Padre Island National Seashore…Corpus Christi Texas.

Yes I did…..Finally……After 60 days in one place,mostly in the horizontal position……Vegging…..I put the rubber to the road……Didn't go that far,just a 3 and a half hour drive to the north and a little to the east,but nevertheless,a movement.

So here I am on the beach at the Padre Island National Seashore on a (free for camping) beach.A $10.00 entry fee,(good for 7 days) gets you into the Park.

And yes,…..I have company……Actually he has company…….Me.

That's fellow blogger Ivan of Road trip 2011.He dropped in on me last week in Mission and we made tentative plans that I could hire him as my “Sacrificial Lamb”whereby he could scout ahead for some nice camping spots on the beach in the Corpus Christi area.

And if anyone can sniff out boondocking places……This guy can……He sent e-mails with pictures of several local areas and I was hooked……rubber spinning on the road.

Actually we missed one member of the group from our “Group Photo” above.And that's Hailey,Ivan's faithful travelling companion.So here goes Hailey,you get your own personal photo.So don't look so dejected.

Here’s a few local scenes of our new digs,starting with our camping spot here in the surprisingly hard packed sand.

Actually when I came off the pavement and onto the beach yesterday,I wasn't so sure I wanted to venture out,but surprisingly even the soft looking stuff was hard packed and easy to drag a trailer over…………So Far 

I found out after this bumpy ride that it would have been better to come up the beach below the tide line as its smooth like a highway,although a little corrosive I guess.You can see our nearest neighbour in the blue van….I hate it when I have crowds like this.

Lots of shorebirds.

 

In fact as we were sitting having a happy hour,I noticed about 10 different varieties of shore bird scampering along the shore line just a few yards away.

And off in the distance in this poor telephoto shot, is an oil rig,one of several in the area here on the gulf of Mexico….Not BP I hope…..Luckily last summers spill didn't come this way.

 

Note the White Pelican that was captured in the telephoto shot.

So!….We both have agreed that this spot will make a great operations base for exploring the area,as there is lots to see here.I’m looking forward to looking around Corpus Christi,a city of just under 300 thousand peeps.Coming through on the expressway,(Boy! I love these Texas highways)…It does look like a nice city.

And of course all the surrounding area both out here on the island and off,like Port Aransas,Rockport,Fulton and of course the winter home of the Whooping Crane,”Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.”All of these, a nice easy day trip away.Actually here on the Island we are about 30 minutes away from the city,just far enough away to enjoy the night-time sky.

 

So,I’ve run out of fresh photo’s….I want to spend at least a week in this area and see and tour the “Lexington”(WW 2 Aircraft Carrier),it’s high on my to-do list along with the nature tours of the area.

More on the history and layout of this beautiful island in another blog entry.Did you know its the longest undeveloped stretch of barrier island in the world.

If interested,here is a link to my present location on Google maps. http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=9318

Harlingen. And The Iwo Jima Memorial.

I have always had an interest in war memorials and battlefields ever since the 4 years that I was stationed in France in the early 60’s during my Air force years.

We lived in a small town called St Mard in southern Belgium while based at 1 Wing (Fighter Squadron), Marville France, a 30 minute drive away,so we actually lived in a hotbed area of WW1 and WW2 history with many battlegrounds still closed off due to the live ammo still buried there.

We used to take weekend drives to the various battle grounds and cemetery's.Bastogne Belgium wasn't very far with its famous “NUTS” museum depicting the Battle of the bulge in WW2 and the American tanks that (at that time) sat at the entrance to the town. And of course the Canadian monuments in Vimy and Ypres.

I managed to dig up a few old photo’s of that visit,with our 2 girls standing in front of the Vimy Ridge monument, back at a time just before we got our Maple Leaf Flag.

The second shot taken inside the Canadian front line trench.These slides were scanned painstakingly one winter recently by daughter Kimmie,the little blond in the photos.

 

And another shot of the front line with the girls and I standing over at the German front line,which was actually closer than what the photo shows.

So now I’ve set the blog mood for another world war memorial visit, about an hour down the Rio-Grande valley from here.

Harlingen,named after the Dutch city,is a beautiful modern city of just under 60,000 and the Iwo Jima Memorial is situated near the city airport,on the south campus parade deck of the Marine Military Academy….It is by no means small as you can see by my size next to it……Very impressive…….Not me!….It

 

 

This full scale statue was the model for the casting of the Marine Corps War Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia,donated by the creator “Felix De Weldon.”

