Magnolia Beach, TX

We head out of Padre Island National Park and head to Magnolia beach, only about 175 miles.  We pass the Lexington.

 As we travel along the gulf coast we pass piles and piles of garbage.  So sad to see peoples lives piled along the road.

 Alas, we arrive at Magnolia Beach and my concerns about finding a site are for naught.  We get the last site with a pavilion.  There is room for a hundred RV's here.  15 have pavilions but there is room for 30 along this stretch and then there are stretches of beach where people can back up to the beach as well.

 It is windy here as well, but much more tolerable than Padre Island and more interesting.

We enjoy Sunsets

Sunrises

 and Bird Watch

Watch the ships coming and going to nearby Port Lavaca

Of course there are treasures to be found

 Watch the fishermen

 This guy is happy to have caught a 46" Red Fish - though he had to throw it back because he caught his limit.

 We drove into Port Lavaca for gas and supplies and to check it out

Not much traffic on the road.

A civil war memorial by the beach

 The 1865 Half Moon Reef Lighthouse was disabled by the Confederates during the Civil War.  It was reinstated in 1868 until 1943 when it was moved to Point Comfort.  It was relocated here in 1979.

We decide to get the bikes out and take a ride to Indiola a few miles down the road

 History of Indiola

 and a nice boardwalk to an observation deck

 The Army used camels here.  It seemed to have worked better here than it did in Quartzsite, AZ

Rene Robert Cavalier, a French Explorer,  explored the Great Lakes egion of the the Missiissippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. He claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France.

The smoke is from controlled brush burns which to us seems risky in the windy conditions, but I think they don't have much choice.  We have gone about 3.5 miles in a headwind and are ready to turn around.

 Tucson finds friends to play with

 We watch a kayaker way out by the shipping lane.  He has been out for a few hours and doesn't seem to be making much headway

 Someone called a rescue group to check up on him

 A Jet Ski has gone out to check on him but it looks like he is fine

Getting back one night from dinner in town, we catch this Red Moon rising

4 days here and we are out of water so it is time to move on towards Beaumont, TX to look into volunteering.  We have been unable to find anything on-line so it is time to try in-person.

Padre Island National Seashore, TX

Heading towards Padre Island National Seashore

 Quite the impressive gift shop

 We're on the map

 That's one long bridge

 We make it

They are putting in a new check in station

The self check-in system.  If the slot is blank or a ticket has that days departure and no one is there - the space is open game.  We are lucky there are 5 spots open

 Not a bad view out the back window

 Tucson says Oh Boy!  I smell beach!

 I have taught the boys well.  When walking a beach, always carry a garbage bag.  We filled 5 bags of garbage in the 4 days we were here.

 Tucson says beach sand beats desert sand!

We walk up to the visitor's center via the road

 and head back via the beach

 Flocks of Pelicans fly overhead occasionally

 a Great Blue Heron

Besides all the litter that washes up on the beach, a bunch of Portuguese Man of War have washed up

and a blowfish

 

We spent 4 nights here but the foggy mornings and constant wind are growing old, so we decide to head to Magnolia Beach, TX where several people here have recommended.  Good news is that the Generator is fixed so we can continue to boon-dock.