Your Late for Your Vacation

Entrance To South Padre Island

It was either late May or early June in 1977 that Connie and I decided to go to South Padre Island. We were leaving on a Sunday and I cannot remember if we came back on a Saturday or Sunday but feel pretty sure it was a Saturday.

I almost messed up our vacation. Our neighbor Tim was taking us to Love Field to catch a Southwest flight from Dallas to Harlingen Texas which was in the Rio Grande valley. We had rented a car and would have about a two-hour drive from Harlingen to South Padre Island. I never told Tim what time our flights were and just told him we would need to leave late Sunday morning.  Since he just lived across the street, he said just call when you’re ready and I will bring the car over and we will take off.  After Connie and I had gotten ready, I called Tim and told him we were ready. He picked us up and we took off to Love Field, his wife Norma also came with us for the ride. After we were about half-way there, I looked at the clock in the car and it was approaching 12:30. I ask Tim if the time was right and he said yes.  I thought I had called Tim at 11 so we would have plenty of time to get there as it took about 45 minutes to an hour then.  I then looked at my watch and realized it still said 11, my watch had stopped at 11 o’clock but when I called Tim it was almost noon. We knew it would be close, but we thought we could make it.

We got to the airport at about 8 minutes till one and we rushed in and talked to the first agent we, saw and she said hurry as the plane was getting ready to take off. She told us she would call ahead and let them know we were on our way. When we got to the gate the plane had just pull out from the boarding gate. We had missed our plane. The good thing about Southwest is they always have plenty of flights. The one we were booked on was going straight to Harlingen and we were going to get there around 3 PM.  Luckily, I was able to get us on a flight at 2:45 PM but it was s stopping in Houston. We caught that flight and so. did our luggage. But with the stopover in Houston, we did not get to Harlingen until a little after 6. We got our rental car, and headed south to South Padre Island. It was about a two-hour drive and we made it while the sun was still up. Thank goodness as I thought I had ruined our vacation.

Once arriving at the beach, we checked into our hotel. Another disappointment as the hotel and room which was nowhere near as nice as we had expected. Oh well, we made the best of it.

Monday and Tuesday were busy exploring the town and just enjoying the beach. It was so much fun just being together with nothing to do. We had decided that on Wednesday we would go over into Mexico just to say we had been there and to do some shopping. We decided to go to Matamoros a border town only about 30 minutes from South Padre Island.

We left a little after 9 that morning and spent a few minutes in Matamoros before deciding to drive over into Mexico. What a mistake, the drivers were crazy, the people were stepping in front of our car. Connie was very nervous and so was I. Connie said let get out of here they are just trying to cause an accident so they can collect some money. Not sure that was true, but it sure seemed that way. So only 10 minutes into our drive into Mexico we turned around and went back to Matamoros. I think we were both still shaking for the experience and it took us some time to calm down. Buses were running from Matamoros into Mexico and we decided to go that route.

We got off in a large shopping area and just spent some time shopping. Since I knew you were supposed to haggle and drive the price down, I want to impress Connie with my ability to do that. I saw an onyx chess set that was just lovely and I want it. The price was $30, and I got it down to $10.50. I got a real bargain. We found a place to eat but evidently, we had gotten off the main track and ended up in a place where there did not seem to be any tourist. We stayed because we were hungry. Finally, I was able to point at things and we got a couple of Tacos and cokes. Connie had to go to the bathroom and I still get scared thinking about it as it was a long alley to the women’s room. It must have been about 300 feet as it seems to be as long as a football field. Luckily nothing happened but we both still got scared thinking about that.

We were ready to leave and found a place to catch the bus back over to Matamoros. Thank goodness we were back safely, so we grab the car and headed back to South Padre Island.

The next day we went to some of the local stores to just look. Did my bubble burst as I found the same onyx chess set for $9.75; .75 cents cheaper that I had bought it for in Mexico after 30 minutes of haggling. As usual, Connie thought it was so funny and kept teasing me about it. She would say who goes to Mexico and pays more for what you can buy it for in the States. Connie ended up buying a beautiful painting and this large sombrero that day.  That night we went down to the nicest hotel on the beach for an all you could eat buffet dinner.  

We had a good time but now it was time to leave. Have you ever seen those crazy people that buy things and then they will not fit on the plane? Well, that was us. There was no way the painting that Connie had bought would fit on the plane, finally, the stewardess, came and took it and said this is going in the cargo hold. Connie really liked that picture and was so worried it would be destroyed down there. But our problems were not over, as the sombrero was so large and it kept hitting everyone, Connie and I tried to wear it but that was even worse. Luckily, we were able to get it in between us and the seats, thanks to the passenger in the window seat allowing us to use some of his space. I am glad it was a direct flight back to Dallas. But we learned a lot about not buying things we could not bring back on the plane. The painting made it back ok.

Connie, I enjoyed that trip with you and I still miss you kid.