Sun., Dec. 29th, 2019 – Wed., Jan. 1, 2020
Before arriving in Galveston, we spent three nights in Kinder, Louisiana at Coushatta Casino Red Shoes RV Resort. We had an easy drive to Kinder, which is in the middle of nowhere. Once off I-10, we saw flat straight roads and crops growing in the fields and not much else. Picturesque in its own way and quite different from our New England landscape. We checked in at the campground and then pulled into our site. The sewer hook-up was further towards the front of the site. I said “should we pull up more? Do we have a long enough sewer hose to run this length?” Oh yes, no problem Gary says. We unhitch. I’m organizing the inside. He pops his head in about 15 minutes later and says “We have to re-hitch and move. Part of the sewer hose has a pinhole in it.” sigh. Since there’s already some stuff in the sewer hose (use your imagination), he has to leave the sewer hooked up so we can work through the bad section. He wants me to get in the truck and slowly move up the RV while he watches that the sewer hose doesn’t become disconnected. This has disaster… and redneck… written all over it. I get in the truck and watch his hand signals. An ant can walk faster than I’m driving. Please God don’t let the sewer hose come off. The guy parked next to us comes out to see what we’re doing. He wisely stayed away. We manage to successfully move up, Gary is able to work thru the bad section of the sewer hose, and we are back in business. Thank you, God. I thank God regularly.
That was the extent of the excitement for this three night stay. I was able to get caught up on laundry, emailing, some blogging and phone calls. Gary was able to play a little blackjack… unsuccessfully, so he quit early. We walked around the campground, made some RV travel plans, talked about the highlights of last year and generally had a quiet 3-day stay and New Year’s Eve.
Wednesday, New Year’s Day, we were headed 225 miles to Galveston. We hit the road and traveled over very bumpy roads through Louisiana and entering TX where a sign greets us “El Paso: 875 miles.” Wow. In New England we can travel through 5 states in less mileage than that. We also came across a sign that says the speed limit is 75 mph. I beg to differ. If they want us to drive 75 mph, then they better fix their bumpy roads. We had “fun” navigating around Houston. Luckily we were on an outer loop. I can’t get use to the highway flyovers where several different overpasses are converging and you’re waaaaay up high. I keep my eyes on the road in front. If I look to the side, my belly does flip flops.
We arrive at Stella Mare RV Resort in Galveston. Our home for the next three months! We’re met at the entrance by a worker bee who leads us to our back-in site against a pond and helps us back-in, which is very helpful since the sites are tight, and you’re dealing with a 90 degree turn to get into the site. This guy wants us to go forward into a pull thru site and then back into our site. Great idea except the pull thru site is at an angle to our site. But, he’s the expert. Gary manages to do it well with direction from the worker bee. Nice that I got to sit in the truck this time and not direct! Andy (my brother) & Linda (sis-in-law) are camped next to us for the month. They just arrived a few minutes before us so they are in the process of setting up. How fun that we can spend this month together. A&L began full time RVing about 8 months ago. Too funny that we all opted for this lifestyle!
The rest of the day was getting set up, visiting with A&L and dinner at our place that night.
Thurs., Jan 2nd – Sun., Jan 5th, 2020
The campground is quite full. Half of the folks have a TX license plate and the other half are from all over.
These first several days we did some reading on what there is to do and see around here… which is quite a bit! Galveston is an island that’s 27 miles long and 3 miles wide at it’s widest point. Located about an hour southeast of Houston on the gulf coast, it’s quite historic with a charming downtown and is a popular cruise port.
On Saturday, Gary and I did a walk on the beach across from the campground. Unfortunately, the beach is across a 4-lane road so you can’t very well walk across. You have to drive and then go down one of the many beach access roads around here and park directly on the beach. You can also drive on the sand on the beach but that concept is a little too foreign to these northerners. We parked on the beach and walked. We went quite a little ways but then a rogue wave came up rather high, and we thought we’d better walk back and check on the truck. Don’t want our pretty truck floating away with the tide! All was well.
Linda & I (and occasionally the guys) have started walking the campground early-ish in the morning for exercise. Early is a relative term. We also don’t do it every morning… we’re not exactly what’s called consistent. 🙂
We’ve been enjoying happy hour most evenings (whether permitting), sometimes with neighbors joining us. Liz and Cary are parked next to us and are delightful. She’s Canadian and a retired nurse who practiced in Trinidad for 25 years. Each has been married 3x but they were childhood sweethearts who re-connected later in life. We’ve all spent several very enjoyable Happy Hours hearing about some of their stories. Liz is a great story teller! They’re here through February so more chances to hear good stories.
