Galveston Island

I stepped outside around 7am this morning and the humidity must have been over 100%. There was a cool breeze coming off Matagorda Bay and carrying with it a mist that soaked my shirt in just a few minutes. My glasses were useless, so I took them off and put them back inside the coach. I had gone outside to hookup the sewer hose so we could drain the gray tank before we left since we were not sure if we would be dry camping this evening, or staying in another RV park. The humidity has been higher than normal due to a heavy rainfall the past week dropping about 6" of rain. Once the sun comes back out it is driving the water out of the ground and into the air as humidity. If the humidity does drop at least into the 80's we'll want to plug in again as we need A/C to dry out the air so we can sleep. We could run the generator all night, but that would cost as much as staying in an RV park.

We departed Bayside RV Park just before 10am with the windshield wipers running on an off until almost Noon. That nice wash job I did yesterday is now covered, again, with road grime....oh well. We stopped at a Walmart in Bayside to take a break....I brushed my teeth, and shaved.....hadn't shaved for about a week.....lol. After our break we continued roughly north on Texas 35 all the way to Alvin, TX.....the home of baseball's Nolan Ryan, and then turned on to FM 517 to I-45 south to La Marque where we stopped again at another Walmart Super Center to check oil, and tire air pressure. After that we decided that we would not be dry camping tonight as the humidity was still reading over 100%. We called ahead to a few RV Parks, and finally found a space at Sandpiper RV Park right on the shores of the Gulf. We have begun to see signs of Spring Break crowds beginning to arrive, although it is still not crowded yet.

The Lovely Elaine in front of Stewart Beach pavillion

After dropping our trailer, again, we backed our coach into space 33 for the night. Once that was taken care of we walked a few blocks back up Seawall to Gordos Mexican for dinner, which we took outside on the patio with an ocean view.....nice end to a nice, smooth travel day.

Tomorrow we'll board the Bolivar Peninsula Free Ferry, and head into Louisiana....our goal for tomorrow is Lake Charles.

Thanks for stopping by!

Smooth sailing...

Woke up to FOG, but visibility was .5 miles, so not too bad. Before departing for Palacios, TX we needed to dump our tanks.....the last time we dumped was in San Antonio last Tuesday, and we were getting full. After that task (my least favorite) we headed over to a do it yourself car wash to get the T-Bird washed, and to wash the sand and salt off the coach. That took about an hour, but we were finally on the road in a light drizzle around 10am.

Our route today would take us back to Corpus Christi where we picked up SR 181 to SR 35 east to Palacios. We passed through Portland, Rockport, Aransas Pass, Port Lavaca, and Point Comfort before arriving in Palacios around 2pm. We stopped twice on the way....once at a Walmart in Rockport to pickup some batteries, half and half, and some milk. While Elaine took care of the shopping I wiped off the windows, and part of the coach. Next we stopped in an HEB parking lot in Port Lavaca to have some lunch. All in all we traveled around 133 miles on secondary roads, the last 70 miles on a two way highway (35). We just took our time cruising along around 55mph.....very pleasant day with pleasant views, and very, very little traffic. We did have to cross a number of tall bridges, another of my least favorite things to do....lol.

Right now we are sitting with the back of our coach 15 feet from the waters of Matagorda Bay. There is almost no wind today, and the bay looks like a big pond....glassy smooth. Took care of some "office" work while the Lovely Elaine did the laundry.....now it's time to help her make the bed.....one of my least favorite.....just kidding!

We'll be here one night, and then on to Galveston Island.

Thanks for stopping by!

Garage Day

Saturday dawned with a steely gray cast to it.....no rain, just heavy overcast....and NO wind....well, let me correct that...there was wind, it was just off shore for a change, like it was Friday....we don't feel the offshore wind at all, but I can look over toward the ranger station and see the Red, White and Blue pointing offshore. When we arrived it was pointing onshore with a vengeance, and we could feel that!

