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eatplaywanderrv · 8 years ago

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We took our boys out on a road trip to the coast for some ocean fishing and so they could try out the trailer. Our daughter stayed home because she had work and barbering school so she took care of the dogs for us.

On our way to Corpus Christi. Had to make a pit stop at Pilot Travel Center to fix a

malfunctioning break light/blinker on the trailer. Deputy Sheriff that pulled us over was kind enough to let us go with a warning.

We were still stuck at Pilot for over an hour whenever it started raining, so we took a lunch break in the trailer hoping the rain would pass soon. Lights still not working. 😢

We decided to call AAA and see what they could do for us. They located a repair shop that was at the next exit so we headed over to Groovy automotive. Our oldest son followed us in his truck pulling the boat. Since we were going to be a while, he asked if he could go ahead without us and check in to our campsite and then go do some fishing while he waits for us, so we let him go ahead of us. We were there about 3 hours, but the guys at Groovy got us fixed up and back on the road. Yaay!!

Yaaaay!!! Groovy Auto got us back in the road!!!#happygal — at Groovy automotive.

It’s a road trip rule that you HAVE TO stop at Buc-ee’s!! My kiddos love this place. We visited the one in New Braunfels, Tx. The place is HUGE. It has the cleanest public bathrooms evah!

#roadtriprules #gottastopatbucees — at Buccee”s #22 New Braunfels Tx.

This has NOT been our day! About 4 hours after getting back on the road from the issue with the lights, we had a blow out 30 mins from our destination in Corpus Christi, Texas .😡 Thankfully, the blow out was right at an exit and just at the end of the exit ramp we were able to pull over into a new and used tire place and the worker was still there! Yay!

Brizuela’s New and Used Tires.

9 minutes til we reach our destination!!! — at South Padre National Seashore.

We finally arrived at our campsite at Mustang Island State Park just after it started getting dark but still enough light to see what we were doing to park the trailer.

Finally arrived!! — feeling thankful at Mustang Island Corpus Christi Tx.

We were all starving when we finally arrived, our oldest son had been waiting quite some time for us to arrive so he was starving too. He wasnt able to catch any fish for us to cook up, so I quickly whipped up some dorito beef nachos. Already had the taco meat cooked and frozen so just had to thaw it out in the electric skillet, open a bag of doritos and add our toppings! It was super yummo and hit the spot!

Finally eating dinner. Dorito Nachos! Yummo.

The next morning, we cooked up some eggs and bacon for breakfast, packed up some sandwiches for lunch, then headed out for a day on the beach!

Aaaaaah!!!! — finally at the beach at Mustang Island Corpus Christi Tx.

The boys wanted to try their hand at some fishing, so we hooked up the boat and headed over to Padre Island to fish in the Corpus Christi Bay near the JFK Bridge. It didn’t go so well. 😦 After we got the boat out on the water a little ways, the engine died. The boys worked on it and got it to start again so we headed further out to do some fishing…. except that it died again and we were stuck out in the middle of the water.

Stranded out in the middle of the bay with a dead boat engine, we decided to have a picnic lunch while we waited for the current to drift us closer to shore. We had a couple of short paddles, so we paddled as much as we could and made it back to shallow water where my oldest son and Leo were able to push our boat back to the boat ramp. Once at the dock, my oldest son went and got the truck and backed in the trailer so we could push the boat back onto it. While getting the boat secured to the trailer, Leo slipped on the wet and slimy boat ramp and hit his elbow on a sharp metal piece of the trailer. He sliced his elbow on the sharp metal and bruised the bone. His elbow swelled up a bit and was visibly bruised a couple days later. 😦 But we finally got it back on the trailer and out of the water.

Some damn good clam chowder! — at Doc’s Seafood-Padre Island.

Bruised and sunburned, and bummed that we couldn’t fish from the boat, we didn’t let that spoil our trip. We stopped off at Docs Seafood and Steaks for dinner and had some damn good clam chowder. All the food we had was amazing, and it came with the most amazing view of the sunset over the Bay. After dinner, we took the boat back to the campsite, unhooked it, and called it a night.

Sunset o’er the bay — at Doc’s Seafood-Padre Island.

The next day, we trekked back out to Corpus Christi Bay at Padre Island. We grabbed a late breakfast at Whataburger. There is a Whataburger on pretty much every street corner in Corpus Christi. I kid you not.

After Breakfast, we visited a few gift shops before heading over to Clems Marina. They have a pier there that they will let you fish off of for a small fee. You can even rent fishing poles from them. We rented some poles, bought some mullet and tried our hand at fishing but didnt have much luck. After we used up all the bait we purchased, the guy at the bait shop said under the JFK bridge was the best place to catch live mullet. So we bought a casting net hiked over to the bridge so Leo and our oldest boy could try their hand at casting the net and collecting mullet, but it was a no go. They got nothin. We could see them swimming around, but apparently there is an art to casting and bringing in the net with fish actually in it! They obviously don’t possess that skill yet.

