Route 87 - ON the water

I traveled from the Houston area down to Bolivar Peninsula. This peninsula was wiped out by a hurricane in 2008. It was only a Class 2 hurricane, and many people stayed. But... there was a water surge which came up on one side of the peninsula, across it, and took everything off the other side. I don't know how many people died - in fact I have heard they have no idea, but most of the houses and businesses were gone. There are new houses going up all over the peninsula - lots of realtor and contractor business. Even now, there are billboards advertising insurance and making claims. From the campground on Bolivar Peninsula I traveled to Galveston by Rte 87. This consists of driving to the end of the peninsula and taking the ferry across the bay to Galveston to continue your travel on Rte 87 - paved 87. And of course, the ferry operates 24 hours, because what highway do you know that closes down at night? The ferry was fun. I saw dolphins swimming with the boats, and playing around in the water, and lots of pelicans. Did you know the abundance of pelicans in the southern climates, is the reason there are so many babies there? The whole process is more complicated in the northern climates.

Galveston (Oh, Galveston...) also was hit by the 2008 hurricane. Flood waters were about 8' high. The city lost many, many live oak trees over 100 years old. The carving of trunks left by the storm became big business. You can see carvings all over the city. The Tin Man stands in front of the house of a director?/producer? of the Wizard of Oz. In 1900, the city was also hit by a hurricane. At that time they raised the city 4-5 feet. You can see many beautiful old homes that have 4' windows ending at the ground - the actual first floor - and tiny outside doors.

 
I then went to League City for rig care and attention. While there I ran into some inclement weather. I was out and it continued pouring, and roads were flooding, and there were tornado warnings and some touchdowns close by. I thought I should head back before the roads were impassable, although running to a campground with tornado warnings wasn't exactly appealing. I went from shopping center to shopping center until I found a point where I could keep my little car above water, and made it back, and stayed safe and sound.

While in League City, I checked with RVing Women to see if there were any activities in Texas. A rally was scheduled for the coming weekend not far away. So I meandered over to Bandera to join the Texas Rambling Roses for a rally. It has been fun, and I have met some great people. I'm guessing there were maybe 25 rigs, and a number of daytrippers. We were also joined by a CBS filming crew interested in featuring women driving their RVs around this country, as well as others close by. So, in a couple weeks, watch the new CBS Early Show (or whatever it's called) to catch this group.

In this area we visited a museum, church, eateries, drinkeries and stores. I bought a visor which is cow hair and rhinestones -yeeeeee, haw! I also learned a new card game, but not very well, since I didn't come back with any of my money. I toured a number of towns. I walked the streets (NO!!!!) of Boerne, checking out the older buildings. Then I went through Welfare, and was looking for Comfort, but ended up in Waring. My favorite little town was Center Point, which had 3 blocks of town, and a Memorial Park. Some of us stayed a couple extra days, and played more games, had more conversation, etc. I'm getting ready to mosey on down to the Gulf Shore again tomorrow.