Padre Island–Final Chapter

The big ice storm and blizzard of 2011 was pretty much a non-event for those of us on the beach.  There was some freezing rain at night, and a bit of wind, but no sign of snow or anything worse.

It was still a bit cool the next day, but the sky was blue, so that made it a great day for another beach exploration drive.

 

We drove almost 20 miles down the beach.  It is about 60 miles to the end of the island, but the beach started to get a bit narrow in spots and had areas of softer sand. We also drove across the narrow island at a place called Yarborough pass and had a look at Laguna Madre.  This is the inland waterway that provides a sheltered route for shipping up and down the coast.

Some days, we just sat back and watched the ocean, and we had naps!

And, we had some fights!

During one nap, the front of the trailer settled perceptibly.

When I went out to see what was going on, I could see that the sand was continuously blowing out from under wheels and block, causing them to settle.

When preparing to depart, I realized that the front of the rig may have sunk an inch or two.  I had the wheels on boards as a precaution, but after two weeks it appeared that almost 6” of sand had scoured away from under the rig. 

It also formed large drifts on the lee side. 

I’m not really an NFL follower, but since the Superbowl was on, we reluctantly came inside from a warm and sunny day on the beach to check out the action.  I think Hailey was more interested in the game than I was!

When I moved off the ‘beach boards’ I was parked on, a small brown bat showed up on the boards.  I thought at first I may have driven over him, but I think he was just hiding somewhere in the wheel area, and looked to be fine when I relocated him to some vegetation in the dunes.

I apparently was not aggressive enough when pulling out of the camp spot, while crossing the new dunes that had formed beside the truck.

Before.  (Apply some beach boards and drive out)

After successful extrication.

It was time to bid farewell to our home on the beach and see what else awaited down the road.

Texas highways have a fair number of ‘rest areas’ where you can pull off to have a break, but they call them ‘picnic areas’.  Some even advertise free wi-fi!  How cool is that?

Many of their secondary roads are called ‘Farm to Market roads’ or ‘Ranch to Market roads’.

Here’s hoping we do not meet the same fate as Wandering Willy as we attempt to run the gauntlet of still cold weather in northern Texas and New Mexico.