Surprise! We saw a rocket launch!

We had been planning to take Denisa's Mother, Betty, and our friend, Barbara, on a trip to South Padre Island. We had been watching the forecast for the best weather day. We found the best forecast, and we made the 1.5-hour drive to the island to arrive in time for lunch. We picked a trendy cafe on the bay, but we found they didn't open until 4 p.m. So we ended up at Pier 19 for lunch instead.

During our 15-minute wait for a table, we noticed large groups of people staring across the bay. We also saw binoculars and big-lens cameras. What's going on?

That's when we found out the SpaceX launch site on the other side of the bay was planning to launch one of their experimental rockets today. We are sad to say that we didn't bring our good camera or our binoculars. What we could see with the naked eye (and photograph with a cell phone) were two tiny towers on the other side of the bay. They don't look too big from here, but each starship is around 160 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter. 

We got a better view when Mark found the SpaceX web site that was doing a live feed. One view showed the shape of the two rockets in the launch area. We found that the original projected time for the launch had been 11:00 a.m. But by the time we arrived, it had been postponed several times. The current projected launch time was now 1:00 p.m. Good! That will leave us time for lunch before the launch.

A different camera on the live feed showed a more detailed view of the 15-story rockets. It was hard to tell at this point, but it is the rocket on the right that will be launched today. That's Starship 9, often abbreviated as SN9. On the left hand side of the live feed, we see the steps that must be taken before the launch happens. Today they have already accomplished things like "Village Cleared" and "Final Checkouts." Now at T 34 minutes and 29 seconds and counting, they are doing "Propellant Loading."

At 2:21, we are in the "Engine Chill" step--the last step before launch. Now we can see the smoke to verify that it is the rocket on the right-hand side that will be launched.

Finally, at 2:25 we saw the fire under the rocket . . .

and the crowd began to clap as the starship came off the ground.

From our seats on Pier 19, we could see the bigger view as the rocket climbed out of the smoke. Because light travels faster than sound, it was about now that we actually heard the rumble and roar of the lift-off.

We're one minute into the flight, and the live-feed web site is giving close-up views of the rocket in the air.

But it was fun to see the cell phone picture of that tiny rocket at the top of the photo below, in relation to the ground below.

The mission today is for SN9 to rise 6 miles into the air, and then turn around and come back to the launch site. At the top of the flight, we saw an engine firing to turn it around.

We're five minutes into the flight, and the rocket is now in a horizontal flight pattern back towards earth.

Engines are firing again as the rocket rotates from horizontal back to vertical with its tail end towards the ground. In a perfect flight, the SN9 will set back down on the launch pad in the same position it lifted off.

But we watched as it over-rotated as it neared the ground . . .

and at 2:31, it hit the ground and erupted into a huge fireball! In the close-up shot, we can see debris flying through the air as the stainless steel starship blew apart on impact.

A few seconds later, we could hear the explosion that we had just witnessed.

Listening to the live commentary from the web site let us know that this ball of flames was not a disaster. It was just another learning experience in this space experiment. These are un-manned rockets for a reason! We felt like our day was already a success. We had a fresh sea food lunch and watched a rocket launch. What else could we do while we were on the island? Well, we had a couple of women using canes that decided they wanted to become mermaids. They needed help getting up the four steps to get behind the photo screen, but we got pictures of both of them.

Denisa opted for the easier photo opportunity, on the over-sized adirondack chair at Pier 19.

We narrowly escaped a pirate ship coming ashore at Pier 19. We were glad when they started churning mud on this shallow part of the bay, and turned to leave. That was a close one!

The weatherman was right about his forecast for beautiful weather today! We enjoyed a blue-sky walk on the beach next.

We always go to one of the free beach entrances on South Padre Island. But today we splurged and paid to get in the county park at the southern tip of the island. This park was super crowded today, as this is the closest location to the actual rocket launch site. Cars were streaming out of the park as we were driving in, so the beach wasn't crowded by the time we got there.

We've been to a lot of beaches, and our favorite footwear is our old crocs. They are easy to rinse to remove the sand, and they make a great "basket" for holding and then rinsing the sea shells that Denisa always picks up.

We rarely keep the sea shells we pick up. But we almost always use them to spell something. Today we spelled "SPI" for South Padre Island.

Our cane-wielding chaperones today stayed on the boardwalk, but seemed to enjoy the ocean waves and the beach views.

Our next stop was at the sand sculptures displayed at the park in downtown Padre. We knew there were Christmas sand sculptures, but we thought that display ended in January. So we were pleasantly surprised to find that most of it is still alive and well.

Masks are required to enter the tent that helps to protect the sculptures from the weather.

Masks can also be seen in the first display. Here a grizzled old man with missing teeth, crutches, and a broken arm (holding on to a roll of toilet paper) represents 2020. He is wishing, "Good luck, Kiddo . . ." to the baby of 2021, who is holding on to a masked-up teddy bear with a Covid insignia.

Some of the displays are going through an overhaul. This fireplace Christmas scene is changing to a Valentine tree and hearts for February. For a donation you can have your message added to a sand heart.

We saw a picture of the Santa Claus sand statue . . .

that has been re-purposed into a pirate captain.

It was a nice stop on a nice day on a nice island in February!

We always stop at the South Padre Island Dairy Queen for ice cream before we leave the island. Then we made a stop in Port Isabell for fresh shrimp. We're already planning a peel-and-eat shrimp feast for tomorrow! The sun was setting on our drive home. It was a great day, especially because we were surprised by the rocket launch. If we would have eaten lunch at our planned restaurant, we would have surely missed seeing the launch. Thanks for the surprises and the memories South Padre Island!

