Living in luxury

It was hard, but we finally said goodbye to Big Bend National Park. We’d been in the park for fourteen nights, staying in all three of the organized campgrounds. Each wonderful in different ways, and I would definitely go back. But time moves on, and so must we. So we spent our final night watching the sun go down, then packed up early to head off towards the Gulf.

Our route to the coast is over 900 km, so we have to break it up into a few days of travel. We also needed to do laundry, and apparently there was some comment from the silent partner here about me needing a shower (she may have said “desperately needing…”), so we decided to move back into a motel for a couple of nights.

We found a cheap, not-so-sleazy, motel in Del Rio. It had all the requisites: cheap room with fridge and microwave, free parking and wifi, and a guest laundry. Unfortunately it also had a rather stinky air conditioner, and it appeared they were running a daycare out of the rooms beside us and above us. Kids were running and screaming and banging doors all the live-long day. Good thing most of them were pretty cute. And they quieted down by evening, so all was well.

Driving to Del Rio turned into a bit of an adventure. By noonish the wind had picked up to over 40K with gusts a lot higher, which is very hard to drive in. My bike’s mileage dropped by 1/3rd, and I was hard-pressed to maintain anything close to the speed limit (75 mph!). By the time we got to Del Rio I was done. It was nice to spend two nights, despite the kids and the stinky air conditioner.

Confession #1: We went to Walmart. I know ... shameful. What can I say; it was the only grocery store a round. It was either that or go back to Applebee's for dinner again, and one night there was enough.

We pulled out of Del Rio and carried on towards the Gulf. Because of the distance, we still had one more urban over-nighter to make before getting to the coast and our next campsite. We chose Cottula for its location (shooting distance to the coast), size (3,500 people), and it’s cheap rooms. Why they are so cheap became obvious once we arrived; there is a HUGE number of hotels/motels here.

Confession #2: We ate at McDonald's. I know ... shameful. It was even my idea. In my defence, we had few options and I was hungry. Besides, they have free wifi, and the meal wasn't actually that bad. My chicken sandwich was on-par with any mid-level restaurant, and it was pretty cheap. So maybe I'm a now a fan of McDickie.

We had checked them out online, and decided to just wing-it and look for a cheap place once we got there. On the map there was this large collection of hotels, so we drove in. It looks like they are all pretty new, and all built about the same time. We checked into a Holiday Inn (which is usually way out of our price range) and got a great room for a very modest price. It’s so nice, and the wind is so strong, we decided to stay another night.

Turns out the reason there are so many hotels in such a small, and out-of-the-way place, is all about the oil. Wikipedia tells me Cortulla has 23 hotels and many other motels. Why? Because: “Cotulla falls within the second largest oil-producing region of the United States. Cotulla houses the largest sand fracking facility in North America.”

Of course with the drop in oil, it’s all going bust now. We’re in this largish hotel and we might be one of only a 1/2-dozen guests. At this point I haven’t actually seen any other guests. Maybe we’re alone!

Funny thing… when I went outside to take the panorama of all the hotels I was accosted by an employee. She approached and asked me, “Why are you taking pictures here?” I asked her, “Why are you asking me why I’m taking pictures?” She started to mumble something about security, which I pushed back on, so she finally admitted that they thought I was from the City, and was photographing their bylaw violations. They were letting trucks drive over the curb and park on the lawn/ground right beside a City sign that said something like “NO DRIVING ON THE CURB OR PARKING ON THE LAWN.” When she learned I was just some silly tourist we became best of friends.

Tomorrow, wind allowing, we plan to drive to the Gulf coast and move back into our tent at Padre Island National Seashore Park. Padre Island is a barrier island along the coast here. There is cheap to free camping, and we can apparently set up in an organized campground, or if the bikes can manage, drive out on the beach and pitch our tent anywhere above the surf line. Hmmmm, I wonder how big the tides are 🙂