It wasn’t until the end of the evening of this day that we even made it to the “Southern Gulf Shore”. This is a chronicle of the trip down, which took us almost as long as it took to get to South Padre Island last year.
From Granbury, the destination was Corpus Christi. Believe it or not, I’d never been. As far as the Texas Coast goes, I’d been to the areas around Freeport, Galveston, and South Padre Island, but nothing more. From Corpus to Freeport stretches an expanse of fishing villages and beach towns that before Fathers’ Day Weekend 2015, I hadn’t been to. Places like Aransas Pass, Rockport, Port Aransas, Port Lavaca, Palacios, Matagorda, etc.
We set out first and foremost to visit Corpus for the first time, to see places like the U.S.S. Lexington, the Texas State Aquarium, and the flagship “Whataburger by the Bay” restaurant. My knowledge on Corpus was limited. I knew that Whataburger was founded there, and I knew that Chicano pop singer sensation, Selena, lost her life here. Beyond that, I wasn’t too acquainted with the history and culture of Nueces County and its seat. Now was the time to learn.
And as I’d never been to the Corpus area, I knew there’d be new courthouses to pick off for my collection.
We set out from Granbury about noon, and according to all map devices, the drive would take approximately six hours. We drove east through Johnson County to Alvarado, where we turned south on I-35 for Waco. As we passed through, I snapped a picture of downtown. In it, you can just make out the McLennan County Courthouse and the Amicable Life Insurance Company (ALICO) which I discussed here. At the time of this trip, the McLennan County page is somewhat recent.
At Waco, we disembarked from the interstate and proceeded on a southeast trajectory via Highway 77 for Cameron. Subsequent cities fell in a row: Giddings, La Grange, Schulenberg, Hallettsville…
Crossing the Colorado River, south of La Grange
Southwest of Hallettsville, we headed for Yoakum for a Mexican dinner at an undisclosed location. I’m not sure how many Mexican restaurants are in Yoakum, so I don’t know whether or not to be honest with my review. Let’s just say it was “good.”
It was around 6:45 by the time we left Yoakum (45 minutes passed the planned distance to Corpus), but on the day before the summer equinox, the sunlight wasn’t going anywhere. That was good news for me. Up ahead, in DeWitt County, sat #47. It had been more than three years since I’d last been to the county seat Cuero, and in that time I’d developed my “redo” philosophy and switched from the iPhone to the Nikon camera. I had to stop.
Entering Cuero
It’s conveniently located on Courthouse Street, to make finding it easy.
In about thirty minutes, I’d finished with this courthouse and forever removed it from the redo list. Another one bites the dust!
After leaving Cuero, we next passed through Goliad and the sun began to set. By the time we’d reached Refugio, night had fallen. For the remainder of the journey to the Corpus Christi RV park, we traveled in darkness. In total, about another two hours we had settled in for the night.