Enjoying South Padre Island

     Well, we've survived our first week here at the South Padre Island KOA, and we seem to be staying pretty busy.  The area south of us was actually the site of the final battle of the Civil War.  I never realized that the waterways down here played a vital role in supplying resources for the Confederate forces, and was also the port where slaves were taken out of the country and put on ships bound for Europe.  The most unfortunate part was the fact that the final battle occurred about 4 weeks after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.  Guess the mail was a tad bit slower back then.

We continued on past the battlefield site and ended up on the beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.  If we had driven south a short distance we would have arrived at the border with Mexico.  Going north we would arrive at the northern tip of the Boca Chica peninsula overlooking the south end of South Padre Island. The beach was deserted and we decided not to venture too far either direction  We don't have a tremendous amount of experience driving in the sand, and discretion tends to be the better part of valor.

      Heading back toward Brownsville, we headed for the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park, which preserves the site of first battle of the U.S.-Mexican War in May, 1846.  In that battle, Gen. Zachary Taylor moved hos forces south from Port Isable to break a seige on Fort Texas.  Gen. Arista moved to block this southward movement, and spread his forces a mile across in front of Gen Taylor.  Though outnumbered, Gen, Taylor's artillery maneuvers were able to decimate the Mexican forces, and ultimately end the siege at Fort Texas.  The
Texas territory north of the Rio Grande in U.S. hands.







     On Thursday we climbed aboard the local tour boat for a tour of Brownsville Harbor. Very interesting tour, and Debbie really seemed to enjoy the complimentary shrimp which were provided on the return end.

     I worked at fishing both in the surf and from the jetty down at the county park, but luck wasn't with me this year.  I was told a story by the local bait guy that the sheepshead wouldn't start running until the white flowers came out on some local plant.  Do you think that was true??  But I always have my GMG smoker, and for Valentines Day, we feasted on surf and turf at the campsite.
   
      Our Canadian friends, Al and Nancy, finished up their family visit, and our last 3 nights in SPI seemed to include extended Happy Hours.  The first two nights we seemed to have forgotten food, but our last night, we were treated to a wonderful night out on the town, with dinner at The Painted Marlin.  The girls enjoyed some "girly" drinks, which Debbie described as delicious.

It was a very lovely evening and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Unfortunately we had to say goodbye for 2 years, as Al and Nancy will be RV'ing through New Zealand next year.  But we've already made tentative plans to meet back in SPI in 2018.  They should have lots of stories to tell and photos to share.  We strongly encouraged Nancy to start a blog so we can keep up with their travels.  We'll have to see how she does with that.  The group photo was captured by the waiter.  I hope he keeps his day job!

     Our 2 weeks went by very quickly, which often happens when you're enjoying the location and the company.  We are truly fortunate to be able to do these things.  Our plans take us north to Port Aransas, and a visit to the Padre Island National Seashore.  Then we'll be over to Florida for March and part of April, taking in some baseball and who knows what else.  

Back at South Padre Island

     We had a wonderful trip from Santee, crossing several states and lots of desert, but now we've settled in at the South Padre Island KOA.  What a treat to again experience warm temperatures and high humidity.  My sinuses are loving it!  Our site is tucked in the back corner of the park, and we have a wonderful view into South Padre Island from the rear of our rig.  We seem to like it better than being out in the park, surrounded by fellow campers in kinda cramped quarters.  I'm not crazy about having to walk on the small rocks on our site, but I'll get over it.  The park is full of wonderful people, and our friends from Winnipeg, Nancy and Al, were on hand to welcome us back.  Sounds like we're going to have to miss them next year, as they have plans to visit New Zealand and wander around in an RV down under.  That should be an awesome trip!  As a bonus, Al came out with a bottle of 12 year old scotch last night, as we stopped to welcome more of their family down visiting from Canada.
     As we came across from Santee, we stayed over at one of our frequent stops in Las Cruces, NM, and met some wonderful travelers from Burlington, VT.  Joanne and Dean were coming from Las Vegas after visiting family, and they pulled in behind us as we were checking in.  We had a nice visit that night, and discovered they were also heading for Sarasota, Fla.  So we're looking forward to getting to know them better when we meet up over there in a few weeks.

