The aircraft carrier, USS Lexington, is retired near Corpus Christi, about 20 miles from Redfish Bay RV Resort, which presented a great opportunity for a tour. This decorated ship served our country for almost 50 years, beginning in the Pacific during World War II, and concluding its service in the Persian Gulf. It was one of the primary targets of the Japanese on December 7, 1941, but had just departed Pearl Harbor two days prior to the surprise Japanese attack. It saw tremendous action in the Pacific—almost all the famous battles—including the ferocious battle at Okinawa, Japan, where my father was seriously wounded.

Jim and Ginny accompanied us on the self-guided tour, which began at 9:30 AM and ended some six hours later. We began on the hangar deck with a brief orientation, then climbed to the flight deck, aka flattop, where various attack, fighter, and trainer aircraft were showcased.  It’s amazing how large aircraft carriers appear, but how small the “runway” really is when you’re there.  Imagine trying to land on one at night in rolling seas!  We returned to the hangar deck for two IMAX movies, one of which was about the development and production of the Boeing 787, and the other was of an international air war training exercise in Nevada, featuring various fighters, refuelers, and other US Air Force aircraft—it should be shown in the classroom as a “must see” to help build patriotism among out young citizens! We concluded the day with the Foc’sle tour and tours of the lower decks. These tours were of the officers’ and junior officers’ quarters, a Pearl Harbor exhibit, anchor equipment, ready rooms and combat information center, the captain’s cabin, engine room, sick bay, dental clinic, crew’s galley, mine exhibit, and Chapel. 

This was an exhausting tour, involving a lot of walking and climbing—almost too much for these old legs. We retired for the evening to watch our favorite Friday night programs on the Discovery channel.

We began the day not wanting to do anything on our “want to do” list. We became restless by midmorning, and opted to drive to Rockport to the aquarium and for bird watching. Enroute, we saw the sign for Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), and one of us, probably Kay, suggested we drive there to check it out. Aransas NWR is among our nations oldest wildlife refuges, and provides wintering habitat for the whooping crane, as well as other birds, reptiles, and other animals and plants.

The refuge was about an hour north of Aransas Pass, near Tivoli, Texas. Volunteers, RVers who work for their RV site, were manning the headquarters and were quite friendly and helpful in assisting us with planning a driving tour to include photo-taking opportunities.
Our first stop was just across the road from the refuge headquarters, and featured a slough containing alligators. At the fence separating us from the slough, we looked hard but did not see any alligators; however, at the end of the fence, a 6-foot alligator was sunning him/herself.  We took several photos, daring not to get too close; one must let a sleeping alligator lie.
Our next stop was close to the water, and we saw whooping cranes off in the distance. A more detailed look revealed whooping cranes near the shoreline, but too far for a good photograph. Further along the refuge road, a 0.7 mile trail circled through large trees, not too far from the shoreline. Among those trees was one about 400 years old, covered in vines. We were somewhat surprised to discover mosquitoes in the area!
Departing the shoreline road, we drove and interior road through the refuge’s grasslands. Along the road we saw a family of whooping cranes. Note the banding on one of the cranes legs. Further along the road two deer were lying the burned over grassland.
Another interesting site was the myriad of gopher holes. We have seen these through much of South Texas but didn’t know what they were, assuming they were ant hills. Needing to get back to redfish Bay RV resort in time to prepare food for a potluck, we finished the to the refuge, drove back towards the RV resort, stopping at HE be for you groceries. The potluck was not well attended, but we did meet some “neighbors” and talked about flyfishing in Arkansas and Colorado.

An hour or two of television finished the evening.

Today is Wednesday, January 25. Sometimes, actually, oftentimes on these trips, Kay and I keep such a hectic schedule—just go, go, go—that we have to slow down, take a deep breath, and reevaluate our travel plans and objectives before we start off anew. Today is one of those days. We have decided to take it easy, catch up with household chores such as clothes washing and drying, and take on other house keeping duties.

Completing our chores didn’t take long—now what?  We have some social obligations to fulfill with several RVing friends down here in the Rockport and Aransas Pass area.  We were just getting ready to call Jim and Ginny for dinner, but just before we phoned them, they beat us to the punch and called inviting us to dinner in Port Aransas.  Port Aransas is on the barrier island, just across the bay, and involves a fun ferry ride.  They picked us up at 4:30 PM, drove to Port Aransas, to Moby Dick’s restaurant. On Wednesday evenings, Moby Dick’s features all-you-can-eat boiled shrimp, complete with potatoes, corn on the cob, and cornbread muffin, perfect for Weight Watchers (yeah, right). Kay, Jim, and Ginny ordered the shrimp, while I ordered grilled tilapia with grilled vegetables and green beans. Oh, the sacrifices one has to make!  This learning to eat healthy is difficult.  Regardless, the food was very, very good, and the prices were reasonable. Moby Dick’s was packed with Winter Texans, and featured the Medicare Band. We had seen them advertised on the sign and speculated that all the members were over 65.  We were right, but the band was good and reminded us of our days in the Rio Grande Valley in 2008 and 2009.  As we left the restaurant, a sliver of the moon shown above the lighthouse, making for a perfect evening.  The ride back, even on the ferry, was anticlimactic.