Buried next to the memorial is Harlon Block,one of the six flag raisers.

The plaque can explain better than me,the story.

 

Nice detail.

A more distant view through the trees of this beautiful park setting.

It was a beautiful warm day,so after a Burger King stop back in town,I headed south to Brownsville on the border.Drove through the historic,narrow, palm lined downtown streets,unable to stop and take a photo.(Isn't that always my excuse?)

I forgot to bring my maps with me and had a hard time finding the start of the Military Highway that follows the border back to McAllen.My sense of direction finally won out, but I still win the Darwin award because I had my Garmin with me and never even thought to use it.(Insert face slap)

The drive back was more of what I call “Mexico lite”with such a huge Hispanic population here,I saw so many similar business’s and lifestyles that you see on the other side,and of course the ever popular fence along the border. And even a couple of very slow transport trucks holding up a long line of traffic…..And as I finally got to pass them……You guessed it……They were Mexican plated trucks.

And I even had a few jousting matches with a couple of Mexican plated cars over for a visit.Thank goodness my 8 years of extended travel in Mexico prepared me for this day.

This is all true,but I wanted to have a little fun talking about the people and country that I really like,with hopes that soon I can take my 9th extended trip to old Mexico,instead of just looking across….Nuf said.

Now to finish off……..Last time I showed off my (Winter Texan) tee shirt and hat,well I still needed to get something for the truck,so off to the flea market I went.

I had a choice of 2 different decals,one like the RVer from Manitoba has on his car.You can have writing of your choice.

 

Or the one that I did select, that was a little less noticeable,but can be figured out.

 

Well all my bragging about our hot weather has come back to bite me as an arctic front has settled in for the past few days, but is expected to moderate in a couple more days…..In fact at present,4AM…It is 3 degrees f. warmer at home.Bummer.

A 46f/8c degree high is unacceptable……..unacceptable……mumble mumble.

This One Is All About The Birds.

I cant be classed as a true blue birder,but I have had more than a passing interest in birding at a certain low level for many years.I enjoy trying to identify birds by the sounds I hear and I think I have a fairly good recognition ability in that regard.

This past week I finally ventured down the road here 3 miles to one of the World Birding Centre Parks in this area….This one being the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.In fact my daily 7AM jogging sessions take me almost half way there every day.

There are about 86 listed hot spot birding areas here in the lower Rio-Grande Valley,with 10 of them listed as World Birding Centre sites.More than I plan on visiting for awhile anyway.7 more on the Mexican side.

 

I’m still unable to identify the above…Its the little ones that really give me trouble.

The park sustained quite a bit of flood damage this past summer,so a good portion was still closed off,but its so large that my 3 hours of walking around in the available area, was quite enough.Especially at nearly 80 degrees,although overcast,….Thank goodness.

 

And of course I have to get my favourite Green Jay in early.I love their beautiful colors of (gold-green-black and blue) especially in flight.And yes I have learned to recognize their sounds and “key in” when one is near.

Another of the Mexico birds is the Great Kiskadee,a noisy bird that I hear every morning over my trailer but they stay high and move too quickly,so catching them near a feeder was my answer for a photo.And even at that they never stayed in one place very long to key in a shot.I remember these guys well last year at Teacapan Mexico.

 

They place feeding areas and viewing blinds around the park making close-ups a real treat.I had one all to myself.In the open feeding areas its enjoyable just to sit on one of the many benches provided and just wait and watch…….You don't have a very long wait.

 

These Chachalaca’s,about the size of a small chicken,are everywhere.They are another Mexican bird that you usually hear more than see when in Mexico.They sound like a bunch of crazy turkeys.I used to listen to them every morning at Celestino Sinaloa,but I never got a close up look at them until I came here.

 

I don't know the variety of that squirrel,but he is huge,twice the size of the red squirrels at home.Half the size of a ground squirrel.

Now,these Robins…I find it hard to distinguish if they are the “Clay-Coloured,”or the “Rufous-Backed” as both are in this area…See how well these in the 2nd and 3rd photo,blend in to the rocks.They are getting water from a spout sticking out.

 

And to round off we can compare the size of a Chachalaca with the size of a Red Winged Blackbird.And a Tufted Titmouse stayed still long enough for a shot through the opening of one of the viewing blinds.Cute little guys,similar call to the Chickadee.

