Last year’s recap #9 Enough of Texas already

Our RV parking spot in Port Isabel was such a contrast to the one in Arizona.  Whereas we were looking at mountains silhouetted in golden, orange and red hues Out West with a dry and cool climate, here in this seaport with its humid and subtropical weather, our vista varied from deep cobalt to turquoise and every shade of blue in-between.  But one thing they had in common, there were the birds to watch right from our trailer’s window.  On top of this, to our delight and entertainment, dolphins occasionally swam into the canal of the harbor hunting for fish. 

Down at the canal’s shore the RV Park Management had a dock installed for the use of the casual fishermen.  Some of the RVers had brought their fishing boats along to take out to the flats of Laguna Madre and the Gulf. As far as we could tell, they were quite successful with their catch because flocks of Pelicans would wait patiently at the cleaning tables for bits and scraps every afternoon upon their return. That is if the seagulls didn’t snatch them away up in midair.  

For exercise we often walked for hours along the beach of South Padre Island.  Not all of it though, because the island is 130 miles (209 km) long! The beach area was fairly wide and clean and on windy days we loved to watch airborne kites.  To keep us from boredom we went on long sightseeing drives into Brownsville and Harlingen.  There is a gigantic and famous 77 Flea Market on Sundays in Brownsville. It starts early at 8 a.m. and by that time the large free parking area is already packed. When we arrived the police was directing traffic with cars in queue a mile long waiting for a chance of a parking spot. (Sorry, I didn’t bring my camera)

Our neighboring RV companions had been coming down to this park for many years. They were telling us of the upcoming student invasion during Spring Break, which included wild parties, traffic chaos and overall turmoil to be avoided at all costs.

This event was just a few days away and because we had booked only a month at this RV Park to begin with, we were about ready for a change of scenery.  More research on the Internet and an idea to head for Mobile Alabama was hatched.

Last year's recap #8 Only in Texas - The $1.45/gal Gas Station

While I recap some of the highlights of our last year’s trip south, I cannot somehow capture the moment of excitement, joy or disappointments we experienced during our tour.  It’s different when I blog everyday and my frame of mind is transparent, but I try anyway.

Whereas the goal last year had been to escape our Canadian winter, I didn’t want to spend the whole time in one place. Although we liked Arizona a lot, the nights were colder than I had envisioned before our departure.  A bit of research combined with our love for the oceans and a promise of milder temperatures made us think of checking out the area of the Texas’ Gulf coast.  There are many RV parks in the vicinity of Harlingen, which indicates it is a popular destination and that was where we were heading.  Texas is a huge state and I wouldn’t mind to see more of it. The highways are in great shape and the 75mph/130km speed limit is an added bonus.  

For our Canadian friends: that's mph!

Our planned route took us through St. Antonio where we wanted to fill up with gasoline.  We use  GasBuddy to check who sells the cheapest fuel.  Even back here in Canada we use GasBuddy all the time.  If you use a device with GPS it tells you right away where all the nearest gas stations are and the current rate or, you can just enter the location, i.e. town or city where you think you will need fuel next.  We all know fuel is much cheaper in the USA than Canada, but we couldn’t believe the low price advertised at the HEB gas station in St. Antonio.  Sure enough, everybody in Texas must have seen the advertisement judging by the traffic leading to the plaza.  The lineup to the pumps wound around the whole parking lot of the HEB supermarket with more and more cars trying to squeeze in. To put it mildly, it was mayhem.  Just imagine our truck with travel trailer in tow blocking the bay. No way would we attempt to do that. To our luck we spotted an empty parking lot next to a bank under renovation on the other side of the street and that is where we parked, unhooked the trailer, put the jacks down and then drove over to get in line to participate in the frenzy.

US $1.45/gal - 38.5 cents/liter

An hour later, tank full including all jerry cans filled to the brim and a quick trip into the supermarket for a few items we were on our way again.  By this time it was late afternoon and we decided to keep on driving until we would be too tired to continue.  A rest area just before Corpus Christi looked good to us. It turned out to be an ok spot for the night.

The following day, a Friday, we pulled into the Palm Garden RV Park in Harlingen. It’s an older park right next to a highway overpass.  The occupants here were for the most part old-timers and called this place a home away from home.  Our intentions were not to stay for very long, rather to use this central spot for scouting out a RV park where we would settle down for some weeks.

