Traveling across 827 miles of Texas in three days is not our normal itinerary. If we're not staying our two-weeks-for-free at a private membership campground we like to drive about 150-175 miles between campgrounds and stay for a week to familiarize ourselves with the area, play golf, sightsee and maybe hit a museum. The past three days included two days of driving almost 300 miles each day and that is certainly not one of our favorite ways to see a state, but I have created a schedule of stops to visit with friends on our swing home and that necessitates a tight timeline to do all we want/need to do this summer. Responsibilities, ya know.
Driving east on I-10 through Texas I'm once again reminded of the fortitude of our ancestors who step by step crossed hundreds of miles of sage and salt bush covered desert terrain in the heat and humidity. I whined to Denny yesterday when I was bitten by mosquitoes five times within as many minutes as we were attempting to unhitch the rig and get set up (I'm a mosquito magnet); I can't imagine not being able to step inside an air-conditioned home to cool off and get away from the bugs. It only strengthens my admiration for those folks who thought a better life awaited them in the West.
Spring has arrived in Texas along the highways. Pink evening primrose, wild lupine, Texas bluebonnets and a yellow flower that looks like garden coreopsis dotted the medians among still dead grasses. Along I-37 between San Antonio and Corpus Christi prickly pear cactus blooms in lemon yellow and orange-orange (sorry, the old cereal commercial came to mind) providing bright contrast to the scrub bush along fence lines. Oleanders in white, pink, peach and yellow started making their appearance too, reminding us of the shore areas of Florida and South Carolina.
Our campground is located about a 1/4 of a mile from Copano Bay to our north and Aransas Bay to our east. A quick drive along the shoreline after a meal at the Golden Gate Chinese Restaurant showed us that there would be no long walks on the beach here as there is no beach, just chunks of broken concrete lining the shoreline. Most of that land is privately owned and there seems to be little public access to the water unless you drive to the southern end of town near the museum. Further exploration will wait until later because it was a very long day for us.
It's hot, humid and buggy. What a good way to prepare for a late summer visit to Ohio.
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