The road less traveled

We arrived in Galveston yesterday afternoon around 5:30. Took the back roads as usual. Lots of Bayous, Birds, Cattle grazing. We made one side trip to another wildlife preserve and walked and drove around that. Saw a bunch of alligators. Arrived at Galveston Island State Park and checked into our campsite. While not on the ocean it is about 200 ft away, across some sand dunes. Got camp set up and went for a walk on the beach. Did dinner and then frittered the rest of the evening away reading and catching up on pictures. Joyce keeps an extensive journal and it sometimes takes her over an hour to write it. While coming down the road she has a small notebook, and a pen, and that pen seems to be moving all the time. \

Galveston is on an island and coming from the north, the only way on is a ferry ride. These ferry hold about 60 cars each. We were checked by Home Land Security before we boarded the ferry. Mirror under the car, hood up, checking for bombs. I am surprised that they did not have bomb sniffing dogs and all that. But in all fairness, the were very polite and respectful. This ferry crossing was free and took about 15 minutes. While crossing, I got to see a bottle-nosed dolphin. It only appeared for an instant and then was gone. So now Joyce and I are even in the dolphin wars.

Today, we had planned to get up early and go out on the beach and watch sunrise. That did not happen. After finally getting around, we hit the beach. Joyce looking for shells, etc and me looking for some exercise. I walked about 3 miles at a brisk pace. Then back to camp and into Galveston. The Campground Host recommended that we go over to the harbor side and walk around. That we did. I missed my turn and went several streets north, but turned toward Harborside and we saw a large and ornate house known as Bishops Castle. Across the street was a Catholic Church. This was painted white and was quite striking. Walked around that neighborhood for a few blocks admiring the architecture . Drove on over to Harborside, parked and had lunch at Willie G's Seafood Resturant. When we walked in I knew it was going to be pricey, but since this was the first meal of this type we had eaten decided that we deserved it.

After that, we took a Harbor Tour that lasted about 45 minutes. Went down the Galveston Ship Channel and the pilot told us about the area and the things we were seeing. There were several deep sea drilling rigs in for updating of equipment. Man are those things big. Looked up and the people working on then seemed like ants. We did not see any dolphins today which the pilot said was unusal.

After that back home again. I have made a rough estimate on the gas mileage we are getting while pulling the camper. Can't find all the gas tickets, but know how much I have spent in gas. Using an average of $3.15 per gallon and we have driven 2080 miles since leaving home, I figure we are getting somewhere close to 18mpg. Not too bad. I expect it to decrease when we get into the hill country of Texas.

We will stay one more night here and leave Saturday morning. Plan to head inland toward San Antonio. Need to see the Alamo, and everyone says the hill country is gorgeous. Anyway, I have gotten tired of the flatlands and the coast.