Driving To SPI* 02/15/2023 to 02/17/2023

*South Padre Island

We checked the weather in the AM, thunderstorms and even possible tornados on our route so we chose to drive north, through St Louis then south to avoid them. Added 1.5 hrs. Roadfood.com is our go to site for out of the way local places, this was our first roadfood meal of this trip:

The owner and his wife were the only people working there. Three kids doing homework in a back room were theirs, I assume. I never cease to be amazed at how hard people work. He was very friendly, talkative. Said they make over a 100 pies by hand each day, 6 days a week. No store bought crusts here. There were over a dozen sweet pies on display in the case, several more savory pies were ready in the back. We each had a pot pie for supper and took a slice of pie with us for dessert. Actually I took two, blackberry and cherry/raspberry. Then back on the road to a cracker Barrel in Springfield, Mo. Slept in the parking lot, ate breakfast there then headed south. Ate lunch in Conway, Ar. again at a roadfood “meat and three” place, seen here:

Known for their chocolate gravy, we passed on that and had a traditional southern lunch, with pie of course. Arkansas is the pie state. We drove well passed dark, Houston traffic at 9:30 PM was bumper to bumper but moving at 70 mph. I’m not used to that. Slept at a Cracker Barrel again just south of Houston in Sugarland, Tx. Made it to SPI around 3 PM Friday.

SPI vs. Florida

So far no contest, this is nice but I’d pick Fl. hands down. It was cold here Friday when we arrived, very cold, mid 40’s but felt colder. There is much less to do here. No plays, no concerts, no shows, no farmers markets, that we are aware of. The beach is ok, but not up to Florida standards. The entire strip is about 4 miles long and not as built up as Ft. Myers/Naples where we usually go. Fewer people means fewer things going on. The birding is better though, vide infra, next post.

They allow cars on long stretches of beach:

As usual Sammy was a star attraction. He loves the sandy beach, loves the ocean more. Beach goers enjoyed watching him jump the waves and body surf back. At first he jumped too early causing him to crash into the wave, later he got the timing down. The beach road isn’t easy to maintain:

The beach walk, basic island exploration and shopping, unpacking and lastly supper at Señor Donkeys was all we managed on this day.