     Yesterday we finished up all our preparations for visiting SPI, by stopping over at the local county office and getting our beach pass valid for 30 days.  Entering the county park costs $10/visit, or you can get a 30 day permit for $25. Seemed like a no brainer since we anticipate a lot of beach time.  But wait....it gets better.  At the county office, the clerk asked if I was a veteran, and I just happened to have my new NY license which has Veteran across the top.  We were given our 30 day pass for $12.50!!  Can't beat that.  Next I'll see if I can get a discount on my Texas fishing license.

     It was such a beautiful day, that we wandered over to the Isla Blanca County Park,  The park is located at the southernmost point of SPI, and features over a mile of beachfront with several pavilions.  Today it was packed with families and tourists enjoying the 80+ degree weather.  There's also a 600+ full hookup RV park here, which looked pretty full to me.  It's quite a bit cheaper than our KOA, but the lack of shade would stop me from staying there.  There's also a large jetty along the entrance to the bay, which was lined with hopeful fisherman trying their luck.  All the fishing I have dome is further north up the beach, out in the surf, but this looked interesting.
   

     There's quite a massive statue of Jesus overlooking the entrance to the bay which serves to protect the sailors passing by.  Numerous plaques memorialize those who have lost their lives out on the water.
     As we worked our way north through the village of SPI, I spotted a DQ, a made the command decision to cool our cores with a DQ Blizzard.  We're not really sure how they had evaded us for this long!  If you ever get the chance, a DQ Blizzard will rapidly cool your core on a hot day!
     Returning to our site, the GMG smoker was fired up, and dinner was soon on the grill.  Happy hour drinks, and a tasty dinner, was a great way to end our first full day on SPI.  Not sure if we will be able to survive another 2 weeks!

     For all of our friends and family experiencing a pretty significant snowfall yesterday and today, we can only say that we feel your pain.  But, as you can see, this heat and humidity takes its toll also. Be safe everyone!

On the Road Again

    On Friday 2/5/17, we departed Santee Lakes RV Resort after visiting with Liam, Jamo, Ben and Joanne for nearly 2 months.  We had a wonderful time there visiting with Liam almost every day, getting acquainted with our grandson.  I wasn't sure Grammie was going to climb on board Friday morning, but she did, and we headed eastbound on I-8 with our first stop scheduled for Tucson.
     In Tucson we stayed at the Tucson Lazydays KOA, which proved to be on of the nicest KOA's we've ever stayed at.

       The park had a pretty easy on/off I-10, but we went with the directions from the website instead of Satellite Sue.  She had us going 1 exit further, but that probably wasn't that big a deal.  Our site was gravel with a cement pad, and we backed up to a very nice putting green in the back yard.  We also had a nice grapefruit tree out back, and we picked some very nice looking grapefruit.

      On Saturday we headed over to the Titan Missile Museum, located just a short drive south from Tucson on I-19 in Green Valley, AZ.  Now, you might ask why would anyone visit a Titan Missile Silo, but this is the only missile silo in the country, that has a Titan Missile in it!  Who can pass that up!

      After working our way down a flight of stairs and through 4 blast doors, we entered the control room, where a missile launch would have occurred if there was ever a need.  And our very own Debbie Doody, AKA: Grammie, was selected to simultaneously turn one of the two keys necessary for the successful launch of a Titan missile, and destroy the world as we know it!  And after successfully entering the launch code transmitted by POTUS, she, without hesitation, inserted her key, and participated in the destruction of the world!!!

   

     On the way south on I-19 we could see Mission San Xavier del Bac, first founded in 1692 by Jesuit Missionary Father Francisco Kino.  It is the only remaining active mission in Arizona, and visitors can view the ongoing attempts to preserve and restore the interior paintings and sculpture.  San Xavier is an active church, and located next door we found the mission school. The school has been operating since 1873, run by the Franciscan Sisters of Charity.

