We find our place in the sun

We are happily parked in Lake Corpus Christi State park near Mathis Texas. We are staying here for at least a month, probably two. Tentative plans will be to leave here in mid-February for a few other Texas parks and head home about a month later.

This was NOT our destination. However, some things came together to guide is into this spot. We were surprised to find that Mona's skin did not react well to the salt air we encountered along the gulf. We were also surprised at how tiresome and difficult the constant moving of our large travel trailer became. A 33 foot trailer is a great unit to park in. It is not so great to hitch up and do business along the highway. We encountered, and overcome, many challenges along the road in the first month, but are ready to put our feet up.
The challenges made us reconsider tackling a foreign country. We knew from traveling Mexico in the past that the language, roads and culture would only be more tiring.
The other piece of the puzzle was the cooler than normal weather we encountered in our first month. We came south for SUN and SHORTS but these were not common...until now, that is.

Our spot

We chose Lake Corpus Christi because it offered easy access to services in the nearby town of Mathis, while offering lots of opportunity for being tourists in Corpus Christi, Padre Island, Alice and Kingsville.
The lake is very interesting, and larger than we need, and certainly offers everything we could want.
The best part of the park is how busy it is....not. There are over 100 campsites and if full this would be a good camping park. However, the park is virtually empty. There are about 6 RVs in the park and we saw one tent camper. Much of the park is devoted to day use and there is very little of this type of activity at this time of the year.
So we are left with several miles of paved looping roads that roam around the lake.
Wildlife is everywhere. So far we have seen javelinas, white tailed dear, "mexican eagles", egrets, pelicans, cardinal, herons, cormorants, ducks. We are told there are bobcats and reports of a mountain lion in the area.
This park also has a stone tower building that sits on a bluff overlooking the lake.

So we are not on a mexican beach, but for $378 we have a waterfront home for a month with all utilities and taxes paid. Plus free fishing from a lighted pier...and our neighbour has wireless internet that she allows us to use....

More details to follow. Here are some more of our pictures from the first few days....

Mona checking out our neighbors on her snazzy new bike.

The regular vagrants next door.

The State Park lookout over the lake.

Looking at the overlook and observation tower from the lake.

A large egret hanging out at the fishing pier...or more exact, close to the fish cleaning station.

Cap'n Freewilley on Lake Corpus Christi.

Radio Free Texas

The radio waves are buzzing with the best radio station I have ever heard. TexMix radio is 100,000 watts strong and pours out of Victoria Texas.
Those unfortunate readers who are not in Texas this winter (tune to 98.7) can stream the tunes at http://texasmix.com/
Why am I so pumped on this station? It will take a list to make sure I don’t miss any points:
1.The music is billed as “the Texas Mix” and to be sure, I hear a lot of the Vaughan Brothers, Stevie and Jimmie and other native Texans (some verging on country, but luckily not crossing that sacred line). I also catch artists who have dubious (or no?) connections such as Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, Clapton and….wait for it….Neil Young. The critical point is that the mix is great! And this is only point #1….

1. There is very little chatter on this station. In fact, at all but the busiest times you have no idea who the artists are. There is no DJ breaking into the music. While I wrote this, about 7pm on a weeknight, I heard about a dozen tunes without any break in the music. And this is not a special hour…it is typical!


2. There are very few commercials. This is probably a reflection of the tiny market this station serves…Victoria, Texas is about the same size as my hometown of North Bay, Ontario….60,000 warm bodies.


3. Much of the music is new to my ears. I guesstimate that I have heard about 50% of the artists they play, but only about 25% of the music played. And there is not a single song that I would not listen to again. Contrast that to what you hear on your regular station…how often do you hear new music or artists…and how often is that music of the quality you approve of???


4. In a world where “format radio” stations like: the Mix; the Wolf/Bear/Fox/Donkey; Rock 95/101/666 or Q-who, this station shows that you can play good music with out fitting into the pattern.


5. The music is often hilarious! If you know artists like Delbert McClinton or Willie Nelson you know that they are not afraid to laugh at themselves or make you laugh at yourself. There are A LOT of these artists in Texas and this station has found them
   
   Sorry for the rant, but having traveled most of North America, I know that it is rare to hear a station that is worth telling the world about….but this is one great music station. I’ll listening the rest of my time in Texas and it is one more reason to come back to south Texas in the future (more reasons later….)

