun was trying to shine. We called ahead to the campground identified earlier to be sure they had a laundry and to get an address. We have an excellent campground directory with almost all the information you need but they never put a street address you can use in the GPS. It was a go so off we went across country to Giddings – a small town about half way between College Station and Austin. We arrived about 5 o’clock. Travel past 5 is not a very good idea since it is dark by 5:30.

Neither of us have been hungry since eating the chili; and we have been drinking water all day. Something simple and not spicy was all we wanted. Jane made biscuits in the electric skillet, heated a can of beef stew in the microwave, and opened a can of pears. The pears and the biscuits were good – the beef stew just OK.
It is nice to be back in our little rolling home. In the evenings we can relax in our folding chairs and watch TV, read, or catch up on WIFI if we have it – and we do tonight. TV in campgrounds sometimes is cable and sometimes over the air – network TV. That is what we have tonight so we watched the end of a ball game. Tonight Ben has managed to hook his computer to the TV and we are watching a movie from the internet via Hulu.

Having caught up on the blog – I plan to read what we do the next 4 days in Austin, Fredericksburg, and the Hill Country. We will go the San Antonio Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Then we start home…this month has gone quickly.

Then when it is time for bed – we just put away the chairs, let down the bed and blow up our queen size mattress – not much space but as long as you only do one activity at a time there is plenty of space for two. Not sure if the WIFI is strong enough to post photos or not. I was able to get about a week’s worth of photos posted at the hotel in Houston.. eventually I will get them all posted.

Houston TX

Friday November 20, 2009

Ben was up and out for his first client visit at 8:45. Jane was lazy and stayed at the hotel working on getting some of the photos posted to the blog and checking addresses of the locations in China Town to visit this morning. Ben was back about 10 and we both left for the second client visit that was further away. We or rather GPS Lady found the location and then we headed to visit China Town.

This is the largest oriental population outside of Los Angeles. We found the location and enjoyed the signage for a while until we located the Hong Kong Mall that was written up as a composite of all oriental cultures in one store. Jane loved it and we spent about 2 hours slowly looking through the store. It was as large as most Wal-Marts ! There were fresh fruits and veggies from across Asia. The fish section was fascinating – large glass cases full of live lobsters, crabs, and all sorts of fish. There were fish mongers who were cutting up large fish too. Most of the people just put their fish or crabs in a paper bag and went on their way. We of course could not really purchase these fresh foods. They also had a section of ducks hanging up getting ready to be prepared.


Hong Kong Market

The aisles of noodles, sauces, drinks, rice, and too many things to mention went on and on. Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, they were all represented VERY well. Jane bought several things and resisted the temptation to get others. There were many items that brought back memories of our days in the Philippines. Jane managed to resist the temptation to buy a whole set of china; but did get several serving pieces that can be used with the blue and white dishes she already has! We also resisted buying 20 pounds of rice – it was so cheap! In fact many of the prices were much lower than in our regular supermarkets. We even found San Miguel Beer – made in Manila.


San Miguel Beer

Ben did grow rather weary and after about 2 hours we left to find one of the Chinese restaurants in the area where we ate lunch. We ate at Shanghai Restaurant. Our meals were excellent – we could have split either or our orders and still had some leftover – so we have another meal of Chinese food for another night soon. Having the refrigerator is a very good thing!

The interesting thing about this China Town was it was modern. The stores were in a “shopping mall and strip mall” format. The streets were all 4 lane with both English and Chinese street signs. All stores of all kinds had both English and Chinese Signage. The banks also had Chinese signs along with the English. The only store we saw that did not have Chinese was the Home Depot. The clients in the stores we were in were primarily oriental but there were a few Mexican and Anglo people mixed in here and there. Ben said his funny was watching an oriental lady talk on her cell phone with one hand and try to pick out crabs with the other…evidently it was very funny.




Chinese and English Signage in China Town

We headed back to the hotel for a rest that turned into a nap for Ben and posting of 5 or 6 days of photos for Jane. We have not had email of the quality needed to post photos most places we have stayed so wanted to take advantage of the internet capability. Another thing that made the day lazy was it rained most all day.


Rainy Houston Skyline


We spent about an hour trying to find the closest Papacito’s Cantina so we could go there for dinner. We finally had to give up as none were closer than 40 minutes and in Friday night traffic we just did not think we could do it! There are also Papacito’s in Austin and San Antonio so we will hope to find one more convenient. We found another Tex-Mex restaurant that was fairly close and ate an excellent dinner.