      Inside we were amazed to find a statue of St Kateri Tekakwitha, and were reminded of her ties to us over in New York.
     From Tucson we continued east, with our next destination being a 2 day visit with Randy and Retha in San Angelo, TX.  Delicious meals and lots of visiting makes the time pass way too quickly.  And now we may have to wait till next year or possibly 2018, before we can get together again.  R&R graced us with a beautiful Dresden Plate quilt, handmade by Randy's mom, which we will cherish forever.
     There is quite a gap in my blog's timeline, but I promise I will fill in the gaps over the next few weeks.  We're headed down to South Padre Island for a few weeks of surf and sun, and should be there on Saturday.  Our friends from Winnipeg, Nancy and Al are awaiting our arrival, and keep sending us pictures of Blue Bell ice cream.  We can't wait to get there!  

Finishing 2016 in San Diego

     We've been at the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve just about a month now.  I know that because tomorrow we do our first "Santee Shuffle", which means we have to change campsites.  That seems to be the only drawback to this park.  They rent site specific instead of just guaranteeing a site, so there tend to be lots of empty sites during the week.  If you're like us and don't make reservations till late, chances are, you'll be doing the Santee shuffle.
     MaryAnne was able to get time off and joined us for Christmas.  Debbie had Big Red all decorated, and lots of cookies and chex mix prepared for MAE's arrival.  And of course her flight was just a tad late departing Albany, which made the connection in Chicago a little tight.  But MaryAnne and her baggage made the connection and she arrived right on Schedule in SD.  Unfortunately, she brought some nasty weather with her, and it lasted pretty much her entire visit.

      Fortunately, Santa was able to find us, and Christmas morning we awoke to find the front dashboard of Big Red bulging with Christmas presents.  We mixed up a batch of mimosa's and set straight to work, and before long, we'd worked our way down to the last one.  Seems that Debbie and Tony had conspired in getting MAE's gift out to CA, and I think she was more than surprised at seeing it.  Tony was getting a little nervous with the USPS,  but everything worked out just fine.  It's quite amazing that Debbie was able to keep a secret!!

     After our morning adventure, we headed over to see how Liam was doing.  Looks like everyone received new socks from Santa!  MAE did an excellent job passing out presents, and helping Liam with opening a few.  He seemed to get quite a kick with his Radio Flyer wagon! Every kid needs a wagon to pull around.....or be pulled around in!  Grammie and Dad stayed pretty busy keeping the little one entertained.  Of course, Jamo needed little coaxing to get involved with opening presents, and soon he was tearing one of his to pieces.  Seems that he forgot all about Grammie's program of "save the paper!"

 
     As we moved into January, we were able to spend lots of time with Jamo and Liam, and it was exciting to watch him get more and more comfortable with us.  Each day there were changes in his personality, and we were extremely fortunate to be able to experience this time with Ben and Joanne.

     You could see the devil in his eye on occassion, and everyone wondered just what was going through his mind.  Liam and Ben seemed to get along quite well, and though he wasn't speaking, he certainly seemed to understand what was being said to him.  Liam has quite an appetite, and seems to eat just about anything you put in front of him.....except for brussel sprouts!  But you can't blame him for that.

    He loves to scare us half to death with his eating habits.....stuffing food into his mouth.  Ben just continues on, as Debbie and I get ready for a Heimlich maneuver on the kid.  You wouldn't think stuff like that would bother grandparents, but we were nervous wrecks!

     He jumps right up and helps Ben with the cleaning, when it's getting time for mommy to come home too.

     The weather closed in on San Diego, with cool weather and rain, and as the water and mud accumulated around the campground, we decided to get the wheels on the bus moving in order to find nicer weather.  Ben and Joanne invited us to join them in family photos before we left, and he "hammed" it up pretty good for the camera.  We finished up our time at Santee at the beginning of February, and our next destination will be South Padre Island.