Meanwhile, my youngest son and I went scouting for sea shells. We found quite a few, but they were all inhabited by hermit crabs! Every single one of them!

Feeling defeated and hungry, we drove back to the camp to make some burgers for dinner, then ventured back out to the beach. The boys built a sand castle, and when the sun went down, the crabs came out!

Coming back from Padre Island, we noticed a nice little RV resort not far from where we were at Mustang State Park. We decided to spend our last day and night at the nice resort so we called and booked a reservation for the next day.

We are here — at Gulf Waters Beach Front RV Resort.

The next morning we packed up and drove over to Gulf Waters Beach Front RV Resort. It was a very nice resort. The property was immaculate, private showers were super clean, with a boardwalk to the beach, pretty ponds, and even a pool and hot tub!! Quite a few full timers live there. Everything is exquisite. This is my new vacation go to when we come to Corpus Christi. Gorgeous here. The mustang island state park where we started was yuk. I didn’t like it at all.

We are here — at Gulf Waters Beach Front RV Resort.

When we arrived at Gulf Waters Beach Front RV Resort, my oldest son was pulling the trailer with his truck while Leo drove with the boat hooked to the Yukon. I was in the truck with my son. When we arrived, Leo was supposed to trade off with our son and back the trailer into the spot, but he was busy parking the boat in the designated parking spot so the man who works there guided our son as he backed in the trailer. This was our son’s first time ever to back our 28 foot trailer into a space and he got it in perfectly his very first try. We were all quite impressed!

After we got our camp setup, we walked across the private boardwalk to the beach. We practically had the whole beach to ourselves!

The boys were getting hungry so we explored Padre for some grubb. We landed at Moby Dick’s Restaurant, where oh. my. gawd. my oldest son at a ginormous 1 pound hamburger the size of his whole face, plus fries!! He at the whole thing. Mamma didn’t raise no quitter! LOL!

After lunch we went back to the beach down at Port Aransas Beach Mile Marker 48 where we could drive the truck onto the beach. Our youngest son had a blast making sand castles while Leo and our oldest son practiced their net casting skills.

But alas, all things must come to an end. We said farewell to the beach and packed up for our long drive back home to dry land in Fort Worth, Texas. 😦

Sunday morning after breakfast we loaded up the trucks and trailers to head home. We were hoping to arrive home by around 8pm because our son starts his 1st day of High school Senior year on Monday morning. Our son was pulling the Travel Trailer with his truck while we pulled the boat with the Yukon, but a couple of hours into our drive, Our son’s check engine light started flashing, which is very bad. So we pulled over and switched tow vehicles. After that, his check engine light remained on but at least it wasn’t flashing. Thankfully, earlier on our journey we had stopped at Home Depot and bought a 3 ton jack “just in case” before we hit the road, because about an hour after we switched tow vehicles, the boat had a major blow out. We took the next exit along I 37 N and found a safe spot to pull over so we could change the tire. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t have the key to unlock the other spare. 1st spare, that wasn’t locked, is very low on air. Next gas station was 9 miles ahead. Our son tried to drive slowly on the flat spare we had just put on, so we could hopefully make it to the gas station but then that tire blew out. Dammit! I can’t make this stuff up! It was 5:30 on Sunday evening and we were still 4.5 hours away from home.

We unhitched the boat and left it on the side of the road so we could all drive to Lowes a couple miles away. We bought bolt cutters, rust remover spray, and an aircompressor. Thankfully we brought our generator. While the guys were working to fix the boat, I was in the camper cooking dinner with the electric skillet so I could feed those hangry boys. We finally got the tires changed and aired up and was able to get back home. We arrived home safely around 11pm. Good times.

In spite of all the troubles we had, we quickly found resolutions to our problems and were still able to enjoy our stay at the beach. NOTHING can ruin my happy place. 🙂

1st day of Senior Year!! Last year of high school!! ❤❤ My last kid in Public school!

1st day of 6th grade! Last year of elementary school! #homeschool #schoolday

What else could go wrong? We took our boys out on a road trip to the coast for some ocean fishing and so they could try out the trailer.

#adventure #corpus christi #family #fishing #fun #good times #gulf waters #hermit crabs #my happy place #padre island #road trip #RV #rv resort #texas #travel #Travel Trailer #usa #vacation

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eatplaywanderrv · 8 years ago

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Leo and I got to take a weekend get-a-way without the kids and pets! Our youngest spent the weekend with friends for his friend’s birthday and my two oldest had to work so they stayed home and took care of the dogs. It was a gorgeous weekend to spend at the beach!

