This is the Whaling Wall at the South Padre Island Convention Center and was painted by the famous artist, Wylan. As colorful as this building is, it doesn’t compare to the colorful folks that we met while camping out on the island. Lets start with “Rhino” – if you closed your eyes, you would see “Shrek” – and Rhino did admit that he was an ogre.! His dog is a large white pit bull who doesn’t know she is a pit bull. “Baby” looks just the dog on little rascals – complete with the large patch on her eye! Oh, yes – Rhino does call his girlfriend “Fiona”. And she looks it! Rhino’s home is a very old 16ft camping trailer that is covered with a large blue tarp. His living room is the space cornered by the big gray shelf units full of his “stuff”. Piles of mesquite wood, his ladders and bike anchor the tarps! Then there is Bill the hermit crab. His “home” is a 12ft Scamp trailer which looks like a little bubble. Bill is by himself and spends his days in the trailer- alone. He comes out first thing in the morning and then again to go at supper time to get a “to go meal” and eats it in his bubble – alone. By the end of the week, he was joining the “sunset group:” and even talking with us some. Joel and Carol are from the U P of Michigan and are the “Greeters” of the neighborhood! Great folks who were a big help on learning the area. Joel knits and gave me a hand knitted dishrag as a going away gift. Carol taught me how to cro-knit !! It would be nice to hear from them again.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND BEACH

It was - - - H just said "IS" a pretty beach ! And now I need to condense a weeks worth of camping into this short space!

Lots of seashells, lots of pretty sunsets and lots of VERY colorful folks that we camped next to and near! More about them next blog.

Dial up takes forever to download and there is always a lineup for the phones here at Sunshine RV Resort ! - bye for now - Pool time !

PORT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE

And, YES - we climbed it ! Much narrower than

the Marblehead lighthouse too !! Open grated steps with only a handrail on one side and part of the assent/ desent was by ladder. But we made it.

Our unsecured wifi connection that we found on the beginning of our stay at the island was lost on Saturday so we went thru wifi withdrawel for the rest of our stay.

Our bikes now have 50 more miles on them, however, we found that riding to "town" on them was much easier than riding back home because the wind was ALWAYS in our face and much stronger on our way back to the campground.

We learned to go to MacDonald's for ice cream after sunset , when the winds settled down a bit.

We have moved back off the island to a RV resort in Harlingen Texas. H thought the wifi was free here and it's not so we are doing the "ole" dial up connection at the library in ONE of the three activities buildings . I will add more soon, but it takes a long time to blog on a dial up.

FRIDAY ON THE ISLAND

We're finding our way around the island today ! We visited the turtle rescue place and learned lots about turtle nesting and turtle rehab. They care for injured turtles and then if possible release them back into the wild. Was fun feeding this rascal. Glad the glass was there - - - - check out that beak !!

It's windy always, and even more so during the afternoons! We rode out bikes 5 miles to get to this place and then uphill, into the wind ALL the way back to the campground.

We tryed the public transportation which works great ! The price is right ( free ) and it goes right by Walmart.