Back to the Beach - South Padre Island TX

Finally, warm weather and sun – feels like we've found the promised land!

After 4 days on the road through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, we arrived on South Padre this past Tuesday, January 7.

We took the road trip slow and easy, not driving more than 250 miles most days. After leaving Amite LA, we overnighted in Beaumont TX and then Victoria TX. The day we arrived in Beaumont was an especially short day, as we called it quits and pulled into the park before 1PM. Since the day was chilly and overcast we thought we would use the time to do some laundry and catch up on a few chores, but no sooner were we settled in than a knock came on the door. It was one of neighbors, who informed us that “all the wacky people” were gathering at the clubhouse. Well, who are we to turn down an invitation like that? I don't know how we find each other, but it seems to work. We gathered up some beverages and hightailed it over where we spent the next few hours playing increasingly spirited games of WII bowling and exchanging tales of the road with fellow travelers. So the chores didn't get done, but we had a great time. And chores, schmores, right? There's always tomorrow to get stuff done. That's one of the great things about retirement.

So, South Padre – it is absolutely beautiful here. The town is small, with one main drag where all the shops and little bars and restaurants are, and it dead ends right at our RV park. We're at Isla Blanca Park, which is one of two rv parks run by the county. It is right on the Gulf of Mexico. Our kitchen window looks out on the bay and a short walk around the corner takes us right to the beach.

The park is well appointed, with large sites and a full schedule of activities. I've jumped into line dancing classes two mornings a week and a sort of jazzercize-salsa dancing mix exercise class the other mornings. There are also bike and walking paths everywhere, so getting out and burning up some calories is not a problem. It was overcast and rainy the first couple of days we were here, but this afternoon the sun came out in a glorious way – 73 degrees! But killer winds. 

 I finally got my toes in the water...

We hung out at the beach and spent some time watching the kite surfers.

Earlier in the week, we had watched a deep water drill platform being moved out to sea.

Since we're always on the prowl for little places that have live music, we found Padreritagrill the other night. We went there for dinner with friends Gary and Terry, who we had met back in Red Bay and met up with again here at Isla Blanca. There were some interesting characters around.

The owner of the place, J. Michael Lafferty, plays on the weekend and we're told that he is a trop-rocker – hey, another one of ours! We are planning to see him tonight and then check out a couple of other places that we've heard about. So more to follow on the musical front. In the meantime, it's nice to be settled for a couple of weeks.

We've met lots of full time rvers these last few months, and everyone seems to do it a little differently. We are slowly finding our own style and we find that we like to stay put for a while after a few days on the road. This allows us to really get to know a place and meet a lot of people, which is always a draw for us. South Padre is going to definitely keep us interested for the two weeks we plan to be here. It's a great winter destination and many of the people we've talked to are here for the whole winter. I kind of feel that we're trying destinations out this first winter – if we like it we'll come back, and I think we'll definitely come back here again.