Day 17: Goose Island State Park, Lamar, TX: It’s like going home

That there Lake Corpus Christi is a nice park. We had some fine sleep and a healthy amount of deferred awakening. Time to get on with the day. I suited up and headed out on the trails. They have a decent amount of trails and I walked most of them. It was cold at 8C so I wore my shorts, T-shirt and a light fleece jacket. Some wildlife was spotted. A deer and a little lizard. At the CCC pavilion I came across the campground tour du jour “Birds with Bonnie”. Perhaps due to the cold temperatures only 2 people showed up. At least neither was on the phone. One of the participants commented on how lightly dressed I was given the cold temperatures so I ran around and scared all of the birds away. I didn’t. Speaking of birds, Mrs Milddogs saw a bunch of Caracara birds on the way from Laredo to Lake Corpus Christi yesterday.

Upon arriving back at the van I encountered a persistent female cardinal (can only have those in nature, not the Catholic Church) that had a thing for the van side mirror. Mrs Milddogs had already snapped a picture as our little cardinal had been there for some time.

Post standard breakfast we plotted a course for our next stop, Goose Island State Park. It’s like deja vu all over again. We noticed that in a nearby town there was a BBQ joint. So even though we would be there a bit early for lunch, we decided we would stop along the way and get some takeout.

Before departing, I took the big risk and used the mesquite tree sewage hose to dump our tanks. Sadly, no entertainment value here. All went according to plan and we remain 100% not shit-faced. I “cleaned” the hose and put it back in its nest.

We stopped at Smolik’s Smokehouse in Mathis, TX to get our takeout and some for our friends that just happened to be at Goose Island. It was a tough choice between BBQ and the universal truth of Sonic Drive In. Hard to beat chilli-cheese tater tots. Maybe more Sonic later??

On the drive we saw a pair of pronghorns and then a pair of deer just outside of Rockport, TX. Last year we really wanted to see some pronghorns but failed. This year we did. Must be global warming. We arrived at the park 45 minutes early for checkin. Since it was 9C and rainy, they didn’t seem to mind us arriving early. We pulled up to our site and discovered that our friends were in the site next door and they had done this.

We huddled together and ate our brisket and sides followed by some birthday cake. Food was pretty good. BBQ sauce not so much. A bit sweet for our tastes.

We happened to notice another “PleasureWay” van down the way. Mr “Ourviewfromtheroad” was convinced it had Texas plates. So I layered up and went and had a look. Hmmm, PleasureWay with Ontario plates, purchased at the same dealer where we and the OVFTRs got theirs. That must be our cottage neighbour’s son. So, we ping cottage neighbour and sure enough, it’s his son. So Mrs Milddogs and I went down (she knocked on the door cause I was a chicken) and we said hi. It’s not really that small a world but having 3 of us coincidentally being at the same park nominally 3000 km form home on the same day is interesting. What are the chances? Clearly 100%.

We had a nice dinner of leftover surprise and then gathered in the OVFTR’s van and played some cards and ate some cakettes they had obtained. Was nice to spend some time together, even if cramped in a van with high winds and cold temperatures taunting you from outside. I lost at cards.

Tomorrow the OVFTRs depart for Austin and we move sites here for one more day. Hopefully see some dolphins tomorrow!

That oughta do!