Changing Plans – Twice a day

Another day of geocaching on Galveston Island and crossing the bay again with the Dolphins and the Pelicans. We had to change our plans for next week twice. Wanna know why? Read on! 

Crossing with the Ferry again

Saturday, January 2, 2010 – We were thinking last night if it makes sense to stick to out plan and move to the state park on the island for another week. The weather was too cold to enjoy the ocean, and we were not sure if that is the best idea. Maybe it is just better to move west towards AZ. We decided to go and take a look at the park and based on what we find out – make up our minds.
We left our camp and drove to the ferry landing. It is so nice that it is a free service. They have great service, although when the traffic is a little heavier, you may need to wait a little bit. While on the ferry, you may get out of the car and walk around, or climb to the deck. The short distance to the island is just about 20 minutes ride, and on the way you can see many birds, fish – and my favorite – dolphins. So here is another set of pictures from the ferry today

Checking out the park

Our first stop was the state park. We found that they did not have Internet (although, again, their site says they do) and the RV sites are far enough from the beach and positioned in such a way you do not have even a view to the sea from the RV. TX state parks also requires you to have an annual pass ($60) to stay in the park, or you need to pay $5/day per person.  On the other hand they have nice hiking and biking trails, and there are many caches on the island. We decided at this time not to decide. We will decide later tonight. I’ve got a feeling I know what we will decide.. and you?
(well for me it is not a big deal, coz at the time I write this blog we already decided… ha ha)

Hide and Seek on the Island

After so much fun geocaching yesterday, Patti printed few more caches before we left so we can play hide an Seek on the island. Of course Patti likes this game – she finds all the caches!
So anyways – we started our seeking in a historical marker by the state park. That one was easy. Check.
The next one was in a nature preserve in the middle of Galveston Island town. It was a nice preserve and the cache was actually hidden in a bird feeding container. Took us some time to get there, and some time to find it (Patti found it, of course) but we got that one too. Check.
I took some pictures in the preserve while Patti was anxious to move to the next one. Who cares about nature when the island is just full of treasures?


Very last cache was on the river bank. We looked and looked – and could not find it. The location was on an edge of some farm by the river, and it just did not make sense that they will hide it there. People stared at us like thieves, and just before we gave up, I decided to look again on the website. I used the iPhone browser, and sure enough - I found a comment about moving the cache to another location close by. We punched the coordinates into the GPS and resumed looking, and guess what – I found it! For the first time I found a geocache. My eyes were shining, and I was all excited. I started to dance polka on the river and jumped high in the air, so high that I hit my head on a star. Well, maybe I am exaggerating a ‘little’.
Patti wanted to find more caches, but at that point I started to get hungry and it started to get dark anyways. We drove to the next point, but they had some kind of festival in it and the area was closed. so last picture for the night, and heading back to the campground.

We decide to go west

After a looooong debate (3 minutes 21 seconds and some) we decided to move west. We  have seen most of the island treasures and were ready to move on. That’s what they call Hitch Itch, I suppose. But we have HIS (Hitch Itch Syndrome) – it is incurable we were told.
Sunday, January 3, 2010 – First thing in the morning I call the TX State Parks reservation center and cancel our reservation. Next I call the campground we chose in Kerrville, a nice park settled in the hill country area, and make reservation for next week. Done. We are good for another week.  Yeah right.

ARCTIC AIR IS COMING…

It took maybe couple hours before Patti is calling me: “Motty did you look at the forecast?”
“No” I said. “Why – is there anything I need to know?” I open weather.com and here is what I see:
Special Weather Statement for Kerr, TX
Issued by The National Weather Service
Austin/San Antonio, TX
5:03 pm CST, Sun., Jan. 3, 2010
... MUCH COLDER WEATHER ARRIVES LATER THIS WEEK...

AN EARLY JANUARY OUTBREAK OF COLD ARCTIC AIR WILL ARRIVE THURSDAY MORNING AND REMAIN THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THE ARCTIC OUTBREAK WILL BRING THE COLDEST TEMPERATURES OF THE WINTER SEASON. TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY BE COLDER FOR SEVERAL DAYS THAN ANY COLD SNAPS OF THE PAST FEW WINTERS.
TEMPERATURES ON THURSDAY NIGHT... FRIDAY NIGHT... AND SATURDAY NIGHT WILL FALL WELL BELOW FREEZING FOR MUCH OF THE NIGHT. THESE FREEZES WILL BE HARD ENOUGH TO DAMAGE TENDER VEGETATION AND EXPOSED PIPES. BEGIN TAKING PRECAUTIONS IN THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS.

Is this the hot  Texas we were running to? High of 37 and low 15? Oh no…
Just so that I will feel a little better, I looked at the temperature tonight in International Falls, MN. I feel better! It is was –37 today and with the wind chill factor it hit the 50’s … below.

Now What?

I felt like bugs being sprayed on with Raid… I got to run somewhere, but not too many options. The freezing cold chased us all the way to TX!
Opened the weather website and and Google Map and started checking the forecast. All the way to Big Bend the weather is going to be freezing so west is closed. North is worse, and go back East is not much better…. There is only one other option…
We are Going south! Even more south. Corpus Christi. The forecast there is much better than anywhere else around (Yuma is perfect but too far). so tomorrow morning – cancel again, and make new reservation. We chose a nice campground called Rustic Cove. They are close to the beach, not too crowded, reasonably priced and has good reviews.
For now – that’s my plan and I stick to it. But not too big of a stick.
If you have any suggestions for this area, What to see, what to do or where to go – let me know!