Donna took her bike out to battle the wind, heat and humidity on Wednesday. In the end, the 89-degree temperature with humidity over 70% nearly did her in. She wasn’t feeling well after an hour on the bike and called it quits after 15 miles.

I kicked back and read a book. Later, I scootered into town to pick up a couple of things. First, I wanted to see if I could find a bottle of wine – Tavel wine. Tavel is a rosé from the southern Rhone region of France. I enjoyed it on summer afternoons when I traveled through south France in 2004. After I met Donna in Arizona, I introduced her to Tavel. Served chilled, it’s a refreshing drink on a hot afternoon. Donna had a hankering for Tavel so I went in search of a bottle.

No luck finding Tavel in Rockport, Texas. I checked the grocery store on Tuesday and yesterday, I tried Spanky’s Liquor. The clerk asked me what I was looking for, then she entered it into her computer which was linked to 11 liquor stores. None of them stocked Tavel. I’ll keep an eye out for it as we travel.

I stopped at HEB and bought a watermelon and some ice cream. Donna was cooking all afternoon. She prepared smoky baked beans (a new recipe she wanted to try), coleslaw, cornbread and a cucumber, tomato and feta salad. She also made a big batch of guacamole and cut up some jicama for fresh fries. We were having guests over for dinner.

My middle daughter Jamie lives in Robstown – about 50 miles south of Rockport. She drove up with her significant other, Francisco and his four children – Jennalee, Trey, Rayleen, and Ariana. They arrived around 5pm. After a tour of the coach, we walked down to the pavilion by the dock and had appetizers.

Snacks at the picnic pavilion by the bay

Another view of our group at the pavilion

Trey and Ariana cooled off with a dip in the pool. It was our first time meeting Francisco and the kids and we enjoyed getting to know each other. We just saw Jamie a few weeks ago in San Diego, but it was good to see her again with her family.

After a while, Donna and Jamie walked back to our site and brought our picnic dinner fixings back to the pavilion. We sat and talked for a while before heading back to our site to have some watermelon and ice cream at the picnic table there. That’s when the mosquitos started eating me alive. There are large black mosquitos here that have a stinging bite. My ankles and arms are covered with mosquito bites. We were so spoiled in San Diego – I didn’t see any mosquitos or biting insects there. No bugs in Arizona either!

Texas sized mosquito

About the time the mosquitos were were starting to drive me mad, our guests were ready to hit the road and head home.

Donna and I capped the night off by watching a new to us series called Homeland. The first episode was interesting and we plan to watch the entire series – we have four seasons on the hard drive that Joel Myaer loaded with video for us.

Jamie and Francisco may come back today. If so, we’ll go into town and poke around – maybe go to the aquarium.