Sunday, January 23, 2011

Texas. On second thought …

The bad weather seems to be following me wherever I go!

I’ve been praying to the weather gods for an improvement.  It’s just a local call here because Texas really is God’s country.  I know this, because he even has his own billboards down here!

I saw one that said,

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“I know – everything”

                     God

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Another one said,

If you must curse, use your own name.

                                         God

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So there you have it – God’s country.

In my first Texas blog post, it seemed like every acre of Texas was private land, and fenced.  I was somewhat shocked upon departure from South Padre to see a couple of fields that I suddenly realized – were not fenced!  In a stroke of irony, between the two fields was located a – a fencing business Smile.   But as we headed northward toward Corpus Christi, there was more farmland and little ranching, so there were actually lots of fields that were not fenced.

It must be totally off-season in South Padre as I saw several Motel 6 type motels with rooms advertised for $25.  Cheaper than camping in Canada’s National parks for sure.

I suspect this will change as spring break approaches.

I saw a funeral home with a huge billboard out front advertising their discount funeral rates!  Better check that out, Duane!

Once again, no multi-trailer semi trucks on the highways here.  I wonder why?

All the school zones here have signs indicating no cell phone use …

Many large new schools here are well out in the country.  I guess they must bus all the students out from the urban areas?  One school even had two guard houses, manned by security guards.

Dark coloured SUV’s seem to be the vehicle of choice for local law enforcement.  With a bit of mud on them, they blend right in, sitting in the highway medians.  No, they did not catch me – I don’t speed!

Although I saw a couple of Manitoba plates on south padre, I saw my first Alberta plate in weeks as I was headed for Corpus Christi.

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I’m thinking perhaps Mr. Obama has a coastal retreat in Padre Island National Seashore?  Why else would there be 13 cameras at the gate?  I’m pretty sure I got an X-ray, cat scan, microwave, and a free tan going past!

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I looked at Bird Island Basin which was very nice and CIMG3557CIMG3558

where camping was $5. a night, and Malaquite campground at $8., where it looked pretty crowded to me.  Of course, when I came to 60 miles of random beach camping for free, there were no other decisions to make!

South beach it was.  The sand was much harder than south Padre, so driving on it was not much of an issue, and I did not need my carefully collected ‘beach boards’!

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Soon we had a great spot with a super, ocean front view.CIMG3568CIMG3569CIMG3575CIMG3576CIMG3577There is a great variety of birds here, including this busy little group on the beach.  Unfortunately, my camera does not really have the zoom to take recognizable photos of most of them.CIMG3578CIMG3579CIMG3580

It was an idyllic spot.  Until another RV’er from BC showed up and camped right beside me!  Luckily, it was the famous traveler, Wandering Willy!  Click on his blog to see his version of the story.  Looks like I roused him out of his rather sedate lifestyle there in Mission, Texas when I passed through last week!CIMG3592CIMG3582That’s it for now.

3 comments:

  1. How do you think the tow truck people make a living?
    Don't get caught in the tide!
    Enjoy my home state!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How do you think the tow truck people make a living?
    Don't get caught in the tide!
    Enjoy my home state!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an awesome spot to park--right by the ocean. The roadrunner comment reminds of the time a 1980's Oldsmobile Station wagon was stuck in the beach-sand at Coney Island with 6 Hasidic Jewish men dressed in black suits trying to push it out--

    ReplyDelete