On the way down to Galveston, we got stuck behind some large trucks and auto carriers. I hate driving behind or next to these, always creeps me out. I’m always afraid one of those cars will break loose and slide off the truck and cause a big accident.

We boon docked for the first time at the Angleton Walmart on our way there since we arrived at 2am. We are about 30 minutes away from our final destination but couldn’t check in until noon. We went inside and asked the manager if it was okay for us to catch some z’s in their parking lot. He said that would be fine as long as we left at sun up. We bought a few items we needed and to show our gratitude for letting us stay. We parked on the outer edge of the parking lot so that we were not in anyone’s way. Our generator worked great powering the AC so we could stay nice and cool Friday night.

Boondocking in the Walmart Parking lot in Angleton, Tx.

Got back out on the road, grabbed some breakfast, did some sight seeing and then checked in to our destination at the Galveston Island RV Resort. We got camp set up and Leo turned on the TV, and appropriately, JAWS was on. LOL!

Jaws was appropriately on when Leo turned on the TV.

Galveston Island RV Resort was a very nice place to stay. The bathrooms were private and very clean, friendly staff, it was quiet and just a hop, skip, and a jump to the beach, just had to cross the street and take a road between some houses to get there. We will definitely revisit this place next time we come to Galveston.

Galveston Island RV Resort

We headed out to grab some lunch and walk along the Galveston Sea Wall. Had a delicious lunch with my love at Gaido’s Seafood Restaurant.

Lunch with my love at Gaido’s Seafood Restaurant in Galveston, Tx.

We strolled along the sea wall and grabbed some ice cream from the souvenir store and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.We had such a nice relaxing weekend. We strolled along the coast at the Galveston Sea Wall, Star gazed, at at some yummy restaurants, relaxed, and had a wonderful time together.

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This guy wanted to snatch my Mango icecream on a stick

Star Gazing on the beach

Star gazing on the beach

The next morning, we woke up to this sweet lady just outside our campsite.

Good mooooorning! Woke up to this little lady outside the back of my camper this morning. 🙂

Watching Texas Rangers @ Houston Astros in Minute Maid Park

The next morning we loaded up and headed back home. Leaving the beach to go back home to land locked Fort Worth made me sad. 😦 2 days just wasn’t long enough.

On the way home we stopped off at this little BBQ joint off the side of the highway called Still Smokin‘ in Abbott, Texas. It was tasty tasty!

We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to our next beach outing with the boys in a couple weeks!

Kid free/Pet free weekend at the Gulf! Leo and I got to take a weekend get-a-way without the kids and pets! Our youngest spent the weekend with friends for his friend's birthday and my two oldest had to work so they stayed home and took care of the dogs.

#Galveston #Galveston Island RV Resort #road trip #RV #rv resort #texas #travel #Travel Trailer #usa #weekend getaway

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eatplaywanderrv · 8 years ago

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After we got the new travel trailer, the only place we could park it was on the street next to our house. We had it there for a couple of days and then received a knock on our door from the local police. He informed me that one of my neighbors had reported me for harboring multiple families, and that a family was living in my travel trailer. How funny is that?! I cracked up when he told me that and explained to him how obsurd that is, because, this is Texas, in July. Its 100 degrees outside and the travel trailer is not hooked up to any electricity, there is no way possible for someone to be living in it. I explained to him we just got it a few days before, for the sole purpose of vacationing. He saw the John Boat in our driveway, so he knew we enjoyed outdoor recreation. I explained to him, as far as harboring multiple families, we only have 1 family of 5 people living here. My husband and I, and our 3 kids. 4 out of the 5 people in this house owns and drives a vehicle. So while it may appear that there are multiple people living here, and possibly in the trailer as well, I assured him that they were mistaken. He laughed and agreed and went on his way.

Before he left, he informed me city code does not allow us to park the travel trailer on the street for more than 48 hours unless it is connected to a tow vehicle. So we had to squickly find someone to pour a new driveway in our back yard so we could get it off the street and parked securely per city code. We had to leave it connected to my truck until the driveway was finished, which was a pain, leaving me without a vehicle to drive.

Ugh! Nosy, spiteful neighbors. I am looking forward to the day when I dont have to deal with them and If I dont like my neighbor wherever I may be, I can just unhook everything and move somewhere else.

But in the end, we got the driveway poured and a new gate installed and now it is parked safely and securely in our back yard, guarded by our two watch dogs, Dixie and Tess. 🙂

New Driveway After we got the new travel trailer, the only place we could park it was on the street next to our house.

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