We awoke and soon heard the splat of rain drops hitting the roof. It sure looked like a Walmart kind of day.  Otherwise, it was a great day for drinking coffee, and staying in bed or working on this journal.

After a late breakfast we drove to Walmart in Rockport, Texas, to shop for items on our “wish” list. Walmart stores in the various locales of the country give one an insight into the cultures of those particular areas. Kay and I both remarked on this facet of our society. For example, the Walmart in Rockport had less electronics and household goods than did our store in Mountain home. Also, the sporting goods department favored salt water fishing, as it should, whereas the Mountain Home store is strong on freshwater fishing and on hunting. The automotive department was also different, and the store in whole had a different feel. I digress. We found most things on our shopping list, and while in the store received a call from Bruce asking about our desire to attend a science lecture in Rockport in the afternoon. We returned to Redfish Bay RV Park, had lunch of leftovers made into fajitas (we seem to do this often), and waited for Bruce and Jeannie to pick us up.

The lecture we attended at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute was quite interesting, and based on a 6-foot diameter globe of the earth. While the globe was stationary, four projectors at 90° angles gave the indication that it was rotating about an axis. The lecture talked about the eight planets in our solar system (Pluto was dropped as a planet in 1996, so we now have only eight instead of the nine most of us were taught in school). The lecturer was good, having been an educator for 42 years.

Afterwards, Bruce drove us around the coast in Rockport, Fulton, and Lamar, and we found the area to be very interesting. Many of the houses resemble those we saw in Hawaii in 2010, and are very much like those on the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts—of course, this is the Gulf coast as well. One of the inland properties still had a windmill blade in a tree as a result of a storm many years ago. 
We drove through a state park in Lamar just north of Fulton, Texas, where we saw the largest Live Oak tree in Texas; it is over 1000 years old.

Bruce completed the circuitous route, taking us by several RV parks for future reference, and made the mistake of going by a movie theater where Kay and Jeannie saw the billboard of showings and decided to make tonight a movie night, $4 and free popcorn if you bring your own bowl. Both Bruce and I checked our calendars and were already committed, thus could not make the movies. Jeannie then showed Kay the shop where she gets pedicures—cheaper than home, but—this afternoon trip is really going to cost us!

Back at the motorhome I ate a couple of sandwiches while Kay dug a big bowl from the pantry for free popcorn at the movie. I had forgotten that the State of the Union speech was tonight, so Kay probably got the better end of the deal.  She came in about 10 PM and said the theater was packed, and several people were envious of her big popcorn bowl!

NOTE: As most of you know, my brother lost his courageous battle against gastric cancer in late November. He so enjoyed reading tour travel journal, and wanted to join us in our travels when he recovered. I think about him constantly, and miss him so much.  It has been a difficult trip in this regard.

The weather forecast for this part of coastal Texas calls for nice weather today and tomorrow with rain on Wednesday, and cooler weather the next few days.

Using our list of things we want to do in this area, and given the weather forecast, we decided on a day trip to Padre Island National Seashore.  We called fellow RVers, Bruce and Jeannie, to see if they wanted to accompany us. We picked them up at Ransom Road RV Park at about 10:30 AM and departed for Port  Aransas and Padre Island. We enjoyed riding the ferry once again across Redfish Bay, and drove to the beach at Port Aransas. From there we drove south, via Mustang Island, to Padre Island. It is the largest undeveloped barrier island in the world. As we drove through the entrance station, we were amazed at the number of cameras; apparently, our federal agencies are serious about protecting the border and the influx of drugs, weapons, and illegal aliens. Padre Island was more undeveloped than we expected, but quite delightful with all the open space.  We saw hundreds of ducks in a small pond near the road, and Bruce spotted several sandhill cranes "grazing" on the seagrass. We stopped at the small visitor center, took some pictures of the beach area, and departed.

From there we drove north to Corpus Christi, stopping at Best Buy for Jeannie to buy a WebCam. She communicates with her daughter via Skype; technology is becoming an everyday facet our lives, and many RVers are keeping up-to-date with these new forms of communication and data processing. After leaving Corpus Christi we drove to Bruce and Jeannie’s, and admired their cabinet renovations recently done to accommodate new televisions. The work was done at an RV dealership in Harrison, Arkansas, and appeared to have come from the factory as the job was done so well.

