Port Aransas TX -- Pioneer RV Resort

Morty hauled us another 80 miles further South right to the Gulf shore. We are at a huge RV resort right on the beach -- with prices set accordingly. We are paying nearly triple the rate prevalent in most of the state parks we've been in recently. But it is a nice, albeit very popular spot.

The beach is also very nice, but pretty heavily trafficked with Texas-trucks and unmarked police cars who do seem to be checking intoxication levels. This is the start of spring break for the majority of local schools. The surf seemed very pleasant, and not nearly as cold as I would have expected. There was one man-o-war jellyfish washed up on shore, but otherwise a very pleasant experience.



The Sunday afternoon ice cream social got our attention, and we joined in, completely ruining our appetite for not only the afternoon appetizers, but for dinner itself. Around nine, we had a few crackers and cold cuts with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, and that was plenty. The Blue Bell ice cream was 75 cents a scoop with cookies and "seconds." The recreation hall pretty much fills up and everyone sits at a table. Then that master of ceremonies calls out one number at a time, and that table gets in line to be served by the volunteer hosts. The experience was quite reminiscent of some cruise ship gustatory delights.

The park has several ponds which serve as nursery for numerous ducks and other water birds. I hope to get some decent pictures. My preliminary scan indicates canvas backs and wood ducks. There are some good pictures up on Flickr.com showing a variety of beautiful bird experiences.


We walk the beach Monday morning, but the Portuguese Man o' War are a little too numerous for safety. The full grown ones are easy enough to see except for walking in the surf. But there are thousands of babies washing up on shore that would be way too easy to step on before you ever saw them. So we cut the walksies a little shorties and head back to Morty for a little lunch. Lynne makes a light lunch version of the breakfast burrito from McDonalds that is better than the original at least after the application of a little Cholula Hot Sauce.

Galveston Island State Park, TX

When you look at the website for Galveston Island State Park you might be put off by the update which says "no showers and only portable restrooms". They are very slow in recovering from Hurricane Ike and even slower in publishing their progress. The fact of the matter is that the bayside restrooms, though only two in number, are fully plumbed and electrified and even air conditioned. You could move or remove them, but they are not what "portable" brings to mind. There are at this time two shower/restroom buildings on the beach side, which are nearly identical to those at Goose Island. There are some limitations in that there is a pretty good hike from the RV Bayside camping area to the restrooms which are in the tent camping area, but it is not a major factor. The other limitation is that the Beachside areas are still not electrified, although the hardware to do that appears to be in place. Also of the three beach loops, only two have restroom/shower buildings. There is even a strong WiFi signal at the headquarters building.



We camped on the bay and used the electrical hookup on Friday. After breakfast on Saturday morning, we rolled Morty to the beach side to walk the beach and enjoy the beautiful day. We will be showering before returning to the bay.

Sunset on Goose Island

We had some remarkable colors and tints in our sunset this evening:



One even caught a fish jumping out of the water!

Mustang Island State Park, Texas

Morty’s travel to Mustang Island was a little out of the ordinary. The first part was about 60 miles over Farm Roads at an average speed of about 60 mph. Then we turned onto the series of barrier islands leading to the park and discovered that we were in for a ferry ride. The ferry operation was massive if not long. There were five ferries on the same route, each with their own dock and waiting line. The best part was that they were free – another first for Morty and us all. And short too, the whole ride was over in less than 10 minutes. Today, we have put more miles on Morty, than he had when we acquired him.

It seemed like we were too far from a Wal-Mart to bother looking, so we stocked up at the H E B in Aransas Pass. Quite a good shopping experience – good selection and low prices. The only thing we couldn’t find was the sport drink Power Zero, but we could have looked harder as we really didn’t find any sport drinks.

The beach is huge and deserted by all but a few park RVers. The sand is brown and the shells and starfish are abundant. The number of RV sites are few but close together. The open park grounds are huge. The Sun comes out about 4 in the afternoon. We are looking forward to a day off from driving.

