Day 12: Mustang Island State Park, TX: I’m not complaining, but
The wind picked up last night as we were approaching sleepy time. This caused a fair amount of van movement. Noticeable, tolerable. But sadly, the wind was at the front end of a cold front.
Slept in, perhaps rocked like a baby all night. Have I ever mentioned that sometimes being in the van feels like being in a boat? Perhaps because of the motion, perhaps because we are never perfectly level. Hint, every campground lies about perfectly level spots. But if I happen to get up in the night for whatever reason, just like on the boat it is one hand for the boat (van) to stabilize and secure.
Morning walk was fine. I did some loops of the beach access roads and parking lots. I did not want to venture too far onto the beach as the sand here is very fine. I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, all of the other campers outside were layered up. It was about 16 C outside. At home, shorts are required above -2 C on my morning walk.
Given it was supposed to rain a bit we decided we would go into Port Aranas. We went to the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. It happens to be right next to the sewage treatment plant and the landfill transfer station. But there are birds and boardwalks and we saw a gator. A big gator!
As we exited the campground (AKA parking lot), we dropped off the garbage. Aim not so good. I tried to knock it into the bin, but failed. This picture was taken six hours later.
There were plenty of different birds at the bird center / sewage treatment plant. Some people have skills that allow them to identify all of the birds. I do not have those skills.
It rained a fair amount while we were at the bird center. We waited it out in the van. We departed and headed for a souvenir shop where we got nothing. Back to the campground. We set up our chairs, did some campsite research and reserving, reading and other stuff. Then we decided we must layer up. Between the wind and the 16 C temperatures it was a bit chilly. No, I’m not complaining.
Dinner was a homemade (vanmade) curry with some naan we had. Of course Mrs Milddogs did the cooking.
Post dinner Amy refused to go for a walk so we left her defending the van. Or napping. I forgot to set up the van camera so we will never know what she did. The van is climate controlled and I have temperature alarms set up that get pushed to my phone. And it was cold out with no direct sun. So Amy was fine. Beach was empty. We did not find any treasures unless plastic is a treasure. Apparently metal detectors are forbidden here so detectorists not welcome!
Tomorrow we head to Laredo, TX for a significant change of scenery. I may wish I knew some Spanish. We are hoping to score some fine take out food.
Oh, the dude next door told us to get our BBQ in Lockhart, TX, not in Austin. Apparently it is the Texas BBQ state capital. Good news! We pass right through there on our way to Austin next week. Mmm, BBQ.
We have pretty much booked where we are staying until we depart Texas on the way home. No more research required, except for cool things like where the good foods are.
Back to regular programming.
