us on our way out of the campgrounds....... now all safely on my
computer and ready to be looked at close up. That Emu really has a
haughty look about it - an "I dare you to come closer" look! I kept
both me and my camera a safe distance away. The peacocks did not like
Allie at all and fled to the rooftop of a shed and into the trees.
They look like a turkey - a big blue turkey and did not spread their
feathers for me either. I looked and looked for a lost feather, but
nothing - I bet they are all picked up before they even hit the ground!
And so we tootled on to the beach at Padre Island. This is a National
Seashore and protected area and not even the cell phones had signal
there - its beautifully quiet and peaceful. Frank suggested that I
text the kids and I did manage to get and sent a few before it totally
locked up. But, by lunchtime we were walking down that beach.......
miles and miles of beach. It was glorious. The sun shone and lit up
the water, the birdlets skittered across the sand with legs that
seemed to whirr in a blur as they poked their beaks into the sand for
whatever it is they eat. A good many let us get fairly close, but for
the most part Sophie did a really good job of keeping the coast clear
for us - literally! She chased those birds and chased them full
tilt through the water, not caring that her lead is only 6 foot long!
Eventually she got the picture and would stop short of the limit and
bark at the birds who by now had also got the picture and landed just
out of reach of her - I swear they were laughing at her. After a
while we took the lead off Allie, let her go free, added this to
Sophies lead and gave her and us more space.... The birds took only
one close call to get the new picture!
We found a crab, a live one, and after looking at it from a few
different angles, Allie became a full blooded Rottweiler! She told
that crab its history and its future and refused to let it head back
into the water - she yipped and nipped and grabbed it and flung it
onto the dry sand........ quite a show she put up. It was funny and
she walked with a little high step after we finally dragged her away
from a very tired, but unhurt crab who gratefully and carefully edged
its way back into the waves.
There were a good many bluebottles otherwise known as man-o-war's,
strewn along the beach, They really are lovely and when the sun
catches them and lights them up, its like discovering another treasure
along the way. The waterline was littered with tiny, beautiful,
multi-colored shells and pieces of seeweed and some bigger shells that
were just too brittle to carry all the way home, but that shone
multicolors at us as the sun caught them. The ocean slapped itself on
the shoreline with perfectly white waves, literally working itself
into a lather.. Bubbles blew across the hard sand, also catching the
sunlight and giving us hundreds of tiny little multicolored lights in
each cluster.
Much higher on the beach was the good stuff - the floats, the rope,
many coconuts, huge long pieces of bamboo that I even carried for a
while before thinking "why?" and laying it down again. Frank strung
the floats we found all together and dragged them behind him as he
scoured the dunes for more treasures. He did find a stove, but it had
definitely seen better days. Much of the debris behind the dunes were
from the recent hurricanes and the smaller stuff from the oil rigs we
could see just offshore. We found a good many hard hats - one even
had the name Moxy on it..
After a few hours of walking, we needed to get the doglets back home.
In our haste to get on the beach again, we had forgotten to bring any
water and they were panting pretty hard - Allie even conned us into
carrying her for a way! So we headed back to the rv which was
beautifully cool with all its windows open and a lovely breeze
flitting through. Doglets collapsed, Frank cooked lunch and off we
went again - this time on the bicycles. The wind had picked up and it
became a job to ride the beach so we headed back to relax instead. I
had the camera with me and got a good many lovely photos of the birds
around here. The pelicans would glide silently above us in a loooong
straight line, sometimes veering in a bit closer to check us out and
other times moving away. It was kind of eery to see their shadows
first, sliding along the dunes as they headed north. There were many,
many such north-bound lines of birds.
Frank picked up quite a sunburn on his back and we decided to head out
from there early this morning...... After watching yet another
beautiful sunrise, this time from the comfort of the bed, I plotted a
route northwards, as much of it along the coast as possible. This
road took us on a very short ferry ride before leading us onto
Galveston island. I love going on the ferries but this time it was
weird. We were right in front and looking out of the windscreen, we
could only see water - and then Frank turned around for something! My
instinct was to grab the steering wheel - it was really weird and way
too short. But - I knew there was a ferry at the end of Galveston
Island, so on we went. And then we saw a sign that said that the road
was damaged, drive at your own risk. After looking at the vehicles
coming out of there, we decided that it would be totally ok. And it
was. Until we got to the part where they detoured us off the road -
and on to the beach!!
We danced in that sand - in the motor home! I swear that the rear
end of the rv came around and kissed the front lights. We sashayed
along what was nothing but thick, soft sand with a distant point of
exit back onto the road. The bikes fell over and Franks jacket joined
the treasures of the beach and we were literally swinging around like
on a racetrack as my potential call to the wrecker service played
through my head. At one point there were four of us in different
vehicles all doing this insane dance, eyeing each other and wondering
whether insurance would actually pay for the repairs at all! Out of
the corner of my eye I saw a spot that looked like solid ground and
Frank wrestled the rv, revving dramatically onto it where we got
turned around. After not enough time to think much and with many more
graceful swishes, swings, flying sand and revving motor, me with my
white knuckled hands clutched the seat and camera, sweat pouring out
of my toes and Frank muttering to himself, we got back onto the road
we had so trustingly left just a few minutes before. And decided to
brave going through Houston after all. SIGH.
It was a retracing of about 40 miles but we really did not mind too
much. After tootling along on smaller roads and through small towns
for most of the day, it was not too bad to be on 'grown up' roads for
a while again. There are still a good many houses standing with severe
hurricane damage. Most of them look as if they have just got tired
and started leaning - so sad to see such big and otherwise healthy
looking houses so totally un-liveable. We took the toll road
bypassing the worst of Houston, found ourselves in a solid traffic jam
due to roadworks but got through there with relative ease. Thats
another nice thing about this rv - when we get into a traffic jam, I
get something to drink and some snacks and it makes it so much easier
than just sitting there....
At many places along the way today, we passed by different sorts of
bodies of water, sometimes a bay and sometimes we drove right
alongside the ocean with its never ending pounding waves, dunes and
white sand..... and each time the water came into sight, I caught
myself humming. It's difficult not to be entranced by the sunlight
glistening on the water, showing off the fishing and crab boats in
silhouette, gently bobbing away. The one time I did not hum at the
water was when we went over this insanely high bridge on the toll
road... I have never been higher than that apart from in an
airplane! Well, almost... It was rediculous - there was no side of
the road at all and the barrier was a really stupid little wall thingy
that would just help flip you over the edge if you hit it.... and only
an inch or three from our front wheel. I was really glad that the
traffic jam started after that bridge.
Today's ride was really full of different things - long horn cattle,
pink octopus on a roof, cactus growing out of other roofs, beautiful,
incredible trees that looked dead and skeletal but were just waiting
for warmer weather till they showed their colors again, huge ancient
oak trees and interesting little buildings, just to mention a few
things. The roads were lined with delicate pink poppies and some
other crisp little orange flowers, we drove through incredibly gentle
places and then past what looked like a mess of a refinery until we
found our way to Beaumont, Texas where a nice looking rv park
presented itself to us...... along with a stunning colored sunset.
Even the doglets are tired today - it was a good day all in all - even
dancing in the sand.
love and light
Annie
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