Now back at the hotel we have figured out the next couple days of travel and will watch Monk. This down day was really good. We have a fairly busy next few days so enjoyed every minute of not traveling. Not that we do not love the travel – we do but this huge city was really a bit much to absorb and we did not want to do NASA or the museums.

Galveston TX to Houston TX

Thursday November 19, 2009

Packing for two days in a hotel was a priority for the morning and we were on our way by 8:45. Ben told his client he would be there between 10 and 10:30 and we had no idea how long the travel time would be to north Houston. When it comes to city driving GPS Lady pays for herself many times over! We took a short detour through Texas City so Jane could see all the oil and chemical plants. Ben had been here years ago and he was right to drive this way – it is Kingsport's Eastman Chemical 100 times over. Jane took some photos but they will only be a few representative photos.




We then headed north right through the center of Houston – past the Minute Maid Stadium and on until we came to the location we searched for near George Bush International Airport.



Jane programmed our hotel,the San Jacinto Battlefield and the USS Texas into the GPS while Ben visited his client. We then headed south to the San Jacinto Battlefield. We drove through another maze of chemical and oil production facilities again as we drove along the Houston harbor. It really is mind boggling to see this much industry in one area.

The San Jacinto Monument and Battlefield is right in the middle of this maze. We had a picnic lunch and then went inside the monument. It is taller than Washington Monument and has a reflecting pool. Inside is a very nice museum documenting the battle between the Texicans and the Mexican Troops under General Santa Anna. This battle was decisive in the freedom of Texas from Mexico.


Texas Battleship
After touring the monument and museum we drove across the park to the site where the USS Texas – Battleship in both WWI and WWII. She saw service in both wars in WWI as part of the Atlantic Fleet; and then in WW11, serving in the invasions of North Africa, Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and relaying POW's from the Philippines to Pearl. During all this service she only had battle casualties in one battle off the coast of Southern France. When she was built in 1914, she was the most powerful weapon in the world. She is the only surviving US Naval ship that has served in both WWI and WWII. She is moored along the main shipping channel into Houston; and when the large tankers pass her by – she looks very small. We had a fascinating time climbing around the various levels of the ship. Ben climbed up to the Bridge while Jane was satisfied with two levels up and one down. The living quarters, galley, bakery, communication rooms, and medical offices were all fascinating. The guns were pretty impressive too; and the steel turrets were huge.






I 1948 she was scheduled to become a bombing target but the people of Texas had a statewide fund campaign to save her. In 1948 she was transferred to the State of Texas and towed to Texas to become the first permanent memorial battleship.

After completion of our tour on the USS Texas we again put ourselves in the hands of GPS Lady and headed to our hotel in South Houston where Ben will visit two more clients tomorrow. We rested and found a barbeque restaurant fairly close to our hotel for dinner. It was good – ribs and brisket were best – we had a sampler that also included ham and sausage. In addition Jane gave the slaw a thumbs up and Ben the same for the pecan pie.

Now we have to study and decide what to do tomorrow!!! Maybe China Town? We are expecting severe weather tonight – let it rain now and clear off for tomorrow. The weather report says maybe flooding...Jane remembers how bad the flooding here can be as she once worked a disaster assignment here for a flood.What a mess that was!

Victoria TX to Galveston TX

Wednesday November 18, 2009

We were up early and away from the Gateway to the Gulf RV Park by 8:30.


Campsite at Gateway to Gulf RV Park, Victoria

We wanted to see the downtown area of Victoria so headed in to see the old area of town. This town was on the El Camino Real along with Goliad where we were yesterday. We were on the route of this old road when we were in Nacogdoches and it continued on into Mexico. This town had not kept the old flavor of their town square as well as Goliad.After a short tour around the old town area we headed back out to US 59 and were on our way to Houston and Galveston. The territory was rolling but mostly flat – cattle ranches with some agriculture. We finished our Baldacci book just as we came into the outskirts of Houston. We took the Sam Houston Toll-Way around the south side of Houston leaving it for tomorrow. We headed south to Galveston Island.

As we came into Galveston we headed, with the directions of Lady GPS, to the Visitor Center. When we arrived we found what was the visitor center before Hurricane Ike in September 08. The line painted on the outside wall of the building was probably 5-6 feet up the brick wall.



Ike Water Line on Building

Many of the buildings had been repaired. We found we were on the bayside of Galveston Island – the old downtown area along the wharf. We decided to eat lunch at a waterside restaurant – Jane had a fish po’boy and Ben had an oyster po’boy. Both were great and the entertainment was watching a ship being released from the dry dock across the channel. There were also 2 offshore oil platforms in the dry dock area perhaps waiting for repairs.

