Texas Gulf Coast, Part 2

One morning we got to watch the path to the beach at San Padre Island National Seashore being tidied.

Then we checked out their visitor center which has multiple buildings housing various services connected by a huge deck with lots of picnic tables on it. The size of the deck and the parking lots give us some idea of how popular this place must be during the summer swimming season.

 

The visitor center offers many exhibits explaining many items of interest about the area. These two were on the deck telling how the dunes move about unless people do something to slow that movement.

 

 

It was hard to leave this place but the intermittent internet reception we were getting made it easier for us to do.

So we drove into town looking for groceries. First we saw a drive-in liquor store. I suppose that’s in case you need “one for the road.” Then we saw several gas station mini-marts but thought they would not likely have the things we want. We never did find a full-size grocery store so we settled for a CVS/pharmacy which got us most of the basics.

Given our short supplies, we decided we should probably stop for lunch before leaving town. So, when we saw this sign, we decided it was time to take it’s advice.

We’d never been to Whataburger before so we hoped it might be as good a discovery as the In N Out Burgers we’ve come to enjoy so much. Whatabuger’s basic burger comes with mustard, pickles, and onions which is what Dave gets when he special orders burgers so he was a happy man here. I tried their patty melt I’d been seeing advertised but much to the clerks dismay, I ordered it plain. She couldn’t believe it I didn’t want pepper/corn relish on it. It turned out to have plenty of flavor without the relish and my stomach is much happier for its absence.

Across from the Whataburger is the Padre Island Baptist Church with its own sign.

Our next stop was at a do-it-yourself car wash that had a bay big enough to hold our RV. After checking to see that the sprayer would reach all sides of our home, Dave plunked in a bunch of quarters and went to work. At least he worked. The soap dispenser didn’t. But the Sandcastle got a good rinse and it really needed it.

Then we went to Mustang Island State Park. A distance of about 18 miles from our previous campground. We could see the campground from the gate so we could tell we would not have an ocean view here.  

We only stayed one night.

Today we headed on north up Mustang Island to the ferry crossing from Port Aransas to Aransas Pass. We haven’t been on a ferry for a long time. This one was free and they didn’t even blink at taking an RV on board. We were first in line for the next ferry from this loading spot and you can see the ferry about to depart already had a Class A (the big one on the left) and a Class B (the van on the right) on it.

Before it even left they started loading the one next to it.

There was a short pause while the ferry on the left in this picture left our dock and the one on the right arrived.

Then they quickly unloaded the newly arrived one.

And we again got a front row seat.  

They had us take both lanes on our side and on the other side they put two cars beside us and two behind them to offset the weight of our RV. You can see they did the same thing for the RV coming the other way.

Here’s the dock on the other side of the channel with three other ferries waiting for days when the traffic is heavier than today.

In Aransas Pass we found an HEB grocery store and were finally able to buy more Diet Rite pop but still no Mocha Mix or Coffee Rich for my cereal so I’ll be eating other breakfast foods for awhile.

We had lunch in Rockport, Texas, at The Diner on Business Hwy 35. We picked it because there were lots of cars parked there. It was a good choice. The place is open from 6:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The entire restaurant is non smoking and the food is down home good. It’s a seat yourself kind of place if you can find an empty table. We had a choice of one so we took it. I liked this place so well I could come here every day for a week and eat something different every time. And I didn’t even see the breakfast menu! As a bonus, they had a self serve ice cream machine so I had a very small dish of it primarily because I knew I would regret it if I didn’t.

At the turnoff to our next park there was a gas station selling diesel for $1.999 so we filled up. This is about half the price we paid last summer so we are happy with it even though we’ve seen it even cheaper some places lately. The gas station also had five ice bins advertising large bags of ice for 99 cents. I’m sure that’s very popular come summer.

When we stopped to register at Goose Island State Park the clerk greeted us with, “You have reservations, right?” Adding “We’re full.” Then she somehow managed to offer us our choice of two spots. We took the watefront one with water & electric hookups.  Unfortunately, Aransas Bay has a strong fishy smell so we haven’t opened our windows since we arrived. I hope it doesn’t get too hot tomorrow.

We traveled further to get to this park than we did the last one. Today we drove 45 miles.  I think we are getting the hang of this slow down and smell the roses, thing.

TTYL,

Linda