A Day

I have tried to think of a word that adequately describes the kind of day we have had.  I have been unsuccessful in that endeavor and so I’m just going with “a day”.  This day really got its start yesterday afternoon as we were leaving the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.  The phone rang and it was the boss.  Actually, the ex-boss, to this old retired guy.  A strange thing happens when you work for the same company for over 25 years.  You accumulate knowledge which the new folks haven’t yet acquired.  It’s not the tangible, day to day operations kind of knowledge, but a more subtle awareness of personalities and habits. Gene’s name seemed to have surfaced when folks were trying to figure out what may have happened under certain conditions a few years back.  That conversation yesterday led to a conference call this morning.  After a series of calls today, Gene was acutely aware of the reasons why he wanted to retire.

We did, however, between calls, manage to get in a walk around the campground, enjoying temperatures in the mid-70s and a healthy breeze.  After lunch we made another stab at finding the liquor store.  We were successful today, having more time to spend in our search than yesterday.  We then found a local H-E-B supermarket for a few groceries.

With another lap around the campground this afternoon, we felt a little less guilty about going out for Italian tonight.  Since we were using a gift card from Christmas, we didn’t even have to feel guilty about being too extravagant with the “dining out budget”.  Driving around this afternoon really helped us to understand the layout of the city and we are less intimidated by the traffic, one-way streets, and the general confusion which we often feel in unknown territory.

So, even though we didn’t do anything “new and exciting” today, we had a very profitable, satisfying, and relaxing day.  Tomorrow, we are exploring South Padre Island.  On the way home from there the search will be on for fresh shrimp.