Hello – to all my fellow Pods, Nuestro Pod here, on the roadagain.  I’ was sitting here in the hot SouthTX sun just waiting and I was getting irritated.  Normally, my owners take me out about everyother week.  But I had not been out in 6week or so. OK, so one of my owners wasn’t here for a month and so what if thetemps have been consistently around 100.  I still wanted to go somewhere, anywhere. 

Last week I overheard my owners saying they were planning totake me out after the school started. Well school started last Monday. I found out we were going to Isla Blanca County park on South PadreIsland, we have been there several times before, but who care I get to gosomewhere.  Because of the “dumb” countypark check out time of 12 noon, my owners decided to hook me up and go downfirst thing Saturday morning and pay for 2 nights, even though we left around 6PM Sunday. 

As usual the ride down was uneventful.  The ride over the Queen Isabella causewaybridge is always fun, and a nice view. We stopped at the park HQ and my owners went in to pick a spot for us tostay.  While I wait outside they went in.  When they came back out they said they hadnot been able to get one of the spots they wanted, so they settled for one thatwasn’t too far from where they had wanted to stay.  Upon arriving at the site they were reallyconcerned.  Not only was in pretty unevenit looked like it would be hard to position me so the R-Dome would fit.  So after 10-15 minutes and my owners walkingto look at some other sites the decision was made to go back to the office andrequest another site.  The site theypicked was really neat.  (See picturesbelow).  One of the biggest problems Ihave found in the past was sand burrs. They get into the tread of my tires and into the bottom of my ownersshoes.  They are a pain for my owner tokeep the out of the floor mats in my nice TV, so being on a concrete pad washeaven.  They set the rug and my R-domeso the one end was just onto the grass and could be staked down.  We had a real nice breeze off the Gulf, so totake advantage of it my owners opened up the side of my R-dome facing thebreeze.  They said it was really nice,especially since the temps inland were going to be in the 100-105 range.  It was about 10 degrees cooler here and thehumidity was lower than it had been. 

After enjoying the R-dome for awhile they took their beachchairs and went down to the beach.  Iheard the say when they got back that it was really nice to be able to sit onthe beach and have the water come up and wash over their feet.  After they rinsed off, and dried off theytook off in my TV.  They said they weregoing to take a drive north on the island and then stop off at the WorldBirding Center boardwalk to see what birds might be out and about.  (See pictures below).  After relaxing in their lounge chairs forawhile and getting a bite to eat they took another walk on the beach.  When they got back it was dark but it wasstill really nice out.  Of course my A/Chad been on since I got plugged into shore power so I was nice and cool.  They finally came in and had got a goodnight’s sleep. 

After they got up and had breakfast on Sunday Paul went outto take the garbage to the dumpster.  Helooked over toward the Brownsville ship channel and saw an oil platform beingtowed out toward the gulf.  (See picturebelow).  Of the 3-4 times we have beenhere twice we have seen rigs being pulled to the gulf.  Paul had seen another ship which looked likeit was on its way into the port of Brownsville. So my owners got in my TV andleft to see if they could get some pictures then they said they were going torun to Walmart and go back to the north part of the island and walk the beachup there.  When they got back, they saidthey had a real nice walk, not nearly as many people up there as down on thisend.  They also talked about all the ForSale signs for property on the gulf side and Laguna Madre side of theroad.  They said it’s sad because thesedunes are such a beautiful and natural area. But they did say that the very north part of the island had beenpurchased by the National Wildlife Service and would not be developed.  By the time they got back the breeze hadpicked up so they sat in my R-Dome and read for awhile.  About 5:00 they took another walk on thebeach and came back to pack me up and pull me the short 45 min. ride home.  I heard them say this was a really greatweekend.  I really enjoyed it too.  They said they would probably get back ontheir normal routine and take me out every other weekend.  I would like that a lot.

Happy Podding

Nuesto Pod and TV at Isla Blanca Park Site C109

It is a really nice site for a weekend

Big Blue Heron at the World Birding Center Boardwalk on So Padre Island

White Ibis at the Birding Center

Tri Color Heron hunting for a snack

Egret just hanging out

Oil platform being towed out into the Gulf of Mexico for placement

Tanker coming in the Brownsville ship channel.  Notice the 18-20 ft boat at the bow of the ship for

comparison.