Nov 29 - South Padre Island!!

Nov 29
Today is the day we have been anxiously awaiting! We are moving to the KOA on South Padre Island. The KOA is pricy by our standards so we only booked a couple days there. After the discount it's $60 US per day so in Canuck bucks that's like a paycheck per day lol, well about $80 at least. That's high end for us. Whatever...It's going to be fun and a beautiful place.
We pulled out of Seawind RV around 10:00 and took the nice road back to highway 77 south.

This house is beside the highway, interesting lawn ornaments??

Traffic volume is not bad with the holiday weekend in full swing. There is a constant mist type rain falling; just enough so the road dirt is flying up on everything. Great! The rig will look like trash when we get there. We'll get it washed and all will be good.

Dreary travel day 

That's better.

It cleared up beautifully as we went further south and east towards the Island. The GPS took us on a safe path and pretty soon we could see the Island stretching out in front of us. Awesome!

Christmas decorations and palm trees, nice.

Really? Is this a pelican crossing?

Our first good full view of Padre!

We crossed the big bridge to the Island and after a quick right turn we pulled into KOA Holiday on South Padre. We stopped at the office which is housed in converted tanks. They have small rooms for rent in these converted tanks on the edge of the water. Pretty cool looking really.

Small tanks converted to rooms and the office. Cool!

Of course the girl in the office was super nice and very helpful when I asked about things to see and some food options. She gave me a handful of stuff with discounts and maps with locations etc. The Island has a free bus service that goes up and down the strip of town. Perfect. One of our lunch choices is Padre Island Brewing Company. The sites are, as expected, fairly tight together and the park is quite full. I guess we get to be the entertainment backing into our spot. There are pull throughs available too and the park is big rig friendly. 

Looking from the office towards our site by the building.

Our site is #92, a back in site beside a huge steel building next door. At first I thought that was a bad thing but that big steel building turned out to be a great shade and wind break. Leslie had to teach me the difference between the number 92 and 93 on the posts so that just added to the entertainment value of our show. Only one fella watching and he's right beside my drivers window sitting in a lawn chair with a big smile on his face. I said hi a few times as I passed him trying to reposition. Anyway we got backed in and hooked up to power and water for now.

Not roomy sites but how cool is this?

It's smokin' hot out, 31C/90F and the humidity is around 80% so we set the AC for Margaret and walked out to the bus stop to find a ride to Padre Brewing Company. It took a bit to find a stop and then wait for a bus but it worked and the driver let us off a block away from PBC. 

Yayy I don't have to drive!

They are all mini buses like airport shuttles.

It was a really good spot and not too busy this early in the afternoon but happy hour started at 3 pm! Even better for us.

Great place on the Island.

This was the flight they had on tap today.

Flight goes right to left in the above pic.

We got a flight of beers to start so we could pick the one we liked and then ordered a pint. Leslie is even breaking the keto carb ban for a cold one. It's a celebration for us to get this far south, yeah let's go with that lol. We enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner at the brewery and then started walking on the main street to catch a bus. There are stops with benches but you can just wave and they stop for you. It's a really nice service.  
We let Margaret out for a bit and while we were outside a van pulled up to see if we wanted our rig washed. We worked out a deal to have our trailer washed and deoxidized/waxed for $140 US tomorrow morning. The fellas name is Raul Perez and he showed me he is using McGuires products. Yeah, I know he may not use the good stuff all the time but that's what he is promising. I'll check as he goes to make sure we're getting the right stuff. 
We walked over to the restaurant behind the KOA called Pier 19. They built a restaurant the full length of the pier so it's a long walk to the back.

Adjoining parking lots with the KOA. 

More "happy".

We are in "happy" mode so we're just sitting at the bar and hitting their happy hour too. We enjoyed 2 more drinks each for a total of $18. We had a fun time in there but it got super packed for dinner and we were getting bumped into while sitting there so we bailed out. We watched the pelicans and dolphins catching fish out the window behind the bar while we sat there. Couldn't get a picture though.

Tried to get a pic outside but no dolphins would surface.

