Jamaican Beach RV Resort

Day 8 - Wednesday:  Today was a 280 mile run down to Galveston, Tx and the Jamaican Beach RV Resort.  Of course it had to rain for about 30 seconds just enough to kick up spray and negate my wash job from the previous day.  As we closed in on Houston we got onto the Toll road that bypasses the city.  Little did we know that we would hit 3 toll booths in about the distance of 20 miles.  I hadn't planned on there being a toll road on the route and only had a $20 bill on me.  Luckily it was only $16 to make the loop around, one more and we would have been digging for change in the couches.  Also on this run their where many more crazy drivers just taking chance after chance with their and ours.  We even had one trucker cut us off and if it wasn't for my anticipation of his suicidal move we would have been sitting at a repair facility or worse.   We have driven through almost every state in the country logged hundreds of thousands of miles and I must say these are the worst drivers we have come across to date.  

The Triumph

As we turned south for Galveston I got behind a guy with a small boat, we followed him for at least 20 miles in heavy traffic.  He was driving really slow, but there was no clear way to get around him so we sat tight.  He finally decided to move into the far right lane on the 3 lane highway and just as he did a seat cushion flew up high into the air.  At first it appeared that it would sail off to our right, but then it hooked back like a boomerang and slamed into the front corner of the hood near the front tire.  I thought for sure there was going to be damage and was thinking the worse.  Michelle said she could see it and it appeared to be stuck between the tire and the fender.  It wasn't moving and the next thought was that the tire would rub it till it caught fire, so we radioed to our friends who where ahead of us that we needed to get off the highway and check things out.  One nice thing about Texas are all of the frontage roads that line the highways and we quickly found a good place to pull over.  Just as we came to a stop the cushion fell out on to the roadway and I ran back to have a look at it.   My fear was that the cushion had a plywood backer which many do and that would have done serious damage.  But we lucked out and it only was the cushion and checking the front end we found no damage.  I couldn't even see where it initially hit, so I was happy and on our way we went.

As we crossed over a bay we where greeted by 2 big pillars informing us that we had made Galveston. The scenery dramatically changes and reminded us of Florida.  Once we hit the ocean we hung a left on Termini San Luis Pass Rd for about 9 miles until we hit Jamaica Beach and the Jamaica Beach RV Resort.  The place seems pretty new, nicely landscaped and all concrete roads and campsites.  Once we where hooked up we walked the dogs and then took a short drive over to the beach.  It was really nice to just pull your vehicle right up to the edge of the ocean, no need to carry anything from a parking lot.  I was amazed at how warm the water was, just like bath water, and we all walked out about 100 yards where the waves were breaking.  I wont lie I was slightly nervous about sharks and when you see small fish flying out of the water you have to think they are running from something.  We played in the waves for 20 minutes or so and headed in.  Since it really didn't cool us off we headed over to the campground pool and hung out there for the rest of the afternoon.

The next decision was where to eat dinner.  It was way to hot to cook outside so we asked around and

where told we wouldn't be disappointed with Willy G's.  We where hoping for something closer but with bad reviews on a few of the local spots we took the 30 minute drive over.  Dinner was amazing and not cheap, but good food usually isn't snd specially if they cater to tourists..  I had the Grouper,  Chase had the Trout and Michelle and Mai Mai.   The setting is great as well with the place right along pier and we even got to see the Carnival Cruise Liner the Triumph as it had just under gone a 100 + million dollar renovation after the fire and stranding of a passengers not to long ago.  There was also a drilling rig museum down the peir and we decided to come back and check that out tomorrow.  Across the inlet there where quite a few drilling rigs in for repair, maybe from some storm or possibly old age.

We drove along the ocean on the way home and with a light breeze it was like we where in paradise.

~Bill

Drilling rigs waiting to get into dry dock