USA TODAY reporter Judy Keen reports from Galveston, Texas:

We began our 1,000-mile trip along the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas, where some local residents weren't thrilled to see us. Some tar balls - tested and confirmed as part of the BP oil spill - washed up on beaches here a couple weeks ago. Since then, TV stations from Houston have been here, waiting for more evidence of the spill to taint Texas beaches.

Galveston depends on tourism and still is recovering from Hurricane Ike, which swept much of the city away in 2008. J. Connolly Huff, a retired bar owner, says the last thing Galveston needs is more bad news to scare tourists away. Most of the vacation condos in town are booked for the rest of summer, he says, but negative headlines might prompt cancellations.

MAP: Track the trip along the Gulf

On this sunny, 97-degree day, beaches were crowded, but at lunchtime the shops and restaurants on the Strand, the city's historic district, weren't very busy. There were some empty storefronts, too.

Three families from the Dallas-Fort Worth area who are vacationing in Galveston for the third year weren't worried about oil spills or tar balls. "Oil's not new to the Texas coast," said Jason Whorrall, 36, a web developer who lives in Flower Mound but grew up in the Houston area. "There were always tar balls on the beach when I was a kid," he said. "They would get on our feet when we were at the beach. We'd pull them off our feet and get back in the water."

A ferry ride north of Galveston is the Bolivar Peninsula, which also was hammered by Ike. I was here in April 2009 to report a story, and many but not all of the wrecked homes and businesses have been rebuilt.

Will Rufener, 29, and his cousin Brandon Rufener, 27, were fishing in the surf near Crystal Beach, a small town on the peninsula. They live in Houston and also took the ferry. Will thought he saw a 6-foot patch of oil in the water from the ferry. The cousins talked about whether there would be oil on the beach and wondered if fishing would be affected. They haven't spotted anything on the beach yet, but Will said, "Honestly, I think it's inevitable."

Bruce Dement, 48, a private investigator from Houston and his wife Debbie, 44, were walking on the beach looking for signs of oil. They're here celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. He hopes the leak will be plugged before it fouls the Texas coast. "They've got to stop it, that's the deal," he said.

We're headed now for Port Arthur, Texas, an oil industry city that's been through plenty of oil spills.

The beach is cooler: only 90 degrees.