Here's some picture of our stop at Padre Island National Seashore. Camping on a beach had been a goal of ours since the beginning starting with the first "Big Trip". There was a campground on a beach in California that was the first stop we picked out on that trip only to be turned away once we got there as our camper was too big for the stop we had reserved. But now was the time and this wasn't a campground on the beach this was full on drive the camper on the beach and drop it beach camping. Besides our upcoming hike in the grand canyon this was the stop I was most looking forward to. It didn't disappoint it was awesome, magical, and a bit scary. No idea really what to expect and we got in late with the sun heading down, after stopping to get some groceries and fill up gas we headed to the island, it's a little ways in where the national seashore starts and a electronic sign flashing to announce a boil order in effect and to get water from off the island. Well we're already in full hanger mode and I just white knuckled it for 8 hours (the constant construction and Huston traffic was a s* show) so already in a pretty fragile mental state at that point, it really felt gratuitous pilling that one on us. We threw around a few Adam Sandler impressions of that information would have been useful yesterday jokes to try to keep it light and stave off a full fledged freak out.
We had to find a spot before dark so we headed forward and left our future selves to deal with the water issue. We got to the beach and just drove on it, was pretty crazy quite a few cars and campers right off the pavement but the sand road seemed pretty smooth. As we headed further in we got into some sand drifts across the road but nothing troubling, driving was fine. The trash was a spectacle to see so much trash just piles of it littering the beach as we got a couple miles in our main goal was to find a area without too much trash. I knew the beach was good for 5 miles then they say you need four wheel drive (that we have) but I didn't plan to pull the camper past 5 miles and had in my mind 3 or 4 miles should do it. But as we went we didn't find any good looking spots or they were already taken so we kept on and got to five miles, the road had been fine so we kept going past the warning sign about no low clearance vehicles and expensive towing that sunk in a little past the sign so we figured we better just call it good and setup camp. I swung the camper around so the party side was facing the beach and Becky and I found a nice spot off the road by the dunes. With her walking along the vehicle I proceeded to bury the camper up in the sand a few feet from where we discussed parking it. The camper wheels had sunk in and it was a dead weight on the Suburban stopping it cold. Tried to go forward again and the trucks wheels dug down. Tried to go backwards and we dug down some more. How about 4-low... digging down. I felt pretty confident I could get the truck out if we dropped the trailer but... we didn't want the trailer stuck and if I keep digging down screwing around here we might bury the truck as well. If we can't get the trailer out now we might never get it out, dollar signs floated above my head with "towing here is expensive" echoing in my mind. I'm feeling pretty small and stupid at this point with my fragile mental state completely shattered... hey family lets go drive five miles away from anything and get stuck in the sand. Anyway just a problem to solve and we all got out and started digging, I had bought a trenching shovel just for such an occasion and the boards we level the camper with worked great as shovels and to give the truck some good traction. Some careful digging and re-digging on a couple wheels ordered by fore-woman Becky to make sure we had the best shot out of here the first time. It worked I got some traction and just gave it as much as I could while on the boards and we popped out, the trailer jacked knifed as it didn't want to go straight back but it was out. The truck was still in the loose sand but now I could go forward and drug the camper into position a few feet off the beaten road. We leveled it and dropped it and immediately felt the weight of the situation melt away. I didn't strand my family in the middle of nowhere look at that, maybe I'm the best father of all time. Funny how moods will ebb and flow.
So now we're in paradise, I mean if paradise includes mountains of trash... which it might so yes this is paradise. Top camping spot ever, so remote so beautiful, we walk out the door and go into the surf. It's like having a beach house and it's awesome. The waves constantly crashing white noise in the background. I could have stayed there forever, or maybe three days. Yes three days then paradise wears on you. My god the heat and humidity, also sand so much sand. Sand everywhere powdery and gritty. We had a ton of fun on the beach and swimming in the gulf, we drove the truckster down the beach for 30 miles which also got my anxiety going but we don't need to get into that. We had left Mississippi a day early so after three days here we were done and we decided to drive into town so we had cell service and see if we could find a place down the road a bit, only requirement was electricity so we could run the air. All the state parks on the way were full but we found a KOA in San Antonio that had room for us so we booked it and headed out that afternoon. We had our fun in the sun, now we needed to cool off.
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| Awesome picture of the camper all alone on the beach. |
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| Warning sign at the 5 mile mark. We went past it with the camper but it's message slowly sunk in and we decided we shouldn’t go much further with the camper in tow and setup shop about 300 yards or so after the sign. Then we (I) immediately proceeded to bury the camper in the soft sand by the dunes, getting us stuck in the middle of nowhere. |
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Stuck, the camper was the one stuck and the truckster was just digging itself a hole in the sand unable to pull the camper loose forward or backward. We decided backward was the way to go so we put our long boards behind all the wheels to see if it could keep us from digging in. Thankfully it worked but was a tense what have I gotten us into moment.
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| And we’re out and got setup before night fall. Much closer to the road everyone is using, pretty much right on it. At the time I wished we would have moved in another foot or two but this was actually good as the sand outside the camper was pretty packed down (marginally less sand on our feet) and the road just moved away from us slowly and by the end of the next day it no longer looked like we were the jerks from South Dakota that setup on the road. | | | | |
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Another shot of the camper this in the morning light after our first night. I got up early as I didn’t sleep well the first night being so remote in a strange place no cell coverage had me on high alert and unable to relax.
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| Good shot of our setup on the beach |
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| Marcus filling us up with water. Boil order on for water in the park. Hoped to find bigger jugs but gallon was all they had so we bought out the shelf in Walmart of spring water. 23 gallons should be enough to get us though this stop. And never had I felt so good about our water supply. When you fill up in strange places you really never know the quality of water you’re getting. This stop the Munschs flush their toilet with crystal clear spring water. |
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