February
Our neighbor at the KOA just happened to be a retired Orange County CA firefighter. We hit it off like we were old friends as firefighters do. Firefighters enjoy a close brotherhood and it doesn’t matter where one served. He said that he and his better half moved from SoCal to Bella Vista, Arkansas a few years ago and don’t miss the rat race at all.
We like to switch up our routes when possible but that is not to be. The best route to Aransas Pass is the one in which we came. It really didn’t matter as the fog was hanging pretty low and got progressively worse. By the time we left the causeway and bridge had disappeared and so had the mainland. I don’t think there are any interesting
landmarks that the fog would hide anyway.
I think we broke a record. As we get older we like to stop more frequently than when in our youth. Normally we’d stop at least twice on a trip this long. The lack of places to pull off of the road dictated one stop at the most tight rest area we’ve encountered.
A twelve foot travel lane split parallel car parking on it’s left while trucks parked parallel to the travel lane on the right. Trees over hang the trucking lane so we had to watch out that we didn’t smack one of them. The place was full of vehicles making maneuvering a little tedious.
Oh, I lied. We did stop one other time- for the Customs and Border Patrol inspection station.
Darned near ran over a K9 or so it seemed. The dog’s handler was distracted just as we came up the their location and the dog walked out into the traffic lane. It disappeared from sight so I stopped. The handler realized that the dog was not in a good place and retrieved it. Jil and I thought out loud that that’s all we would need is to run over that dog and have some ‘splain’in to do to some pissed off customs agents.
The fog lifted and wind was light so we had clear sailing until we got into the outskirts of Corpus Christi. The highway interchanges became very confusing. At one point Jil’s “smarty pants” phone told us to take the I-37 ramp north. But I want to go south! I was not positive that the phone was wrong this time and grudgingly followed directions. And “little miss smarty pants” turned out to be right- this time! As it turns out I confused myself into thinking we had already reached I-37 but still had a couple of miles to go. Hat’s off to “miss smarty pants” this time.
I-37 is pretty torn up in Corpus Christi. Lots of roadwork, lane shifts, big barriers that appear to be in the path of travel just add more confusion to this driver. At the last second “miss smarty pants” tells us to take the next off ramp towards Portland- Texas- no, not Oregon nor Maine. Ok I can relax now.
I know I can’t get lost on the Nueces Bay Causeway. Looking down one sees the WWII vintage aircraft carrier USS Lexington as well as some hotels and “fun and sun” establishments.
On the other side of Nueces Bay we travel a few miles on Highway 35 then exit towards Ingleside and our destination, Aransas Oaks RV Resort. The park is pretty new. All interior roads and site pads are concrete, and grass grow between them. Oak trees compliment the ponds. Nice eye candy!
OK, I know you’ve been waiting for this. What is the difference between Port Aransas and Aransas Pass. So look it up lazy bones! Just kidding. More on Port Aransas and Aransas Pass in the next episode……..
Travel With Jil and Mike 