Dropping in to Goliad

Due to the crazy weather, we cut our 3-4 day visit short in Galveston. I picked out a full service state park (most of Texas parks do not have sewer hook-ups…there are only 3 in South Texas with full hookups: Goliad, Lake Corpus Christi and Falcon). Goliad was closest but the full hookup area was full. We can go about 4 days before we have to dump our tanks so we decided to stay for up to 4 days.
It turned out to be a lucky stop. Goliad is a very historic town and this was a very big weekend for the town and park.
There are 3 main parts to the Goliad experience. The town is very small with less than 2000 residents. But it was a very important south Texas town and has a huge ornate courthouse which is surrounded by town square that looks much like it did 100 years ago. Secondly, just south of town on the San Antonio River is the Mission Espiritu Santu. This restored Mission was one of the first founded in Texas, and one of the last abandoned by the Mexicans. Finally, the Presidio Bahia is a very important fort and historic landmark. Many significant events occurred here, including the first signing of Texas’ Declaration of Independence and the massacre of Col. Fallin’s revolutionary army by Mexicans in the war for independence.
Friday night we enjoyed a lighted Christmas parade that traveled around the very historic and well preserved town square.

The square was filled with vendors and stands (we returned Saturday for another go at the stands in daylight).

Mona getting Santa's attention

On Saturday evening we squeezed in two events. The first was a posada at the Presidio Bahia. This is a traditional Mexican march with child actors playing the Christmas story. The tradition includes a live donkey.
This particular posada and carol singing was rather weak. The organizers were reduced to pulling actors and choir members from the crowd so the resulting show was certainly not what we would see in the Mexican homeland, I am sure.

It was worthwhile but we cut out early as there was a concert being held in the Mission at 8pm.

This was quite a contrast. The mission was bursting with the crowd (about 100). The performers did not include many Tejanos (Texas born Mexicans)…possibly 2 out of 30. The performance was very professional and fairly traditional Christmas fare.

Given the cool weather and the many things to experience, including nature trails and a wonderful bike path that runs from town, through the mission/state park and ends at the Presidio we decided Goliad State Park was an excellent place to hang out. We booked in for another week and moved to the best full service site in the park…very large and private.

This is what the journey is all about…finding a very interesting place that was previously unknown to us, and enjoying very friendly and gracious hospitality from the townsfolk and parks workers.

Texas, finally

Nov. 28
At the welcome centre on the state line we took a break and I went in for some into info…it was lucky I did. The hostess called the RV resort I was headed to and there was no room at the Inn. The owner said they were building a couple of refineries in the Port Arthur area and working families had filled the parks. We made new plans and ended up staying nearby.
That night we caught up on things and enjoyed some very hot and humid weather. Things were about to change, tho. When we broke camp the next morning it was 28 Celsius and humid. The following morning we left Galveston State Park and it was 2 Celsius. It was actually much worse than these numbers…a cold front had moved in (from Canada, the radio told us) and the wind was fearsome. We were oceanfront overnight and the wind seemed to be close to blowing the trailer into the Gulf

Getting on the free ferry that moves from Port Bolivar to Galveston.

A trailer is not the best place to be in a windstorm. Mona hardly slept and said the wind was so bad it almost drowned out my snoring.

The sun rising over Galveston State Park and FreeWilleyMona's Holiday Rambler Travel Trailer.

more Cajun anecdotes

No stamps for you!
We were enjoying ourselves at McGee’s landing and decided to stay another night in this free campground. The levee ran from the restaurant into the tiny village of Henderson, about 2 miles. A rough dirt road ran on top of the levee. I rode my bicycle into town for exercise and to get some stamps. Finding the post office was easy, but finding stamps was not. The Post office was basically a shed in someone’s front yard. It looked like it had not changed since the 40s. They were out of the 63 cent stamps we need for Canadian mail. They had been out for a week and did not know when they would get more.
So much for privatized public services….



CajunCarl buys the beer
McGee’s had wireless internet so I sat out on the deck and got this Blog started and organized my email. I guess I was a long time as Mona walked over to retrieve me. I took the chance to take some last pictures and we notice a few people in the bar (as mentioned, the restaurant was supposedly closed). When we asked if we could buy a beer the older lady behind the bar said she was just about to close but would sell us a beer. The other customers were two thirtyish fellas dressed liked Crocodile Hunter and a young lady. The one fellow said that the beer was on us (in French) and I said Merci…he then checked to see if I could speak French. We got into quite a discussion with him as he was thrilled that we were Canadian and he reviewed his Cajun history and his trips to Nova Scotia. He turned out to be a local businessman (cane properties and grocery store, he said) who also had a TV show and website http://www.cajunkarl.com/karlbio.html
This was an interesting encounter but the party had to get on their way. The bartendress, who had been in a hurry to close, cracked herself a beer and proceeded to chat us up. She was the owner’s aunt and worked at all types of work at this marina/restaurant/tour company. Mona and she had quite a discussion about all types of Cajun dishes and spices.
We walked away shaking our heads and muttering about what a lucky stop this was….

