Wild Mean Storm

 

Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Date: May 16, 2023

We had a major kick in the get going early this morning. A severe rain and lightning storm that lasted a good while woke the Teams. The OFM has a habit of using the lightning strikes to see how far the storm is away. A reasonable five count between the lightning strike and the thunder is a mile. So when the first lightning lit up the inside of the Castle and there was not time to start to count we knew we were very close to ground zero.

Then the HEAVY rain started to roar down with the sound and light effects. After just a couple of minutes we could see the campsite was flooding and running off into the brush. A ruler was used to find out the water was already four inches deep at the Castle door mat. That was why we got the rubber boots out and put them by the door.

There was nothing we could do but flinch at every lightning flash and roar. This storm went on for at least a half hour before it started slowing on the excitement. We put the boots on and went on a walk around the Castle and Sierra to make sure there was no damage from falling things or lightning. There wasn't. However it really had the mosquitoes up in the air and hungry.

After about an hour and a half it calmed down a good bit and we took Sierra around the park to check things out. When we neared the long pier we looked back and OH BOY another front was coming.

Back at the Castle we just hunkered down and waited. The second storm wave was not as intense but it did have plenty of rain but not much lightning and thunder.

This afternoon we took a ride down to Goose Island that is a long slender island that the park is named for. The land of Goose Island is part of the park used for camping. A large saltwater marsh separates the land side from the island side. A bridge provides access between the two areas.

Here is a picture of the marsh that the bridge traverses.

And now we get to see the campground on Goose Island. These Bay Side campsites are very popular for some reason.

Most of the them have frontage on the bay and water/electric service. There are two full restroom/shower houses for for the campers and one restroom at the end where the pier is located.

Over all this is a great park for saltwater fun and killing mosquitoes. There is no swimming beach. It is about twelve miles back into Rockport and all the facilities you would normally need including the Rockport Beach with nice swimming.

We are hoping that tomorrow we will be rested and get a better chance of trying to have tooooo much fun.