As Far South As We Can Go

January 12, 2013

Left yesterday before the water shut off. Dumped the tanks. (Greg is getting to be an expert!) Drove across the causeway to Rockport and Aransas Pass. Both appeared to be beach towns past their prime. Took the ferry across to Mustang Island and the Port of Aransas. Short, 10 minute ride and off on the other side. Nice small resort. Lots of open beachfront areas that haven't been developed. Very cheap land, but judging by all the water lying about and the hurricane potential, not a great place to build. We are used to the Atlantic Coast with all the expensive built up beach areas. At first we got excited by the signs for lots for sale for $30,000. Then we took a good look around!

Took the causeway back off the barrier islands before we got to Padre Island National Seashore. Next time...Not going to be good beach camping there. Arrived in Corpus Christi and turned south. Took off down Route 77 for the Rio Grande Valley. The farther south we got, the sunnier and warmer it got! Most of our route crossed the Wild Horse Desert, but seems to only be some beef cattle now. We drove the length of Kenedy County with the 4^th least population of any county in the US.

As we entered the Valley area we hit a big slug of population that hugs the river and the border with Mexico. It felt like being back in Los Angeles. Like Mexico, only better off. We stopped in a local grocery store in Mission to stock up, and we and the few other “Winter Texans” were in the minority. Not a lot of English to be heard either.

We headed down to the river and looked for an RV park near the World Birding Center and the Bentsen- Rio Grande State Park. Landed at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort right by the gate. Cars are not allowed in the park. You must take a tram or bike, so the location was perfect for us.

This is definitely the ritziest park we have been in. Nearly everyone here is a long term snow bird. Anywhere from one to six months. We have seen license plates from around the country and Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Alberta. Canadians winter all over Florida and Texas. They can be out of their Province from 6-9 months, depending on which one they reside in. If they are gone from Canada longer they can lose their healthcare.

While we were backing in our site, four ATVs went blasting by on the road behind us. Our host who was helping us back in said it was the border patrol. He said that was the first he had seen since November. We have watched numerous border patrol vehicles on the road and dike behind us. The river is just through the state park behind us. No one here seems concerned.

Sunny, hot day today. Greg took a bike ride into the park this morning to check it out. I did laundry! Two weeks worth! We stayed here to get good laundry facilities before we head out again. This afternoon we rode into the park. The Rio Grande Valley is the confluence of two major migratory bird routes. Also an area for butterfly migrations. There are supposed to be sub-tropical birds found here and no where else in the US. The only birds we saw were two green jays, which were rather cool, but too far away to photograph. The vegetation was mostly dead or dormant. A few butterflies flitted about. Nothing exotic. I guess we picked the wrong time of year to visit. Oh, we did see a titmouse which we could have seen in Maryland!

So tomorrow we will move on. We are looking at visiting the Texas Hill Country before we head for Big Bend NP. Hoping to give it a chance to warm up a bit. Big Bend is forecasting lows in the 20's. Brrrr.....!

(Two more ATV border patrol guys just blasted by and a border patrol SUV went fast the other direction, maybe we should stay for the excitement!)