 

All in all an enjoyable 3 hours for these tired old legs…..Most of the babble overheard from the birders that day was the sighting lately of a “Black Vented Oriole”which is usually not seen in this area…..Notice of it even made the local newspaper….The talk was that it has been seen in the RV Park across the road each morning….Much hand waving and describing of where and when was going on amongst the birders…….It made me smile….I just cant get that excited.

I did see several Altamira Oriole’s though,but not well enough to get a picture this day.So I’ll show one I took here in the valley last January.

  

Until next time.

Getting Texas-afied

Is that a new word?…Well I made it up anyway,and yes I’ve been there,done that, and bought the tee shirt……And hat…And am still here and loving it.

And yes the beard is still history……For now anyway.

I must say the weather has been way more than I expected here in the lower Rio Grande Valley.I’ve been here for over a month and a half vegetating and soaking up the heat and we haven't really had a bad day.The only rain has been overnight sprinkles and that's only been about twice as the drought conditions continue here.

I’ve kept a daily temperature record and most days are in the 80’s with a few lately still touching the low 90’s…..We have had a few times when the daytime temps dipped into the 50’s as the arctic air pushed down from the north,but would modify quickly in a day or two and shoot right back up as the warm air from the Gulf of Mexico took over again……One example,when they were freezing over in Arizona on New Years eve,our stroke of midnight temperature was 70 degrees,dipping to a cool 65 by dawn……..burrrrrr!…….And on a final note its forecast to go to 79 today……..And yes in all fairness,I have seen frost on my windshield 2 mornings since arriving here….But I love rattling the chains of my friends over in not so Arid-Arctic-Zona.

One of the reasons I picked this area this year was for the warm overnight temperatures and I have not been disappointed…….YA! I’m Texafied all right.

My time will be up here in Mission at the AmeriCana on the 22 of this month and the plan is to head over to the Corpus Christi area for a couple of weeks while I wait for the Arizona weather to warm up before heading back that way….. The after Xmas hoard has started to descend in the southland now so I don't know what will be available,but I will wing it.I’ve got new neighbours here for the first time since arriving, as for the first 6 weeks I had no one in the next 4 sites beside me,and now its full.

This past week I had a really nice visit with some blogger friends that I have known for 3 years now and usually see every year.

 

Al, Suzette and Casey their dog are from Ontario,their blog is on my side bar next to Tioga George.

They spent a week here,so we had several nice visits comparing notes as they are retracing my steps and I theirs over the next few weeks as they head west and me a bit more east and north.

I first met them Christmas day at Celestino Mexico 3 years ago when I was interested in acquiring a satellite internet system.They had the system that includes the Starchoice/Shaw direct TV bird on a wire,and that really caught my interest.The idea of setting up only one dish for both internet and TV really caught my attention.

Al and Suzette were very obliging,even thought I had invaded their space unannounced on Christmas morning,showing me all workings of the system……And I have never looked back,now having the same set up myself and very happy with it.

I finally got off my duff yesterday and went birding down the road at the Bentsen Rio Grande World Birding Centre.My birding friends would be appalled that I could vegetate for 6 weeks only 3 miles down the same quiet road from the park,……..And not visit until now?…….For shame.

I will cover yesterdays visit next time with little talk and more pic’s…..Here’s a couple more taken here in the RV Park.One right out my door.

 

A female Cardinal and a Golden Fronted Woodpecker….I’m a little disappointed that the wild Parrots have not shown up yet this winter here in the park, as last year there were over 150 of them here at this time…..Oh well, another 2 weeks to go.

Just Checking In… With A Bit Of Rambling.

Its been two weeks since my last post as I’ve settled into a routine much like when I’m at home.And really that is my comfort zone.As I’ve said all along since starting to blog two years ago,that when I’m travelling and have something to blog about,then I’ll put in an entry.

Now technically you could say that I am travelling….Well sort of, so when I get off my butt here and do something that I might think interesting,then I’ll make an entry.Many bloggers are happy telling of what they do all day including what they had for breakfast,every day…That's really not my style,although I am guilty of just that in the past,and will probably slip up and do it in the future.

My daily routine for the past 2 weeks is just relaxing and catching up with all the DVR recordings from my satellite TV that have been building up over the past 2 months,besides some days have been so hot that sitting inside with the air conditioner on and watching TV has been the norm.

