Texas rest stops need love, too.

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]

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.  

Photo by Teri

No, c'mon!  Not my backside!

Seriously, what is wrong with you?  Not my backside!

Honest, Chris, all the frontward pictures I took came out blurry!  It's like your frontside is a vampire.  Oh!  My mistake - here's a good one.




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.

"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.

By the 5000 watts of power vested in me by Cummins Onan®, I command thee to get out!

Women and RVs go together like coconut shrimp and hushpuppies.



Chris, Rachael, Annie, Denise, and Dawn.



Last minute substitution:  2nd from right = not Denise

Guess who drives:

• fifth-wheel
• Dolphin
• tricked-out conversion van
• monster class A

Denise and Dawn are the Cruzin2some, Rachael writes Me and Moonbeam, and Chris updates by Facebook.

The shark no longer blogs, apparently due to copyright infringement.

These women add the voom to the va va! Lunch was lively, and while Chris and I talked a little biology, the jocks mocked our nerdity. It was high school all over again.

Rachael stayed two nights at the lagoon. Mi laguna es su laguna. We were itching to get inside Moonbeam and check her out up close. There is not an ounce of fat on that rig; she is pure muscle. Every item has its place, and one place only.

Annie was glad to have Rachael's help with our generator.  They methodically tried several different approaches.





They touched things.

  They read the manual.

They joined spark plugs in prayer.



They cleansed the genny of bad spirits with sage.

They also used carburetor cleaner, which is like a sage bundle that you buy at Ace.  Just when we thought the spirits could only be assuaged by a licensed Cummins Onan® technician, Annie turned the elevation correction knob and the demons left the generator.

Although they changed the spark plugs (even the unchangeable one in the back), the new spark plugs made things worse.  They reasoned through the clues, tried each logical step, and the part that made no sense at all was the solution.

Thanks, Chris, Dawn, and Denise for meeting us in Port Aransas, and many thanks, Rachael, for sharing your time and expertise with us down here at the water.  It was our pure pleasure.


Gratuitous watery pictures: