Very Nice and Very Odd Water Creatures

I'm still sharing pictures from Padre Island National Seashore.  We saw these wonderful Red-headed Ducks.  They are the first ones I've ever seen.  There was a whole pond full of them.  Its amazing how many birds come to the southeast coast of Texas for the winter.   Walking the beach was a challenge with all the jellyfish that washed up on shore.  The high tides must strand them on the beach and they were all over the beach.  I found out this pretty blue one that was still moving even on the sand is called a Portuguese Man O War.  Yes, their sting is poisonous but I don't think its deadly at least not the small ones.   They aren't really a true jellyfish.  They are some kind of polyp with many polyps forming one organism. 

There were other plate sized jellyfish with pink tentacles all over the beach as well but I couldn't figure out what they were called.  From what I read they can still sting even after they are "dead".   We accidentally stepped on a few while walking (we had shoes on) and they are very slippery -- its like stepping on ice.   People were fishing in the surf  and others were enjoying the water.  I couldn't believe none of them got stung.   Although people must get stung because there were notices at the visitor center on how to treat the stings (use vinegar).

Padre Island National Seashore

We spent two weeks in Corpus Christi, TX.  We stayed at a very nice campground and it ended up being fairly close to the Padre Island National Seashore.  This is a national park that covers over three fourths of Padre Island.  It is a sanctuary for the Kemps Sea Turtle.  The sea turtles come here every summer to lay their eggs in the sand along the shore.  The park service actually takes the eggs and incubates them in a safe place.  When the turtles hatch they make a big production of releasing them on the beach so they can make their run back to the ocean.  Everyone in the area is asked to help keep the gulls, etc. from trying to eat the turtles before they get to the water.   There are big fines posted for poaching turtle eggs or turtles.  

There are a couple of campgrounds along the shore in the park-- no electricity but there is a water faucet to put water in your tank and a dump station for your sewer.  We don't like this kind of camping because we don't have a generator so don't have anyway to live  "off of the grid".  There are picnic tables with shade covers for day use.  We saw all kinds of interesting shore birds.  Here is a picture of Ruddy Turnstones. 

U.S.S. Lexington

We followed US 77 highway south from LaGrange and when we got to the small town of Schulenburg we had to take the truck detour around to avoid the low underpass.  Well the truck detour was very tight so Jim was not happy trying to drive our train through it.  We got to Corpus Christi and decided we would park for two weeks.  Its beautiful here and the weather has been excellent. 

The first touristy thing we did was take a tour of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lexington.  This is the famous aircraft carrier from WWII.  It was in all of the famous battles in the Pacific and survived even after being very badly damaged.   Jim got pictures of the aircraft that are on display on the flat top of the carrier where they would normally take off.  The carrier is in the harbor by downtown Corpus Christi and is so huge you can't get a good picture of the whole outside.  It takes several hours to see the whole thing.  You get to climb many, many stairs to get up to the bridge.  Jim had to play with the phone and wheel and the airtubes used for calling the engine room.  They also show a 3D movie in a huge theater which was fun to watch.

Lots to see and do here so we are glad to be staying for two weeks. 
 

Painted Churches of Texas

After we left Arkansas and drove through Oklahoma.  We haven't driven through Oklahoma in a couple of years and if we can avoid it we certainly will.  We took freeway, U. S. highway and toll road through Oklahoma.  The toll road was tolerable but the rest of the roads were horrible.  We hit Texas and breathed a sigh of relief because the roads are so much better.   We stayed in a little towns across Texas.  We took some state highways which were pretty nice roads although some not so nice.  We stayed in the Paris, TX and then Athens, TX - funny how Texans like to name their towns after capital cities.   We then hit the little town of La Grange, TX.  We managed to bypass Dallas and Austin. 

A few miles from La Grange is one of the famous painted churches of Texas.   These are churches built in the 1800's by German and Czech immigrants.  If you want to do the full auto tour and see them all you start by the town of Schulenburg.  We only went to see this one that was close to La Grange.  It was St. Johns and built in 1890.  The churches are famous because of the bright colors they were painted on the inside.  This one has an orange interior.  It was very pretty and very well kept.  It is still in use as a church. 

