Memories of a small island

There is something about coming to Corpus Christi that will always stir up memories of family. As I rode into town and across JFK Bridge onto Padre Island I couldn't help but think about the last few times I was here. There aren't many words that can describe how I felt coming over the bridge but I might start with nostalgic, lost or perhaps just sad. As I pulled up to my parent's old house I was filled with all the memories of the times I had spent here. Whenever I have come back here it feels incomplete. Perhaps because I don't have closure on this part of my life. Perhaps it is something else... 

My goal was to come here, sort out some issues that I have let slide for several years and retrieve a few belongings that I left here and mail them home. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right keys to the house and couldn't get in. This means that I will have to come back when I am done with my trip or I'll fly back here sometime after the Alaska leg. I am guessing that I will have to sort everything out before I go into Mexico. At least I know what I have to do and how long it will take and that I will have to plan to be here during the week, not the weekend. 

Once I left Denver I entered the world of "closing time". Nothing like being in a town full of chain restaurants (Chili's, Joe's Crab Shack, Outback, Applebee's, etc...) that close by 10:00 PM, but some close as early as 9. Not that I would be dining after 10, but I WOULD be looking for a beer at that time. Even the hotel on the beach closes at 10 - that is just ludicrous!

Now that I have made it to CC and done what I could, I feel as if I am about to just start the trip when I leave here tomorrow morning. The rest of the trip is a series of destinations, not a 1200 mile trip just to get to the first destination. Since Denver, my goal was to get to Corpus Christi. From here on out I will be taking my time, seeing the sights, not pushing on even when I am tired. I don't plan on riding 400 miles a day until I get to Canada, well... perhaps a day or two in Florida, but I may want to stop and see what is there (or skip the peninsula all together and save it for another day.

I don't know if anyone caught the small article in one of the papers the other day, but it struck me as one of the most ludicrous things that I have ever heard of. Officials in St Paul, MN plan to mix contraceptives with bird feed to reduce the local pigeon population and clean up the streets. Their claim is that they (the pigeons) make the buildings and the streets dirty when they crap all over them. This is being paid for by the tax payers... what next? Drilling for oil on our beaches? A Tea Cup Museum? A Mule Museum? (those last two REALLY were funded by they tax payer and ARE actual museums now).