the gulf coast, tx

prompted by the still current oil events in the gulf of mexico i decided to interject the already set up flow of these posts with the current, which would otherwise have had to wait better days. so many wonderful photo ops have presented themselves lately that there is a long waiting list for all the cherished things i have focused through my lenses. indra and i went on a little road trip that summer's fourth of july. a part of the trip entailed visiting the fabled padre island. we wanted to experience some of the known waters, beaches and other perks that two young guys without any worries in the world would want to experience. with little to no preparation for the trip we failed to realize that visiting the northern part of the island, just over by corpus christi, would welcome us with the traffic sign: no gas for the next 70(?) miles, and the absence of everything but sand dunes, dune grass, seagulls and heavy clouds. i usually enjoy dipping my feet into big water such as the oceans and seas but in the gulf there, i just couldn't. the oil rigs on the horizon seemed way too close. however, their proximity somehow doesn't bother me when i pull in a gas station and the cheap gas says howdy. we twitched back onto the course to austin which i hope i photo-cover at some point. that might take a while. unless there is an oil spill in austin. indra, would you like to write a little piece on our austin? the gas-price sign of a decommissioned gas station on our way down to corpus christi, tx. we pulled in to get gas (the neighboring gas station was in service) and i rushed to get my camera out and capture this lovely scene of an old suburban against the sign. a bit of an out-of-place time slice. in this lovely photo of indra oil platforms dot the horizon. indra has been working out in the meantime and looks even more handsome. expecting a catch, and two swimmers