New Orleans Road Trip - Day 15

We were on the road out of La Porte by 7:58 this morning. We found good gas prices but had to go to 3 stations before we found one that was open. It was at Krogers where gas was $3.139. A sign over the supermarket promised even more savings if you bought something starting with each letter of the alphabet. Well, no, we don't actually know what was involved in their extra di$count but it did promi$e up to $1 off per gallon. The song playing at the pumps was the immortal country and western song “A Man Can Always Stand a Little More Horsepower”.

We took the Independence Trail to the San Jacinto Monument. There was no traffic and when we got several hundred feet away from the monument the road was blocked off. It was 8:40 a.m. and they would not be opening until 9:00 a.m. We took some photos from where we were parked and could tell that the mosquitoeshadt received the message that fresh meat was available. So we decided to forego getting any closer to the Monument and the battleship on this trip. There would be other warships to see.

Next we got on the Sam Houston Tollway for $1.50 which seemed to be a good deal. The road was smooth and clean and the traffic was flowing smoothly. After 9 or 10 miles we came to another toll booth where they also collected $1.50 from us. A few more miles down the road there was yet another toll booth. After the third toll booth we were not so impressed with the nice smooth road. It does seem like that part of Texas has figured a way to bring in some money that doesn't involve oil. From the toll road, we took Texas Hwy 59 south.

At Wharton we dropped off Highway 59 to go on Highway 60 to Bay City. At Bay City we took Highway 35 and headed to Port Lavaca for lunch. It was a Whataburger, onion rings and diet Dr. Pepper at lunch for John. Linda had a grilled chicken salad and a diet Dr. Pepper. There was beginning to be more and more water everywhere. First we passed over a Bayou named Howzit. It seemed like only minutes later that we came upon another bayou named Kinisit. By 11:00 we were going over the Colorado River. After Palacios we stayed on Highway 35 until getting onto I-37 in Corpus Christi.

Soon we were in Corpus Christi, home of the original Whataburger stand, and we found our La Quinta lodging, right on I-37 by about 2:30. John got settled and started processing photos. Linda took Fannie Mae for a walk and then did a couple of loads of laundry at the La Quinta guest laundry facilities.

For dinner we went in search of Scuttlebutts, a seafood place that John found on the internet and it had good reviews and a nice menu. It was out on South Padre Island, a 22 mile drive from our lodging. When John put the address into Wilma's navigation system, she came up with two listings. John picked the first one. Wilma diligently directed us to South Padre Island. We should have become suspicious when we went past a sign that warned that no gas was available past that point. The cars and signs of civilization got scarcer and scarcer. Then Wilma said “Destination ahead in ¼ mile (pause) on the right”. Then shortly she said “Destination!” and there was nothing in sight except a field and a dark road. Oops! So we headed back towards the bright lights and eventually found Scuttlebutts. Had John picked the second choice that Wilma had presented, all this would have been avoided. Scuttlebutts was a lively place with live music and good food. John had iced tea, blackened shrimp with fried okra and jalapeno hushpuppies. Linda had water, blackened ahi tuna with wasabi, grilled asparagus and spinach.

Funny business signs seen today were LaCarPorte.Com (a used car lot in La Porte), Curl Up 'N Dye (beauty shop, not a rest home) and a combo Bikini & Snow Cone stand.

The back roads we took to stay off the interstate highway were not as scenic as the ones we went on yesterday but we still enjoyed being closer to the crops and seeing homes and businesses along the way.

There are just a few photos in today's photo gallery, but you can enjoy those by clicking here.