We are now in Corpus Christi, TX enjoying some very warm weather.

Govt Shutdown - Means no campsite

We had reserved a campsite at Horseshoe Bend Corps of Engineers Park on Beaver Lake in Arkansas.  Of course it was during the shut down so we didn't get to stay there.  We had to stay at another private campground a few miles away that was overcrowded.  Everyone was trying to get a campsite after the "good" campground was closed.  Horseshoe Park opened up on the last day of our stay but we elected not to move our rig for just one nights stay. 

We were there to visit friends who work at the corps park and of course they weren't working during the shutdown.  They showed us around the park and I took these pictures of the beautiful campsite we would have had as well as the beautiful view from the campsite of Beaver Lake.  People launch their boats and park them on the shore by their campsite.  The lake is huge and has walleye in it but we didn't try any fishing.

Missouri

         We managed to get through Kansas City in the early afternoon before the traffic got bad.  When we double tow we are very conscious of traffic so we try hard to avoid it.  We spent the night just south of Kansas City in a nice campground in Peculiar, MO.   We then went on to Branson where we are staying for a week.    We are close to Table Rock Lake and this is a picture of the dam on the lake.  The dam is one of several along the White River.  This dam is between Lake Taneycomo and Table Rock.  There were quite a few fly fishermen trying for the trout they stock in the lake.  This guy was having the most luck and was catching and releasing some beautiful trout.  You have to release them if they are between 12 and 20 inches.  It seems there are slot limits on fish in every state not just Minnesota.  When we first arrived the visitor center at the dam was open but it has since closed -- even though a foundation runs it the government shut it down. 

 

We went to one show here at Branson --- the Sons of the Pioneers -- playing at the Shepherd of the Hills Pavillion Theater.  It was a great show and one of the band members has been at it almost 50 years.  The band was started in 1934 and has kept going by getting new band members as the old ones retire or die.    Everyone knows a few of their songs -- Cool Water -- Tumbling Tumbleweeds, etc.  Of course they have you line up and take your picture and then sell it to you during the show.  I bought it and got it autographed.  What the heck!

 

We also had breakfast at Billy Gail's.  This is a very popular restaurant for breakfast.  They serve pancakes the size of hubcaps and are also known for their biscuits both of which are light and fluffy.   The restaurant is in an old log building that was once a gas station.  We went by it on Saturday morning and the place was packed with a very long line waiting to get into it.   We had been smart to go during the week and get there right when it opened at 7AM. 

Next stop Beaver Lake, Arkansas.

 

Camping -- on the road

We left the resort and headed down the road but we didn't get far.  Had to stop in Cloquet, MN at the ford dealer.  They didn't have the part we needed and couldn't get it quickly.  They told us we could get to our destination -- 150 miles and then get the truck fixed.  Well we didn't make 40 miles and had to get off the freeway and take backroads to the next ford dealer because we could only go 40 miles an hour.  We got to Pine City ford and they let us spend the night in their parking lot while we waited for the part.  They had the part the next morning by 8AM -  so we were on the road again.  It was just a bad sensor that had gotten all waxed up from biodiesel. 

We went to Precision Frame in Elk River, MN.  We had an appointment to have our axles realigned on the 5th wheel so they had us park in their parking lot overnight so they could start work on it right away at 7AM.  We did have electricity at both parking lots so I guess we were lucky.  They did a great job on our rig and we quickly went over to a campground in Ham Lake, MN.  Of course, you can't get anywhere in Minnesota without hitting some sort of road construction detours. 

We are now parked in Altoona, IA at a very nice campground.  The first picture is the Pine City "camping spot".  We did have a nice view of a little stream.  The campground in Altoona is very nice with a nice cement slab to park on as you can see in the picture-- in Ham Lake we were in a mud hole.    It wasn't a bad campground -- it just happened to be very wet and our site was not hard packed gravel like most -- just dirt.  Next stop -- Peculiar, Missouri.