Hit the Road Tomorrow

Location: New Rockdale RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

I'm ready to pull out tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be camped on the banks of the Arkansas River in an area just east of Little Rock, Arkansas. I'll have to go much farther north to find the 70 degree line that Joe Debusk (RIP) and I joked about before I initially hit the road.  Sadly, even all the way to North Dakota, that 70 degree line may be night time temperatures instead of daytime. Luckily, there are no major storms predicted for the areas I plan to visit. It seems all clear for at least three weeks. I will be in Tornado country and even though the peak tornado season ends in a few weeks, I will stay alert to them. 

It has taken longer than expected to get everything ready to travel. I guess if I hadn't taken so many breaks, it would have been shorter. But, Freedom and Liberty are at the point where they can hit the road in about 20 to 30 minutes after I start the hitch-up process. One of these days I need to document the hitch-up and set-up process for the blog. Some people that are planning to RV may find it interesting.

Liberty's tires did good while being stationary. Over the last 13 months, they have lost less than 5 psi. I aired two of them back up to 70 psi the other day and will top off the other two after bringing the slide in. I have a great Kobalt air compressor. It easily airs up Freedoms rear tires to 80 psi which is the highest amount for all of the tires on Freedom and Liberty. One feature I love on the Kobalt is being able to set the desired psi and walk away while it airs up the tire. This allows me to do other things while it is working. It runs on 120 volt or 12 volts. The Temperature/Pressure Monitoring System on Liberty's tires allows me to check the air pressure by using the wireless monitor. Once I turn it on, it will give me the temperature and pressure of all the tires in about 2 to 3 minutes. Thinking about it, those are two "lazy man" options for sure.

The plastic "squirrel cage" (blower fan) in Liberty's front (bedroom) air conditioner went kaput (another term youngsters may have to ask an older person about) a couple of weeks ago. I got lucky and was able to find a replacement on Amazon and received it in about a week. Many of the web sites I checked said the part was on back order for weeks if not months, so I was really lucky. That's the first time I've been on the roof in a long time. While up there, I checked all the caulked locations and they looked to be doing OK. I cleaned the fins on the A/C I worked on but not on the main A/C. Afterwards I heard about something called "rinse-free cleaning foam" but didn't feel like setting the ladder back up so I'll take care of that chore this fall.

The black plastic is what broke. Oh well, it's fixed now.

I don't like climbing the ladder that came with Liberty so I use my telescoping ladder. It's tied off so it can't slide sideways and the pool noodles work well at protecting the surface. 

Freedom was feeling left out so I bought her some new tires. The existing tires were within one year of expiring and had another 10,000 miles of tread left but I decided to be "safe than sorry". When I was young, dumb and broke I rode tires until they were nearly bald. Since I'm no longer "10 feet tall and bullet-proof", I don't do that anymore.

I'm a little more concerned about violence in the larger cities than I have been in the past. I've driven Freedom and Liberty through many of the largest cities in the country over the years without a problem. I used to joke about the way to drive in big cities was to turn the music up load to drown out the gunshots and check for bullet holes once I got to the campground. The way things are going in the country now-a-days, I think I'll be a little more cautious. I'll revert to my old ways and start carrying something (equalizer) on the floorboard like I used to do. I had become complacent during the last couple of trips and keep it in storage under the bed. Not any more.

Sorry for the rambling, but this helps document the process of getting ready. I promise more pictures of the trip, campground and Arkansas River in the next post.  

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.      

