 MONDAY |
TRAVEL DAY |
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We've been setting all kinds of personal records this week. First it was finding gasoline for $1.91, which dropped our average below $2.50 for the first time in a long while. Next was finishing off our Top 15 Hamburger Chains list. Now it's a towing record.
Today we towed THE POD a whopping 4.4 miles down the road to our home for the next week. The Malaquite Campground is also within the Padre Island National Seashore and has the most sought after sites. Mostly because the Gulf of Mexico waves crash on the beach just a 30 yards behind the sites and here they have flush toilets and showers. We still don't have electricity or water at our campsite, but it's only $7 a night with our Lifetime Senior Pass.
It's much harder to obtain a campsite at this campground, as compared to the one we just left, which was never more than half full all week. Bird Island Basin Campground has 34 campsites and every one of them backs up to within a few feet of the Laguna Madre, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway here in southern Texas. The Malaquite Campground has 48 sites, 24 of them back up to the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico and 24 of them back up to the sand dunes across the street. The more desirable sites are of course the Gulf of Mexico sites.
Since all campsites inside the park are First-Come-First-Serve (no reservations) you just have to be clever (or lucky) enough to be in the right place at the right time when someone vacates their site. Then you can pull in and claim the site by placing items in plain view (I used two chairs) and then registering and paying for the site at the check-in station.
Or you could do what I did. One day last week around sunset a camper couple (Greg and Lyn) approached THE POD and began asking questions about our cell phone booster antenna. We watched the sunset together and during the conversation he mentioned they were camping at Malaquite Campground. I mentioned we were hoping to move over there on Monday after our week at Bird Island Basin Campground was finished. One thing led to another and he mentioned that the campsite next to theirs would be opening up on Monday and that I should come over and talk to their neighbors. At first I didn't understand what he was getting at!
Then it hit me! On Sunday afternoon I drove over and sure enough the two couples were outside having a conversation, along with a few cocktails, so I stopped and got out of ROVER. Fifteen minutes later during a lull in the conversation I asked if the one couple were indeed planning on moving off the site the next day. They said yes and then I asked if they would mind if a put two chairs on top of their picnic table, along with the portable occupied sign the park makes available, so that when they left the next morning I could move onto their site. No problem was the answer I was hoping for and received.
They mentioned they would be leaving around 11:00AM. I placed my two chairs on the table, wished them safe travels in case I didn't see them the next day and thanked them once again.
The next morning around 10:30AM I drove over to the new campground just in time to say goodbye, put my payment into the pay station and return back to THE POD to prepare for the long 4.4 mile move. On the way into the campground we took the time to dump our tanks and fill our fresh water tank so we would be prepared for the next week long stay.
Tonight the couple from the second Airstream in the photo (John and Katherine from Denver, CO) are coming over for dinner. We've been chatting back and forth with them all week, petting on their two adorable dogs and comparing notes on where we've been and where we're going next.
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Until next time
