Today was a really fun day.  It started off on a sour note as we had a slow leak on one of our front tires and it made me nervous to think about driving until I had it fixed.  The left front tire was down to 80 lbs from a normal 100 lbs.  

The park host had a name of a tire man that services the area and when I called first thing this morning he said that they would send a man right out as they had a lull in work.  Sure enough out he came and found out that the leak was in the valve stem.  Fixed it and no more worries.

So the fun part.  We spent the entire day on Galveston Island.  A true island about 45 sq. miles.  Two miles wide and something like twenty five miles long.  It was really surprising how compact it was.  But a thriving port city with lots of tourist sites to explore.

Ok here is what we did.  Kids you will have to start building “Duck Boats” with your lego sets (see picture).  We stepped aboard the Duck and proceeded to drive down main street all the while hearing about the rich history of the area.  Then all of a sudden the driver turned onto a boat ramp, changed the motor from tires to a propeller and off we went into the harbor.  Really a fun experience.

The Duck is an original relic from WW2 when they used them to ferry troops to and from their mother ship.  Now they are used all over the US for tourist transport.  Anyway what fun.  All the way the driver gave his running commentary on the history of the land.  As well as stopping frequently in his dialog to wave at a car and give them a “quack quack” over the PA system.  Really hilarious.

When we finished with the tour we asked him where the locals would go for lunch.  He recommended Shrimp N Stuff.  A great little low key restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed our first taste of real Southern classics:  a bowl of shrimp gumbo and a catfish PoBoy.  Both delicious.

From there we drove/walked all over the island.  I especially wanted to check out the ferry to the mainland as that is the way we will leave sometime tomorrow.  If traffic allows we might also have breakfast on the breakwater.

Speaking of the breakwater.  It looks like it could be easily 20 miles long with parking and access to the beach equally that long.  A boardwalk goes that far as well so there are lots of people out bike riding, skating, running.  It reminds me of the boardwalk at Santa Cruz.  This kind of lifestyle really speaks to me and I guess I missed my calling by not staying in San Diego when we were first married. 

The Park we are staying at is a real find again.  But really scary getting to as we had to totally trust “Mag” our Magellan GPS.  We went through some really narrow streets to finally turn the corner to find a perfect spot on the water named Galveston Bay RV Resort.  We got a prime spot and as usual when we get a nice park we are reluctant to move on.  But the road calls us to places unexplored to the east.

Until then we miss  y’all lots and every minute of each day we wish that we could share more of our travel days with you.

With love

Gary/Papa/Grandpa

PS  Jill, we sent you a pic of the rigging on a real tall ship so you can spend the next month helping on Elliott’s project.  Have fun :)