galveston, texas

i drove a couple hundred miles north through flat farmland and small bay towns from corpus christi to galveston, texas.  as i traveled north, a cold front continued pushing south.  i only spent an hour or two in galveston - enough to see the downtown strip and briefly brave the chilling wind at the seawall.   i asked a young hotel receptionist if there was anything i should make sure to see during my short visit.  she responded saying probably the only thing to do, given the limitations from the off-season time and nasty weather, was bar-hopping down at 'the strand.'   i didn't have time or money to bar-hop per se, but i did drive through to look at the downtown 'strand' area.

parts of the strand

the place definitely had a beach-town feeling about it.  which elements in particular gave it that feel, i don't care to figure out...  it's just a feeling that i'm familiar with.

the seawall

i really enjoyed the architecture of a lot of the houses.

pyramids...  i never got close enough to see what they were for.  museums?

there were damaged buildings scattered throughout the area that i presumed were remaining evidence of katrina's visit, four years ago.

as timing would have it, the same day i visited galveston i got a call from samaritan's purse finalizing my registration for volunteer work in new orleans.  i will be working on a team helping to rebuild people's houses for a week in february.

corpus christ, texas

i really enjoyed my visit to corpus christi, texas.  it was warm, windy, and mostly cloudy for the two days i spent there.  i spent a lot of one day at barnes & noble to use the wifi internet access.

in the evening i drove along the bayfront and was pleased to see so much of it was setup for recreational activities.  i randomly pulled into the lot of one of the parks (swantner park) and took some night-time shots.

i spent the night in a walmart parking lot (yet again!).  for the first time on my trip, it was actually warm enough that i needed to open a window.   and guess what, i didn't even need to get out of bed to do that. one of the most convenient features of my van just came into play:  whereas the front and rear windows are powered electrically, the middle windows flair manually!  that means i have both the convenience of powered windows while driving, but also have a way to open and close the middle windows while sleeping without having to climb to the front of the van to turn the key in the ignition, etc....  awesome!!

the next day i spent mostly at the beach.  once again, driving on the beach is permitted.  fun!

because of the strong and steady wind, i grabbed my frisbee and threw it to myself against the wind for two hours straight!  i think that's the most full body exercise i've had in months.  it was so much fun.  hard to believe, but it's the first time i've used my frisbee on this trip.  oh how i love and miss playing frisbee.

i also sat and watched crabs and birds do their thing.
little crab in middle left of photo.

it was glorious being in bare feet and shirtless.  however, i later discovered my foot took a beating from sprinting around so much on the sand.  ewwww.

padre island boasts about 60 miles of beautiful protected seashore.  i was happy to discover it was actually a national seashore, meaning i got the $10 entrance fee waived with my parks pass.  yes!

AND they allow camping on the beach.  cool!  but because of an approaching major storm system, several rangers recommended i play it safe and not camp on the beach...

the waters were tumultuous, the wind strong, and the tides higher than usual...

other camper rvs were already on the beach, so i would have had company there.  i thought i'd be fine if i was close enough to the dunes, but my family and friends sided with the rangers and didn't like my idea either.  i finally decided to go sleep at a walmart instead.  the deciding factor was actually the relentless salty spray blowing in the air, coating my van - what a mess.   so walmart it was - for the eighth consecutive night.

wal-mart parking lots

for 6 consecutive nights i've slept in my van at 6 different walmart parking lots, with a plan for number 7 tonight.

if i recall correctly, only the first of a total of the 10 walmart parking lots that i've slept in was lacking a big rv to cuddle up next to for the night.  amazing!  

though it's free, walmart is still getting my business for the few items that i do need to get, including a few groceries. so hey, it's working out well for both of us.

boca chica beach, texas - gulf of mexico

i made it to the gulf of mexico!!!  i spent a whole afternoon on the boca chica state park beach.

it was sunny with some clouds and warm with a gentle cool breeze.  dunes lined the length of the beach and various birds made their habitat there.

the road terminates at about the middle of the approximately 6 mile long beach.  once on the beach, feel free to drive around! - just not on the dunes.

looks like this is a popular place to go fishing.

i drove to the southernmost point of the beach where the mouth of the rio grande river dumps into the gulf.  the gulf of mexico is on the left, the rio grande is behind me, mexico is on the right with the lighthouse.

the mexicans in the background were casting their nets to fish.  i'm sure i entertained them.

starting to play with my camera...

me at the southernmost point of texas

flat-tired farm equipment.  border patrol truck passing in the distance.

so, there's an inspection point as you leave the dead-end boca chica beach area.  the patrol officer asked a couple of standard questions.  one question in particular made me chuckle inside, which was "where are you coming from?" because it's a dead end road behind me!  as much as i understand why they ask it, it still cracked me up.  "uhh, the beach?" i replied with my first thought.   "why were you there?"  i clambered in my mind for a reasonable yet timely and brief response, "uhh, to visit?"  then with kind of a mocking tone, he inquired, "[so] you were visiting the beach?"  "uhh, yeah...."    oh, how i love interesting border patrol station experiences.

going south

after san antonio, i got back on the road to see how far south i could get in texas.  i followed the rio grande which serves as the border between the usa and mexico.   i snapped some photos along my way....

traffic backed up for a few minutes with smoke and fire trucks up ahead.  turns out this mexican car, and the grass around it, was burning!  later when i was looking at the photo, i realized they were pressing for their luck but didn't quite make it!  note the exit sign.

have i mentioned i love clouds?

intersection of zacatecas and zapata.

random historical markers

which are in the middle of nowhere

me taking a break

looking at the rio grande

watching the sun setting over mexico