Back to Coastal Texas

Nanc rolling in the dough.

This is a great birding area.

A foggy beach walk and ferry ride.

Norah & Howie, Bob & Molly

Mark & Renita

Lunch with 07 mates at Moondogs overlooking Fulton harbor.

When we left the Rockport area on January 25, 09 it took 82 days with 12 stops and 2074 miles to get to Apache Junction while our return trip was only 1179 miles with five stops in five days. There are really not a lot of places in West Texas that require a return visit, so the sprint was the way to go. It was great seeing the land turn green as we left the arid desert and drove into Eastern Texas. The humidity went up but we love being where there are trees. We stayed at the Southern Oaks "Luxury" RV Park in Aransas Pass, a new park that is very nice but at this point none of the luxury amenities (golf course, pool, laundry) are in place. That does not matter to us since we usually don't use these things anyway and the Passport America rate was very good. Nanc took advantage of a laid back week to bake bread and used some of the sour dough for a great pizza. Who said retirees can't be rolling in the dough:)

The weather was much better than when we were last here, but there was still that darn wind and the humid morning fog several days did not burn off until late in the afternoon. That said, we had a grand time visiting friends and some of our favorites places in the area. The day we arrived we drove to Lamar to see the whooping cranes that have moved off the islands to the mainland this year in search of food. Last year we needed to take a boat tour to see these magnificent rare creatures. We could see them in the fields but could not get close enough for a good picture. On our last day we found a huge heron rookery right in the middle of town in Rockport. These are Nanc's favorites so we spent some time watching as they gathered sticks for their nests. Their mating plumage was beautiful.

Another day we took the ferry to Port Aransas to walk on the beach and enjoy the sights of the wildlife including a few early spring breakers. It was a little foggy that day also but it was wonderful to stroll along the water listening to the waves and smelling the salt air. We did love our winter in the desert but we have always loved being near the water.

Of course, the main reason we came back to this area was to see friends. One afternoon we went to happy hour at Watersedge and got to see many of the people who were there on our last visit. We have kept in touch with Mark and Renita Brackin, 07 mates that we met there, and had them over for dinner so we could catchup on our travels. We stopped at Rustic Cove RV Park to see 07 mates Howie and Norah Glover who are in a new to them rig. At Last Resort we stopped to visit Bob and Molly Pinner who are also in a new rig after selling theirs to the Glovers. On Friday we all got together for lunch and an afternoon of swapping travel tales. Since the beginning of our third year on the road in July of 2009 we have met friends and family in 14 of the 26 places we have stayed. These visits continue to be one of the great highlight of this lifestyle.