Easy-out through Corpus Christi, and the seashore gravitational pull has been broken. We had to wash most of the gravity off at a car wash with a series of delicate, yet demanding, maneuvers involving removing the Prius, the tow dolly, reattaching the two in reverse, pulling around, taking two bays, 122 quarters, two naughty words, becoming completely drenched, reattaching tow dolly, reconnecting the Prius, smudging my almost-clean-enough shirt, and Annie pulling her shoulder. Later, we found sand in every crevice, and then there's the rig. [RIM SHOT]
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| These cormorants are just praying the salt comes off. Why did we vacation here? I wanted to visit my mom in St. Augustine! |
We were pleased to spend multiple units of time with Chris, another full-timer who will eventually be cajoled and shamed into blogging again.
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| Photo by Teri |
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| No, c'mon! Not my backside! |
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| Seriously, what is wrong with you? Not my backside! |
Teri is a full-timer who was cajoled and shamed into meeting us. She caught the trolley, which was quickly controlled with ginger ale and bed rest. It was good to spend time with her and learn more of her story. She's in the pre-retirement set like Annie and me, and she has some interesting ideas for suitable employment that I'll try when times become desperate.
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| "Whatever you do, just don't post my picture to your blog." Always happy to comply.* |
We're in for the night at a Texas rest area, where they have free wifi. It's not strong enough to stream videos or TV - the gold standard - but plenty for surfing and blogging. Not good blogging, but it's fast enough for obnoxious posts.
We watched an honest-to-Pete murmuration at sundown. Please watch this and pretend these young women are us:
They are so graceful and lovely, those starlings, and they really only want a place to sit for the night. We're like them, we Road Starlings. Beautiful and flowing, restless yet weary, and ready to settle in for the night with wifi and Nutty Bars.
*In real-life, I always comply with photo requests. If you don't want your picture here, it will never see the light of day. Unless you're Chris' backside.
21 comments:
Back in the silly days we used to camp on the beach and I swear, the sand was miserable the next day. I don't know how people handle living on the beaches. It looks like you all were having a fun time at this stopover.
Great Video, at first I thought it might be some funky Michael Stipe REM remix of their first album!
And what a wonderful beach setting to get to know new friends!
What an amazing sight those starlings are. How DO they do that? Wish people could drive as well as those starlings fly!
And then there's the rig. Now that's toooo funny!!!
You sure do find some nice people out there in Texas. What a surprise! :-))
I think those birds did all that dancing for the girls because they appreciated it and sat in awe!!!! Very cool. I haven't seen any quiet as big as that show.....totally amazing!
hmmmm.....gotta thing for my backside huh? you know who
RJ, I will have to post the first day I don't find sand somewhere.
Ish, it was nice on the beach, but actually not as perfect as I'd always imagined. The people were way better.
Donna, wouldn't that be cool? We'd be doing those dips and split-offs, and never run into each other.
Tammy, I like that idea. I have heard that starlings don't belong here, but I sure do like their dance.
ANONYMOUS, if you've got it, you should flaunt it. That's what we learned in the 60's, when I was a gamete.
Thanks, Sherry, for cyber-laughing at the groaners. Yes, there seem to be good people around here. All the peeps we met were from somewhere else, but I won't hold that against Texas.
Nutty Bars - I used to be addicted to them. I'll have to forward this blog to my daughter, she says I never smile in pictures. Thanks.
NOOOOO! They did NOT post a butt shot. Momma always says whoever posts a butt shot will rue the day. Of course, that doesn't stop her from taking pictures of our butts. Life is so unfair.
The Smushies
Lovely photos. Lovely people.
W saw a flock of bird like that when we were on a boat tour of the Moss landing, Elkhorn Slough. Not as many, but a black cloud none the less.
I'm having trouble coming up with anything coherent, yet respectful.
I got hung up on the crevices. Sorry.
*big empty space here*
Good luck with that.
"Road Starlings"....captures the essence of what you are doing perfectly.
Teri, you don't like to have your picture taken, but you take a good picture!
Oh Smushies, your butts are so adorable that the world should see them. Maybe your Momma said "whoever posts a butt shot will roux that day," because they'll have to cook.
Thanks, Kim. They are lovely people.
Merikay, where is the Elkhorn Slough?
Bob, you and that sand - both hung up on the crevices.
Thanks, Lou. It would have been a perfect analogy if starlings were kinda loud and stinky upon start-up and needed to plan five minutes ahead for a landing.
You and Annie had such a gorgeous time there. But, you're right. The beach is alive, and it invades every crack and crevice of everything, coming back for weeks and weeks and weeks.
You must have been a politician in a former life...promise one thing and do another. ;c)
Glad my picture didn't make it into your blog...it might have crashed Blogger! :cO
Tell me more about this "pre-retirement" thing...
Empty On the Inside
Dough, Dirt & Dye
Thanks Bunches for posting the murmuration. Fascinating!
Annie, we're not old enough to get social security, and we have no pension coming, so we'll have to work at some point. Our goal isn't to have a career, as much as it is to work as little as necessary to support ourselves. I think Teri has a similar goal.
My pleasure, Doc.
Wow, ya'll even gained british accents in the vid! ;-) That was really cool, thanks for sharing that. (& now you can really see how FAR behiney I am!! But at least you can't photograph that - HA!
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