These are some of the photos of our trip south to Corpus Christie. There are really some beautiful homes
that are either on the water or across the street from the Gulf. Many of the areas they have dredged out the canals and filled enough to build nice homes on them. They all have access to the water, either the Gulf or the bay. There are lots of fishing boats all along the shore. Many need some repair, but still to be operating as they always did.
Wednesday, we went to the Post Office with some work that needed to be mailed. We spent most of the afternoon working on a job that had come in. There is a BBQ place just across the road from our RV park and we have been waiting for it to open. They are only open, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have been hungry for some BBQ Brisket ever since we left Texas last year. When you leave the state of Texas, there is no more BBQ for miles. You will occasionally find a place that has BBQ, but generally it is pork, at least in the south and east. Very little in New Mexico, as well as Arizona. I guess they either do not know how to cook it or people just do not ask for it.
Thursday, we went back to the Post Office and mailed our work and headed on South toward Mustang Island and the Gulf to see what was going on. Since the wind had changed and was out of the south east and quite strong the Gulf was really rolling. Huge waves and breakers with water way up on the beaches, much farther than a couple of days before. We traveled on south, down
the coast to Padre Island. When we entered the park the park attendant stated that we should be aware of the Red Tide. This is an alga that grows in the water and when it blooms causes the water to look red. It produces a toxin that can affect the central nervous system of fish, birds and mammals. It can cause irritation and redness to your skin and eyes and if noticed you should get out of the water and shower with clean water.
It can also cause breathing symptoms, which I noticed as soon as we got close to the coast as the wind was blowing strongly from the water. We continued the trip but did not get out of the van and used the ac all the time to prevent the contamination from entering the vehicle. Red tide blooms may last for days, weeks or months and can change daily with the wind conditions. This is a condition that has existed for centuries, they believe and also occur all around the world.
We returned back to Rock Port on another road and as usual, we saw some different things. It appears that most of this area is just waste land that can not sustain a crop, other that grass. Between here and Corpus Christie we only saw one field with cattle in it. There appears to be areas of water all around and the only way they can make it usable is to dredge it up, making water ways and using the fill for building. As this would be an expensive operation, there was not much going on and there were several homes for sale, many on very nice lots. We saw signs of Condos for sale, some repossessions and some complexes that were for sale that had been repossessed. However, this time of year, things seem to be going pretty good as the Snow Birds are in town and things should be alright, at least until spring. We saw lots of RV's coming in headed for their favorite winter spot.
At Padre Island National Sea Shore there is camping right on the water at Malaquite Campground. The cost is $4.00/night(with Golden Access Pass) with a max of 14 days and 48 hours out and a maximum of 56 days/year. There are no hookups but there is a dump station at the entrance to the area. I imagine that it could get really cool around the first of the year when the wind is blowing off the water. Too cold for me to even think about staying there, even at a good price.