Kay and I returned to Redfish Bay RV Park, had dinner, read, and watched television—pretty much a typical evening. (I finished the sixth book so far on this trip; don’t know why I don’t read as much at home.)

Today marks our second Sunday on the road. We intended to attend the local Methodist Church this morning, but I received a call from my sister, Carma, indicating that she, her husband Gerald, cousin Linn, and her husband Tom were driving down from south of Houston for a visit. They urged us to go on to church, but we insisted they leave early, knowing that we could watch our church, First United Methodist Church in Mountain Home, online. We were only partially successful in watching the service, given the lag in receiving the satellite feed, and then, about two thirds of the way through the service, the feed went completely blank. We will have to ask the church to send us a DVD of this and the previous week’s sermons.

Carma, Gerald, Linn, and Tom arrived about 10:30 AM, toured the RV, and we had a great visit, including talking about their spring fishing plans on Beaver Lake. Kay and I were unfamiliar with restaurants in the area, but had eaten at Blackbeard’s Too and thought their food was very good, so we recommended it for lunch. We drove the short distance to Ingleside, Texas, and had a great meal. Kay had the blackened catfish and shrimp combo, and I had the grilled tilapia. The food was excellent, and not terribly expensive. We said our farewells in the restaurant parking lot, and our family visitors departed for Bay City, Texas.  Kay and I returned to the RV for rest, relaxation, and football. (We didn’t need the rest and relaxation, but it sounded good.)
During the course of the evening, Kay and I made notes on things we wanted to do in the Aransas Pass, Texas, area before we depart on February 1, and also made a list of things we wanted to buy at Sam’s Club/Walmart.
Tomorrow, we’ll begin checking off items on the lists.

We’ve been here at Redfish Bay RV Resort a couple of days now, and it’s beginning to feel more comfortable.

We cleaned the motorhome this morning, had lunch of leftovers made into fajitas, and discussed our options for the afternoon.

Aransas Pass is just north of Corpus Christi, across Redfish Bay.  Port of Aransas, Texas, and Mustang Island are just east and open to the Gulf of Mexico. Further south, below Corpus Christi, is Padre Island National Seashore.  We wanted to see the beach area at Port of Aransas, and perhaps do a little birding (that’s the right lingo, isn’t it, for looking at birds). We left Aransas Pass, took a bridge across the big part of Redfish Bay, and immediately came to a ferry landing. We were surprised to see several slots for ferries, and queued up for the next crossing to Port of Aransas. It was a short, free ferry, and we were immediately in Port Aransas. Port Aransas is a typical coastal resort town similar to what one would find on the Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida Gulf coast. We drove a short distance east and came to sand beaches and breaking waves from the Gulf of Mexico. There were many cars parked on the beach, fishing in the surf and just walking in the wet sand. We saw a pelican standing on the pier next to a jetty, and stopped to take several photographs. It had no fear of us. We then drove along the beach, parked and walked in the wet sand, enjoying the sights and the sounds of breaking waves.

Because the Gulf of Mexico is so close, we opted to continue our drive south, making the loop around Corpus Christi and back to Redfish Bay RV Resort. Along the way we stopped at Mustang Bay State Park. The park is relatively undeveloped with a small RV campground, some paved parking areas, and restroom facilities. The beach was not crowded, but was beautiful with gulls, and breaking waves for as far as the eye could see.

We completed the loop, making a short trip of it—only about three hours.

After dinner (smoked sausage, cabbage, broccoli rice) we read and watched television. Though we are not taking advantage of satellite TV via the tailgater, we did record a couple of our favorite Friday evening shows: Gold Rush Alaska and Flying Wild Alaska. We will watch these on a rainy day when outside activities are limited.

Gosh, we slept past 7 AM.

After coffee, reading news from home online, and eating breakfast, Kay washed and dried clothes.  We drove to the RV park where Bruce and Jeannie were staying, then through Rockport where we stopped and photographed some pelicans sunning themselves on a jetty.  We checked out a number of RV parks in the area for future reference, and saw small tree loaded with oranges on one of the yards along the street. We drove by Southern Oaks RV Park where Jim and Ginny were staying and were “caught” by Jim. We visited with them, and found that we really enjoyed their company. After whiling away the afternoon, we returned to the motorhome to read and relax, make a few phone calls, and generally do nothing.

After dinner we downloaded photographs and updated the journal.

NOTE 1: For Christmas I received a Kindle Fire. After a frustrating week of trying to connect to our home network I was ready to trash it, but finally succeeded after reading a forum entry and changing the security settings on our router. I find that I am using the Kindle Fire more and more, particularly for reading e-mails, online papers, and forums; consequently, the notebook computer is being used less and less.