As we left the restaurant and walked down the wharf past a hotel we saw the Ocean Star Offshore Resource Center. It was a museum explaining how offshore oil rigs worked. We toured it and learned a great deal about the history and technology of the offshore oil industry. They had a film, numerous models of various types of platforms, and of course the actual platform and equipment since the Ocean Star had been an actual working rig before it became this museum. One exhibit showed the living quarters for the workers.


Ben on Drilling Platform at Museum

Then on down the street was the film The Greatest Storm about the 1900 hurricane in Galveston. That film was one of the things Jane wanted to see – so we watched it. It was a compilation of the photos taken by many people and notes from their diaries. The history helped us notice several things as we drove through Galveston headed to the south end of the island where the State Park was located.

A seawall was built around the north end of the island and down about 10 miles of the oceanfront. The sea wall has been successful in limiting the damage of storms since the 1900 storm. The other thing the people did was back fill the land behind the sea wall to make the ocean side of the island higher than the bayside. We saw this rise as we drove to the north end of the island on a street that was midway on the island. There were numerous Victorian homes – but touring them is not in our schedule.

We called and found the Galveston Island State Park had openings for camping so we headed south driving along the seawall. There are a couple lovely hotels, many mid range hotels, motels, restaurants, etc. Everything is on one side of the road as the sea wall is immediately to the ocean side of the road. Most of the hotels, condos etc had aluminum shutters on their windows. The majority of the buildings were repaired from Ike and open. There were a few that were still boarded up. Several did not look like they could be repaired. There were 3 or 4 buildings built out over the water on piers. Several had been repaired but one a hotel built over the ocean was in very poor repair and looked almost beyond repair.


Campsite at Galveston Island State Park

When we reached the state park; we found the only sites left were on the bay side. This was OK with us having just spent 3 nights on the ocean. We hiked around the bay looking at birds for a while and got some great photos of a sunset. The State Park had a lot of damage from Ike; they still do not have permanent restrooms built back for our area of the campground. Good thing we are here for only one night and have our port-a-potty! They have portable bathrooms but I think I prefer my own. The electricity seems to work fine. The view is the best for any location we have camped with the exception of Chisos Basin in Big Bend. The sunset was out the side of the van and the skyline of Galveston is across the bay out the back windows...nice!


Sunset on Galveston Bay

Jane cooked supper and we are reading the Houston notes and map. Ben will visit a client each morning – Thursday and Friday and then we will spend the rest of the time touring around... just not sure what yet. I will need to pack up better for two days in a hotel than I did in Fort Davis!

Mustang Island TX to Victoria TX

Tuesday November 17, 2009

We got away from Mustang Island Campground by 8:45. The sun was shining and the wind had died down significantly. We headed north through Port Aransas and crossed over to the next island and to Aransas Pass via a ferry. The ferry ride was the shortest I believe we have ever taken – maybe 200 yards. The reason for the ferry is the need for large boats to go back and forth at this pass. As soon as we crossed the ferry; we saw a tanker and a container ship pass by. There were at least 4 ferries that each carried about 12 vehicles. One of the ferries even had a school bus on it!

We purchased gas in Aransas Pass and then headed up the coast through Rockport-Fulton until we reached the side road to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge and took it to see what we could see. The road continued through remote farmland until we reached the Refuge which was playing host today to 3 bus loads of 3rd graders. We got a stamp and headed out on the loop drive in hopes of seeing a whooping crane among other things. We climbed a 40 foot observation tower and also took a boardwalk out to another viewing site. We heard the cranes first and then when we looked up saw the pair flying overhead. We also noted white tail deer, an armadillo, an alligator, and several other birds that Ben identified. Jane was disappointed not to see a Roseate Spoonbill but such is life. We ate a picnic lunch before we left the Wildlife Refuge.


Ben Viewing Birds

Armadillo at Aransas Wildlife Preserve


Heading back towards the main road we stopped to ask a local farmer what their main crops were – he said corn, cotton, and milo. The fields were in various stages of plowing. The farmer told us they planted the main crop in February. There were also oil and natural gas wells periodically along the roads. We continued on our trek to Goliad.

When we reached Goliad we toured the Presidio La Bahia (The Fort of the Bay).