Trip Philosophy; Leave on July 18th

 Location: New Rockdale RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

When I'm traveling, I can usually be ready to pull out of a campsite in about 30 minutes. This time it is taking me about 3 weeks. I hope to get back to the 30 minute time on this trip. One thing I've learned since traveling is that all RV'ers are different in terms of how they travel, where they camp, how long they stay and what they do while camped. I've mentioned my way of RV'ing before in this blog, but feel the need to repeat it. I decided from the beginning of my travels to move campgrounds often. Moving every three to four days seems to suit me well. Normally, at the beginning of my trip planning, I'll pick a destination located far away and begin to choose campgrounds, roughly along the route, located about 150 to 200 miles apart. Rarely is this route a straight shot to the destination. Once I decide on a campground, then I'll look around the area for things to explore. This may seem backwards, but I've discovered that there are things to explore just about everywhere, so the campground type and location is more important. Usually, I'll have one or two things to explore within about 50 miles of the campground. It has been my belief that the number 1 & 2 things at the next stop are usually better than the number 3 & 4 things at my current stop. With this in mind, I'll show up at a campground in the afternoon of day one and after setting up camp will go to town to get something to eat while Liberty is cooling down. On days two and three, I'll explore the area. Moving-day is day four, which is day one of the new area. I repeat this process until I get tired and need a longer rest to "let time catch up". Traveling that quickly and always seeing new things will cause my mind to get foggy. I guess it is like when a computer is slowed down by an overload of input. Usually, it only takes an extra day or so of doing nothing to "let time catch up". 

I started my travels in April of 2014. I don't know the exact number of campgrounds I've stayed at since then but I'm pretty sure it is close to 300. Maybe I'll count them up this winter. I've been coast to coast and border to border. I use campgrounds as a base camp to explore an area. The only thing I need in a campground is a secure campsite that is somewhat level and has an electrical connection, preferably 50 amps, although 30 amps is OK if the weather isn't super hot or cold. Most campgrounds have a fresh water source that I use to fill my fresh water tank and a means to empty my waste tanks. Sometimes, these two things are at the campsite and sometimes they are located elsewhere in the campground. I don't need the other amenities that attract weekend campers. I don't have a problem with other campers since I'm usually out exploring an area and not hanging around the campsite. The number one campground I look for now-a-days are U.S. Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds. With my Senior Pass, I can camp at half price. That half price is usually between $8.00 and $13.00 per night, which is really good. They are usually well maintained and laid out in a logically manner. Not always, but 99% of the time. 

So now, after saying all of that, let's see where we're going. I've chosen the Teddy Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota as the initial destination point. The reason for choosing it is simple, it is cooler up north in July and August. Of course there were other places up north I could have chosen, but I haven't been to North Dakota so it seems like a good place to go. I'll roughly follow the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to get there. The following picture shows the route and stops for the first 8 campgrounds. I have reservations at all eight, except for one, which doesn't take reservations. 

All campgrounds are Corps of Engineer except number 2 and 7. I'll arrive at stop #8 on the 8th of August. All stops are for 3 days except #2 which is for 2 days and # 6 which is for 4 days. 

I'll try to make another post before I leave on the 18th.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.   

Time for some "Thinking-Driving and Thinking-Camping"

 Location: New Rockdale RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

It's been awhile since I've made a post. I'm sorry if I left readers wondering what was going on. 

All of the family is healthy and doing well. Brandon's transplants are still doing great. The kids and grandkids are doing fine as well. My X-wife went through a lot of medical issues over the last year. A very quick summary, so as to document it here, would be: folded intestine (hospitalized), ischemic colitis (hospitalized), low blood pressure/dehydration (hospitalized), biopsy's of lymph nodes and lung (day surgery), lower lung removed along with the cancerous spot  (hospitalized), watchman device installed in heart (hospitalized). The watchman is interesting. She has had Afib for awhile and was on a mild blood thinner and rhythm medicine. Her regular cardiologist set up a meeting with another cardiologist who specializes in the installation of a new medical device called a "watchman". The danger of Afib is strokes. The strokes happen when blood pools up in an appendage/alcove inside the heart. Once pooled, the blood can form a clot which can break loose and travel throughout the body in the blood stream. It can lodge in the brain stem and cause a stroke. It can also lodge in many other places and cause major problems. This is why people with Afib are usually on a strong blood thinner to prevent the clot from forming. Well, a few years ago, the watchman device was approved. It is a tiny wire mesh device that blocks off the appendage and prevents blood from being able to pool up. About 45 days after the procedure the doctor does a scan of the device to see if it is still in a good location and working. If all is good, then the patient can quit blood thinners and the chance of stroke is dramatically reduced. "Good deal, Lucille". Kathy has the follow up scan scheduled for July 9th. If she gets a good report from the doctor, then my work here is done and I can hit the road. 

