February 4, 2005

February 4, 2005

Padre Island National Seashore to Harlingen, Texas

DAY 231

 

HA HA HA HA HA ! Bo is afraid of the dark. When I walked him late last night, he refused to go any further than about 50 feet from the trailer, and then, only on the side of the trailer with a light over the door. It's completely dark on the beach, with no lights of any kind anywhere.

HA HA HA HA HA ! Bo can't pee on the beach. Last night, and again this morning, Bo refuses to urinate. There's nothing to lift his leg against. The last time he urinated was yesterday afternoon. We walked about a half mile down the beach, and he lifted his leg on the remnants of a sand castle. Since then, he's decided to hold it indefinitely, until we're somewhere where he can lift his leg. Stupid dog !

Today was warmer, with a thin cloud cover. The sun tried to peek out, but was mostly unsuccessful.

You know ... sometimes you've just got to take the risk. Call it succumbing to temptation. Call it opening the door when opportunity knocks. I thought ... if Dee-Dee and Harvey could make it all the way from Ottawa and Winnipeg to the beach on the Gulf Of Mexico, in Southern Texas, almost at the Mexican border ... they deserved to dip their toes in the water, so to speak. As we drove back along the beach to leave this morning, I veered off the beach and into the surf for a couple of seconds. WOO-HOO ! ! ! Just like a "LIKE A ROCK" truck TV commercial ! Same as when accelerating an 18,000 pound rig downhill to 140 km./hr., one has to do these sorts of things quickly before the "navigator" can holler and put a stop to it.

We drove back north along Park Road P22 until it crossed the Intracoastal, and became Hwy.358 entering Corpus Christi. Through Corpus Christi, west on Hwy. 44, then south on Hwy. 77 to Kingsville. Joanne wanted to take a tour of King Ranch, near Kingsville. King Ranch is the largest ranch in Texas. 825,000 acres ! ! ! Their headquarters is a small village. They employ 470 people, many of whom are "Kingeños", or descendants of the 120 Mexicans recruited to work the ranch when it began operations around 1853. They are housed, and schooled, on the ranch. As we drove around the ranch grounds in a small tour bus, we realized we had just made the transition from prairie to desert. Scrubby grass lands with Mesquite trees and Prickly Pear Cacti. While looking at a bird poster in the King Ranch Visitor's Centre, Joanne realized that those funny looking birds that we saw at Bird Island Basin on Laguna Madre on the Intracoastal side of Padre Island yesterday, that looked like ostriches, were road runners. BEEP BEEP !

After the ranch tour, we continued south on Hwy. 77, all the way to Harlingen. Harlingen is kind of the northern edge of "The Valley", as the RV'ers call the "Winter Texan" area along the Rio Grande River, which is the border between Texas and Mexico. We are "boondocked" tonight in the parking lot of the Texas Travel Information Centre in Harlingen.

Shortly after arriving here this evening, our toilet broke. There are two foot levers on the toilet. One flushes and rinses, the other refills the bowl. The refill lever broke. I'll take a look at it tomorrow morning, and decide whether to stay here in the parking lot of the Travel Information Centre, and fix it, or head out to South Padre Island. I'll probably need some parts, so it might make sense to stay here and get it fixed while I'm in a city.

DSK