Monday, 15 March 2021
We had some trouble on our early walks today at Lake Corpus Christi because Dexter found some deer. I saw at least 2 in my flashlight and had the impression of more. We had to turn around to get away from them, and it wasn't easy dragging the dogs away.
Based on the smell, there was a skunk nearby which Dext seemed to be ready to go look for. One of my biggest fears about my dogs meeting wildlife (aside from alligator encounters) is that they'll find a skunk and I'd have to figure out what to do with them while I dealt with the smelly result.
We heard a pack of coyotes yipping something fierce and really riling up my dogs, who apparently could understand them. And I heard an owl that I didn't see but am guessing was a Burrowing Owl, because the bird book says it's in this area during the winter and spring migration, and because its call is a "soft coo-coooo," so although what I heard was whoo-hooo, this bird book description is the closest to what I heard.
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| today's ... |
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I stopped for gas a few miles down the road at the town of Orange Grove, pop. 1,318. It was a busy Stripes/Sunoco, full of guys gearing up to go to work. There were 15 or 20 customers in the store, all looking like hard-working no-nonsense folks, and all but one of them had a mask on. I was stunned. I'd have figured these to be just the type to scorn masks and regard them as an unnecessary intrusion on their lives, but that's sure not what I saw in the store.
While I was driving around, I noticed that this courthouse has an unusual dome that seems to be made of metal because I thought it had a shine to it despite this being an overcast day. I can't find anything about the dome online, only that this courthouse, built in 1912, is the only one the county's had. The style is called Mediterranean revival with Prairie influences.
It was built in 1922 in what's called the classical revival style. I liked the palm tree and other plants that show its location in south Texas, which its building style certainly doesn't.
Today I saw 8 Trump signs/flags. Either he's not as popular down here, or these folks are more realistic than those farther north. Included in that total are 2 signs I saw in the Valley: one a large sign that said VIVA TRUMP, and the other a billboard that said "We Need Trump."
Visiting the county courthouse in Alice was more challenging than I expected. First off, there wasn't even a highway sign announcing the town, and since it has 19,104 residents I'd think it deserves one. Next, the official address on the internet for the courthouse turned out to be the side door, not the front, so I had to drive around the area a bit. And then I found the building was so surrounded by oaks I couldn't get a photo from the RV, so the dogs and I went for a walk around the block, which didn't hurt their feelings at all.
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| Jim Wells County Courthouse in Alice |
Because I had to take the photo at ground level, I couldn't get an angle that would make the dome visible - compounded by how overcast it was. I did the best I could editing the photo but it looks better in person.
On the courthouse grounds I saw a marker for the Great Western Trail. I think I mentioned this trail before, maybe in Kansas - it was the route for the huge cattle drives from south Texas to Nebraska. Apparently it went through Alice, though there was no explanation for the marker.
Alice is on very flat land, and seems to be an old, sort of tired, possibly poor town. It looked like the local economy is farm-based, but Wikipedia says au contraire, it's heavily based on the 100 different oil field companies located in the area. All I can say is, it doesn't look like it. Contrast with Midland, for instance.
I drove south on US 281, passing through more very flat land. Maybe a third to a half of the land was cleared and plowed for crops, and the rest was increasing amounts of cactus and scrubby trees, which I think are mesquite. Some of the trees are now fully leafed out, showing that spring green that I think is one of Nature's most beautiful colors.
South of Lake Corpus Christi, I didn't see a hint of any more lakes, but I crossed a number of creeks: Salado Creek, Jaboncillos Creek, Los Olmos Creek, Cibolo Creek, Baluarte Creek.
I passed a sign saying "Texas Citrus Zone - Unlawful To Enter With Plants." It turns out this is from a program by TX Dept. of Agriculture that aims to prevent the Mexican fruit fly from destroying Texas citrus plants. Aside from this quarantine area, it requires very strict labeling and record-keeping regarding citrus and related plants that are produced in the state. News to me.
Farther south I passed a fully-staffed Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspection Station. And some miles even farther along, I noticed an inspection station for northbound traffic. That one was extensive, including long covered areas for maybe half a dozen lanes of huge commercial vehicles. Maybe it's something to do with cross-border traffic enforcement?
I saw 2 calves playing together in a field and wondered why I never saw adult cows playing. Are they too bulky to play? Something for adult humans to keep in mind.
The day continued to be completely overcast and a little dark - a state of affairs that lasted all day, even down to South Padre Island, where visitors expect sunshine.