I need to hit the road because I've been in a funk for the last couple of months. Younger readers may need to find a seasoned citizen to ask what "funk" means in this case. It is not like the song "Uptown Funk". Other than going to the doctors and hospitals with Kathy, I haven't been motivated to do much of anything else. Unless I figure it out, I'll just slowly fade away. That's where the title of this post comes into play,,,, "Thinking Driving and Camping". That isn't three separate things. It is two things Thinking-Driving and Thinking-Camping. I have a few things to work out in my head. An old saying from the Navy days would be, I need to "get my $hi! together". 

Summer is here but we've been lucky in not having too many super hot and humid days. But they are due anytime. I don't like hot and humid weather, so if Kathy's scan is good I should be on the road by the 15th of July. And of course, I'll be headed north for cooler weather. I'm not sure which route I'll be taking but my destination goal will be the Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Once I settle on a route, I'll post it here. 

I think I've figured out the new Blogger program enough to get around inside of it. I still don't like it. My Picasa (picture editor/storage) program also quit working with my direct downloads from my phone. However, it does work if I'm using an SD card from the fancy camera. So I figured a way to download my pictures from my phone to a thumbdrive then upload from the thumbdrive to the laptop for use in the blog. Geez,,,,, the things we go through just to post a picture or two. 

I'll post some of the pictures from the last year in a future blog post, but just to make sure I do know how to do it, I'll post a picture from this winter. The winter was pretty mild except for about 10 days. The temperature got into the single digits and snow was flying. I'll make a more detail post about it later so it will be memorialized here for the grandkids to read in the future.   

Snowing on Freedom and Liberty

This blogging and typing feels good. I think I'll try to do it more often.

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road. 

Update (long overdue)

Location: New Rockdale RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

It's been over five months since my last post. My, oh my, how things have changed over that time. I ended my winter trip thru Texas during the last week of February. My original plan was to rest up for a few weeks while seeing my doctors for check-ups, visiting with family and be back on the road before the summer heat hit Louisiana. That plan didn't work out due to lots of reasons. 

The main reason was Covid-19. The governor of Louisiana issued a "stay at home" order on March 22, 2020. I isolated myself from Brandon because his immune system is being suppressed to reduce the possibility of his body rejecting the transplanted kidney and pancreas. By the way, today is his second anniversary of his transplant and he is doing great. His mother, my X-wife, lives with him and she has several medical conditions that makes her also an "at-risk" person for Covid. So, I spent lots of time cooking for myself and twiddling my thumbs. Not long after the Louisiana "stay-at-home" order was issued, the State of Texas required a 14 day self-imposed quarantine for any citizens of Louisiana entering Texas. Texas state troopers were actually stationed at the border to enforce this action. That somewhat "unconstitutional" order from Texas began on 4/5/20 and ended on 5/1/20. Strange times for sure.

Beginning about two months ago, my x-wife was in the hospital on three separate occasions. The first time was for a folded intestine, then ischemic colitis, then dehydration/heat exhaustion. The total time in the hospital was about twenty days with the last one being the most serious which came close to killing her. It was good I was here so I could be with her and report back to the rest of the family as to her condition. I guess that is the job of a "wasband", uh? For those curious readers, we were married for 28 years and been divorced for 14 years. 

Covid also interrupted visits with the grandkids so I had to settle for facetime and pictures. However, things have lightened up some over the last few weeks and I've been able to get my necessary hugs. 

