A Collection of Things

We have been slow to move around but the last month has been interesting none-the-less.  This will be a non-timeline story!!

We stayed in San Antonio until New Year's Eve and then moved to Corpus Christi.  That got a bit complicated.  When we had been incoming to San Antonio the ABS (brake) light had come on.  While at the park there we could not get any repair initiated due to a combination of park rules and lack of enthusiasm by potential repairers likely due to it being just before Christmas and very cold.  In any event, when we got Corpus we made contact with a place that said they could handle the repair but it was raining and we booked the repair for a few days later because it looked like we had better weather on the way and we were going to move out of the park on that day anyway.  We ended up staying in the parking lot for the shop for two nights, while it continued to rain, and they ordered then later installed the part needed.  We were extremely lucky in the cost department at a mere $252.00!!

So, we pushed on all of twenty or thirty minutes from the repair to a small RV park in Rockport/Fulton.  It was quiet and secluded.  This allowed us to catch up with ourselves and do a bit more of what we like to do... be tourists.

While in Corpus we had visited a botanical garden where we learned a little more about the sorts of things that can grow comfortably in the area.  We also went to the Museum of Natural History and went aboard the Pinta replica and saw what remains of the Santa Maria replica.  The Niña was in the water just a hop across the channel (near the aircraft carrier Lexington) but we did not end up going there.  These ships were built in Spain from original materials and, like wooden boats everywhere, were in sad shape after little more than twenty years.  They had ended up in the hands of the city of Corpus Christi after an original group had gone bankrupt trying to keep up with maintenance!  This, according to our guide was a very contentious tax issue.

The rest of the museum was full of fascinating displays so we learned quite a few new facts from that visit.

We also had time to see the Texas State Aquarium.  It would be difficult to compete with some aquariums we have been to but this one did a credible job of displaying lots of the sorts of fish and marine creatures from the Gulf of Mexico.  What we noticed the most was that the displays tended to be very kid friendly.

When we got to Rockport/Fulton we took a day to ride on a boat out to the wildlife refuge to see if we could do some birding.  The Skimmer is an aluminum boat with a not-too-deep draft... the perfect boat for this adventure.  Here is where we got to see and photograph Whooping Cranes!!  They are a lot larger than I had imagined and set up in pairs rather than flocks.  One of the pairs had a story attached about when the young male had been bitten by a water moccasin in his youth and his head had swollen up so much that he could not make the migration back to Canada that year.  He stayed inthe area for a season (or perhaps it was two) before making the trip.  You can still see a scar on the back of his neck were the bite was.  That sort of snake is a favorite food by the way!!

After all this touristing we pulled up stakes again and headed for Galveston, Texas.  It was a rainy ride and as I write this we have our bow pointed out toward the Gulf just across the road from the park and can see and hear waves breaking.  There is so much to do here that we are not sure if we will be one week or two!!

Living Cheek by Jowl

Sandy on the River Walk, San Antonio

We have been in a lot of RV parks by now.  I mean, living for a large part of each year in a variety of RV parks has been our normal for four years now.

Some places are better than others by a little bit and others are head and shoulders above the rest.  Sometimes it's just a matter of having a patch of grass outside your door and other times it is being able to extend your awning and having a dry place outside of the "house" as you step out.  Occasionally it is having quiet neighbors and not too much traffic!  

At present we are in Corpus Christi, Texas and the park is an older one.  That means narrower streets and the important thing here has been that we are in a pull through space so that we did not have to back into our place.  It turns out, too, that our site is very level, another big plus!  It was New Years last night and the park was pretty good about fireworks going off... until I heard what were clearly gun shots coming from a unit just across our little street!!!  Yikes, I had thought that nobody shot guns off at midnight any more.  It takes a fresh look at the park this morning for me to want to stay here too long... but, that had to be a one time deal.

For the most part people in these parks are friendly.  Not, perhaps, as friendly as the folks we have met boating but fun and friendly nonetheless.  We tend to live partly out of doors most of the time anyway.  In the last few years we have been places where there was not much rain.  For the most part the weather has been very cooperative.  This year the weather has been a good deal wetter for us and definitely colder!!  

We left the Northwest at about the "normal" time and the difference has been the elevation and latitude.  Except for our side trip to visit the boat we have been further north and at higher elevations most of the time.  From the time we turned east from Tucson, Arizona we have been higher than our cruising life style would have had us.  In Alamogordo, New Mexico we were much higher and the spooky drive through White Sands felt, with the strong cold wind, like we were in a snow scene.  Our stay in San Antonio, Texas was longer than it probably should have been but we wanted to stay in one place for Christmas and that afforded the right combination of attractions, or so we thought.  We got the itchy feet thing going after only about a week there and the last few days found us getting ready to move on.  It wasn't helpful the temperatures had fallen significantly during our stay.

So, over all this little park in Corpus Christi is a fine place with some amenities but we will likely be ready for our next jump in a week or so.  At least the weather is warmer now!!