After breakfast I decided this would be a good day to work on our road bikes, and clean a few months of grime from them....mainly from the rear cassette, rear derailleur, chain, front derailleur, and front sprockets. This is called the drivetrain of a bicycle, and like the drivetrain of an automobile, must be maintained, or you aren't going anywhere eventually. This is where my bike stand really comes in handy....it allows me to get the bike off the ground, and allows me to use both hands to work on the bike instead of using one to hold the bike in place. After plugging in my Android phone to my stereo to play music at a volume high enough to be properly appreciated, I dove into cleaning the drivetrains of Elaine's and my road bikes.

Both of our "road" bikes are made by Cannondale, a US company which still manufactures their bike frames in the USA, and many of their own components. I call them road bikes, but they really fall under the "hybrid" category. Neither of us have the racing handlebars like the ones you see on all the bikes in the Tour de France. As I have gotten older my wrists, elbows and shoulders just can't take 70 miles of leaning over that far for hours on end. I replaced those with "riser" handlebars making it possible for us to ride in a somewhat more upright position. In addition I replaced the rigid seatposts with Rock Shox suspension seatposts. Elaine has the F600 which includes a "Headshok" providing about 2.5 inches of suspension travel in front. Mine is the "Bad Boy" which also has the Headshok with 3.5 inches of suspension travel, and also comes with 700c wheels, and Elaine's has 26" wheels. Both of us have disc brakes, and mountain bike gearing. The frames of both bikes are aluminum, and very light. I have set them up specifically taking into consideration our likes and dislikes, and for our maximum comfort. Also, a critical component we both have is the Selle An-Atomica Titanico leather seat......the most comfortable bicycle seat I have ever used. They are expensive at $179 each, but well worth it. I also have them on the tandem. This amazing seat was developed by a good friend of mine, Tom Milton, over many years. He, regrettably, died a couple of years ago suddenly of a heart attack. While he is sorely missed, his company continues on, and is doing well.

Elaine's F600 Hybrid

My "Bad Boy" Hybrid

The Headshok

Soft, waterproof leather with an ergonomic design

While I worked on the bikes Elaine went shopping at the HEB in Corpus Christi. After I finished my work on our road bikes I watche some golf, and then a lot of NCAA basketball. March Madness starts next week!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Rainy Day.....

(this is a stock photo....no blue sky today...lol!)

One of my favorite things about living in our motor coach is rain on the aluminum roof at night. It really has a soporific effect on me. We moved down to this small county park yesterday in anticipation of the weather front approaching. No fun driving in the rain, so why not be parked in a comfortable place where you can run your electric heaters, and listen to rain on the roof?

Padre Bali Park provides 30amp electrical service, and water. There is no sewer, but there is a dump station, and the level sites are on asphalt, so no worry about grass, or dirt, or gravel during the rain.

Yesterday we had planned to drive up to Port Aransas for lunch, but we never got our act together. We instead bought a few artificial logs for our portable fireplace, and sat around the fire eating popcorn, smoking a couple of Macanudo cigars, and sipping Scotch for a couple of hours. Eventually the evening mist began to turn to light drizzle, so we packed it in around 9pm.

Our DirecTV is still set to our home zip code, which means we are still getting West Coast programming, which means prime time now starts at 10pm for us since we are on Central Time.....not a big deal, because, after all, we're retired, right? Well, you are right, but I prefer to watch my programming earlier in the evening. I called DirecTV about changing my programming to the East Coast feed. No problem, we just needed to download the RV application, complete it, and FAX it in with a copy of our vehicle registration. Within 2 weeks we will be getting the East Coast feed on our DVR. That's why I love dealing with DirecTV.....I have never heard "NO" to any request I've had, and their customer service is exceptional! No, I am not a paid spokesman for DirecTV, but I like to give praise when it is due.

We woke up to rain this morning....in fact it rained on and off most of the night. Around 1pm it let up so we finally got our act together and drove into Port Aransas....about 15 miles north on Mustang Island. What a cool little town.....they are really geared up for Spring Break....every convenience store has cases of beer stacked outside the front door, and everyone is selling beach stuff.....umbrellas, water shoes, beach mats, coolers....the only thing not available at any price today is sunshine, and warm air.....right now it is 51 degrees, and not much warmer tomorrow.

