2024-04-14 Sunday at Laguna Atascosa

2024-04-12 Friday

I wanted to stay at Andy Bowie County Park while on South Padre Island. Before leaving Midland, Texas, I worked on getting a space reserved for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I would need to move into another space after that. I wanted to spend a week on the island if I could work it out. If push came to shove, I knew where I could boondock in Port Isabel.

2024-04-13 Saturday

Last night I slept at a “Parking Area” at the side of Interstate-10 a few miles west of Ozona Texas. The wind was not a friend to my fuel economy or my comfort level on the road. As my trajectory was generally east, the wind out of the south buffeted me to the left, until a big truck passed or the swales caused by years of heavy trucks caught me and threw me slightly sideways to the right. The adrenalin rush gets my attention, but probably does not do my heart much good.

After about an hour of grinding out the highway, I spotted a sign for “Simon Bros Cafe”, and I followed the side road to a little town called Roosevelt, just north of the interstate, and found a rescue from the tedium of the road and the empty feeling in my stomach. The coffee didn’t hurt my energy level either. 

I found the Simon Bros Cafe delightful. There weren’t a lot of patrons for my 10:45am visit, but the atmosphere was a warm family friendly one. The staff was friendly, and the food was a welcome addition to my stomach. I ordered a “Veggie Scramble” for $8.25, and it hit the spot.

There was still a substantial distance (432 miles) to get me to South Padre. My reservation at Andy Bowie County Park would not begin until Sunday, so I didn’t have to make it the entire way this day. I gave some thought to a visit at Laguna Atascosa, but there’s no place there to pull off the road for the night, so I considered passing it up for the time being. I planned to play it by ear and see how it felt as I got closer to my destination.

After all the drama getting into Texas this past week (read about that story HERE), I was looking forward to spending time at South Padre and the rest of my Texas expedition. I gave myself a week on the island before I would begin rolling west towards home. I hoped to make a lot of stops on my way. The Lower Rio Grande Valley has several worthwhile locations I wanted to revisit. And the National Butterfly Center in Mission is always a *MUST* place for me to see friends there.

2024-04-14 Sunday

Last night I slept at a picnic area outside of Corpus Christi. Google told me I had 2 hours and 39 minutes yet to go until I could reach South Padre Island. I drove a few miles south on I-69E to get fuel for me and my ride. Check-in time at my RV park at Andy Bowie was at 2pm, so I had plenty of time to reach my destination for the next week. At just under 170 miles, I knew I could get there on the fuel I purchased this morning. There was even enough time for me to pass by Laguna Atascosa on my way to SPI. I thought a few hours there might help me get back into the swing of bird photography. So stop there, I did!