A&L and Gary & I typically have dinner together with shared cooking duties. It’s worked out quite nicely and is a lot of fun. We watched the Patriots lose the playoff game (sigh). And we enjoyed watching the Golden Globes where Linda & I could goggle over the gowns (what were they thinking!).
On Sunday we all visited The Strand in historic downtown and admired the architecture, walked in and out of some of the shops, and enjoyed lunch al fresco where we had margaritas and $3 tacos.
Mon., Jan. 6th – Sun., Jan. 12th, 2020
Monday afternoon the four of us headed to Carey & Denis’s house, family friend’s who live further out on Galveston Island. They have a charming beach house on the canal. Carey’s brothers and my brothers were childhood friends, and as adults, Linda and Carey have become friends. Our two family’s go way back. Carey has a memory of me offering to share my doll with her and her sister. I was probably 3 years old. Too funny. We had a fabulous visit with Carey and Denis! The weather was picture perfect! They took us out on their boat to show us their “neighborhood.” We even saw a flock of white pelicans in the water. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capture a good picture of them with my little iPhone. Too far away. Afterwards we sat out on their deck and enjoyed Happy Hour and their great view. Carey made a delicious dinner and we sat around chatting and laughing for hours. A very fun time!
Tuesday I headed back over and walked with Carey on her beach. A short walk from their house takes them directly to the beach. We walked for several miles and saw hardly a soul.
That night we had another Happy Hour with the neighbors and dinner at A&L’s.
Wednesday A&L golfed and Gary and I headed to Galveston Island State Park. The beach side is closed for at least a year as they refurbish it, but we were able to explore the bay side which has some great hiking trails. It would also be a decent place to ride our bikes. We walked a few of the trails and headed up to a few of the lookout points. We did bring our binoculars and even saw a few Roseate Spoonbills. That was a first. They are a gorgeous pink bird! A delightful afternoon spent at the State Park. We look forward to more visits. Dinner for the 4 of us that night was at our place… pasta and leftover meatballs from Mom’s 100th birthday celebration that we had in the freezer.
Thursday the four of us had lunch at The Spot, a burger place across from the beach that had been recommended to Linda by a friend. Huge burgers where you could add all your fixings yourself. Then we drove to the end of the island and took the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula and Crystal Beach. The ferry holds quite a few cars and trucks and 15 minutes later you’re on the other side. It was quiet over there! Not much going on. There was a nondescript lighthouse immediately after you got off the ferry. I’m spoiled by our New England lighthouses, although I guess the rusted iron lighthouse could be called pretty by some. There were some gated communities with lovely homes. This is the off season so many appeared to be empty. All the homes are on stilts because of the close proximity to the gulf. We were able to drive down to one of the beaches. In one direction there was an older motor home parked about 5 feet from the water’s edge with a skull and crossbones flag out the window. In the other direction there were two tents set up on the beach. Not sure if that was a permanent residence. I suggested taking a walk down the beach, the others quickly vetoed that idea. Perhaps they’re smarter than I am.
Nearby we did see an interesting community where RV’s were parked on cement pads under elaborate deck-like structures that gave the RV shade and yet afforded great views of the gulf if sitting on the deck above. This set-up would allow the owner to simply drive away in the event of a hurricane and hopefully have his “home” to come back to with no damage.
We came, we saw, we left the Bolivar Peninsula and Crystal Beach! Not sure we’ll bother going back over again!
After that we headed back to the ferry for the return voyage. We did see several dolphin on the trip back. Also lots of birds were trailing along with the ferry… helped by the fact that there was a mother and daughter feeding them off the back. I got out of the truck to take pictures until I got wigged out by all the birds… too much like an Alfred Hitchcock film.
Friday night we attended a Wine Share here at the campground. A chance for campers to get together and visit with one another. It was held in the campground’s activities room. Fun to meet people from different parts of the country who are here for a variety of reasons… mostly to escape the cold winters back north or visit family in the area. The only downside was the noise level in the room was deafening.
The rest of the week was a combination of grocery shopping, laundry, paying bills, washing and waxing the truck, emailing, blogging, and a few phone calls.
Family arrives on Monday!
