Heading North

Having made it as far south as you can go in Texas, we're finally heading north. We left the McAllen area and headed up to Corpus Christi. Unfortunately the weather in CC was pretty gray while we were there, but we didn't let it stop us from doing so site-seeing around the area. We ventured out onto Padre Island to the National Seashore and were so surprised that you can drive on the beach there. The paved road only goes about 5 miles into the national park and then you can drive another 65 miles on the sand (we only went down a couple of miles). You can also dry camp right on beach. This is the longest undeveloped stretch of barrier island in the world.

They're also doing a lot of work there to save the Kemp's ridley turtle. The seashore is the most important nesting beach in the U.S. for the Kemp's ridley, the most endangered sea turtle in the world.


After driving to the northernmost part of the island, we took the free ferry at Port Aransas back to the mainland side.

The highlight of our trip to Corpus Christi was getting together with 4 of the women from my Thailand trip last fall. Fran and her husband graciously organized a dinner for us and we had a wonderful time reliving our trip.

Les was not too pleased that we ran into a rainstorm between Corpus and San Antonio. Yuk! When the trucks pass you they throw all kinds of road grime up. What a mess it made of both vehicles and all the bikes.

After leaving CC, we spent a day in San Antonio. We had been there before, on our 2002 trip, but it was fun to go back and walk along the riverwalk.

We had lunch at Rita's and this was my view. Les likes to try and capture me in 'candid' moments. Usually, he just gets me with food in my mouth!

The story of the Alamo is still pretty moving, and a great part of Texas history.

Tonight we're in Kerrville ~ the Hill Country ~ outside of Austin. We're anxiously waiting for Les's sister Deborah and hubby, Jeff, to arrive tomorrow morning. We're looking forward to spending some time with them and doing so touring around the area.