We park in Cajun country

(these events occurred a week ago)
As we drove toward Louisiana we kicked around going into New Orleans. We chose not to on the basis that we had seen the French Quarter before and because we know that there is a high crime rate.
Mona mentioned that she really wanted to do a swamp tour. We picked up info at the LA state welcome center and I found a tour just off our route.
When we got to Baton Rouge I called ahead and the woman who answered the phone for the tour company seemed to be a real firecracker…she told us that not only could the lot accommodate our trailer, we could park there overnight if we wanted.
The next morning we were up at 5am and moved through the Baton Rouge metro area before sunrise. This was a lot bigger and more complicated city than I had thought. We were at the tour landing before it opened at 8am.

We parked in the most little used end of the lot and hoped for the best. We were just set up when a truck and trailer backed in beside us. I hailed the driver and asked if we were in his way…he replied no problem he was pulling logs out with his father-in-law. More later.

I went into the business (which billed itself as a tour company and restaurant) to line up the tour, get approval for parking and tell them we would eat some meals there in exchange for parking. No sooner had I introduced myself to the voice on the phone (who turned out to be the partner in the business, Peggy Allemand) when a woman started yelling and a gent grabbed a paddle and started whacking a mouse in the middle of the restaurant. This chap turned out to be David, Peggy’s husband. He grabbed the deceased mouse by the tail and assured me this was a rare occurrence.
Peggy said that the trailer was fine where it was. When I asked about lunch she said they were not open. So we will be in for supper, I told her. Nope, not open she said. I commented that I thought this was a restaurant and she said this was the off season and they were open only on weekends.
David returned from the mouse’s funeral and told me that he would be happy to whip up some crawfish etouffe for us for lunch. While I wondered if this would appeal to Mona, I lined up an “airboat tour” for us for 10am. David assured me that this was a great experience.
I returned to the trailer and told Mona what had just happened and that she had to come over the restaurant and meet these folks and confirm lunch. She was unnerved by my story of the mouse and restaurant that did not serve meals.
Well, it all went fantastic. We had an astounding airboat tour captained by David’s 22 year old nephew, we met David’s dad who founded the business and everyone took a shine to Mona (see left). The swamp tour is on a huge swamp called the Atchafalaya basin.
The business was a genuine Cajun family operation. David is a rep for a Cajun spice company as well as a professional musician and entrepreneur. The restaurant is filled with stuffed wildlife, cooking spices/kits and Cajun books.
The crawfish was one of the best meals we have ever had. Great side dishes and oyster gumbo (oysters were only mentioned when we were on the last ¼ of the gumbo…which we only ate ¾ of..).
We spent the afternoon hanging out at our campsite which was the low side of the levee. At sundown the place emptied and we were left to ourselves with the exception of our neighbor who was living in a dry-docked houseboat. His name was Billy Jo Bob which he proudly had painted on the back of his boat. He spent a few hours grinding away at the bottom of his boat and muttered something about never taking the boat to salt water again. The repairs did not seem to be a high priority, but it sure was a noisy and messy job whenever he decided to spend an hour at it….which was not often.

Red Cypress from the deep.














I saw the son and father in law dragging these large old logs from the bayou and loading them on the trailer. I grabbed the camera and started snapping. The senior partner turned out to be thrilled with my interest. He explained his operation to us, and later gave us samples of his wood.
Over the past few years he had to give up his commercial fishing as stocks dwindled. He had spent his life on the bayou and had found many places where there were sunken logs. These logs had been cut down in the 1800s by lumbermen but had not made it to the mill. They were Red Cypress, which is rare today. They remain well preserved in the water, but a worm does get into them and make interesting burrows. Today this wood sells for over $15 per square foot and is used for trim and fine work.










He brought us some samples and told us to use them as we saw fit.

More airboat pics

On the airboat, the engine is as loud as a plane engine but you are sitting outside....

The boat gets deep into the swamp and bayous.

Our pilot, Tray, and his grampa Curtis, who founded the businees now owned by his son, David.

This is a hunting blind. The hunters pull their boat inside and pop up out of holes that are in the roof.