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| We noticed this blimp next to our campground. It is a surveillence balloon used to track illegal smuggling, fishing and immigration activities. |
I am in my element! Going to sleep and waking up to the sound of waves, walks on the beach and, well, the weather itself. I love it!!
We took two days to go from Canyon Lake to South Padre Island, spending a night at a Walmart in Kingsville, TX. We didn't have time to do anything there but I'd like to go back sometime and tour Kings Ranch. The ranch encompasses 825,000 acres in 4 sections in southern Texas. It is the largest ranch in the United States and altogether it is larger than the state of Rhode Island.
At the Walmart there was one other trailer spending the night. Turns out that they pulled into the same campground on Tues., Isla Blanca, as us in South Padre.
Getting a reservation here is complicated. I think winter reservations opened up the first part of April at 8 p.m. Isla Blanca is a large county RV park with over 600 sites. Everyone is on their computer at the same time fighting for the best sites. Two years ago we scored one of, if not the best site on the front row facing the bay, right across from the Space-X launch pad. This year we landed in the second row, still pretty good. We missed the November launch but are hoping, against odds, that they will launch at least once in the two months we will be here.
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| Space-X and their launch pad across the bay. |
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| We have a granddaughter who's into sharks. |
Headed about 40 miles away on Weds. to Brownsville to do some Christmas shopping. South Padre Island has restaurants and lots of touristy shops. Port Isabel, just across the causeway, has a Walmart, larger grocery store and more restaurants. Brownsville is the closest large city, with a population over 180,000, which has most any store you'd want (except Costco). Weds. night I took my first walk on the beach. I encountered a light rain, but at 70° I didn't care.
My knees had prevented bike rides for months but we set out Thurs. morning to get the bikes ready for some adventures. Oiled the chains to try and keep them from rusting so quickly from the salt water (they will still rust pretty quick) and pumped up the tires. Ended up making a trip to the only bike repair shop, located in a surf shop, within 50 miles. My rear derailer was not working at all and Pat's tires had deteriorated to the point of needing to be replaced. Great place, reasonably priced, and ready for pick up this afternoon. The gentleman there let me know we'd been pouncing our park name incorrectly. Isla is pronounced "ēsla."
We also took a beach walk. A beautiful sunny day at nearly 80°. It is always windy, but today the wind was extra strong at 24 mph.
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| Love that we can look out our front window and watch windsurfers and kitesurfers (above) on the bay. |
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| A wind surfer headed out on the beach side. It was so windy today that once they got the kites in the air they were being pulled across the sand before they could get their surfboards in the water. |
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| The windsurfers would travel down the beach in the ocean and then have to fight the wind and sand to walk back. |
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| It seemed futile to me, but they were working hard to try and keep the beach accesses clear. |
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| We stopped for a drink at a bar and grill and agreed we'd walk back through town to avoid the blowing sand in our faces. |
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There were kitesurfers and windsurfers on the bay till dark.
Where are the Piepers now? South Padre Island |