RV Park Life - Covid-style

We are very close to our destination for the next month, but we are aiming for a specific arrival date. So we had one more campground stop.  We found a Passport America park with half-price rates just north of Edinburg, Texas. We had one evening at Lazy Palms Ranch RV Park to check out their facilities. They advertise that they have country living at its best, and this is a peaceful place to spend the winter. We have to agree that it is quiet here because it is in the middle of no where. We checked out the park's stocked fish pond on this beautiful blue-sky day.

Since Denisa has been taking pictures of birds for the last three days, of course she had to take a photo of the resident ducks at our RV park.

Unlike all those birds at the state park, this flock is leaving duck egg calling cards in the grass around the pond.

We are seeing our first example of what the Covid pandemic has done to the south Texas RV parks. This is where people come from up north to spend the entire winter season, enjoying fun activities with friends. But the swimming pool was closed, and all the activities have been canceled. The recreation hall was locked up, and it felt like a ghost town in a park that normally is busy. We certainly don't like the changes that Covid has brought to this RV park! 

We left the next morning for our last motor home drive for a while. We pulled into Bentsen Grove RV Resort in Palmview, Texas, the next morning.

We're in our usual site on 6th street, because Denisa chooses her site based on the kind of fruit trees around it. As soon as the motor home was backed in and hooked up, she was outside picking fruit. We have four different trees on our lot--a large lemon, a tiny tangerine, and two orange trees. We can tell that it was a dry summer, because our oranges aren't nearly as juicy as they should be. We're also sad to report that two of our other orange juice trees were cut down since last season. We assume that had to do with the damage from the hurricane that pounded this area last fall.

Denisa's Mother is the reason that we have spent time at this park for the past six winters. She has been coming here for 36 winters. So a stop at Bentsen Grove Resort means that we get to spend time with her.

If we run out of fruit at our camp site, Mother has more fruit at her place. She has a young navel orange tree that is producing well this year.

Her old tangerine tree in the back yard is full of the sweetest tangerines we have ever tasted.

Unlike the tiny cuties that we see in the grocery store, some of these tangerines are literally a hand-full.

We love being able to eat all that citrus fresh off the tree! That might be our main source of entertainment this month. Just like at Lazy Palms Ranch, most of the activities we enjoy at Bentsen Grove have been canceled. No music shows, no dances, no card-making class, no line dance class . . .  In fact, a very active resident of the park tested positive for Covid on the day that we arrived. That caused even the limited meals and activities to come to a halt. What terrible timing for us! So we are happy to be living where it is warm and the citrus fruit is ripe for the picking. But we aren't enjoying the changes to the RV park life that Covid is causing.

This has never happened before on a travel day!

It's another travel day on our long trip to the southern tip of Texas, and something happened that we have never experienced in our six years of RV travel. We're ready to leave Choke Canyon, and we will say it again--we're big fans of the Texas state park system. This is another great park with nice level spacious camp sites. We would have stayed longer if they weren't completely booked up for the weekend. Because of the sighting of the rare Spotted Rail, they had a full campground even during the week. While camped here, it was fun to see the deer and javelinas walking right by our picnic table.

Besides the animals walking through our campground, there are plenty birds flying overhead. A very popular bird blind is just a few steps away from our camp site, and Denisa visited it every day. She loves spotting interesting birds like this cedar waxwing with his cool sunglasses and pompadour hairdo.

We were there long enough to figure out the feeding schedule at the bird blind. The birding host fills the feeders around 7:30 a.m. That's when those obnoxious grackles swoop in to scare off all the cute birds. They really do have terrible bird feeder manners, and aren't good at sharing!

A few medium-sized birds will fly in for a quick bite, but those grackles dominate the food for the first part of the morning.

Then the red wing black birds take over the feeder. Denisa loves a bird with a good descriptive name like that.

These volunteers know their clientele. Besides seeds, they also leave citrus for the fruit-loving birds like the green jays.

Mrs. Cardinal preferred the bird seed, 

while Mr. Cardinal was trying a grapefruit for breakfast.

No, none of these bird sightings have anything to do with our "never-happened-before-on-a-travel-day" experience. Just in case you would think that Denisa only takes pictures of birds, we include a photo of one of our campground neighbors.  This space-ship-like trailer pulled in for a two-night stay so its occupants could see that rare Spotted Rail.  When we googled the "Bowlus Road Chief " trailer name, we found it had a surprising price tag. These trailers range in price from $190,000 to $240,000. Wow!

It's a light-weight trailer,  and they are towing it with a Tesla electric car. Double Wow! But no, this has nothing to do with our "never-happened-before-on-a-travel-day" experience.

After three days at Choke Canyon State Park, we're now on the road again. We're driving a section of the south Texas highway that we have seen many times before. We realized that we took no pictures as the scenery changed from mesquite and live oak trees into palm trees. We really like Texas highways, with their wide shoulders and smooth pavement. From driving all over this country, we see that Texas has some of the best maintained highways in the United States. In fact, we talked about how nice the roads were today. 

So we were really surprised when something happened that we had never experienced before. After two and a half hours on the road, we saw that our roll of paper towels hanging in the kitchen had completely unrolled. We guess that smooth undulating highway provided just the right rhythm to make that happen. After six years of driving our motor home down the road, we're still experiencing firsts. We didn't say that it was an exciting first--just a first. 

Yes, it doesn't take much to impress us. Whether it's fun birds, unusual RVs, or a roll of paper towels, we're still in awe of how much fun we have in our full-time RVing life-style.