Play Misty for Me

John, the mutts, and I had dinner on the Riverwalk last night at a local seafood house.  We had crawfish étouffée and the girls were very well behaved.  They got lots of attention and compliments.

We got up early this morning to see Riverwalk without the hordes of tourists. It's a pleasant walk, and it was interesting to see the odd looking sweeper boat the city sends out early each morning to make sure the river is trash free.

We then headed out of San Antonio on route 181.  The speed limit on Texas state highways is 75 m.p.h, which is kind of scary since side streets and driveways dump cars directly onto these highways.  I was passed by a tanker truck who must have been doing 90 and we had double solid yellow lines. Drivers are crazy in Texas. 

The landscape was rolling farmland, and we passed our first oil derrick, the first of many to come.  The sky was cloudy and it misted  all day.  It was our first cloudy day since we left Oregon.

We made it to Corpus Christi, which seems to be a large Navy port and oil refining center.

We drove out to Padre Island National Seashore, billed as the largest natural protected barrier island in the world, and again there was almost nobody at the park. 

 It is a spectacular place, but John was hoping for sunshine and a beach afternoon.  Instead we volunteered to pick up litter on the beach near our campsite, and Daisy was very proud of the Texas "AdoptABeach" patch she got, but she misread it and thought it said "AdoptABitch".

Tonight we are camping directly on a beach all to ourselves.   

We were walking the dogs on the beach and Lilly (who else but Lilly) stepped on a jellyfish and screamed.  I had to carry her back to the van, and now she's not using her left hind leg but we are hoping she will be all better by morning. 

The park rangers warned us of swarms of mosquitos at night so we have armed ourselves with lots of deet repellent.

We are so full from lunch today (take-out spicy shrimp and tres leches cake enjoyed on the beach) that our dinner tonight is Corona beer, Fritos, and cheese.

And John is again kicking my ass at scrabble.  

We look out of the van tonight and see nothing but total blackness; we can hear the waves crashing on the beach not twenty yards from Vanna but we can't see a thing.  It is a wonderful yet somewhat eerie experience.