June « 2009 « R-V There Yet?

Archive for June, 2009

Sticking With The Food Theme

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

Well, the day finally came to leave the Texas Coastal Bend and work our way north.

On US Hwy 181, about half way between Corpus Christi and San Antonio we pulled into the small town of Kenedy, TX for a bite to eat. According to Wikipedia, in the early 1900s many of Kenedy’s gunfighter’s shooting caused the town to be nicknamed “Six Shooter Junction”. Today locals still refer to Kenedy as “Shoot, Texas”.

When w pulled up, there was a large crowd at the Taqueria Vallarta #5 Restaurant, located at 215 S Sunset Strip St, Kenedy, Texas.

They have a daily buffet that we did not try. The full menu had lots of great Mexican food. Tinka had a sampler and I had a T-bone steak with sides. The total bill was about $20.00.

See, I was still able to walk out after indulging.

You get quite a value for your dollar.

Send To Phone

Posted in Texas, Texas Other | No Comments »

Hidden Jewel

Friday, June 5th, 2009

We left Edinburg, TX. shortly after noon and headed back to Rockport after stowing our stuff and Jeep for a few months. About 25 miles later, we were passing through the town of Raymondville, TX and decided it was about lunch time. When we looked around at the vehicles, we weren’t hopeful about finding anything.

We located a place that was crowded and looked like a pretty good restaurant. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a gaming hall, slot machines, etc. Apparently people don’t get very hungry around here. We asked the proprietor for some suggestions and we drove a few blocks to The Boot Co. Restaurant, Bar and Grill.

This place used to be a boot shop that was run by guy that made boots for people like Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman and European royalty. The way the story goes on the back of the menu, “the business dropped off shortly after the owner’s death”. Several years later, they turned it into a restaurant. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised when we went through the door. The decorations are really interesting and unique. Now for the food, Tinka had really good catfish and I had the best mushroom burger that I have had in years.

The Boot Company is located at:

205 East Hidalgo Avenue
Raymondville, TX 78580
Phone: (956) 689-3850

If you find yourselves heading down Hwy 77 and getting hungry, be sure to stop in. By the way, if you are heading north, there is no place to eat for about 65 miles.

Send To Phone

Posted in Texas, TX Rio Grande Valley | No Comments »

We Couldn’t Resist One More Beach Visit

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

After we got our shed and other stuff stowed at our Rio Grande Valley site, we couldn’t resist one final visit to South Padre Island. Since this was the Thursday before Memorial Day, we grabbed a room at the Super 8 Motel on the island. The rate was about $50. They wanted $150 for Friday night and $250 each for Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, we headed inland for our Friday night stay and then back to Rockport for the rest of the weekend.

On our way to the island, we were awed by the mimosa trees that were everywhere.

They are really pretty from a distance, but pretty messy if you have to clean up all the junk that they drop. The owners of this house likes them so much that they had a tile roof installed that matches the color of the trees exactly. They even did the carport.

There was a low pressure off of the Florida panhandle and when we reached the island, we were amazed at how high the surf had come up. It was nearly time for low tide and the water was still up to the dunes in some areas.

At some points we were forced to drive on the back side of the dunes. That was a first.

We had an interesting 10 mile drive up the beach and picked out a spot to set up on a high spot. At times the water came up all around us.

A wandering heron found a fish in one of the flooded areas on the beach.

Tinka helped the sea gulls with a little popcorn.

There is always an idiot on the beach. A guy came wandering up to us and asked if we could help him extricate his pickup from the surf. Tinka took this picture from about a half a mile down the beach while I pulled him free. That winch has been a lifesaver for many people.

We plan to be back at SPI by Labor Day.

Send To Phone

Posted in Texas, Texas Coast, TX Rio Grande Valley | No Comments »

Moving Assets

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

We’re getting ready to travel this summer through the mid-section of the US and decided it was time to consolidate and stash some stuff. With our annual Rockport RV site expiring, we decided to move things to our Rio Grande Valley annual site.

After living nearly 18 months near the beach, the first item on the agenda was to remove the 5th wheel hitch, remove all of the rust, re-paint and re-lubricate. It really wasn’t that much work.

The next thing was to borrow a trailer and load a shed and grill on board for the trip south.

Loading the shed was interesting. I backed the trailer near the shed and put out a couple of ramps. Then disconnected the truck and moved it away from the trailer so we could position the jeep and, with the use of the jeep winch, slide the shed into position.

We loaded the shed with stuff we didn’t think that we would need, like boogie boards, generator, surf fishing gear, other beach stuff, etc. We loaded the heavier-than-hell stainless grill and we were off with Tinka following in the jeep. We’re parking that for the summer too.

Holding the speed down to keep the roof from blowing off, I noticed the doors bulging. I hopped on the ladder and put a couple of screws in place to hold it together.

With a little trial and error, mission accomplished.

Send To Phone

Posted in Texas, Texas Coast, TX Rio Grande Valley | No Comments »

Tips On Choosing A Beach Day

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Almost any day can be a great beach day if:

The sun is shining.

and

The tide is not too high.

Here’s an exception that we discovered upon our arrival to the National Seashore one day. The wind was blowing heavily from the dunes toward the Gulf.

We noticed the sand blowing off of the tops of the dune.

It is difficult to see, but, the sand was covering tire tracks almost immediately.

The tops of the waves were being blown back to sea.

Needless to say it was miserable. We didn’t stay out of the jeep for more than a couple of minutes and we were chewing sand for the rest of the day.

Now, just to show you that any type of weather will please someone, we left the gulf side and headed over to the bay side of the island and noticed a whole parking area full of vehicles of all sorts.