Our 45th week started at the beach. We were on Port Aransas Island for the week between Christmas and New Year's. We had one last trip to say goodbye to 2020 and hello to 2021. We had Monday and Tuesday off work, worked Wednesday and Thursday then had Friday through Sunday off again. On Monday we woke up early and got to the beach to photograph and see our first sunrise.
We've obviously seen it get lighter outside in the morning, being adults who've worked early in the morning. We've just never actually watched the sun come up before and never photographed it. This was a perfect day to do both. We each took about 150 photos with different camera techniques. All the photos came out amazing and it was hard to choose just a few to work with in Lightroom to clean them up for posting. We went back to the campsite to eat breakfast, which we cooked in the outdoor kitchen and ate at the picnic table. We then drove to a big pier but they only took cash to be able to walk on it and we didn't have any so we went home and got the puppies. We drove to Corpus Christi and walked through the dog-friendly Botanical Gardens. They also have some big Macaws, a giant lizard and tortoise there. We went to the Orchid house,
butterfly house (where Drac got caught in the act of trying to catch a butterfly),
and the Cactus garden.
It was a really great place and only cost $9 per person. Drac also got busted smelling the orchids that have a strict "No Touch" policy.
Next we drove to the USS Lexington but it was not puppy friendly so away we went.
Lunch was Poke, we'd never tried it before and it was really good. It is basically deconstructed sushi. We ate parked at the waterfront and watched the waves. After a wonderful lunch we headed back to the campground to relax and watch a movie with the puppies while we edited the photos from the morning.
On Tuesday morning a nice maintenance guy alerted us that we had a water leak while the shower was running. We discovered that the pipe under our shower pan was broken and water has been leaking into the floor, likely since we bought the rig new in October 2019. We called the dealership and they stood by that since we discovered it after the warranty expired, they would not cover it and wanted $160 to diagnose the visibly broken pipe and then whatever it would cost to replace the plumbing and most likely the entire bathroom and possibly some of the kitchen floor. We called our insurance company and started a claim. We also put in a call to the manufacturer to see what they had to say about it, they were closed for the holiday. We treated ourselves to an amazing lunch at Tortuga's Salt Water Grill, that we again ate while parked in front of the ocean. We then had a brownie sunday from Desserted Island Ice Cream and took a drive 9 miles down the beach to take pictures and enjoy the sand and sun. It was in the mid-70s for most of the week. We played mini golf at Treasure Island Golf & Games. We chose the challenge course and challenging it was. Lots of uphill shots and caves with obstacles, there was even a staircase that you had to shoot down!
After playing golf we walked across the parking lot to the sand castle building and shopped for souvenirs and corals to set up my air plants that I had bought from Etsy sellers. They had a HUGE selection of coral. It made me hope that they were all found corals but there were a lot of big, perfect corals and that made me very sad thinking that they were likely harvested from a dying and much needed population. If you know of another way that doesn't involve taking them from much needed reefs, please let me know so that I can stop feeling sad about how many this one store had. Once we got home, we took the puppies back to the beach so Drac could go for another run. That puppy will only run in the sand or in the house. Take him to a dog park and he has no idea why you just removed his leash. He is the silliest.
Wednesday was a work day. Dom tried looking at the damage in the bathroom to see how bad it was. It looks bad. We will see what our insurance says about being able to repair versus the water damage being so bad that it is a total loss.
As a reward for our very Monday like Wednesday we went back to Tortuga with the puppies as they had a dog-friendly deck. We love supporting dog-friendly businesses! We ate outside and they were very good about seating parties 2 tables away from each other, sanitizing everyone's hands before entering the deck, and everyone wore a mask that was working and until the food arrived. We ate two large plates of crab crusted white bass. It was amazing. If you visit Port Aransas, definitely have at least one meal here and then jump across the street for some ice cream.
Thursday was our Friday at work. After work we continued our discussion about what our options are for each different outcome of the claims adjuster looking at our trailer and what the manufacturer might say. We are hoping for the best while planning for the worst. We may lose our home that we've lovingly upgraded and decorated in preparation for our trip criss-crossing the country and mountain biking in all the states. We came up with what we believe to be the best option, to rent a place for 6 months. Repairs could easily take that long with Covid keeping things to a crawl in repair shops and if it gets totalled we need time to think about what is next. We got take out from Fins and ate it overlooking the channel into the Port. The last time we ate here we got to watch three oil tankers coming in and out. This time I got to see a dolphin! Even though it was New Year's Eve, we didn't stay up late to kick 2020 out, we slept through the change over to bring a new and better 2021.
Friday we packed up and left the campground. When we got to the ferry they told us that due to low tide they couldn't take any RVs or fifth wheels. We had to turn around and take a 37 mile detour to Corpus Christi then 30+ miles back to where we would've gotten off the ferry and drove toward our Harvest Host to stay for the night. When we were about half an hour away, we still felt pretty good driving and the bathroom leak was weighing heavy on us so we decided to head straight to our final destination rather than dragging out the drive to two days. We drove from 9AM till 8PM to north Dallas and set up for the night.
Saturday was chore day with laundry, adjusting the trailer from our fast set up last night in the dark, and we went to the store for items to display my new air plants. I picked up two options, a wooden mermaid tail that hangs on the wall and some beach themed candle holders and sea glass. We decided to go with the candle holders and sea glass. I added the two pieces of coral that I bought on the island and they looked beautiful waiting for their new plant friends. We finished the day with showers at a friend's house and chili with fritos for dinner with homemade ice cream for dessert.
Sunday ended up being another chore day even though we expected to be able to relax before the work week. We are still happy to have been able to have time off and travel. We look forward to finding out what is going to happen with our RV and hope that we will have more information next week. See you here next week!