It's time to go join Margaret in the rig. No doubt she will be happy to see us. The "happy" time didn't stop when we got back inside. We poured another round and of course this is when my brain thinks "let's do shots"! We have some really good tequila in the cupboard so we indulged a couple times actually lol. Yes we will pay for this tomorrow but for tonight we're having fun.

A fantastic first day on South Padre Island! Cheers.

Pictures get blurry as we go ??

Nov 30 - Oh yeah we had fun last night. We're moving a little slow this morning. Luckily we switched to big glasses of water before we went to bed. Yes, that was Leslie's idea and it was a good one.

Leslie took Margaret for a walking tour of the park while I did some stuff at the rig to get ready for the wash/wax. The site is just narrow enough that we have to pull in the dining room and bedroom slide so the fellas can polish them easier. There is a tree beside the bedroom slide and the foliage is right against it so have to pull that one in. Found out afterwards that a bunch of tiny little ants were all over that tree and they invaded our rig. Found a few in bed and they were all over Margarets food dish. Tropic problems. Raul was working on a rig just down the road from us and he's on Island time so even though he said 10:30 it was closer to noon before he moved to our site. We left before he got there for a driving tour up the Island.

Water tower downtown.

There are many of these around town.

On the west side of town looking out at the water.

We checked out the downtown area and then pointed north and kept going. There is an adventure park at the far end of the Island with zip lines and other stuff that would be fun but we're not feeling very zippy yet lol. The drive itself was great. We checked out a couple different beach stops along the way. Tons of kite boarders on the west side of the island out on the beach. The wind is gusting to 60 km/h or 40 mph today so they are out having a great time. The sand is blowing at an angle across the road in front of us and looks like a winter storm with blowing snow. The farther you get up island the bigger the dunes get on each side of the road.

The sand drifts in and the loader pushes it back.

There is a huge bucket loader parked off to the side that is used to keep the sand pushed back so the road is open. The sand is drifting on the edge just like snow drifts, very cool to see. We parked at one of the roads that goes out on the beach and just walked out for a look. The sand just blasts you as soon as you get out. The wind is way stronger and the waves are pounding on the shore, you couldn't help but go check it out.

Can see the sand blowing past my feet. Margaret is squinting.

The sand to drive on the beach was really deep and loose for probably 30 yards'ish and then got hard packed. My truck might do it in 4 wheel but we're good with just a walk. If you get stuck it's no doubt expensive to get towed out. As we were walking back to the truck there were 4 Jeeps in a row and the leader got stuck leaving the beach. He wasn't in 4 wheel mode and the back tires spun and he sunk to the axles pretty fast. It was deeper for the next in line to get around him but they made it. Would be a fun drive in a Jeep, not as fun in a 8000 lb dually with highway tires.

We ended up just turning around and heading back to town when we got to the adventure park. The sand is everywhere in this wind and it was a little wild walking around in it. Margaret was covered in sand after our walk lol. We looked for a dog friendly patio in town but again the wind was too strong for patios so we just grabbed a Whataburger for lunch. Just what you need after a fun night is a big greasy cheeseburger and fries. No fries and no bun for Leslie but she made it work. It's our third time to Whataburger since we crossed into the US and I'm a fan of their burgers. Really good again today ;)

Raul was busy polishing when we got back to KOA to drop Margaret off. He told me he would need another hour maybe a little more. Haha it's Island time again. He was there for at least two more hours. Leslie and I went back to a beach access just off of downtown and went for a nice walk on the beach in the wind. It's amazing here and not many people out today probably because of the wind. The radio said it's gusting to 50 mph now and it looks like it. The ocean is pounding and the sand is blowing across the beach but only at your feet. We walked a long way just enjoying it all. We're really lucky to be able to live like this and we love it.

Great pic of my truck with palm trees.

Plenty of beach to walk.

Ahhhh!

Ya know it's windy when my hair is blown to one side.

Good day for kite surfers, this guy was really haulin'.

We went back to the rig and it looks so much better than before. Raul and his two helpers are just about done. We put the slides back out and got cleaned up to go out for dinner. I went out and paid Raul plus a tip for a great job. I wouldn't hesitate to call him again while we're in the area.

