Mileage:  62,045 Malaquite Campground Padre Island National Seashore Corpus Christi, Texas

It was foggy and really cloudy this morning.  The humidity was 98% and we are unaccustomed to it!

We had a short drive this morning from Alice to Padre Island.  We were at the park and set up by 10:30. 

After breakfast, we packed our cooler and headed out.  We took the Jeep to drive on South Beach. 

I love the ocean.  When we were kids, our family went to the beach every summer.  I love walking in the sand.  I love being in the water.  I love listening to the waves crashing.  I am in my happy place!  The clouds stayed around all day but it was balmy and pleasant even so.

There is a lot of trash and debris on Padre Island.  This is due to the way the currents converge across the Gulf of Mexico.  From as far as the Amazon and Central America, the junk comes.  The rangers and volunteers spend an inordinate number of hours cleaning up the beach.  We only had a small trash bag, but we filled it.  My friend Lois had posted something earlier this year.  Won’t you consider leaving the beach a little cleaner than you found it next time you go?

The pelicans and pipers and curlews and gulls and plovers sat on the beach facing into the wind.  As we passed, they took flight.

We took our dinner to the Laguna Madre or the bayside.  We watched the windsurfers and the pelicans diving for their supper.

A turtle along the road.  Did you know that if you see a turtle crossing the road, you should stop and either watch it cross or carry it to the other side in the direction it was going? 

We drove on the North Beach section of the island and that lead us to a beach park that took us back toward Corpus Christi.  We took the Jeep to refuel for tomorrow’s beach drive.

We got back to the RV and our neighbors came and knocked on the door.  Larry and his friends, Wink, Kevin, and Mitch had caught a lot of fish.  They were having a fish fry and wanted us to join them.  Sheila and Sylvia were warm and welcoming.  It was fun to talk with them and visit.  We stayed up too late and had too much wine!