So far, the riots and looting has not started in my part of Louisiana. Hopefully, it will stay away. 

Between Covid and family medical issues, my travel plans have been put on hold until at least sometime in the winter. Hopefully that will give time for things to settle down. I've received reports from some other RV'ers who's said things are a little dicey in parts of the country if you have the wrong license plate on your vehicle. Also, for now, it seems avoiding large cities would be wise. It's never bothered me traveling through large cities and have never had any problems. A few scary moments, but no problems. But now, things seem to have changed. Hopefully the November election will stop some of the craziness.

Olivia taking Nathan for a ride. He's not sure about this. I hope I'm around in about 10 years when she gets her license so I can see her driving Nathan around in a real car. 

 

This was just a quick update since I had been neglecting the blog for a while. By the way, the new blogger program is not as good or easy to use as the old one. Why do people always try to fix things that aren't broke? 

Ya'll take care of each other. I may Cya down the road.      

    

Random Thoughts on the Way Home

Location: Port Arthur RV Resort; Port Arthur, Texas
On a map, it's along the Sabine River were the Louisiana/Texas border meets the Gulf of Mexico.

Stop #12.
Last one before home.

It's been a while since I've made a post to the blog. Nothing is wrong, I've just been lazy at doing it. I'm at my last stop before heading back home to Louisiana but this post will include some pictures from the Galveston area that I didn't post yet. My plan was to stop here for two nights but ended up extending an additional two nights. The extension was to allow a cold front to pass through Louisiana plus two additional drying days for my campground site in Mansfield to dry out. The owner of the park had to do some digging to unplug a sewer blockage. I'll see about the condition of it tomorrow. I hope it is OK, because the owner said the campground was full due to a large pipeline and other work going on in the area. I asked Brandon to drive around the area to see if the other RV parks were full and he said, yes they are. So, if I can't get into my old site, I'm not sure where I'll be staying tomorrow.

My campsite here at Port Arthur. It is the most crowded campground I've stayed at on this trip and am feeling a bit claustrophobic. 

I really enjoyed my stay on Bolivar. It is just a relaxing place. It was windy, rainy and chilly for several of the days though. I took a few rides on the ferry to go into Galveston for eating and a little exploring. I didn't make a night crossing on the ferry this time and that disappointed me some. I celebrated Mardi Gras with a parade that passed down the highway directly in front of the campground. Crystal Beach put on a nice parade with lots of decorated four wheelers and a few floats. It was a good way to pass a few hours.

Riding the ferry is always a great thing. I make it a point to cross with Liberty in tow so I can get on the platform and look directly down on her roof. I discovered a minor problem that way many years ago. It is a peaceful trip.

As always, I had to check out the "teapot house". Over the years, I've watch it fall into disrepair but the time I was here, someone had started fixing it up. They are doing a great job.

Looking directly at the "teapot house".

I got stopped at a red light in front of the old motel we used to come to when the kids were small. It was a great location, directly across from the beach with a balcony overlooking the Gulf and Seawall Blvd traffic. Great time, great memories. 

One of the better views while driving the Seawall in Galveston.

Crystal Beach Mardi Gras Parade. Directly in front of the campground and within a stones throw of Liberty.

These two ladies were camped next to me in the campground. The dog's name was Emily and she received lots of beads and dog treats from the parade. I posted this picture for "you know who" who liked Elvis a lot, crazy lot.

The view from Fort Travis on Bolivar. That is the entrance to Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Chanel. Most of those ships are riding at anchor. On a nicer weather day, it is a great place to sit on the benches and watch the ships go by.

Port Arthur and the surrounding area is currently going though a boom town expansion. I was here about five years ago and it seemed like a dying town about to close up shop and blow away. Now though, there are dozens and dozens of new stores and businesses opened with more being built. Several new RV parks are being built with all of the existing ones full. I was lucky to get into this campground. The Texas economy has been looking good at all of the places I've been on this trip, but the coastal cities are doing really good. It's nice to see an old town get new life. 

