Galveston, oh Galveston

The wind blew so hard all night on the beach that John woke up this morning with sand in his teeth.  He was in the pop top so he bore the brunt of it.  We left Padre Island National Seashore before the park facilities opened so we detoured to Mustang Island State Park to shower.  We then gave Vanna a bath too.  She was covered in sand.  

We spent the rest of the morning in Corpus Christi looking for a reputable place to change Vanna's oil.  The first place we called, a VW specialist, refused because they only worked on air-cooled engines.  They said Vanna was "too new".  (I'll never hear that again.). But Corpus Auto Service got us in quickly, and the tech who did the oil change was very impressed with the shape Vanna is in.  I didn't correct his misperception.

  

We finally left Corpus Cristi around 12:30.  The landscape has changed dramatically;  it is now as flat as a pancake and we now see live oaks and bayous instead of cactus and desert.   We even passed an organic crawfish farm today.  (I didn't know there was such a thing, organic or not).  Sad to report armadillos have replaced raccoons as the most frequently sighted road kill.

We have entered refinery/chemical plant central, and we passed many scenes like this.  I'm not sure the organic crawfish appreciate their chemical plant neighbors.

We programmed the gps to take us to Galveston by skipping freeways, and boy did we take some back roads.  Nice for the girls cuz we could stop to potty anywhere we wanted.  But if you venture into the grass by the side of the road you'll pick up some very nasty burrs on your shoes and socks.  They are sharp as needles and extremely difficult to remove.  Both dogs have cried from having them imbedded in their fur. Nasty painful little bits.

We ended up taking the beach road north to Galveston.  Houses are built up on stilts here to be ready for the big one.

We rolled into Galveston at sunset.  The beach road in Galveston is a four lane highway and very unattractive.  But the town itself seems charming with lots of Victorian homes and cute neighborhoods. Both of us think parts of Galveston remind us of Key West, but without the drag queens.  We will poke around a bit before leaving in the morning.

The bad news of the day is Vanna continues to plague us with minor breakdowns.  Today the refrigerator conked out, which is no big deal except we have enjoyed a cold beer from her fridge each night when we pull up for the evening.  There are worse things than not enjoying a cold beer after a long day of driving but I can't think of any right now.  That damn Vanna.

Tonight was super exciting for me.  I spent it at a Galveston's hottest night spot.

Fun, and we will have clean underwear tomorrow too!

And last, one bit of advice:  Never, never, never sign up for T Mobile.  Their cell coverage stinks.  I'd be better off with two tin cans and a string.