Special Friends from the Road!

In our travels, we love to meet new people that share our love for travel and adventure. Occasionally, we also meet people that have the gift of hospitality and make us feel like old friends immediately. We met a couple with both those amazing attributes this summer at a campground in Glacier National Park. So when we had an opportunity to meet up with Judy and Dennis again in south Texas, we jumped at the chance. They invited us to Pioneer RV Campground in Port Aransas, where they have spent over 20 winters. It was so great to see them again!

We got a good tour of Pioneer Park, including lunch at the rec hall. We also found that we could get to the Gulf Coast beach without even leaving the park. Dennis and Judy took us for a golf cart ride over the boardwalk and onto the beach.

The day before, we had walked on the beaches close to the town and Port Aransas, and saw mostly family groups enjoying beach time. Now we are several miles out of town, and it is a totally different scene as the beach is crowded with college kids here. The swim suits are smaller and the drinks are bigger. It was definitely a less family-friendly atmosphere, but we enjoyed our ride down the beach.

We also drove their pickup to different parts of Mustang Island. It was great to have tour guides that have come to love this island over the last twenty years. They took us to a birding area, where the wooden boardwalk is no longer open to walkers. It's covered with plant debris and it might be a very long time before visitors can get to that tower in the background. Dennis and Judy don't usually come to the island until January, but this year they made a special trip down in the fall to help with the hurricane clean-up in their park.

They also took us to the waterfront park where they like to eat a picnic lunch. They pointed out that there is always something to watch here. Sure enough, we spotted a shore fisherman's reel, and we knew that the fish on the other end of the line must be big based on the bend of his pole. We had a front row seat in the man vs. fish battle, so it was fun to watch him bring in this huge black drum fish. The bad news is that this size drum can't be kept, so after the pictures were taken, he was sent back to the sea.

Our day together also included going to church with them at the service at their park. That was followed by the Sunday evening ice cream social. But this was a special Sunday, because they were celebrating birthdays and anniversaries for July, August, and September. Since our anniversary is in August, we qualified for a free scoop of ice cream and a piece of cake. Those scoops of Blue Belle Moo-llennium Crunch ice cream were monumental in size! Mark doesn't have to be force-fed sweets, but Dennis was helping him anyway.

Judy is a great cook, and she is so nice to share recipes with Denisa. We enjoyed the yummy dessert that she made for our visit--peanut butter rice krispie balls. It's one of our new favorite desserts, and she even sent some home with us!

They also taught us how to play a new board game, and invited us into a group with two other couples to play. We had a great day with Dennis and Judy, and we were sad when it was time for us to go home. It was the first time for us to ride the ferry back to the mainland in the dark. We watched the lights of Port Aransas getting smaller as we crossed the water of the canal, and we bid a fond farewell to our friends. We will definitely be making the point to cross their paths again!