Presidio La Bahia

This fort is a National Historic landmark and considered the finest example of a Spanish frontier fort; this one established in 1721. The fort was a participant in 6 different battles in the Texas wars for independence. The most famous being the 1836 Palm Sunday Goliad Massacre where 341 men and their leader Col. Fannin were executed after their loss of the battle of Coleto Creek. This happened shortly after the battle of the Alamo. The chapel of this fort was original but the presidio itself was restored to the style of the 1800’s. The location is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Victoria and was authentically restored in large part by one lady, Mrs. Cathryn O’Conner, a descendent of a participant in the early battle.


Chapel at the Presidio


After viewing and photographing this wonderful structure we continued on to Victoria where we found an RV park with internet for the night! Jane cooked tilapia tonight with a very good salsa. The evening is going to be watching NCIS and catching up on internet and the blog. Tomorrow we hope to reach Galveston if we don’t spend too much time along the way!

Mustang Island

Monday November 16, 2009

Today was going to be a down day – rest from traveling as we are ½ through our trip. We got up to stiff winds and very gray skies. We turned on the TV weather to find out a front was passing through and the cloud cover should be gone by early afternoon but the winds would remain through the day and night.

Our Campsite at Mustang Island State Park

We had a slow start morning with Jane making toast and then frying the bacon she brought when cleaning out the refrigerator at home! Making biscuits was just out of the question since cooking partly outside was impossible in this wind. The news said the wind at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi which is about 10 miles from our location was 35 MPH. The winds were 20+ in most locations in the area.

After breakfast we drove north on the island to Port Aransus to see what was there and find some shrimp for supper. We found it and looked around in several shops and galleries. One gallery had several multi-media pieces made from numerous sand dollars. Never seen anything like them – the sand dollars were strung together in patterns by fishing line. Very unique. Another shop had very nice high end Mexican pottery. There was lots of looking and no buying for us today. If the weather improves tomorrow we will come back this way when we leave tomorrow; if not maybe we go back through Corpus Christi since the only way off this island to the north is on a ferry.

We went back to camp for lunch. After lunch Jane spent time reading and Ben napping. Mid-afternoon we ventured south little way in the park to the beach camping sites. No one was camping here, in fact the road was covered with sand, they were pumping water out of some ponds that had formed inland due to the high water they had here in the recent past.

Sprinter on Beach at Mustang

The wind was blowing the sand across the beach in waves; there were a few birds, many jelly fish, and some assorted trash washed up on the beach after the storm. We could see 15 oil platforms in the nearby gulf. After walking for about 30 minutes and taking a few photos we started back to camp.


Ben Walking on Beach


Sandpipers and Heavy Surf


We noticed numerous P34 planes flying over (well Ben knew they were P34’s) today. Jane had photographed an orange Coast Guard helicopter early this morning. The news tonight said a Navy plane from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi was lost and they have been searching for it. Today they found it but were unable to recover it due to the high winds and poor visibility in the water. That explained all the air traffic.

There are Canadians camped all around us. The folks next to us have the map on the side of their camper that Jane has been wanting. We hope to stop at a few camper stores in Houston and San Antonio to find one. They have never come out of their camper when we have seen them to ask where they got theirs.

Jane cooked a rather ambitious dinner tonight – rice with lemon shrimp with green beans, squash, onions, and water chestnuts. It was very good. Another quiet night of blog writing, photo editing, reading and TV. We also have been reading the travel books to determine what we will do in the Houston area. There is a Chili Cookoff on Saturday and we want to visit the USS Texas and the San Jacinto Memorial. Ben will visit 3 of his inspection clients and Jane wants to do some looking if not shopping. We also want to go to Galveston for a short time.

South Padre Beach TX to Mustang Island TX

November 15, 2009 Sunday

We woke up to rain on the roof of the Sprinter. That sound always puts me back to sleep – when we got up about 8:00 the rain had stopped and it was just cloudy. After the usual morning routine we were on the road by 9:00. Jane took a photo of the Statue to the Saint of the Fishermen which was standing watch over the entrance to the harbor at Port Isabel.

Heading north on US 83 was interesting. There were palm trees and oleander planted in the median and along the sides of the road. The oleander was blooming which surprised us. The crops in this part of TX are varies –still some citrus trees but primarily sugar cane and cotton. The cotton crops have been harvested but some of the sugar cane still is awaiting harvest. There are also large ranches which seem to be raising cattle of several types.

Before we reached Kingsville we were stopped at another Border Patrol Checkpoint – this time because of the amount of traffic we had to wait in line for about 5 minutes for our chance to be “inspected”. They have yet to ask for proof of citizenship when we have been stopped but they certainly do give you a good visual going over. There was a dog at this stop sniffing each vehicle. I assume they are looking for drugs as well as illegals.