We stopped off at Trout Street Bar and Grill, right on the water.....Elaine had seafood Jambalaya, and I had shrimp tacos and a pint of Fat Tire Ale....one of my favorite draft beers. Very nice portions, fair prices, and fast service!

Nice marina view from our table.....just what I wanted.

As we approached Padre Bali Park on our return trip it began to rain again, and continues as I write.....what a great lazy day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Moving a few miles

Thursday, March 8, 2012, 07:21 ho

Thursday, March 8, 2012, 8:40 hours:

On our drive down from San Antonio on Tuesday we started hitting a headwind about 50 miles north of Corpus Christi......we were going south, and the wind was blowing directly from the south. When we arrived at the park we are camping at it was very windy, and at times it was difficult to open the coach door. Well, the wind has continued unabated since then at around 20-25mph with maybe an hour with no appreciable wind. The wind was forecast to end Tuesday night, and then Wednesday night, but it it still blowing! So, you might ask, where are we moving today? Right down to the source of the wind...the ocean!

Actually we are moving to Padre Island for a few days. It's supposed to start raining tonight and rain much of the weekend, so that means solar charging will be at a minimum. While we've been able to maintain our house batter bank at about 92% of full capacity, right now we are down to 82% after the night. The cloud cover is very heavy today, and we'll be lucky to put 2% back in without major generator running today. So, it will cost no more to go plug in for a few days until the weather passes, and then we will pass on to a new view out our front window further east along the Gulf Coast.

Once we get set up later this morning down at Padre Balli Park we'll drive over to Port Aransas for lunch. I've heard it is a nice relaxing place to visit. The Spring Break revelers will begin to arrive all along this coastal area later this weekend, so we'll want to be shut of Padre Island before the hoards start to overwhelm us.

Our plan for yesterday was to ride the tandem down to Corpus Christi, but that would have meant riding into a 25mph headwind for a couple of hours, and that is not fun.....no doubt the return trip would have been a blast with that kind of tailwind. I was tempted to try, but the Lovely Elaine did not see the point, and reminded me that we are not on vacation, and not under an artificial schedule to be anywhere, so why not wait until the wind dies down, and just enjoy where we are at.....she is a wise woman, and I am wise to listen to her. Instead I spent the day making a repair to the rack that holds my recumbent tadpole trike on the front the trailer over the tool box, and reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by E. Hemingway. I find his development of characters, and descriptions of events, and scenes fascinating. Until a few months ago I had never read a single word written by Hemingway. Last summer while we were in Texas for our college reunion I went to see the Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Paris". To be honest I was not a willing participant, but my wife wanted to go, and so did the rest of the in-laws we were visiting......I haven't liked a Woody Allen movie since Annie Hall back in the 70's, but this movie was very good. Woody Allen's portrayal of Ernest Hemingway in this movie inspired me to begin reading his literary works. I have talked to more than one person who saw the movie and was so inspired. At any rate I have read "The Sun Also Rises", and "Old Man and the Sea", and am now half way through the latest book.

For those who have tuned in late to my blog, I bought myself a Kindle back in the Fall of 2011, and have now read a couple dozen books on it. I really like the idea of having all these books to read, and taking up very little space. I used to carry 30, or 40 paperbacks by my favorite western author (Louis L'Amour), and frankly, that took up a lot of room. That combined with Elaine's stash of books was taking up a lot of valuable space. Now Elaine reads books mostly on her Ipad....she still has a few paperbacks, and I read all my books on my Kindle.

That's it for now.....I'll post more later after we settle into our new view. Thanks for stopping by!Thursday, Mach 8, 2012, 11:40 hours:

Thursday, March 8, 2012, 19:30 hours:

Arrived Padre Bali Park around 13:30 hours this afternoon.....very cloudy, cool, and windy. there is a large row of sand dunes between us and the ocean, which acts as a great wind break. Had a nice fire this evening, and sat outside for 2 hours enjoying the ambiance of this new view out our front door.