NOTE 2: As you read in the journal a few days ago we now use Tailgater dish for receiving satellite television (as you may recall we spent the summer in Idaho without any television, and found it impossible to use DirecTV with our current equipment at the time). During our very brief stay at Redfish Bay RV Park, the Tailgater is a conversation piece and two different folks have stopped by to inquire about it’s ease-of-use, and the various programming options available. We very much like the Tailgater, and have given it a good a recommendation.

The first night in a new location is always a difficult one during which to get sufficient sleep, thus waking up at 4 AM. We didn’t have plans today, except to drive around the area, get our bearings, and decide on what we wanted to spend our time.  After coffee and breakfast I put Kay’s bicycle together for her enjoyment around the area—my work for the day! 

Some friends from our RV club back in Arkansas called and invited us to breakfast at a local Taqueria (they specialize in tacos), joining two other couples from the RV club. Bruce, Jeannie, Jim, and Ginny came by for a brief visit and to look at our new motor home. We have enjoyed meeting and knowing these folks through RV club activities. We followed them to the restaurant and had coffee (Weight Watchers, you know) while the others had breakfast. We made plans to meet again in the afternoon to attend a science lecture at one of the local museums.

Kay and I returned to the motorhome, dug out the hose, bucket, car wash, and brushes, and washed and dried the RV. Our drive yesterday from La Grange, Texas, to Aransas Pass was in a misting rain, and the RV was really dirty. We came in from the wash job only to find the refrigerator not working. Kay immediately tried calling Norcold, but got put on hold. She then called the RV dealership where we purchased the motorhome and they gave her the names of some Norcold service centers in the area.  The first one she called could not make a service call until Saturday, but she scheduled it anyway.  She then called another service center and they did not make service calls but would evaluate the problem if we brought the RV to their shop; this would be a major effort for us, however, we needed the refrigerator and were prepared to drive the RV to the shop. She then called Norcold again, and they told her that it was possibly a recall item, checked our serial number against the recall and said that the refrigerator had had the necessary parts exchanged prior to leaving the factory. They further told her that if indeed it was a warranty/recall problem, then the service center would have to call them and a part would be shipped to arrive in 8 to 10 days. I had read horror stories about Norcold, but had hoped to not ever experience any ourselves. The manager/owner of the RV park had given us a card of a repair technician, so as a last resort Kay called him, he said he thought he knew what was wrong, had the part, and was certified by Norcold to do warranty service. He also said that he didn’t know whether he could make the service call today but would come tomorrow if he couldn’t make it today. This sounded too good to be true.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Jeannie came by to drop off some oranges and during our visit, the repair technician dropped by, quickly looked at the refrigerator, went outside to look at the back of the refrigerator, asked us to turn the refrigerator off, and in a couple of minutes asked us to turn it back on, and it worked! He came in, with a bad module in his hand, got Kay’s signature and the serial number the refrigerator, and was gone in less than 15 minutes after arriving. He was not one for small talk, but did an excellent job of repairing the refrigerator.

After the stressful afternoon, we grilled pork chops and zucchini, baked sweet potatoes, had dinner, and took it easy the rest of the evening.

Colorado landing was a pleasant surprise, especially when we found out that La Grange Texas was home to the famed chicken ranch.

Today was to be our last day of travel for couple of weeks, as we were going to be staying in Aransas Pass, Texas, until February 1. Our drive today was approximately 160 miles, and we got an early start, bought gas just north of Rockport, Texas, and arrived at Redfish Bay RV Park in Aransas Pass, Texas, at 12:30 PM. The office was closed until 1:00 PM so we unhooked the Honda, and waited to check in.

Our site is on a concrete pad, level, with full hookups. After parking, putting the jacks down, and extracting the slides, we were ready to make this our home for the next two weeks. The temperature was slightly warm, so we turned our air conditioner on. Redfish Bay RV Park is a relatively small Park, but quite full. The Honda was covered with road dirt from being towed in a misting rain, so one of our priorities was to find a car wash. Being hungry and without some vital groceries, we drove towards a restaurant, stopping to wash the Honda on the way. The restaurant, Blackbeard’s, had wonderful fish tacos. It was then off to the nearest Walmart only to find their computer systems down—they were only taking cash. We shopped anyway, buying the much needed groceries and RV washing supplies.

During our absence our new friend from Henry’s Lake, Idaho, Jack, had dropped by and left his card. When we returned we call Jack to let him know we were “home" and he came a few minutes later for a visit. It was so good to see him. Jack has become an artist of sorts, weaving baskets out of pine straw, and they are extraordinary works of art. After his departure we settled in to make this our home for a couple of weeks.

Downloading photographs, I discovered one we took at the US Army Corps of Engineers campground, Maumelle Park, in Little Rock of a cute couple on the mobile scooters “walking” their dogs.