theboondork's RV blog

I'm concerned.

10/29/2019

Sunset picture of a small piece of the Brantley Lake dam.

As I'm sitting here in my easy chair looking out the window at the gray skies that surround me, it has become apparent that the weather has not been exceptionally kind to me since the start of my winter travels.

It seems like I will have three or four days of nice, or at least decent weather, and then a cold front will come through and I'll have two or three days of cold and wind, I don't remember it being like this before. So here I sit thinking about leaving tomorrow, with the wind howling outside and the sky totally overcast, and the weather forecast for tomorrow is more of the same.

Of course normally I wouldn't be in southern New Mexico this time of year, most other winters I would be somewhere near Phoenix about now and I can see why I Usually choose that area because checking the 10 day Phoenix weather forecast it looks like they're in for 70s and 80s every day, and at Brantley Lake state Park I'm looking at 50° for a high and 22° for a low with winds gusting to 30 mph tomorrow. I'm sure things will get better, at least somewhat better, the farther south I get. So I'll just have to relax, and appreciate the downtime I'm getting waiting for the weather to get better.

Something that has me concerned about my destination is a missing persons case going on in of all places, Padre island Texas. Now I know there's missing persons cases going on all over the country but this one hits a little too close to home because the victims were not only camping on Padre island but the Padre Balli Park campgrounds where I spent a month last time I went to Texas and where I was planning on staying again.

And if that's not creepy enough the missing couples truck and travel trailer was spotted crossing the Mexican border, without them in it in Del Rio Texas, and guess where I was heading when I leave Padre island? That's right, same place I went last time I left Padre island... Del Rio Texas.

Normally if you want to avoid trouble there's a few things you can do to cut your chances to almost zero. You can stay out of bars at 2 o'clock in the morning. Don't tell any Hells Angels that Harleys are junk. And stay out of areas where there's random crime going on. And it's that last one that has me concerned

Anywhere near the border areas now days has a greater chance that the average person can get into a dangerous situation just minding their own business, I speak from experience because I've lived in a place like that before. Now I'm sure its just as bad in southern Arizona where I usually stay this time of year as it is anywhere else, but this thing happening on Padre island at the very campground I'm planning on staying at, if they're not full when I get there, bothers me the most because it happened to people like me, full-time RVers.

Here's one of the storys: https://heavy.com/news/2019/10/james-michelle-butler-missing/

theboondork

Not a very good picture of a hawk, but he was far away, and I didn't have my big lens with me to reach out there.

12 Comments

John

10/29/2019 06:11:17 pm

Yeah, that’s a little scary, although I can’t tell whether they were staying at the campground. My wife and I stayed at the campground last spring. We loved that it was close to the beach and the restaurant/pier:. It really seemed like two campgrounds. There’s the old campground on old blacktop with old bathrooms: And there’s the new part with concrete pads and new bathrooms. We stayed on the old part because it was cheaper. There were some people staying on that side who seemed down on their luck, but everyone was friendly: We didn’t feel unsafe at the time: Scary story though:

We spent most of the rest of the time at the national park campground, which felt very safe.

Tom

10/29/2019 06:30:04 pm

I also stayed at the old part when I was there, they were still building the new area. There's numerous news stories on the Internet about it, and one of them mentions they were staying at the Padre Balli campground. I'll probably stay at the old part again I have my own bathroom so their old bathrooms don't bother me. But I really liked being 50 feet from the beach and the pier. It rained so much while I was there that it was very handy to be able to get from the beach back into the Arctic Fox really quick.

The national Park campground was either full or almost full every time I went to look at it which was too crowded for me. The first time I went there a long long time ago I had a slide in camper on the back of my truck so I camped on the beach for a few days. But this last trip it was so stormy and the tides are so unpredictable as to how high they would come up on the beach I had no desire to camp on the beach.

Tom

Darrell

10/30/2019 05:08:48 am

Be careful at Brantley. I stayed there once for 3 nights and the number of pack rats or something else was terrible. Lucky for me they just ate the carpet that was on my steps. Others camped there were not as lucky and the rats ate some of the wiring in their vehicles. Maybe the cooler weather will help keep them away. Be safe out there.

10/30/2019 07:48:46 am

Thank you for that heads-up Darrell, pack rats are kind of famous for doing that. I'll go check under my hood and see what I can see. If cool weather will keep them away I shouldn't have any problems because it's been downright cold most of the time I've been here, and this will be my third day. I was going to leave today but the wind is still blowing so it looks like I've got to walk up to the iron Ranger and give it some more money.

Great to hear from you Darrell.

Tom

Tim link

10/30/2019 08:06:13 am

Wow, that missing persons case is scary. I would be nervous about staying there as well, but bad stuff can happen anywhere. It might be safer to be where something like that has already happened - maybe people and law enforcement will be on their guard more than in other places.

10/30/2019 09:37:18 am

Yeah there's something to be said for the "lightning never strikes the same place twice" theory. I wish I had more information about what actually happened, did they open their camper door for the wrong person? Did they try and help a "poor" illegal? Did a couple of guys overpower them while they walked on the beach? Remember you can drive on the beach in that area. It would be interesting to know so I could make sure I didn't do that.

Tom

Barney Ward link

10/30/2019 09:05:14 am

$500 victim of pack rats at Brantley writing this comment. They loved the taste of my GMC wiring.

10/30/2019 09:43:51 am

Well now I'm really worried, as cold as it's been a warm engine block might be an attractant. I was thinking I should go out and put some mouse traps under my hood, but the peanut butter bait might attract more critters to get in there. I knew I should've brought the cat.

Everything tastes better on a GMC.

Tom

Linda

10/30/2019 12:29:29 pm

The last I read yesterday said officials think they found the bodies of the couple that owned the camper. I also would like to know how it happened but I doubt we ever will because who's going to tell us?

10/30/2019 02:40:40 pm

Yeah I saw that they dug up two bodies buried in the sand dunes and are now testing to find out who they are. But in less it's pretty common for couples to be murdered on North Padre island, common sense says it's probably the missing RVers.

I would also like to know how it happened just so I could try to avoid the fate that befell them.There's so much deserted and semi-deserted beach in that area that cars are allowed to drive on, and couples take walks on, that I believe they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and two or more people, probably Mexican because they headed for the border, drove up in a car grabbed them and took their truck and trailer keys.

It's a terrible thing that shouldn't happen to anyone but unfortunately because of our border policies over the last few decades we've totally lost control over who comes in our country.

Tom

Linda Sand

10/31/2019 02:26:13 pm

I remember a motorhome incident like this a couple years ago, too, but both were motorhomes so you should be OK with the Arctic Fox.

10/31/2019 03:44:29 pm

I don't know if I'm ever okay in the Arctic Fox, every time I hook it up it makes me want to go somewhere.

Yes I have to admit I'm extra cautious, being raised in Miami Florida when it was the murder capital of the country, and being robbed on a regular basis will do that to you. Believe it or not I lock my truck door even when it's sitting in my driveway, and I lock the trailer door if I just step outside to throw my trash in a dumpster. Old habits that were learned the hard way, are hard to break.

Tom

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