The rest of the time has been spent driving around and getting used to the general area and finding the shopping/service spots that are close and easy to get to,for example the closest Super Wal-Mart is 9 minutes away and the closest H.E.B. Supermarket is 6 minutes,so things are (driving) close.(The H.E.B. has my favourite Mexican fruit yogurt,”Lala” peach with big chunks of fresh peaches.) And in between all of this are many Laundromat choices,big bright and almost empty,in fact the other day I was the last one leaving at 1030am,a far cry from my Yuma experiences where the Laundromats seemed to be a rat race by that hour.(Or do I need to check my armpits?)

And another nice thing is that the park is located on the outskirts of the city,where it is quiet enough that I hear the coyotes and roosters,even heard a donkey bray one morning,made me miss old Mexico.So the point of my rambling is that getting on the 83 Expressway,which is down the road a few blocks,gets me across several of the valleys cities,really fast or just as quickly to local spots.

Last January when I was here for 10 days,the local driving terrified me as I couldn't figure out all the one way frontage roads running beside an elevated expressway,then getting mixed up with the difference between U turn and left turn lanes as they passed under the expressway overpasses.This got me in big trouble back then when I found myself facing down on coming traffic going the wrong way after coming out of a gas station.So this time I was determined to figure it all out…And have… Now I love it.

On the nicer days I get out and do a little birding in our little parks own preserve.Still enjoying the Green Jays and Cardinals.

  

And even some of the visitors come right into my site beside the trailer,like the Pyrrhuloxia  below.

The Northern Mockingbird(on Right) acts like part of a street gang,chasing all the others away,but sure makes up for it with their beautiful singing.It seems every afternoon on nice days,one will be up above my trailer singing away for the longest time.I would like to record it but there’s too much traffic noise here.

 

Last week I was treated to a 2 day visit from a fellow blogger who is on my side bar under the handle of (Croft’s Mexico).I’ve been following his blog for many years,so when he put a message in my comments section that he wanted to drop in and meet me,as they were passing through,I was thrilled as I had wanted to meet them.

Norma and Croft from Vancouver Island.

They are great people….We couldn't even find anything to argue about and that’s one of my strong points….I love arguing,It seemed that we just agreed on every topic whether it be politics or Mexico travel.We had happy hours and morning coffee visits and I really enjoyed having someone to talk to for a change,since I tend to be a bit of a loner.Even though we do have a park full of friendly people,I do stick to myself,its the old boondocker in me.Having Norma and Croft visit was more like old friend's because after reading his blog over the years,I felt like I knew them well……..Its a blogger thing I guess.

They had a bit of a sugar ant problem for the 2 days that they were here,as did I upon arriving, but after 2 weeks I had all my ants trained to leave me alone and go invade someone else…..That being said,I sent about 50 of them off to visit Norma and Croft and they hitched a ride with them to Brownsville,leaving me less to contend with.Sorry about that Norma.

Here they are heading out for Brownsville.Hope to meet up again soon.

 

So its back to my usual daily routine of my morning exercise jog/walks and 3 times weekly weight workouts with my fancy Ironmaster (quick change) dumbbells.I love these,so easy to travel with. They are shaped for travel with the square plates.My tail gate makes a good table for setting up.

 

One last thing I wanted to mention was that I picked this area instead of Arizona because of it’s more tropical,less desert, climate, as its on an east/west line with Miami Florida with much the same climate,in fact just down a few sites from me, I found growing, a fairly healthy looking bunch of banana’s up against the side of a 5th wheel.I’ve never seen them growing this healthy this far north,usually in Mexico you would travel almost to Mazatlan to see them,much further south….Although is it really that much further south,I believe we are also on an east/west line with Los Mochis Mexico.And I’ve never been to Florida,so maybe they grow all over,in that State…….There I go rambling again.

They even call the highway 83 through the valley as the “Texas Tropical Trail”.

I have 2 weather gadgets on my desktop,one for Yuma and one for Mission/McAllen and am able to compare temperatures every morning when I boot up,and so far this area has been much warmer,especially the overnights,some by more than 20 degrees f.(Coastal climate vs.desert.) I guess.

This was one of the reasons for picking this spot along with getting away from trailer rocking desert winds and DUST!……..Just a nice change and a new experience for the old guy.

On a final note I’m not knocking Yuma or Arizona as a whole…I love the place….just wanted to experience something different……And I also love comparative statistics as you have probably guessed by now.