One year ago...

 

No, this isn't like a Facebook Memory.  One year ago, things were locked down tight around here: essential travel only (checkpoints at the edge of town, where you could get a $200 fine if you weren't on your way to work, the grocery store, or a medical appointment), the beach was closed, bars were closed, no more that 2 people in a vehicle, no children under 14 allowed in the grocery stores.  Port Isabel and South Padre Island looked like ghost towns.

Forward to today: we tend to avoid going out on the weekends, to avoid the traffic.  But, I was feeling the need for some Vespa time.  I checked the webcams to see how traffic looked on the causeway - not bad.  I geared up and headed out for a ride.  Riding across the causeway, traffic was flowing nicely... until I got to the top of the high part - I could see traffic was down to a crawl and bumper-to-bumper about a mile onto the causeway.

I didn't bring a camera along today, but here's a screenshot from Waze...

 For you non-Waze users, the red means congested traffic.  Fortunately, it was more go slow than stop-and-go... took me about 10 minutes to cover that mile on the causeway.  Once onto the island, the traffic was thick, but moving; I turned off the main drag at the first opportunity and rode up the island on Gulf Blvd.  All the beach access parking was full - it is a warm, humid day, so a good time for those inland to be at the beach, where it is cooler.

My timing was good - all the way up the island, back over to the main drag, and no traffic slow-downs.  There is a custom car show happening at the Convention Center, so the bulk of the traffic seemed to be heading that direction.  Easy riding back south to the causeway; very light traffic on the causeway heading off the island, traffic backed up even further to get on the island.

Coming back to our island, I had a two-minute wait for the bridge (lots of boat traffic); so, again, good timing.