Snakes alive!

So our Corpus Christi stay ended and we set off again for our next port of call, Brownsville Texas, on the southern most border of the USA and Mexico. Back we went over the Port Aransas ferry and through Corpus Christi, past the Aircraft Carrier USS Lexington and even later past an A4 Skyhawk. There really are some ornate buildings here in the USA and as we travel Shane is normally madly clicking away through the front windscreen of the car catching buildings and scenes like these. There is no way we could post them all here. Another thing we noticed in our travels is since we left Kansas wind turbines have been everywhere. Texas is no exception.

Eventually we hit Brownsville where an old US Army fort has now been incorporated as part of the local university. The main street (Elizabeth St from memory) has an eclectic range of shops from decades ago which adds to the ambience of the town.

First day we could we went exploring and found ourselves at a tri-museum. The three museums in one were Conjunto Music Hall of Fame, San Benito History Museum and the Freddie Fender Museum (https://www.cityofsanbenito.com/250/Freddy-Fender-Museum). If like us you have never heard of Conjunto Music then join the club but if you’d like to know more then click here. Freddie Fender is the main exhibit here as San Benito (a suburb of Brownsville) is his home town. One amazing feature in this museum is that many artefacts are not just genuine but you can touch many of them.

On the Saturday Shane and I took a guided tour from Brownsville into its’ sister city over the border, Matamoros. After about 20 minutes in Brownsville the tour diverted past the border fence, across the bridge and into Mexico. Being mainly Catholic the focal point of the town is its’ church. From there we walked through the markets to the town square and into a Mexican Fort which was set up as defence against a US invasion around the time of the US/Mexican war. The fort these days is a museum where pride of place is taken up by the memorabilia owned by the Mexican revolutionary hero Pancho Villa. There is also lots of history of the area which from a Mexican point of view is vastly different from the American view. It was a good tour and we enjoyed it immensely.

A prime attraction in this area of Texas is the holiday island of South Padre Island. That means another trip over a long bridge but despite the weather we could see why this island is popular. The area (on both sides of the strait) is loaded with amusement attractions like the pirate ship you’ll see in the photos. Once on the island we found miles and miles on beaches on the Gulf of Mexico side and condos and houses on the bay side, many with their own private jetty. All in all it would certainly be a great place (in summer) for a holiday.

One day we took a drive along the west side of the shipping harbour down Boca Chica road which takes you to the beach nearest to the Mexican border where the Rio Grande emerges into the Gulf. It’s a dead end road of several miles through sand dunes, scrub and mud flats. This became a memorable drive for several reasons. Firstly we were surprised to find that Elon Musk has set up a Spacex Launch site here near the beach where the Big Falcon Rocket (a privately-funded, fully-reusable launch vehicle and spacecraft system) is in development. Next was the discovery of another lovely long beach. But the big surprise was the Palmito Ranch Battlefield.

The Palmito Ranch Battlefield was the Last land battle of the American Civil War which was actually fought a month after the war had ended. Communications wasn’t the same as today and so the war carried on till this time. Ironically this battle was won by the ‘South’. But this battlefield isn’t the only one we visited here in Brownsville nor was it the only battle with a unique history. ( I am trying something new here so I hope this works. To HEAR about the Palmito Ranch and the battle click here and keep your fingers crossed. There’s a photo in the gallery of the battlefield to look at while you listen.) Near to our RV Park is the Palo Alto Battlefield which was the first major conflict in a border dispute that soon precipitated the Mexican–American War in 1846. Both locations are virtually untouched giving an insight into the scrubby conditions that the soldiers of all sides faced. However scrub wasn’t the big problem as Shane and I soon found out. As we walked along the cement footpath to the overlook at Palo Alto Shane almost walked into a 5 foot Diamond Back Rattlesnake. The snake had retracted to the strike position and it was only that I heard the warning ‘rattle’ that I saw it just two steps in front of Shane. We retreated until it slithered off into the bush before proceeding but Shane, naturally was really shaken by the close encounter. For a quick video of the sneaky serpent click here.