Settling in at Port A (aka Port Aransas)

We always like to travel someplace south to get away from all the holiday falderol and this has become some exclusive "us" time which I treasure - hopefully Walt does too!!!  Because of one thing and another we didn't travel much this year, and we learned a very valuable lesson - the RV is meant to travel and doesn't like it when it doesn't get out on the road. 

First, the freezer froze shut from last year, yep, we forgot to turn off the fridge and the humidity (we do have some in Oklahoma), seeped in and it froze that dang freezer shut.  So as a public service, I'm here to advise all RV owners out there, be sure and turn off your fridge.  This is what happens when you don't!

But that problem solved....see I like to invent these creative little problems so Walt has a purpose in life - now really I don't but let's pretend that's what happened - OK - and let's not tell him!  We move onto the next problem, since we're going to be traveling to a relatively populated area, but staying in the unpopulated part, we figured we could do all our grocery shopping really well in the populated part, but let's get on the road. 

Outside Ft. Worth we have a full-blown blowout - not a flat, but the dang tire blew.  Fortunately being close to Ft. Worth we were able to find a tire store, but Walt, yes the guy who can do anything, got out and has big jacks that will jack up the trailer alongside I-35W and changes the tire.  I'm continually amazed at what all this man can do.  We pull into a tire store and get a couple of new tires (he doesn't like the look of the spare and believe me, I trust him when he says that).  I don't really have any photos of this escapade as I was in the car saying my prayers that no dope was going to run him down as the flat was on the left side (the traffic side) of the trailer.  And we had some undivided attention from the upstairs cause, fortunately, nothing happened, other than changing the tire. 

We had gotten up at an outrageously hour and started out early from OKC and really being rather smug that we would pull into our spot in the RV park at 3 in the afternoon - we were so on top of things and patting ourselves on the back, when the blowout sort of undid that and took that 3 hours early start all away from us.  Instead, we pull into the RV park, in the dark, with a bad map, and raining cats and dogs outside.  I'm trying to be positive, and tell him that we have to cross over to Port Aransas on the ferry.  Ferry!!!! This RV on a FERRY!  I tell Walt this will be an adventure.  When we pulled up to get on the ferry, there's another Class A Motorhome, so he's feeling a little better about this.  But I'm always up for an adventure, and here's our little video of crossing on the ferry....with the RV....and making it to the other side.  WARNING:  This is not for kids, as Walt always has a few expletive-deleteds in his conversation, particularly when he's relieved that I'm actually right about the direction we're going, and it is not edited.  As the pros would say it's a raw video!  At this point, I'm thankful that I know where we are too.

This really doesn't show the ferry or channel we crossed all that well.

Here's a better shot in the daylight and shows what a really great operation this is.  There are about 8 ferries during the day, fewer at night, but they manage to get the traffic across very efficiently. 

The question comes up then why there's no bridge here and I wondered the same thing.  The area had a direct hit of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, so, logically, not everything might not be built back,  Corpus Christi (just south of Port Aransas) and Port Aransas were on the SW side of the hurricane more commonly known as the dirty side, as that side gets the brunt of the winds and more specifically the water and flooding.  So it's natural to think that not everything has been built back.  However, traveling on the ferry in daylight, I began to realize that there's something else going on here.

There are huge tankers that come through the Aransas Pass into Corpus Christi and the 5th largest US port handling mostly oil and agriculture.  Obviously, since huge tankers and cargo ships are coming through the Aransas Pass, a bridge over this pass, would be terribly expensive as well as needed to be opened and closed all the time.  It's far simpler and easier and simpler to ferry the land transportation across the pass and leave the pass open.  We happened upon the ferry at one time a huge tanker was going through and there was hardly any wait at all.  It's a remarkably efficient solution to a high-traffic area. 

We are ensconced in our RV park finally, and I had picked a location that backed up to a nature preserve (which in the rain and bad map didn't look like that's where we would end up), so we simply pulled into our spot, crocked and hooked up the electricity and water and went to bed.  The next morning we would finish hooking up in the light.  And right behind us is the nature preserve - I'm thrilled and Walt simply wants to finish hooking up, get everything turned on and we'll have some breakfast and begin to relax. 

But wait....there's no gas.  A trip to the propane filler-upper and we're set....or so we think.  Still no gas, so we start looking at all the places where there might be something haywire and thinking gee if there's a gas leak....ummm....uhhh...hopefully we won't explode!  Well, never fear, Walt is here, and after 2 days of searching through everything, Walt finally finds the problem.  Apparently, the blowout on I--35 also blew out the gas line close to the tire and into the RV, and Walt being the guy who can do anything, fixes it and voila - we have gas.  The first thing we did was bacon and eggs!!!

Finally, everything is fixed, with Walt having landed on his ribs and blew out his knee and did something to his back, so I'm on care duty to make sure he gets back to some sort of comfort.  In the meantime, I've started reconnoitering around the island to see what's what.  I rode my bike to the Gulf of Mexico (sounds like I went hundreds of miles and makes me think I'm 30 again or something),  and took a few photos. 

One of the things that I noticed was while I was walking the Gulf of Mexico shore, there were a lot of ships on the horizon.  I've seen this before at my cousin's home in Maine, where ships line up to get into port to unload their products and goods and get out.  At some of the major ports, there can be a traffic jam, so the ships sit just outside the port ready to come in when the space is available at the port.  This was a clear display of the economic power of the port of Corpus Christi and the economic importance of the Aransas Pass.

Here is how the pass fits into the economic scheme for it is through this pass that most of the cargo and tanker ships pass.  Port Aransas is on Mustang Island which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). The ICW is an inland waterway from about Boston, MA to Brownsville, TX.  This is lined with islands that protect recreational and commercial boats and ships while traveling along the Eastern Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.  This makes a very interesting co-existence between the commercial shipping industry and the natural wildlife that is drawn to the inland waterway and islands that make up the barrier for the ICW.  

And then there's the wildlife, which is what we're here for.  The nature preserve we have backed up to has bird hotspots that have 360+ variety of birds, and this time of year it's the winter home to a large population of birds.  The weather is very pleasant - a little cooler at night, but very pleasant during the day.  Apparently, the birds are just as happy with the humans as the humans are with the birds, although seagulls are known for their pushy ways, but this one might have thought I might have a fish hanging from me or something.

Yes - this one is going to be a painting I can tell. 

And speaking of the fish - the wharf fish market is a bike ride from the RV - I can tell there's lots of fish in my future!  I love traveling to new places I've never been to and learning all about the economy and structure of these places.  This photos sort of shows how the two seemingly at-odds factions of the area co-exist very well, with the beach tourist visitor and the line of about 14 ships on the horizon waiting to get into port.