I'll be passing over the bridge on the left tomorrow when I leave this area. The bridge I'll be using is the newer one. The one on the right is the famous Rainbow Bridge. 

This picture gives an idea of the steepness of the old Rainbow Bridge.

I know I'll never permanently live near an oil refinery or gas plant. When I was camped near the plants at Quintana Beach, I started getting a tickle in the back of my throat with some sneezing thrown in for good measure. I thought I was getting sick so I started some self-doctoring. But when I got to the Galveston area on the Bolivar Peninsula and much farther away from any plants, the symptoms went away. Once I got here to Port Arthur, the symptoms came back within a few hours after setting up camp. I'm anxious to see if they go away when I get back home.

The booming economy down here is largely due to the advent of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling used during the oil/natural gas well drilling. This process has dramatically increased the amount of oil/natural gas being recovered. The U.S. is now not only energy independent, but energy dominant. This has been wanted since the late 70's during the oil embargo by the OPEC nations. It's now here. In fact, a natural gas "import" plant was built about 15 years ago just across the state line in Louisiana. Their plan was to unload natural gas tankers and pipeline it into the country. Before it could be completed, so much natural gas was being found and pumped out of the ground in the U.S., the plant was converted to an "export" plant instead. Now, ships are going there to be loaded with natural gas for shipping overseas. This is a great thing worldwide. But, the Democrats want to change all of that and take us back in time. We will see how that goes for them and the country.

This is a picture of the Cheneire Natural Gas export plant. It was a cloudy day when I drove by.

Same Cheneire plant. You can tell by the number of cranes, they are still expanding.

A trip to Sabine Pass on the Texas side. The river on the left is the Sabine River and is capable of receiving ocean going ships.

This picture was taken between Freeport and Galveston. Just a large refinery located in the middle of nowhere.

For those of ya'll familiar with the Bolivar Peninsula, I'm sure you know where Rollover Pass is located. It's a cut between the Gulf of Mexico and the East Bay of Galveston Bay. It actually makes a large chunk of Bolivar Peninsula an island instead of a peninsula. Well, I was shocked as I was leaving the area to head here and saw Rollover Pass was filled in with dirt. Apparently, the pass was causing such large amounts of siltation on the bay and nearby Intracoastal Waterway that the state decided it was better to just fill it in. A lot of fishermen in the area are up in arms about it. I can remember my father talking about fishing at the pass in his younger days. It seems things are always changing. There was so much work going on at the pass, I wasn't able to take any pictures as I passed through. Oh well.

A view along a canal near Sabine Pass on the Texas side. I could tell I was going to get that lens flair when I took the picture. It just sort of adds a little bit to the picture. A little lagniappe. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.



    

The Texas City Disaster

Location: Bolivar Peninsula RV Park; Crystal Beach, Texas.

This is Stop #11

The Galveston area is always a stop for me when coming or going to Texas. I planned to stay at the Galveston State Park, but the Gulf side camping is closed for re-construction and I didn't want to stay in the Bay Side camping area. So, my old reliable campground is the one I'm at and will be for seven days. I've stayed here several times over the years. I like staying on Bolivar Peninsula since it is less rushed than Galveston. There isn't a lot businesses open on the peninsula during the off season, so if I want a big grocery store or to eat out I have to take the free ferry into Galveston. That's not a problem for me since I like the ferry. 

There isn't a lot that I haven't seen in this area, but there was one thing that I had heard about over the years before I started RV'ing that I wanted to check out. It is in a town about 20 miles away. The town is named Texas City. I don't know why the town founders couldn't get more creative with the name, but it became world famous. The sad thing is the reason it became famous is being forgotten by each generation since it happened. I remember my parents mentioning it a few times over the years as I was growing up. My parents would have been in their early to mid twenties when the disaster happened and would have been living close by this area. I don't know exactly where they were living at the time but do know it was in this part of Texas, with "this part" meaning within 100 miles of here. Both passed away many years ago so I can't ask them any more questions. I wish I could because I never asked enough when they were alive. A lesson learned much too late. 

