Life's Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, totally worn out, shouting "Wow...What a Ride!"

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Passing Time on The Gulf Coast of Texas


February 1 – March 14, 2021 Our time here in Port Aransas has drawn to a close. It’s been a very different winter season this year, with activities canceled here and around town, things have been much quieter. 

Dave has enjoyed fishing as much as possible, cold and windy weather has made for fewer fishing days than in years past. 








Beautiful sunrises. 


Sunsets weren't too bad either. 


On the subject of cold weather, we had no issues when Texas decided to have its lowest recorded temps in 100+ years. Being from the northeast we took the predictions of real cold temps seriously, we prepped accordingly. We made sure all of our propane tanks were full, giving us 100 pounds of propane. We filled our fresh water tank and emptied our black and grey tanks. We stocked up a little on some food items. In the end, we went 60+ hours without electricity, our water was out for a couple of days longer. Thank goodness for boondocking skills. The only issue we had was our gasoline can wasn’t big enough so we started running low on generator fuel. Dave ended up siphoning fuel out of a friend’s golf cart then the office opened up the park's fuel cube-used to fill the maintenance golf carts-for anyone who needed gasoline. Our temps here on the Gulf Coast bottomed out at 19 but the winds made the feel like temps much lower. 
Dave siphoning gas, hope the neighbors don't catch him

Many had to use their trucks to charge their RV batteries
                                                                                                             
                                        
                                            Right after the freeze, these plants have since died.

                                         

                                         
 
The fish in our park's ponds didn't survive the cold.
The hardheads (catfish) in the Gulf
didn't fare well either.
                                                                                 
During all of this, a retired veterinarian friend of ours put out a plea for lubrication and eye gel. The local wildlife rehabilitation center needed these supplies for all the cold-stunned sea turtles they were helping. We headed to our local grocery store and bought supplies for them, you do get strange looks when you're checking out with all kinds of personal lubrication. Later on, that day people from The Ark- Amos Rehabilitation Keep-was having a fundraiser, they were selling shirts to raise money for the turtles.
#lubeaturtle

Our plants took a major hit on our lot and around the park, while our palm trees made it we think everything else is dead. We’ve cut back our hibiscus and oleanders with hopes they may come back. We’ll be back here for a short time in November and reassess what needs to be done. 


Below one of our hibiscus after the freeze, they have since lost all their
 leaves and we've cut them back to the ground.
                                            
Our friend Pat's family came for a visit, he and Dave had fun fishing and beaching with the kids. 




Beaches and birds.



We’ve been able to enjoy, besides happy hours, a few meals with our bubble of friends. We’ve also enjoyed our weekly lunches with our friends Linda and Patrick, got to help out the local restaurants so they’ll be here when we get back. 
DuWayne and Jackie where many of our gatherings were held






The guys-Dave, Chuck, Pat, DuWayne,
Denny, Dick & Jay

The ladies-Faye, Sally,
Judy, Jackie, Kathy & Joyce
Our weekly lunch partners: Linda & Patrick
 

Fresh shrimp for the freezer
Can't beat the local fresh seafood
                                        
Early March found hitch itch set in, we are ready to hit the road. Tomorrow it's jacks up and we'll be off to Brazos Bend State Park, as we start our leisurely trek to IL. 

Until next time…




























17 comments:

  1. One of these days we are going to make it down there so Dave can show us how to surf fish. Those shrimp and oysters look amazing!

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    1. We're usually here every other winter. Dave helped quite a few get started surf fishing this winter. The shrimp are so good, Dave says the oysters were good.

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  2. It is hard to believe that it was colder in Texas than Oregon. You have to watch out for the lubricant hording folk.

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    1. LOL, us lubbers stick together. It was colder in TX than in VT, crazy.

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  3. No shortage of good food and friends! Beautiful sunrises/sets out there. So sad for those in need from that deep freeze. Glad you were ok. Hopefully the plants come back!! HVd a great time heading to IL!

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    1. Never a shortage of food and friends while there. We feel fortunate to have done so well through the freeze. Don't think most of our plants will make it but we'll check on them in October.

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  4. Some day we have to meet up in Texas or an ocean somewhere so I can learn salt water fishing.

    Got to love having an RV fridge during the cold snap! We lucked out and apparently were in the only state (Florida) to miss out on the fun. Good planning on your part with the propane fill up and water.

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    1. Dave would be glad to help you get started on surf fishing, we're usually in TX every other winter. We'll always try to have an RV fridge, glad you missed the freeze. Being from VT we knew to do early prepping would be the key to our success.

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  5. That was really nice of the RV park to open up their gas supplies. Definitely lucky that you guys know how to boondock and were well prepared. I saw many panicked posts on Facebook from people who suddenly found themselves facing crazy cold temps and didn't know how to prepare their rigs. Glad it worked out. Safe travels!

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    1. The park did as much as it could to make sure everyone made it through the big freeze okay, letting folks fuel up was such a godsend as gas couldn't be found anywhere else since all the power was out. Thankfully the park has a generator for the office which also powered the fuel cube. Between boondocking and former cold weather residents our past experiences were invaluable.

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  6. Not sure how I missed this post but I'm sorry to be so late especially when your posts have made me think seriously again about coming to Texas and specifically Port Aransas for the winter rather than fighting the Florida State Parks battle. You seem to enjoy it so and I love the pictures of you with all your friends. Sounds wonderful to have some folks around me that I know for a change. But after the reports of this winter in Texas, I crossed Texas off my list and went back to the Reserve America fight. Being prepared for that sort of thing alone and the possibility of running out of generator fuel just sounds like so much work. I wonder if my solar panels would have been able to provide for me? But still, I’d hate listening to generators around me. 19 and windy sounds like my idea of a nightmare. I haven’t done below freezing or snow in 10 years until this year when I came back too early to Virginia and hit 28 degrees at night.

    So glad to hear you weathered the storm so to speak but sorry about the plants and fish. Love that you helped the turtles and your shirts look fabulous on you two super fit people. That seafood is making my mouth water. Seafood is my #1 food of choice – Lobster, crabs, oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels. That’s my order of preference. Safe travels. Great Post!

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    1. No worries, I'm sometimes so behind on blog reading. The TX freeze was an anomaly but could happen again. Our neighbors didn't have generators so we didn't have that added noise. Thankfully there was someone going around bringing diesel to the diesel pushers. We thought about getting our solar panel out but the cloud cover didn't seem conducive to using them. We don't like those kind of temps, thankfully it doesn't happen often.
      We were glad to help our local turtle rehab facility, thanks for the compliment. Shrimp is my only seafood choice but Dave loves them all, you two would have a good time enjoying seafood together.

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