Got a good shine and my arms don't hurt!

Just south from the KOA and an easy walk away is a place called Sea Ranch Restaurant. We looked at the menu online and it looks amazing. We want a good seafood fix while we're here too. We couldn't get a table by the windows but it's a great view from all the tables out to the ocean. The sun was just setting as we ordered our appetizer and it was a perfect ending to our stay on South Padre. The food at Sea Ranch is incredible and we enjoyed every bite. Perfect! We took our time on the short walk back to the rig. The wind has calmed and it is just beautiful outside. We aren't as "happy" as last night and just relaxed back at the rig for the night drinking lots of water lol.

Easy walk from KOA to Sea Ranch.

Beautiful carvings from mesquite trees by a local artist.

Leslie's keto friendly seafood enchalada, she didn't eat the rice.

Shrimp and tenderloin bites for me. Oh yeah.

Dec 1 - We don't have far to move today so we took our time this morning before packing up to head out. It's less than an hour to Tropic Winds RV in Harlingen so there is zero pressure to hurry. We walked Margaret around the park and had a last look out into the bay. The tide is out so you can see more sand this time but there are still tons of pelicans hanging out. We assume many others have reservations elsewhere because there are lots of empty sites now. Lots of rigs pulled out yesterday and this morning, what a change with all the empty sites now. We pulled out right at 11:00 and headed back across the bridge through Port Isabel and on the highway to Harlingen.

The edge of Port Isabel just off the bridge.

Adventure park with ocean theme for families to visit.

Little fuzzy but San Benito, home of Freddy Fender!

The GPS got us to the gate of Tropic Winds without incident and we pushed the code listed to get let in. A nice lady answered the call and told us to come in and park by the office and someone will meet us there. Within a few minutes we met Terry when he rolled up in his golf cart. He was super nice and welcomed us to the park and right away started telling us about all the amenities and showed us on the map where we will be parked. Super nice guy and a great start to our stay here.

The sign at the entrance.

Checking out where our site is. It's a big place.

We headed to our site and Terry went to grab us an opener for the gate. We got backed into our site and waited for Terry. There are many open sites in the middle of the park and we are in #171 that is a little tight and right on a corner of the road. Our windows will be right against the road and the corner. Not the best site for a rig our size. When Terry got back he instantly noticed that we were a little jammed in and called his wife Carol to see where else we could stay. Awesome service right off the start. I got in the cart with him and we looked at a few other sites. We chose #388 in the middle: a large back in site. We moved over and started our set up after thanking Terry for all his help. Great guy and he has helped us a few more times after that day.

All set up in #388 lots of room.

Lots of open space on either side.

A quick note here about how reading these blogs can help with our own travels. I read about this park in the blog "Our View from Here" by another Albertan traveler, Dave McMeachan.  (link to blog)  Leslie and I did our own research of course but first hand knowledge is a really good thing. We chose this park based on our research and Dave's blog. Thanks Dave. Plus they gave us a great deal as first time visitors to a Trade Winds park. That first time card is saving us a lot of cash.

After we got all set up we hooked up Margaret and went for a nice walk around the park to check out all the amenities. It's a very nice place with lots of grass and very clean. The buildings are very well maintained and the pickleball courts look like they are next to new. They have a nice pool and hot tub area as well as shuffleboard and a games room with pool tables and other games. No pics today but we'll do a walk and show you all the stuff real soon. 

We are happy to be staying put for a little while to catch our breath and do some maintenance on the trailer. We have been going pretty hard since we found out we could rent the house with all the moving and hauling the trailer back and forth to B'ville and Wabuman. It seemed like right after all that we hit the road and have been moving lots for a couple months now. Don't get me wrong, we're not complaining, but we're ready for a little break from traveling and just enjoy south Texas. I might not even drive anywhere for a couple days lol.

We'll post this and then take you for a look at the park in the next blog. We will be doing some boring everyday stuff in the next little while so hopefully we can keep it interesting. It's hot and sunny down here and we're having a great time in Texas. Ya'll come back now, ya hear lol !

Cheers everybody.