7th Post - Lake Corpus Christi

After the heavy rain and T-storms on Wednesday, Thursday broke out clear and cool – a great day for travel. We got it all ready and headed out a little after 9:00 AM.  It was I-10 east to San Antonio, then the I-410 loop around the south side to I-37, then south to Mathis, TX and Lake Corpus Christi State Park.  One thing we noticed the farther south we went – lots of flat farm with lots of huge corn fields.

After a 197-mile ride, we arrived at Lake Corpus Christi State Park around 1:00 PM and got everything set up.  Our campsite is not the greatest – it’s a little precarious getting out the motorhome door.  However, we do have a nice shade tree and a good view of the lake.  Also, there was a small flock of immature White Ibis that hung around and a Great Egret that did some fishing in the small pond.

Today (Friday) was a day of riding, exploring, and revisiting some places we came to several years ago with our friends Ed & Judy Funderburk.  We went south on I-37 to Corpus Christi, then north on Hwy 181 & Texas Hwy 35 to Portland, Aransas Pass, and Rockport. Aransas Pass and Rockport overlook Aransas Bay and this is a huge fishing area.  We saw lots of birds – always the ever-present Laughing Gulls.  We also got lucky and saw a Dolphin up close in a little estuary beside a park

In Rockport, we visited the wharf where all the fishing boats go out.  This is the place where we booked and took a Whooping Crane Boat Tour with Ed & Judy many years ago.  Great memories!!  The Whooping Crane tour place is still there, but it was closed today.

As we came through Corpus Christi earlier, we saw the USS Lexington Museum off to the right of the huge high bridge that leaves Corpus Christi on Hwy 181.  I wanted pictures, so on the way back through we got off the main highway, fought our way through road construction under the big bridge, and finally got to a place where we could park and I walked over to where I could get the pictures.  There was also a retired Blue Angels Douglas A-4 Skyhawk on display.  The USS Lexington hits kind of close to home.  It is designated CV-16 in the fleet of US aircraft carriers in WWII.  My Dad was on the USS Randolph which CV-15 – the one just ahead of the Lexington.  There were like twins.

Since Corpus Christi is on the coast, there are tons of refineries and a lot of gas and oil are shipped in and out of here.  We also wondered if the reason there are so many huge corn fields in this area is because the corn is used to produce the Ethanol that goes into the gasoline.  Here’s a picture of just one of the many refineries – sorry, hard to get a good picture riding along at 65 mph.

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Aransas Pass and Rockport was to see how they are recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017.  Glad to say – the cleanup has gone well and there is very little evidence of storm damage.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is moving day again.  The campground is full for tomorrow and we could only get reservations for 2 nights.  So, we’ll be moving a short distance to Goliad State Park in Goliad, TX for the rest of the weekend.