South Padre Island

Nueces River Park

We got an early start this morning leaving San Antonio in our rear view mirror at about 7:45am, and heading directly south on I-35 to Corpus Christi. Our goal for the day was 120 miles to a soccer park located just north of Corpus Christi just off I-37 that allows free camping for 3 days at at time, right on the Nueces River. Naturally, I feel right at home near a soccer pitch, and as I write there are young kids attending soccer practice. Once we had selected our spot, a 100' long turnout, and parked, we unloaded the 'Bird and drove into Corpus Christi to City Hall to obtain our free camping permit. After that task was completed by Brenda in Parks and Recreation on the 3rd floor we headed further south on to Padre Island, and specifically to the gate of Padre Island National Seashore Park where we would obtain our Senior Pass, formerly called Golden Age Pass, enabling us to enter National Park, BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) land for either free, or 1/2 price for the rest of our natural lives. There are two requirements to meet....1) You must be 62 years of age, and 2) be a US citizen. After satisfying these requirement the on duty Ranger quickly gave us our magnetic strip cards.



The soccer pitch right behind our coach


This will be our first real test living off our batteries for 3 days, and depending on our solar charging system to bring us back up to snuff each day. We are dry camping, and off the grid for 3 days. As I write I am watching Fox News courtesy our house batteries 270 amp hours of power, and our 2,000 watt inverter, and using my computer to make this blog post.

After picking up our Senior Passes we continued south for 4 more miles to Malaquite Beach Visitor Center to eat lunch, and walk on the beach.

Just before crossing the causeway to Padre Island

Chasin' t-shirt and short pants weather....

The Lovely Elaine on Malaquite Beach on South Padre Island

After a pleasant time on the beach we headed back north, stopping by Nueces County Park to check on reservations for this weekend for a site right on the beach....OK.....50 yards from the beach. We're booked, and will head down from our current dry camping spot on Thursday.

We have the whole place to ourselves!

Looking north along the Nueces River

Thanks for stopping by!!!

26 miles rountrip

The Alamo, of course!

Our plan for today was to ride our bikes northwest into downtown San Antonio mostly on the Mission Trail bike path, which ultimately turns into the Riverwalk, and downtown San Antonio. Regrettably much of the southern part of the trail is closed for river rehabilitation. The northern portion above Mission Concepcion is open, so we had to detour along a lot marginal residential streets, and by that I mean this was a marginal residential area......very seedy, but showing signs of improvement...a lot of new construction associated with the river rehab project (San Antonio River). We first visited Mission San Jose, which is a pretty impressive structure (reputed to be the most heavily fortified of the 4 missions on the south side of San Antonio), then on north to Mission Concepcion. There are 4 missions not including the Alamo......the two we did not visit today are south of are where we first tried to enter the closed Mission Trail. We will save them for another day.

Mission San Jose

At Mission San Jose

Mission Concepcion

After Mission Concepcion we continued north on the actual Mission Trail bike path until we came to the beginning of the Riverwalk trail where bikes are prohibited. We turned up Alamo Street to stop by the Alamo, then on to the Riverwalk for lunch at Mad Dogs Pub. They serve my favorite draft beer, Newcastle, so I ordered up a couple of pints along with a burger and fries.....hadn't had breakfast so I was hungry! The reason I hadn't had breakfast was we thought we would run across a Starbucks, or some other coffee joint along the way and get a bagel and a cup of joe, but I am sad to say no such establishments were found in the 13 miles we rode into town. I'm pretty sure that is a code violation of some sort, but considering the neighborhood we rode through for much of the morning it isn't too surprising I guess. We didn't spend a lot of time site seeing as we were here in 1984 and saw everything inside and out. This day was mostly for the nice bike ride, and revisiting a few memories.

Hemisfair Tower

Entrance to Hemisfair Park

Hotel Ellen Morgan.....what a grand building!

At Mad Dogs Pub - Riverwalk

All in all we rode 26 miles roundtrip.....the last 5 into a moderate headwind, but we had a great ride, and were actually happy we had the bikes as we rode from attraction to attraction. This was the first long ride we've taken since we were in Bullard and rode over to Emerald Bay on Lake Palestine. Hoping this is one of many to come over the next weeks.

Tomorrow we are off to Corpus Christi....brand new uncharted territory for us. We are looking forward to exploring that area, and its environs extensively over the next week. It will be nice to be near the ocean again.

Thanks for stopping by!