Corpus Christi & Goliad, Texas

Puerto Del Sol RV Campground - Top left corner is a small white car - our site was on that corner

After we left Wanda and Randy's, we made a beeline south to Corpus Christi, where we had reserved an RV site right on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. The night before the area had been battered with a nasty storm - I am so thankful that we arrived the day after! It would have been very scary as strong winds brought down lots of huge trees, so can you imagine being right on the firing line with no protection from the gulf water and with wind lashing our RV? We were the last RV on the end of the front row - water on both sides and no protection. 

On our second day we rented a car to do the 3 hour drive south to Brownsville on the Texas/Mexico border, and then to visit South Padre Island. Lots of people talk about Padre Island, and although we had driven past it years ago, we wanted to recap. It was an overcast day, but thankfully it could have been a lot worse i.e. raining, so we were so grateful to have a dry sightseeing day. There were lots of these yellow-flowering cacti along the highway south. As we entered Port Isobel, Murray glimpsed an oil rig, the 'Noble Driller', so we did a minor detour to get a closer look. (centre left photo in collage above). We took a drive along the highway, and once you leave the city of South Padre Island, there is just sand on both sides of the road (bottom right photo). The top photo in the collage above is entering South Padre from the north end. Bottom left photo is from inside a cafe at the Palms Resort (see on map in final photo below) overlooking the Gulf where we stopped for a snack. We took a punt on the blackened Mahi Mahi with mango salsa - absolutely delicious. 

Stationed in Corpus Christi is the retired USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier used in the Pacific War and was in the area during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We got back too late from Padre Island for us to do a tour of the vessel, but we got a photo to compensate.

To cap off our day out, we drove a few miles up on North Padre Island, and then came back to Snoopy's a seafood place for dinner. it was right on the Gulf, so a lovely view.  

I had expected our next stop to be Galveston. We had been there before and were interested to spend a bit more time there. However, although I rang several RV parks, there was not a vacancy in sight. That rarely happened on our earlier RV trips, but is becoming more common now. Even little towns can have very full RV campgrounds - a lot of oil and gas workers move to find the work and live in their RV's until the job is finished. This trip we are making reservations in advance to be sure of getting a site. With Galveston out of the loop, out came the map to find an alternative location. I tried another town, but it too was booked out. Hmm. Back to the drawing board. We decided on Goliad, Texas, and thankfully they had a vacancy, but it was 95% full of oil/gas workers. They all drive 250 or 350 HP diesel pick-up trucks, which make a lot of noise entering and leaving the park. Goliad is the home of the Presidio La Bahia, remembered together in history with the events at the Alamo, and is claimed as a fine example of a Spanish Frontier Fort. It was built in 1721, and ended up in its present position on the San Antonio River in 1749. Although it is a Fort and not a Mission, a chapel was built in the quadrangle and is still in use for Catholic Masses. The fresco on the altar was painted in 1946 (see middle photo in bottom row below). 

Floods in Houston yesterday

We only stayed one night in Goliad, and how fortuitous was that! The night after we left the town was on a tornado watch. Ok for those folks in homes with shelter, but scary in an RV. We called into a little town called Refugio trying to find morning tea, but the only place was a Dairy Queen, and they had renovations going on and drills and other noisy tools made it unsuitable for our purpose. 5 hours later the town was hit by a tornado - no lives lost thank goodness. We have had a few close shaves. Our route took us on the Interstate 59 right through Houston, and hours later, that route came to a standstill due to a violent storm that dumped too much rain for the highway to handle. The cars on Highway 59 were not going anywhere. My angel is watching over me!

We eventually found a vacancy at Lake Charles and were relieved to find an ex Yogi Bear Fun Park campground. A beautiful campground with a fishing lake (stocked with bass and other fish), goats, ducks and chickens roaming free, and a great waterpark for kids. I wish Jackson was here - he would love it. Tomorrow we continue East and meet up with Cindy and Mike who live just out of Baton Rouge, which is north of New Orleans. 

Route from Texas/Mexico border up to where we are now in Lake Charles, Louisiana