Another Border Patrol Stop


When we reached Kingsville we found the King Ranch Visitor Center and watched the introduction video. The ranch began in the 1850’s and is still family owned. It began as a cattle ranch and had an interesting history through the US Mexican War and the Civil War. The horses were a significant part of quarter horse history and this ranch had the only Triple Crown winner from Texas. The King Ranch now has 850+ thousand acres of holding in TX and an additional 100 thousand in Florida. They have diversified their ranching to include cotton, sugar cane, citrus, and significant wildlife causes. It remains a privately held business today managed from corporate offices in Houston. There were tours but we were too early for the one this afternoon.


King Ranch


We had been seeing numerous “taqueria’s” as we drove throughout south TX over the past week – so today we stopped at one and had lunch. It is really a simple Mexican restaurant. We had tacos and they were pretty good. Then we were on the road north to Mustang Island where we were planning to stay two nights at the State Park.
We passed just to the south of Corpus Christi on a Farm Road. It was interesting to drive through the back country. There were continuous fields in various stages of cultivation. In several areas the farmland was dotted with oil wells and holding tanks. The plowed fields did not seem to miss a row! These people were certainly getting good value for their land!

When we arrived at Padre Island we headed south towards the National Seashore. The dunes were very similar to those on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Lots of sea oats were holding the dunes in place as well as two very prolific yellow flowers. The surf was as rough as we have seen on the Atlantic coast numerous times. The volunteers staffing the visitor center said it was lower than it had been since the hurricane stirred up the gulf – we did not even know there had been one- guess we have missed more news than we thought! We stayed a while viewing the beach. Most of this park is only accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicle. There is a 50+ mile beach road south to the end of the island. This area is known for saving many sea turtle each summer.

Padre Island National Seashore


View of Gulf from Padre Island National Park


Continuing about 20 miles north on Padre Island we crossed to Mustang Island and quickly found the State Park we had been looking for. We have a campsite that is just behind the dunes from the gulf. We can hear the surf but due to the dune can’t see the water. Tomorrow we will go explore. This afternoon we just got out our chairs; and sat in the shade to read and rest. Jane cooked pork chops and heated the leftover red potatoes from our dinner last night. We also had nice salads. Tomorrow we will search for seafood to prepare.

We have 10 excellent digital stations on TV with Ben’s homemade antenna. It is time to download today’s photos and get this blog ready to load next time we have internet.

MissionTX to South Padre Beach TX

November 14, 2009 Saturday

It was a beautiful clear warm morning. We knew we did not have to go far today but had to decide if we were going to stay in the South Padre Beach/Brownsville area or head north to Mustang Island near Corpus Christi. We also knew we had to spend a couple hours washing clothes in the next few days. Decision was to wash here where there is a very nice laundry area. Jane visited with a woman from Ontario who was in the laundry area working on a quilt. They have come here several winters but this year are going home first of December because her daughter had twins and they wanted to be there for their first Christmas. The laundry tasks were accomplished with no problems (unlike last week when the water pressure was so low in Ft. Davis) and we were on the road by 10:45.

Our first location to visit was Palo Alto National Battlefield National Park. This site about 6 miles from the Mexican border was the scene of a decisive battle in the US – Mexican War in 1846. It had been written about extensively in Michner’s TEXAS and we also wanted the passport stamp. GPS Lady really screwed up this time as she took us to a location south of US83 which was about 10 miles from the location. Jane found the address in a travel book and put the new location in GPS and it took us to the right location. It is unusual for their system to screw up but it really did today. When I mentioned it to the ranger he said yes other people had had that happen too.

We had a picnic lunch and then toured the visitor center learning more about the history of the area. They had one very good display that showed the changes in the US boundaries from before the time of the American Evolution until it was finalized after the purchase of Alaska from Russia. They were having a memorial ceremony at 5 PM today but we could not stay that long so were on our way to Port Isabel and the lighthouse. Along the way we made a stop at Wal-Mart. This area is urban sprawl with fields of sugar cane, orange groves, and other agriculture thrown in. We arrived at the Lighthouse about 3:00 and Jane got her photos.


Port Isabela Lighthouse

After some discussion we decided to stay here tonight and move on to North Padre Beach/Port Aransas area for 2 nights. We are ready for some down time. It is about 150 miles of driving tomorrow with a stop at Kingsville for the King Ranch.