Our spot in Harlingen

Saturday and Sunday we drove around armed with notes and coordinates of RV parks, spent a little time at the mall located around the corner and more time at the BassPro Shop also situated nearby.  I have to say, I fell in love with the area of Port Isabel, about a 45 minutes drive from Harlingen. The town is located on the western side of the south end of Laguna Madre, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico.  At its very end of town we found the Port Isabel RV Park Center and a block away is the Queen Isabella Causeway, which takes you over to South Padre Island on the Gulf shore.  South Padre Island is a resort town and is apparently very popular at Spring break, so we were told.  But we liked what we saw and booked a spot by the water for a month starting the following Monday. 

Did I mention the Port Isabel RV Park is large?  It is a very sizeable park and just walking around the perimeter will provide you with a good exercise.  Before we left on the trip south we really didn’t have an idea what kind of parking spots we might encounter and because of that we had brought along our Parkit Power Dolly stored on the truck bed along with a lot of other things we had not found a use for yet like our  big 32 gallon poop tank, (portable waste tank on wheels) which we had no reason to unpack either, thank goodness!!  It had puzzled us why the spot right at the water was still free in such a tight packed RV park where space is at a premium.  Well, the reason the spot was free was no one had been able to get in because a flowerbed blocked two thirds of the driveway and you had to back in at an angle which would have both neighbors with their big rigs make them hold their breaths. I knew the dolly would come in handy someday which was now.  Singlehandedly and with ease Benno maneuvered our travel trailer, hooked up to the dolly (it pulls 9000 lbs.) into the parking spot overlooking the canal.  

View onto the canal

View from our back window in the trailer

All settled into our spot we got talking to our neighbors to the right when we discovered that they owned a full-grown Great Dane dog. Whoa, he was friendly but I didn’t know dogs could grow as big as a pony and I was sure glad they had a fence erected around their pad.  By the way it was mentioned that their previous Great Dane had passed away on a former trip to the RV Park and not knowing what to do with it, they took it along and buried it at the RV Park, but not before purchasing another Great Dane. Guess where they buried the dog?  Yep, the flowerbed!

Last year's recap #7 A bit of U.S.A. History

The drive from the TT RV Park to our next destination of Texas took us along Hwy 80 to Hwy 9 via Columbus, New Mexico.  The road runs for a long stretch along the Mexican border, which we found to be almost deserted of traffic except for the occasional Border Protection Control vehicles patrolling especially along Hwy 9.  Somewhere down that stretch, about 39 miles past Douglas, we spotted a monument by the roadside. To us his seemed to be a good spot to stop for lunch and to stretch our legs.

I have copied the inscription of the plaque in case my picture is not readable.

.

 “Near here Geronimo, last Apache

Chieftain and Nachite with their

followers surrendered, on Sept.

6^th 1886, to General Nelson A. Miles,

U.S. Army, Lieutenant Chas. B. Gatewood

with Kieta and Martine.

Apache scouts risked their lives to enter

the camp of the hostiles to present

terms of surrender offered to

them by General Miles.

After two days, Gatewood received the consent

of Geronimo and Nachite to surrender.

The surrender of Geronimo in Skeleton Canyon,

on that historic day, forever ended

Indian warfare in the United States.”

This Memorial erected A.D. 1934 by theCity of Douglas, with Federal C.W.A. Funds.

During the long drive that seemed to be endless, we discussed where we would park for the night.  Along the Mexican border would probably not be a good idea. Serious drug and illegal human smuggling is happening here. The buggers are extreme dangerous. We were considering to stop for the night at the U.S. Custom and Border Protection's lonely Camp Ramsey, but noticed they were barb wired and electric gate forted in. However, the city of Columbus NM, which is located on the intersection Hwy 9/11 offered a few possible sites for us to check out.  Right by the roadside we noticed a row of flags and a sign to a museum on a previous military campsite, now a State Park with RV and camping park on the park's property. Most of the buildings of the military installation have disappeared over the years, but the original fort’s guardhouse still stood with a visitor’s center, small museum and a few relics on the property.  

We parked and went inside where we found out that the timing of our arrival was near the closing time therefor cutting our museum’s visit a bit short by giving us only a half hour to tour the exhibitions.  However, I learnt a little bit of history:

Columbus came to fame March 9, 1916 when the United States was the last time invaded by a foreign army aka Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus NM. Only a week later, about 10,000 troops arrived by train ordered there by the President Woodrow Wilson with General John Pershing for a “Punitive Expedition” into Mexico. This was “The Last Ride of the United States Calvary” on horses. Young George Patton, who was promoted while he was there to First Lieutenant, let a mechanized transportation and tank division.

The rest of the afternoon we spent to set-up our trailer and relaxed.