March 2020

Ray flew in from Palm Springs CA for a quick visit in early March.  We spent two nights on South Padre Island. Our weather was warm but very foggy for our visit.  We had dinner at our hotel on the first night as Ray came in late in the afternoon. Tuesday was so foggy that we just took a long morning walk after breakfast. Hung by the hotel and dock by the beach for the afternoon.  It was not warm enough to hang on the beach or at the pool.  It was a great day to catch up without any distractions. Tuesday is $5 Burger day at Bar Louie at the Courtyard.  Fabulous burgers and an OK Happy Hour. Wednesday after our morning walk we went to find an Eco Boat Tour.  One was going out at 11:00.  there was only 9 of us and no kids!  It was still a bit foggy but a great boat ride.  The staff drags a net behind the boat to collect samples of sea creatures for us to look at!

not sure what this was called ( Spanish Dancer) but it had an ink sack and managed to get ink all over her

Puffer fish

Puffer fish all puffed up!

looking for dolphins.  we seen about 6 of them, with some riding our waves.

Afterwards we headed to SpaceX and Boca Chica.  The tide was too high for us to drive on the beach.  There was a lot of activity at SpaceX, must be getting ready for a launch. They had an incident a few days ago.  They were pressurizing a rocket when it exploded, with parts landing on the WLR.  oops....  They have to get a crane to get the pieces off of the refuge.

We said our goodbyes to Ray at his hotel in Harlingen.  Its always great to catch up in person.  We enjoy spending time with him.

Bushwhacking around the Bahia,

Some of the cacti are in bloom!

A brand new sign was being installed at Bahia Grande.  This unit is not open to the public, our job is to keep people off.  But they plan on opening it soon to bikers and hikers.  Adding a parking lot and now a sign.  We don't think it will be open by the time we leave.

Our days off was spent in the Mission area.  Our final trip west..  We went to look for the Red Billed Pigeon, and we found it!!  We looked for the Elf Owl, and we found it!!  We met up with Kim and Fred for lunch and then a bit of "talking" time on their new deck.  Great afternoon catching up with friends is the Best!

We had one last volunteer trip, this one was a night tram ride in the refuge.  About 30 people participated, it was fun taking the tram through the refuge.  We left at about 7:00 and returned after dark about 9:00.  We looked for Owls but no luck.  Great to catch up with other volunteers.

In the time of Coronavirus (COVID-19).  Social distancing and self quarantining is now a major way of life.  Everyday the news gets more serious and alarming.  Stores are running out of toiletries and food as people are stockpiling.  We were reducing our food supply down to zero as we are planning on leaving here soon and without the RV.  But we had to do a bit of shopping and stock our shelves with some dried and canned food.

There was a line to get into the grocery store (H.E.B.)  as one person came out one could go in.  By the time we got there they were out of TP but we were able to get a few things we needed.  No lines at checkout made the shopping pretty quick.

As of March 18th we did not have any confirmed cases of the virus in Cameron county.  A lot of our Winter Texans are moving out especially the ones from Canada.  Most resorts have canceled all activities.

We don't have too much trouble social distancing!  Our birding keeps us walking outside and pretty much away from people.  We only have 4 volunteers left in the refuge and they too canceled all programs.

March 19 we have one infected person, a 21 year old that came from Spain.  He had no contact with anyone and has been quarantined in the hospital since he arrived.

Back to work...

cactus are in bloom

The Prickly Pear cactus has a few colors

Yellow

Salmon/Orange

Redish

This was our last trash pick up!!

March 20, the Governor of Texas closed all restaurants to eat in..  We ordered dinner from our favorite restaurant in Port Isabel, Joe's Seafood.

March 21: Our final day of volunteering and our final night in the RV....

Its been a great journey , our volunteering but we are done..  Who knows what the next chapter will bring?  We have enjoyed the last 10 years volunteering and on the road. We will miss our little house on the road, we have had a lot of good times, memories, met some great people, ate some great food and really enjoyed our journey.

March 22, we moved to the Island for 3 weeks.  A small condo/studio right next to the Sea Turtle on the north end of the Island.  It took us 2 trips to get everything out, we plan on only bringing about or less than half of the stuff back to Wisconsin on April 12.

Pool is closed.... but sure does look inviting

March 23 we took the RV to the Consignment dealer in La Feria.  It was a fun 6 years in our "little house".

The Island is very quiet, the road is empty, the beaches are empty and our favorite birding spots are empty.  Restaurants are still open for take out. We are attempting to carry out at least once a day to help the locals.  Its not much but its about all we can do.  On Thursday we did a "beach" day.  Ordered a delicious hamburger from Claytons then enjoyed it on the beach with all of the Laughing Gulls trying to get a french fry.  There were 4 other people sitting on the beach, a few walking and a couple in the water.  The wind was coming from the south at about 30 mph so the sand was Everywhere..  the water was warm but with riptides we did not in over our calves.

We began our trip here on the Island with temps in the mid 90's.  Unusual for the temps to be so high this time of year and unusual for the temps to be this high on the island.

Sunday March 29, we went to the beach for a sit and relax but... the police came by to say we can not sit.. we are able to walk but not sit.. We don't get a lot of local news especially on the weekend.  Not sure when it went into effect.  Yesterday plenty of people were sitting on the beach when we went for a late afternoon walk.

Our neighbor sent us these pictures on March 25th

These two on March 30th

What a difference!  The snow should be gone by the time we get home...

We are really hoping to leave South Padre Island on April 12.  Obviously it all depends on what happens with this virus and the shutting down of the country.

Some of our restaurants in the area have now closed.  We assumed that once they ran out of food they would close.  No sense in ordering food that might get thrown away.

We will see what April has in store.