#13 Finding Oil

All of us sometimes benefit from major corporations’ attempts to gain a kinder, gentler image in the public eye, and we certainly did today with our tour of Exxon’s Offshore Energy Center. This museum and education center highlights oil exploration on the high seas, which commenced in 1938 and since then has drilled 56,000 off shore wells with a total drilled distance exceeding 110,000 miles!

This educational museum is built on the retired Ocean Star Off Shore Drilling Rig. The rig is a “jack up rig” that is towed to its location with a mat underneath the rig and its three support columns retracted.

When it arrives on location, the mat is dropped to the ocean floor and the columns are extended until they reach the floor too. The rig is jacked up so it is 25 feet above sea level. Then it is ready for drilling. When drilling is complete, it is towed to another site to repeat the process. Different rigs are required to drill and to pump the oil, if discovered.

The museum has many interesting exhibits including a large scale model of the sea floor with the various types of rigs (the “jack–up” is only one of four or five types of rigs). The types of rigs differ mostly with the depth of water they are drilling in.

Specialty equipment includes a hyperbaric chamber for decompression used by the divers ----

and an escape pod used if the men must evacuate the rig quickly.

The pod can hold up to 26 people. That is one ride you would not want to take with 25 other people!

Other mechanical equipment exhibited was the drill head drive mechanism

and the oil distribution “Christmas Tree”. Invented in 1972, the Tree consists of a series of hydraulic valves that distribute oil and other fluids to and from the well head at the sea floor.

And of course, we cannot forget the drill tower ----

Add to these the exhibits a full size crane, a helicopter, and an array of drilling bits, as well as a short movie and a number of interactive exhibits, and you will experience what we considered an interesting and informative afternoon about the complexities of oil exploration on the high seas.

#12 Living Large

Have you heard that everything is bigger in Texas? Sounds silly at first, maybe just bragging by those Texans. But having been here awhile, we have started to think there may be something to the big-ness claim. It’s a huge state – 28 million people and 869 miles from top to bottom - and you find wider streets, big plains (even bigger than Illinois in places), and huge ranches. We visited the biggest ranch in the US a few days ago, The King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas.

Still privately owned by the descendants of riverboat man Captain Richard King, the ranch was started in the middle of the last century and is now comprised of nearly one million acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. The Ranch lays claim to the foundation sire of the American Quarter Horse breed, Wimpy (they were not too good at picking names!) and to starting two new breeds of cattle – the Santa Gertrudis (we have all heard of) and the Santa Cruz (most popular today).

The Santa Gertrudis breed actually got to be too BIG, nearly 3000 lbs, and so they bred a slightly smaller one, the Santa Cruz (the most popular breed today).

The King Ranch also bred thoroughbred racing horses, including the 1943 foaling of triple crown winner, Assault, also known as the Club Footed Comet. He had many injuries, and actually had an impaired walk and trot, but his gallop was great. You can check Assault’s interesting story on Wikipedia.

Longhorn

In 1915, Captain King’s widow built a new 32,000 square foot home that still serves as a private 5 star hotel that the extended family can stay at when visiting. It is not open to the public.

In addition to Ranching, the King Ranch also has a farming division growing cotton in Texas, and one of the largest orange groves in Florida (75,000 acres); its most profitable business today is the private hunting operation. The latter was developed by one of the family who was especially interested in conservation. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, but a constant population of each species is maintained and no exotic species are introduced, therefore, the reasoning goes, the remaining animals and birds are healthier and have sufficient natural food.

Enough history!! Let it suffice to say that we now understand why living in Texas is indeed LIVING LARGE!

On the way home - tons of Grapefruit!

#11 The Fairies

Actually, we are writing about ferries, but don’t you think fairies sounds more interesting? You know - ferries - the kind that transports people and their vehicles across the water.

Corpus Christi Bay is north of the city and on the north side of the bay is Aransas Pass and Port Aransas.

Just off the east coast is Mustang Island and Padre Island, and all of these are connected by causeways, bridges and in one case by the free ferry between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas.

Although the map shows the waterway between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas to be about 5 miles wide, the ferry transports you for only a half mile or so. The road stretches over narrow strips of land and bridges water in other areas. Some of the views are magnificent.

We took the ferry four times today - we just couldn’t make up our mind which side of the passage we wanted to be on!

The wait for the ferry can be very short or more than a half hour long. Several traffic personnel carefully guide vehicles into one of four lanes. The front car gets a block under the wheels to ensure the cars don’t rush the exit. The big diesel engine quickly pushes the ferry and its load of upward of 15-20 cars, trucks, busses, and RV’s across the short channel of water.

As you cross, you can see a number of water birds and maybe even some dolphins. Altogether an enjoyable experience – but you really only need to do it once or twice - not four times!

#10 Corpus Christi and Environs……

Hoping to escape some of the dreary weather in the Rio Grande Valley, we drove about 140 miles north to Corpus Christi and for our efforts were rewarded with what the weatherman called “the worst weather day so far this winter”. That day included a predicted 4 inches of rain (we got about 2) and sustained 30mph winds (I would guess they were not quite that high). Not to worry, though, since we are expecting a few days of sunshine before returning to overcast skies and showers in the area most of next week!

We spent one interesting afternoon on the self-guided tour of the WWII Aircraft Carrier, USS Lexington – The Blue Ghost.

It’s interesting that the US has had warships with the Lexington name dating back to the Civil War. The Lexington CV-16 was commissioned in 1943, replacing the CV-2 Lexington that was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1943. The Lexington was decommissioned in 1991 and donated to the National Park Service in 1993, and is now at anchor in Corpus Christi Bay.

The self-guided tour takes you from the bridge and flight deck, complete with WWII era fighter planes as well as more recent jet aircraft, to the sick bay, to the galley and Captain’s quarters and everything in between. Numerous displays depicted the various areas of the ship. After walking the well laid out tour path, you wondered how the sailors avoided getting lost in the maze of passages, ladders, and twists and turns. The ship is about the size of a modern day cruise ship and typically had a crew of over 1000 men.

We spent another day at the Texas State Aquarium. Located right on the Bay, the new modern building housing the Aquarium has a dolphin training area, and several large tanks with fish and aquatic mammals.

We liked the dolphins and river otter exhibits. Two of the three performing dolphins were on a rotation program and came from the Brookfield zoo. Most of the fish exhibits were less than spectacular, though perfectly adequate. Petting the rays and watching the female otter scold her companion was interesting, and the short presentation and up close and personal exhibition of birds of prey, including a Swainson’s Hawk, a Bald Eagle, and an owl was also quite interesting.