The disaster is the Texas City explosion that occurred in 1947. The town of Texas City is located on Galveston Bay between Galveston and Houston. It really grew up during World War II when the chemical and oil industries located a lot their plants and storage sites there. It was a deep water port with railroad lines ending at the port. Freighters and tankers would have been a regular site along the bay front during and after the war. But during a few days in 1947, and explosion almost wiped out the entire town. It did kill all of the city's firefighters and destroyed all of the firefighting equipment in town. It injured over 4,000 people and killed almost 600. The actual number is unknown since so many people came and went back then, there is no way of knowing who was there. The explosion set of seismographs as far away as Denver, Colorado and broke windows in Houston. It damaged or destroyed 1,000 homes and businesses. The concussion of the explosion was so great, it destroyed two small airplanes that were flying over the port area. As if the explosion wasn't bad enough, it created a fifteen foot high wave of water that washed inland liked a tidal wave. Pieces of red hot metal was tossed into the air and rained down on adjacent industries and ships setting them on fire and causing secondary explosions. 

Wow, sounds like a bad movie, uh? What could have caused such a great explosion back in 1947? The answer? Fertilizer. Yep, fertilizer. The same type of fertilizer used in the Oklahoma City bombing back in 1995. Most of us that were of age during 1995 were a little shocked by the damage to the federal building in Oklahoma. Then we found out it was caused by about 2 tons of fertilizer (Ammonium Nitrate) stored in a rental truck. The news outlets at the time mentioned something about Texas City, but the real time pictures and news of the OKC bombing drowned out any historical reference. So, the other day, I went in search of that historical reference. 

The crazies that set off the bomb in Oklahoma City used 2 tons of ammonium nitrate. Now imagine what 2,300 tons would do. Well, you don't have to imagine because there are pictures of just such damage. Those 2,300 tons were stowed on the ship, S.S. Grandcamp. The ship was a converted Liberty Ship that the U.S. gave/loaned/sold to France. Remember, we made over 2,700 of those small freighters, we called Liberty Ships during the war so we had to do something with them. A fire started in the cargo hold of the ship. Some say a tossed cigarette by a longshoreman, but nobody probably knows for sure. The fire alarm was sounded and all of the firefighters in Texas City responded. The fire drew spectators to the pier to watch the firemen do their job. Many of those spectators were children. The fire couldn't be put out with the regular firefighter methods because as ammonium nitrate burns it creates its own oxygen which causes the fire to burn hotter and hotter until it explodes. That explosion set off a series of chain reactions. Oil storage tanks were set on fire which exploded, the Monsanto chemical plant exploded, another ship, the S.S. High Flyer was in port for repairs and also carried ammonium nitrate so she was set on fire by the first explosion which eventually caused her to explode. The port facility and town were almost completely destroyed. 

It was the deadliest industrial disaster in U.S. history and one of the largest, non-nuclear explosions, ever. This was seventy years ago and is largely forgotten. At some point in a child's 12 years of schooling, they should be taught about this disaster as a way of showing them that things happen and we must learn from them. Many safety regulations came about because of this disaster, which is good. 

The only thing left to see in Texas City about the disaster is a small memorial maintained by the city. That is what I came to see. I wanted to see what a city and its people do to memorialize such a tragic event. I guess most people that lived through that would want to forget it and not erect monuments as a constant reminder. So, I was happy to see what they did instead of monuments. It is a small cemetery containing 63 caskets of the unidentified dead. Each site has a number corresponding with information contained at the city in case, "a new inquiry were ever necessary, the information would be available."

This is the entrance to the park. The pagoda structure give the history of the event.

This is the anchor from the S.S. Grandcamp. It weighs about 2 tons and the explosion tossed it a little more that
1 1/2 miles away.