Naval Aviation Museum

Saturday's rain started on Friday night, before Lynne could get in her shower. Sleep was perfect -- Morty has perfected the playing of the patter of precipitation better than anyone. As planned, it was a good day to finish off our tour of the Museum aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola [in proper Navy-speak]. Today, Saturday, was a lot different from yesterday because a lot of families had a lot of kids there to enjoy climbing on the flight simulators and such.

We mainly focused on the mezzanine level that surrounds the main display floor. This is great because it brings you nose-to-nose with the suspended display aircraft, but there are also many recreations of places like carrier decks, dirigible gondolas and South Pacific outposts. We will see if the pictures do it justice. We were amazed at how the planes are suspended from the building steel structure with no visible reinforcements. Some like the gliders and even the Cessna 150 equivalent were rotating free in in the wind currents. Before leaving we stopped for lunch in the Cubi Bar and Cafe for a couple of reasonably priced salads that were very good and some great service from Lolita from the Philippines -- highly recommended and not at all what you might expect.



The rain continued until around two in the afternoon when we left to replenish a few supplies at the local Wal-Mart. When we returned, I took a walk in the surf in trunks and t-shirt, and found the water to be nearly cold enough to cramp my feet. Everyone else out there was fully dressed for winter or running, but it was nowhere near that cold -- probably mid fifties again, air and water both.

The sand was remarkable because it reminded me perfectly of the sand-box sand we had as kids on Pennington Rd. The white creamish color, texture, puckers from the rain drops, feel under my feet, and especially the smell took me right back more than sixty years. A huge scarcity of shells, only one of the smallest clam-like shells we had grown accustomed to in North Carolina was to be found. Just now I am realizing that I have only driven by Gulf Coast beaches, never before have I experienced them first hand. So there is a first for me.

Hurricane I????? Not again!

We have the distinct honor of having been affected by every "I" hurricane in the last 25 years. We were on the Big Island of Hawaii for Iniki in September, 1992. Wikipedia on Iniki In September of 2003, we were vacationing in North Carolina when Isabel hit cutting short our stay and sending us back to Raleigh. Last year, our trees were extensively damaged by Hurricane Ike . Now we are doing battle with Hurricane Ida, which is too new to have a Wikipedia entry.

As we evaluated the weather patterns at Huntington Beach, we determined that it might be better to head south. Within our 99 mile limit the weather wouldn't be any worse than what was due to hit the north-central portion of South Carolina, and could possibly be quite a bit better, even though we would be moving closer to the eye of the storm. As we packed up this morning sprinkles were just beginning to fall. As we completed the tank dump, the rain was just beginng to get steady. By the time we were pulling out onto the highway, we were in the middle of a full-blown torrential downpour. And that heavy rain continued more or less for the next 30 miles. Then it gradally let up, and by the time we were approaching Charleston and Edisto to the South, it was all but gone. What seemed to be happening, was a "comma" shaped storm that led with the broad front, but got thinner to the south and west. At least that was I was seeing in the weather forecasts.


View Larger Map

So, the rain held off until about 7 PM, and was strong for a few minutes, and is now dissipating quite a bit. This gave us time for a hike of the beach, and a bike ride along the houses on the beach. All in all, a much better day than what was forecast for back North were we began.

Crystal Clear Dawn in Myrtle Beach

It cleared during the night, allowing a pretty good view of the full moon. By dawn, there wasn't a cloud in the sky so we headed down to the beach for some sun and surf shots. The temperature was still in the 50s but it seemed warmer with full sun.



We will head south 17 miles to Huntington Beach State Park in the early afternoon.

Myrtle Beach State Park in 59 Degrees

A cold front moved into the area last night leaving us a bit cooler and cloud-covered today. We walked the beach in the surf before both breakfast and lunch. In the afternoon we biked the park roads and snapped a few pictures. The promise of 70 degrees tomorrow kept our spirits high.



The Spanish Moss was somewhat in evidence, for the first time in our journey South.

Delaware Beach Report

The beaches are very clean fluffy brown sand -- very few shells, and no sea glass or whale dung. They work on them daily with front-end loaders to keep the sand where it belongs. But the breaks now are more dangerous resulting in more head and neck injuries for those that get themselves tossed around in the surf.