That was close...

We needed to get the boat trailer out of our driveway - today was the day.  With no sign of precip, we hauled the trailer to our storage unit... a bit of the shuffle (coach out, trailer in, coach back in), and it was off to the "other big city" (Harlingen) because we are almost there at our storage unit.

First stop: Sam's Club.  Fuel; 4 whole cents cheaper than in our town.  We saw two old guys almost get into it over who got their truck to the fuel pump first: one was backing in, one pulling forward.  It's gas - pick another pump.  From Sam's, on to one of my favorite places...

It pays to advertise: HUK fishing gear seems to be all over Facebook.  I don't fish, but fishing shirts are great on the boat.

Lunch at Longhorn Steak House, then back to our place.  Joan got a new power washer the other day and has been itching to try it out on the siding on the house.  After asking 8 times (yes, I counted) if there was anything I could do to help, I volunteered to take the boat out so she could pressure wash the dock railing and not get overspray on the boat.  I'm helpful that way.  She said, "Go!"  I went.

A beautiful blue sky as I was heading out...

Some might think the "close" thing that I was referring to in the title here was the near altercation at the gas station, or narrowly escaping the power washing.  But... no.  Dolphins, just outside the canal...

Yeah, a wide angle lens on the camera, so you have to look close.  In all our time here, this is the first time I've seen them before leaving our canals.  You might think it would be hard to kill some time before going back home... but, no.  There were about a half dozen dolphins, and I enjoyed their company...

If you like these, I have another hundred or so that are pretty similar.  No, I won't post all of them, but look at that cute face...

Yes, they did come close to the boat...

I had them to myself for quite a while, then was joined by one of the local dolphin watch boats...

Moving towards the ship channel, this ocean tug was coming into the Port of Brownsville...

Hard to tell from that photo, but the tug and barge are huge.  This came by...

At first glance, I thought it was Homeland Security (they operate gray boats), but this is a Texas Game Warden.  He slowed as he went by, I'm assuming to look for any fishing gear on my boat.  Then, he put the coals to it...

Yes, that is a dolphin in the lower left; no, they didn't slow down for it.

Not a lot of other traffic out there.  These boys are going to be pink...

Turning west in the ship channel, I passed this shrimper heading out...

Not fancy, but it'll get the job done.  Also coming down the ship channel, this tug pushing two barges...

This is considerably smaller than the ocean tug pictured earlier.  As this tug was heading towards the turning basin, I heard him call on the radio to let a shrimper there know to not put out his outriggers.  No reply.  I saw the outriggers going out.  I called the tug, "The shrimpers around here rarely respond on the radio, and there's a good chance there is no one at the helm of that boat while it's in the turning basin."  (He and I had exchanged position and intent before he made his turn, so it wasn't a call out of the blue.)

He replied, "Yeah... didn't leave me much room.  Just another day at work."

"Safe trip."

"Thanks, enjoy your day."

Hard not to - it is a lovely day.  And... dolphins.

Joan met me at the dock to grab a line.

I was a little late getting back for Izzy's supper time, but she seemed to understand.