The simple entrance to the cemetery portion of the memorial

It's a small memorial and this view covers almost all of it.

I was confused at first because I didn't see any graves. The caskets are laid out in a semi-circle around the pool. Apparently the graves were maintained and protected very well for a while so some of the markers and stones were destroyed or stolen. Eventually, you couldn't tell where the graves were located. The city eventually collected the markers or made replacements and placed them in two locations on either side of the pool. So in a sense, the actual locations of the unknown, is unknown.

Lest we forget.

I think the memorial park is the right way for the city to heal.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.   

An Incomplete Jetty Walk

Location: Quintana Beach Country Park and RV Campground; Quintana Beach, Texas

Stop #10

I was at this campground about a year ago and figured I wouldn't be back. I was wrong. As I was looking for campgrounds on this trip, this one kept bugging me to come back but I didn't know why. So I re-read my blog post from back then and discovered why it was gnawing at me. You can read it here,
 https://gozatravels.blogspot.com/2019/03/moving-day-tomorrow-and-pictures.html

I guess my mind was telling me to come back to complete the walk along the jetty. I couldn't finish the walk last year due to the waves crashing over the jetty. I had wanted to get to the end but couldn't. I had to turn around. Even with not completing the walk, it was a very special time that remains fresh and alive in my "silent echoes". So, with that in mind, I figured I would stop here for a few days and complete the walk. But as they say, ",,,,the best laid plans of mice and men." The weather forecast was iffy for the three days of my stay here. The wind was the main culprit along with high temperatures in the mid-50's for the first two days. I chose day two to hit the jetty because even though today (Saturday) would be better weather-wise, the weekend would bring tons of people to the park and jetty. A walk along a jetty is OK with people, but it is just much better alone. The windchill was down into the upper 30's for the walk with winds steady at 15 to 20, with gusts near 30. It was not a pleasant day for a walk, but I gave it a shot. Even though I was about midway between high and low tide, the wind was playing heck with the waves. As I got to about the half-way point I could tell I wouldn't make it to the end. The wind was blowing the waves in and across the jetty at the very end. Maybe it is like this all the time except on no-wind, low tide days. I'm a planner, but this walk wasn't important enough to try to coordinate all of those events. So I went as far as I could, AGAIN, and turned around. I will not be back for a third attempt.

This is the beginning of the jetty. The ship channel is on the left which was the wind-ward side today. On the right is a beach and swimming area and the lee-ward side today. Notice the small speck on the horizon just to the left of the jetty. We will get to that later.

This is the swimming area and you can see it is at low tide. 

A little bit farther along the jetty. Lots of large driftwood has blown up on the jetty. Notice the speck on the horizon again.

Looking back to shore. You can really see the difference between the calm area on the left and the whitecaps on the right.

This picture shows how wet it is at the end of the jetty due to waves crashing over it. I was only able to go just a little bit more. I didn't want to take a chance on getting wet with it being so cold outside. The speck has become a ship entering the harbor.

I was rewarded with a plus though. As I was on the jetty, a semi-large tanker came into Freeport harbor. Two tugs met her and escorted her to her berth. I guess it was a half and half walk. I didn't make it to the end of the jetty, butt to the end, but able to see the ship pass close by as I was walking.

It's a tanker. Not a big one, but still a tanker. 

The pilot boat has already passed and I didn't get a picture of it. There are two tugs waiting on the tanker. I was very surprised at the speed she was going. I expected it to be much slower. 

Now she's past with one tug on the starboard side and one following astern. 

 My only purpose of stopping here was the jetty walk. Tomorrow is moving day and I'll be going to one of my favorite places that holds many great memories for me not only in my solo travels, but vacations from long ago with my wife and children.

My campsite. It's the same site I stayed in last time.

I'm putting this picture here as a reminder as to how cold and windy it was. A less hard-headed man may have waited for a better day, but not me. (wait a minute, that doesn't sound right)

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.