We checked into the Isle Blanca Park and have a site one row back from the gulf. We got out chairs and sat in the sun for about an hour. We walked over to the pavilion and enjoyed watching the gulls, pelicans, waves, children playing in the surf and sail boats. Jane then enjoyed watching the couple in a large RV nearby set up to stay for the winter. They must have been on a shopping spree with a new light post, outdoor flower arrangements, and recliners.


Surf at Isle Blanca



Statue to Protect Fishermen


We drove down the road a short distance to the Shrimp Haus – with 25 different varieties of shrimp plus many other seafood entrees. Jane could not resist the coconut shrimp and Ben had Pecan Shrimp. Both were excellent. We did go early- about 5:45 but there was only one other group in the huge restaurant so we were a bit unsure of the situation……but the food was outstanding and we had excellent service.
Back at camp we enjoyed a quiet evening of TV, blog writing, travel book study and reading.

Laredo TX to Mission TX

Friday November 13, 2009

We had a good night at Casa Blanca State Park. Miss GPS led us through Laredo to find the old part of town. The art museum we had hoped to visit did not open until 11 instead of 9 as our travel info said. We are finding that this is not the high tourist season so some things just close down. We visited the Cathedral which was lovely and the Museum of the Republic of Rio Grande. It was very interesting to read about this Republic – it was composed of a sliver of what is now south TX known as “the strip” and some part of northern Mexico. The Republic of Rio Grande only lasted about 3 years from 1840-1843 approximately. The Treaty of Guadalupe between the US and Mexico finally settled on the Rio Grande as the final boundary and the Republic was gone. The museum was in the building that served as the capital of the Republic.
Next door to the museum was the Hotel La Posada – very old and interesting. We were able to walk through their garage to get a good view of the International Bridge and a huge Mexican Flag on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. The traffic was almost 95% Mexico to US…and the blocks surrounding the old plaza was 100% stores catering to Mexican customers. There is another International Bridge west of town that is probably used for trucks etc. as the traffic on this downtown bridge was mostly cars and small trucks. In fact had we not known we were in USA it appeared as if we were in a foreign country! Most of the advertising was in Spanish with only occasional English signage. We enjoyed the old architecture in the area very much. We found our way back to the Sprinter and began our journey out of Laredo. We found US 83 south and headed toward Mission TX our goal for today.


Museum of Republic of Rio Grande


We passed through agricultural area, ranches, and oil wells. The towns were larger than in west Texas. We drove through the old town part of a couple of the towns. We stopped in Roma at a What-A-Burger for lunch. This is a TX and southwest chain and we felt compelled to eat there at least once. It was a good hamburger and fries. The waitress asked if we wanted a side order of jalapenos. We watched as some of the folks got an order of jalapenos in a small Styrofoam cup which they poured out on papers and ate on their burgers and just popped them like popcorn! I like jalapenos in cooking and on nachos etc but not straight!


What - A - Burger

We continued east listening to our current book – Divine Justice by Baldacci. We finally arrived at the Bensen-Rio Grande State Park and World Birding Center. They had hourly tram rides throughout their multiple acre park for birding. We took the tram out to the Green Jay area and got off to hike the ¼ mile to the next tram pick up location. We viewed several water birds at the first site and then hiked down to a bird blind. Sitting in the blind we viewed and photographed several javalina who were digging and resting near a pond. We also saw green jays come in to feed and fly about in the trees. The Rio Grande Vally is the habitat for this jay. It was striking green with a black head. We also saw lots of chakalaka.


Green Jay


Javalina


There was a very nice gift store where we did some shopping – in fact bought our first Christmas gift!

Across the street from the park entrance was an RV Resort with WIFI, TV, electricity etc. so we just pulled in to see if they would let someone like us – in a 21 foot conversion van stay along with all the big rigs…I guess our money was just as good as the other folks. Almost all of the folks are staying all winter. While it is an interesting lifestyle; not so sure it would be for us.

We had very good Chicken Pad Thai for dinner if the cook does say so herself. We did not have a cable long enough to reach the cable hook-up so we just tried Ben’s antenna and we have 42 channels to choose from. Last night in Laredo at the state park we also got a choice of several stations…of course half are in Spanish! I hope the WIFI is strong enough to load the blog. There are over 300 sites in this park so it may be too busy.

Maybe tomorrow we will make it to the gulf coast. Weather is great 87 and clear. The temperature tonight should be in the 60’s. You need long sleeves early in the morning and in the evening and short sleeves the rest of the time. We are near the mid point in our trip - time flies by and it is hard to know what day it is when traveling like we are..