Lucky to be Alive

It's no secret now that we have left our super secret undisclosed location in Minnesota. We were forced out by the cold and Beverly hinting to us that it was time leave. So we left, we had to, she changed the locks. Anyways, we left. It was 7 degrees when we pulled out of Bev's driveway.

We headed straight south. It took us 1300 miles to find temperatures that where warm enough so that we could de-winterize the camper and stay in it. Funny thing about that is that we have the usual uncomfortable RV mattress on our bed. So we put a 2 inch gel foam topper over that to make it more comfortable. Those things can freeze solid and become hard as a rock. So there was no sleeping in the bed until that got thawed out.

Our first 2 nights we just stayed in motels/hotels. One in Mound City, Mo, and another in in Ft. Smith, AR. (we call it Ft. Sniff. Why? Because we are funny like that.) Our third night we stayed in a State Park in Oklahoma. Beaver Bend. We were able to de-winterize and stay inside of the camper.

It was still cool but at least it was above freezing. The night after that we found a very nice Army Corps Park near Jasper, Texas. Sandy Creek. Temps have finally warmed up a bit now.

Lisa has been doing some research and there are places that you can go in Texas along the gulf coast and camp right on the beach for free. So she found a beach on the Bolivar Peninsula. Crystal Beach. Not sure how things worked, we decided to stay in a Passport America park there so we could check out the beach and find out the rules and regulations.

What we found out is that you can drive your vehicle up and down the beach for free. If you park or camp on the beach you are supposed to have a 10 dollar permit which you can get at any gas station there or a county rep can sell you one on the beach. Also you can drive atv's or side by sides on the beach but you cannot drive them to the beach. They must be trailered. Golf carts are the main form of transport on the beach.

So the next day we left the campground and drove to the corner gas station to get a permit. The guy there says that it is the end of the season and they don't have them anymore. He even said that they don't check for permits either and if the county did check you could just purchase it from them. Alrighty then. We like to follow the rules but the rules are not enforced at the end of the season I guess.

We drove out to the beach and set up camp. It was a nice spot. Nobody around because it is the off season.

We unloaded the Ranger and went for a drive. Upon our return there was some people in front of our truck and some idiots and I do mean idiots parked behind us. They even had a portable tiki bar on a trailer they brought with them.

We sat there for hours without a problem but then those idiots behind us had more idiots from the Mall Crawler Jeep Club join them and one had an enormous stereo system. He turned that on and didn't care who it offended. I yelled to Lisa to pack up, we are moving. What ass's.

We moved about a quarter of a mile away and could still hear them. They finally left at sunset. The thing that gets us is that this beach is 27 miles long and we drove it in both directions. There's plenty of room that you don't need to be on top of someone else and then pull that shit.

After that first night it was very enjoyable out on the beach. We drove the Ranger up and down the beach looking for shells. We walked many miles on the beach looking for shells. We have lots of shells now.

Who could have sailed this?

Just your everyday tiny beach shack.

Here's the part where I am lucky to be alive. We are not ocean people and don't know a lot about high tides and low tides. So, being our first night, Lisa was nervous about how high the tide would get. So occasionally I would have to go outside and take a look. Now what happened next is that there is some confusion on the details. The short version is that I opened the door and fell out of the camper onto my back. It happened so fast and I think there are three plausible explanations.

The first one I think is the least plausible. That is that my beer goggles made me step on a step that wasn't there. Far fetched I know. Second least plausible explanation would have to be that I had too much sand on my shoe and my foot slipped off of the step and down I went. Lastly, the explanation that I think is the most plausible is that I may have been pushed from behind. Everyone knows that I am worth more dead than alive. We will just never know how I got that handprint on my back.

When I did fall out of the camper there were some people having a fire not too far away. They did come running to my aid and I think I heard them say something like "Well the entertainment has arrived."

Our first day on the beach was Sunday and once all of the weekenders left it turned out to be a very nice peaceful day and evening.

We left Tuesday with our next destination being Galveston Island State Park. If you google the distance from Crystal Beach to Galveston State Park it says that it is 28.8 miles away. You have to take a ferry across the bay and it runs every 18 minutes. Thats cool. Plus it is free. We packed up and drove to the ferry dock and waited in line to cross. We had our camper on the truck and we are pulling a trailer with the Ranger and other things on it. The lady there said that we needed to turn off our propane to the camper. So we did. Then she saw the 2 extra propane tanks I have on the trailer. She said they have to be hooked up to something. I said they are tied down, they are not going anywhere. Nope, you can not get on there with those. Dang. A three hour drive later we got to the park. So in the future hide your extra tanks inside because they don't check the inside of your camper.

On a personal note. Crystal Beach turned out to be a nice place to be after our incident with the idiots. What saddens me is the way the locals treat that beach. There is trash everywhere, even though they provide garbage cans up and down the beach. They don't have respect for such a beautiful environment that they have around them. Lisa read the reviews of the beach and they say that it is trashy and the people can be obnoxious. I was wondering if the locals do that on purpose to keep tourists away and so they get the bad reviews. Also you don't even want to get me started with the dog owners. I have never seen so many dogs running loose and just crapping everywhere and the owners doing nothing about it.

"Glady', watch where you step and lets get going!"