Travelog - Day 20, Feb. 20

A fairly relaxed start today – 8:13am. We pick up #83 and head for Harlingen, yet another very busy corridor with loads of construction. I’m amazed at how high they can built up the roadway using rebar netting which is then faced with concrete bricks. As we drive below, an steamroller is flattening at least a foot deep of asphalt.

Somewhere around Harlingen we pick up #77 going north. I must admit I have been less than diligent in navigating. In fact I’m doing nothing of the sort since the route is an absolute no-brainer and looking at construction is rather mind-numbing. So I’ve been cutting away the heavy duty stabilizer used in the embroidery of 2 t-shirts I bought in Mexico, hoping that I don’t manage to cut a hole as the road is a bit bumpy.

It’s nice to have the sun at our backside now, well almost, over our right shoulder. The skies are blue with light clouds breaking up the sunlight, but still Al and & I have a hard time. Both of us wear tinted glasses, but still we end up squinting, the curse of having blue eyes I guess. Al especially should wear a hat as he turns beet red, so it makes perfectly illogical sense that I am the one who has bought an inexpensive straw, velcro-strapped visor. I also succombed to a mottled, blue leather Stetson-like hat. Why blue? It’s quite simple - black would require a horse.

Highway #77 is straight & flat, a 4-lane boulevard, with a railway line on the west side. I hadn’t noticed this latter point until some rather rusty, seemingly abandoned equipment came into view. Each one the same length. Aha! A train derailment, perhaps 15 cars long.

Just outside Harlingen, the fields are mainly crops. We’re now back to cattle country. Every so many miles I see a bull all alone in his field. Doesn’t appear unhappy with his lot. This is what I call scrub country – grasses and tallish brush. Low spots are marshy, but no greenery. One has a long-legged bird – a heron perhaps. Shortly after I see two chachalacas. I didn’t mention yesterday that we saw two American pelicans at the beach. Bird count is slowly increasing.

118 km and 9:41am we encounter a border patrol check. The queue is not long; we move through quickly. ‘Cainine on duty’ a sign announces; Leila has the good sense not to bark.

181 km 11:00am Kingsville, TX, home of the King Ranch. Sign advertises just under 30,000 population. Driving into town houses are more like cottages in their construction. The downtown core is suffering with many boarded up storefronts. We park alongside a defunct collison centre, one block away from the King Ranch Saddlery. It is what I expect with a wide range of leather merchandise, but also upscale western clothing, woven rugs, dishes, … unrelated to the King Ranch. Two miles west, we stop at the Ranch visitor centre to take some pictures. A pear cactus is about to bloom outside an office and cattle are numerous in the local field.

11:56 back on #77. To the west we see a massive oil refinery, in front a 5th wheel trailer carrying hay bales, two wide and two deep. We hold our breath and pray that any slipage occurs after we pass him. Same size as the ones we saw fortifying sand dunes on the gulf side of South Padre Island. Distant fields & buildings are floating in a mirage. Did I mention that the road is flat, the fields are flat, everything is flat. Nothing is planted in the tilled fields.

At the village of Driscoll (pop.825) we hang a right onto FM665 toward Corpus Christi Bay. Six communication towers encircle the village of Petronila, its horizon lined with electrical lines suspended in the air by telephone poles that resemble needles & thread. Santa Maria Acres advertises one acre lots on a lone, off-shoot of 665 and in the middle of fields for as far as the eye can see. And I can ‘see’ the dust arising when these fields are really dry. I still have no idea of what is planted, but irrigation appears not obviously necessary, nor are fences.

In the outskirts of Corpus Christi (pop 250,000), we turn east. Al chooses to stick with the access road that services hoards of businesses that are sitting cheek-to-jowl alongside the road. The SW side of the highway is similarly crowded. Intersections which go under the main road are frequently 5 lanes and that’s just our one-way side.

Century Theatres advertises 16 cinemas, all housed in one building. We’ve just passed our second Walmart, this time ‘nestled’ in with other big box stores. Holy! Another, our third, Walmart next to a HEB grocery of equal size.

Right next to Good St. Peter’s which looks like a school but has no visible occupants, we turn left into Colonia del Rey RV park complete with plastic pansies planted under the “Visitors stop here” sign. Another sign gives the layout & legend: blue is regular, turquoise, preferred & red, premium daily lots. Concrete drive-thru’s are very tightly aligned. I cross my fingers.

Our first campsite (notice I say first) is the closest you can get to the exit, no fence and facing a busy, noisy, 4-lane road. A 10’ fenced dog run is just opposite in the blazing sun complete with garbage pail. Our second attempt at parking works. Seems it’s difficult for us to remember where the sewer connection is. Using all our pieces of wood we level the trailer. There is absolutely no shade and the heat from the sun is merciless Our assigned space is not as wide as our neighbours, so when you step out the door you almost step on the picnic table. Then I note that the leafless tree will not allow the awning to be deployed. Al makes a quick decision and heads off to the office to request a different site. He returns and we break camp, moving from ‘regular’ to ‘premium’ at an increase of $5 per day.

Neither of us is thinking very rationally and we forget to raise one leg jack. Bent is the word. But it’s the ‘other’ person who left a kitchen tap on and connected the water. The sink was rescued just in time. Notice I’m not identifying the culprit(s).

Site #21 is an absolute haven - a concrete drive-through pad (not required) with fully leaved trees on either side (thank goodness for the shade) and nestled in between two 40+’ buses (Monaco Signature Series), bump-out’s all round. (Mary, I had to use that term). Each has a car: one a VW bug travelling in it’s own, uncolour co-ordinated trailer (tsk! tsk! in the basic ‘white’ look), the other a station wagon.

Setting up camp goes without mishap this time although we now have to use 2 pieces of wood under the bent leg jack and it is a brute to crank up or down. Sink does not overflow, cable TV works with 72 channels!!!, dogs are very content in their X-pen and I’m relaxed under the breeze of the Fantastic fan enjoying a glass of wine and listening to the long-tailed grackles’ exhuberance.

Beware! I’m wearing Al’s shorts held together at the waist with a clip from the dogs’ X-pen, a new fashion statement for me. Tomorrow I shall get some shorts and light-weight capris. Stupid, stupid, stupid as of course I have more than enough at home! Sorry to tell you folks back home that I’ve even substituted a lightweight blanket on the bed for the down duvet. Bringing it was a great idea and the feather bed on the mattress makes a big difference to my back. Why do I have the feeling that I will have to reverse this process on the way home.

Al is off to HEB. Our supply of wine, and milk, is dangerously low. He has promised not to buy any more bananas. Last place he got suckered into buying a big bunch for $1, adding to the big bunch he had bought the day before. I love bananas with my cereal, but … The Hook’s gave us some incredibly juicy, ruby-red grapefruits from their own tree, with no pesticides, no insecticides, no nada which mean the outside skins don’t look so good, but the insides are so incredibly delicious! Better than home I think.

Final item on the agenda is what to do re: wireless service which the park offers at $3 per day, and at your campsite. Signal strength is averaging 38% so we will try it tomorrow, the 21st.