I took an exit labeled for San Manuel-Linn, which I thought meant they were 2 towns that had joined. But as far as I can tell from what I saw and from a little online research, they started out as separate towns, then joined together, and are now separate again. Or maybe the town started out being named San Manuel-Linn but is now simply Linn. I saw highway signs for both so apparently the highway department can't tell any better than I can. Either or both of them are unincorporated. At any rate, I passed a facility labeled "Chorizo de San Manuel" and wondered where their product is sold.
The road I was on to Raymondville - Texas Hwy. 186 - ran for 22 miles, and for almost all that distance half the road was closed for repaving. It made driving much more of a strain with so many miles in a construction zone.
I saw a sign saying I was on the Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail, and not having realized this area played much role in that war, I looked it up. The trail covers 5 counties in south Texas, from Brownsville to Laredo, and marks locations of serous conflict between the Union and the Confederacy over which side controlled the forts along the Mexican border, and in fact which side got to claim the border as its own for purposes of international trade. It's also the site of the last battle of the Civil War, taking place more than a month after Lee's surrender to Grant, a fact that both sides knew about - the essence of futility, in my book.
I passed a large field full of some crop I couldn't identify from the road, with many Hispanic men working there.
I passed the South Texas Chile Company, but their online presence consists of their logo, which tells me nothing.
Like Alice, the town of Raymondville didn't have a highway sign, but they have 11,284 residents. The town was named for the man who formed it, a land owner himself as well as a foreman at the famous King Ranch. Also like Alice, this town is a county seat, though the internet lied big time about its address, and I had to find the building on my own.
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| Willacy County Courthouse in Raymondville |
In town I saw a FAMSA furniture store and mention it because I don't remember seeing one in the US before. They're common in Mexico and I bought some appliances at the one in Cozumel.
I saw a car with a Michigan license plate delivering the mail to roadside mail boxes just outside of town.
Raymondville looked like an old, poor, dusty but very solid community. I mean, it seemed to have a strong community life to it, which is pretty important in a hometown.
Back on the road I found I was passing more buses than I usually see - at least 4 or 5 today. I think there's a substantial level of bus use by international travelers.
South of Raymondville I had to insist that Google let me get off the interstate and go on the business route. I wanted to see Harlingen, pop. 74,950, which I don't remember from my previous trips south. Their Valley Baptist Hospital is huge, but I didn't see anything remarkable about the town, which may be why I don't remember it from any other visit.
A sign told me I was now on the Texas Tropical Trail, and I was certainly seeing more palm trees.
Harlingen flowed into San Benito, "The Resaca City," they claim. I had to look it up and can tell you that a resaca is a sort of oxbow lake and, in this case, is an 80' wide river-like waterway that was once part of the Rio Grande until it was cut off. It's now the main water source for the area. San Benito has 24,250 residents, a fact I had to look up because, once again, there wasn't a highway sign. I can't help but wonder if the Texas Highway Dept. provides distinctly reduced funding for south Texas than for more northern (and more White) areas. Otherwise, why should there be so many towns down here that don't have the informative highway signs I've seen elsewhere in the state?
By my unscientific counting, about 85% of the radio stations in the area are Spanish-speaking.
Los Fresnos, which does have a highway sign, has a population of 5,522. Nearby is the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park. A major conflict in a border dispute here in 1846 resulted in the Mexican-American War. According to the National Park Service, "The battle was the first in a two-year long war that changed the map of North America." An accurate statement, given that the result was the US acquiring all of California and most of Arizona and New Mexico. Texas had declared its independence in 1836 and, in 1845, was accepted into the US as a state so, by the war's end in 1848, there'd been a substantial change of hands in real estate between the US and Mexico.
I passed one of the entrances to the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which I'd like to visit when I'm here with more time. It's 98,000 acres of protected natural habitat - the largest such area remaining in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. It's a bi-national site, with part of it in Mexico, and the 2 areas host more than 100,000 shorebirds every year. Wouldn't have been able to see much today, though.
By the time I got to Laguna Vista, pop. 3,117, the ceiling had gotten down to the ground. Definitely not a sunny Spring Break day down here.
Port Isabel, pop. 5,006, is at the tip of the land across from South Padre Island. From there, the Queen Isabella Bridge and Causeway begins across the southern end of Laguna Madre. I passed a sign with bright flashing lights saying, "WATCH FOR PELICANS." I don't know why, but they were really insistent about it.
The KOA was almost immediately on the other side of the bridge. And although the sky was still heavy with clouds, at the campground it was muggy, windy and warm, where I'd have expected it to be cold based on the weather. So yeah, it's not sunny, but it's warm for people on Spring Break.
This was the first campground I've seen in a long time that didn't mention a word about an alcohol policy and wondered if it were because people come here to party? Even the private campgrounds, like this one, ask people not to wander off their campsites with alcoholic beverages, but not here.
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