Trip South 09-10 #5

Jan 11 2010
Left early yesterday for the drive to Rockport Texas. Had to go through Houston. It was busy even for a Sunday morning. We plan as much as possible to go through big cities in off-hours. At least there was no construction to deal with. It was flat and easy driving on Hwy 59 south of Houston. This time the GPS took us right to our destination. Which was Anglers RV Retreat. It’s a new park (opened in June 08) and small, only 9 sites. The owners plan to put in 8 more in the future. The weather is improving. The sky is sunny and temps are getting better.

Jan 30 2010

I wrote the above the day after we arrived in Rockport. As you can see by today’s date, almost 3 weeks have since gone by . I’d like to say we have been so busy enjoying ourselves that I couldn’t find the time to write. That would not be true. Oh, don’t get me wrong. We have been enjoying our stay here at Angler’s RV Retreat. I have just become incredibly lazy. But then what, I ask is a vacation for? No, I guess this isn’t really a vacation. Going south in the winter for 5 months is more of a life-style choice.

Any way, some of you want to know what we’ve been up to. We spent the first few days reacquainting ourselves with Rockport and its “joined at the hip” sister town of Fulton. Last time we stayed here we were actually in Fulton at Driftwood RV Resort. We dropped in at the park to see if anything had changed in 4 years and no, not much. We briefly entertained the thought of coming back to Driftwood for the next month of our stay here. Gaynor (the owner) more or less talked us out of that idea. Not that she wouldn’t welcome us, there were 2 spots available, but she started raving about how nice it was in Big Bend National Park and it was only 9 hours drive from here.  So that’s how decisions are made on the road. Someone just comes up with an idea. Next move, Big Bend.
A couple of days after our arrival, our friends, Barb and Terry Ellis arrived. (You can read Terry's blog at  http://ellis2roam.blogspot.com) Carolyn had a great chili diner ready for them. We discovered that while our trailer is fine for just us, it’s a little cramped when feeding 4 adults. It was a great dinner though.

Barb and Terry reciprocated a few days later with a BBQ Halibut dinner. The Halibut was near the last of the fish that they had caught themselves in Alaska last summer. We really enjoyed it.

This trip I managed to include our bikes inside the trailer. We used them a fair bit in Plantation Park in Alabama but there wasn’t really anywhere to go except around the park. Here in Rockport, it’s just a few minutes ride to the Gulf so we have explored quite a bit. There are an amazing number of birds around here. I was going to list them but I’m sure to forget some. (And I don’t recognize them all.) The pelicans are especially interesting. We’ve seen them flying in some really interesting formations.

We’ve made it to the beach at Port Aransas, on Mustang Island, twice now. Port Aransas is at the mouth of the shipping channel that goes to Corpus Christi and down the inland waterway to Padre Island. On our first beach trip, the day started with considerable fog and we almost didn’t go at all. It’s only about 25 minuets to the ferry at Aransas Pass, so off we went. The ferry(s) are very interesting. They’re considered part of the highway system, so are free. They (there are at least 6 of them) run back and forth 24 hours a day and handle everything from walk-on passengers to the biggest RVs, busses and transport trucks. The water they cross is that shipping channel I mentioned earlier so the only thing that slows the passage is one of those ocean going freighters on their way to Corpus. We watched a couple of those freighters as they entered the pass then walked down the beach for a couple of miles enjoying what turned out to be a very nice day.
Did I mention that the beach is hard packed sand so is fairly safe to drive on. On our next trip to the beach, Barb and Terry came along and we started further south on the beach. We (well most of us, I had to drive the truck) walked north up the beach for a fair distance and reached that same shipping channel where we had happy hour while watching the birds and one crazy young fellow who had a large kite pulling him along the hard packed sand on a sort of surf board on wheels. We only saw him wipe out once too. At 5 o’clock we went to a restaurant that had been recommended by a fellow we met at the Rockport Aquarium. He said they had the best Amber Jack (that’s a fish) in the area and we just had to try it. The Amber Jack was over $20 per plate but Carolyn ordered it while the rest of us ordered from the $9.95 senior menu. All the meals came with soup and salad bar, which was exceptional, as was the Amber Jack. Carolyn shared. Overall, our friend from the Aquarium was right on the money.

Today turned cold again. Over night the temp got down close to freezing. We went to the once per month Rockport Market where the main topic of conversation was the cold weather. People who have lived in the area all their lives can’t remember a winter like this one. The temps will moderate through the coming week but they are forecasting rain till next Thursday.

As I mentioned earlier, we expect to move on the 10th of Feb. to Big Bend National Park and area. Hope the weather improves again before that.

Hope you are all well.

Carolyn and Pat