RV adventure travel

Camping and adventures at Galveston Beach.

After our brief visit to San Antonio Texas for a friends wedding, we buzzed out of there on I-10 making our way to Galveston Beach for our evening stop over.

After about 2 hours out of Houston I-10 came to a crawl. After finding that it was not going to open up anytime soon we got off the expressway into the Texas nowhere lands.

Now I’m an RVer I tend to prefer the non-interstate routes, but then again I’m usually not in a hurry like I was on this trip, and Fred seems to be the Interstate type these days (at least somewhat). But the frustration even got to him and we began navigating through wee state and county roads to get an alternate way to Galveston Beach. My little handheld GPS unit (a Garmin etrex legend) is a cheap one and nothing to write home about when it comes to finding roads and routes, but it does have the basic state roads on it, and tells ya where ya are, and how far to whatever waypoint, and which way (its a very “kiss-rule” kind of unit). This wee gadget was coming in handy and we managed to navigate around the traffic mess, and around Houston to Galveston Beach. The Beatles No Where Man played on the radio for a bit to really set an appropriate mood.

But alas about an hour before Dark (as we were loosing sun this time) we pulled into Galveston Beach State Park and set up our tents.

Now the State Park along with everything else that is Galveston Beach had been torn up with the hurricanes a few years back so it had taken some research to find out that it was even open.

We arrive and find a pay station and campsites with these little concrete bunkers for the picnic tables. The campsites had water and power and there was a dump station for your RV on the way out. But alas, unfortunately I didn’t have my Oyster Can (RV) this trip and it was this night while tent camping at the State Park that I would really miss it.

But heck, we had just rode through lots of nowhere so we go cruising up the beach for food.

We came across Nates Seafood Bar, and order-up beers and seafood. I had this seafood combo thing with Oysters, Shrimp and the like, while Fred had a dish with assorted kinds of shrimp. We both enjoyed the heck out of our meals..

So we stop and get a 12 pack on the way out and enjoy some of the night time beach. We chatted and wandered a bit, messed about on my portable laptop and just relaxed. Ya see there wasn’t much to do that evening at the park or in Galveston Beach. Eventually we zonked out in our tents.

Now being that this campground was on the beach, we had staked everything down well and battened down the hatches. It was a good thing too, as about 3 in the morning I was awaken by the sound of whooosssshhhhh whoossshhhhh whooosssshhhh. It was a storm a blowing in. The wind beat the tar out of the tents, and it rained. My tent held up fine and I just wrapped my head in a sheet to shut out the sounds of sleeping in a wind tunnel. But alas Fred didn’t get any sleep and said that his night was like trying to sleep in a kite (not to mention his air mattresses had died on him). I thought of my Oyster can RV and how nice it would have been to have had it that night, but alas no.

We were up early in the rainy am about sun-up with Freddy grumbling “Galveston owes me a doughnut”. So we got the closest thing to a doughnut we could find and some coffee and headed out to catch the Fiery at the end of the island.We pulled the little Kia rental onto the free fiery and crossed over to the Bolivar Peninsula. A lot of salt spray later we exited the fairy and began our drive down the peninsula.

We found that much of it was just not there anymore. We could see the shells and remains of alot of houses, stores, and more. There were lots of make-shift RV areas/parks that seemed to have just sprung up like rouge weeds taking over a garden. You could tell that there was little attempt to make or re-make these RV areas into decent RV parks.

Along with the RVs you would see brand new, freshly tacky houses being re-built. and we laughed at the sign for Sand castle Construction (we found it a fitting name).

Now there was at one time a road down the entire peninsula apparently, on the Texas State map is has the road in dots, with the words “temporally closed” on it. We had thought, hey , with all the repairs I wonder if its opened up yet? What the map should read is completely gone, and the rough remains of the Peninsula road led to bits of the Peninsula that were once there but now were beach and ocean. That little place really took a beating in the hurricanes and it still shows it. But hey, it has oil, and lots of it. We saw a little oil well and pump on almost every other acre of the place.

We zoomed onward off the Bolivar Penninsualla toward New Orleans (and after a phone call for news to the Guest house, we decided that we would repeat our fun in New Orleans approach with a visit on the way back.

A Galveston Beach Slide Show

I pulled into Crystal Lake RV Park in Scottsmoor Florida, simply because it was in my half price club and hence cheaper than the others in the area. I needed to do some work anyway.
I will refer to it however as Camp Crystal Lake, like the classic camp in the Friday the 13th horror series.
Now Camp Crystal Lake is right off of I-95 just north of all of The Space Coast goodies.
It was 16 dollars plus tax when my Happy camper half price discount was applied. It was very nice for an interstate park, and it had a decent rate.

Now I find it ironic that Camp Crystal Lake is run by the Kruger family.
I guess Freddy Kruger took over when he sent Jason to the future and deeded it to some of his kin. Though they seemed nice ;).

Now unlike the classic Camp Crystal Lake the park was missing hot teen young gals taking their clothes off (bummer), but it did have monsters in the lake.
I called the Alligator Jason Jr.
He was about a 7ft long fella.
He was sunning across the lake a lot in the 2 days I was there.
I took off my shirt and shook my booty at him from across the lake but he didn’t come to hack me up.

The camp has a wee pool, and a nice full hookups setup, except for cable.
If you stay at Crystal Lake be sure to ask for one of the pull throughs next to the lake, I got one of these, and I felt sorry for the poor blokes with some of the back-ins as they were right next to the very noisy interstate.

The Krugers didn’t haunt my dreams, but they did sell me a light bulb for one of my interior rv lights.

Now there is not a lot to do at Crystal Lake, once you have shaken your boodie at Jason Jr. Its next to the interstate, so it might be a handy crash and drive spot for an eve, or as an affordable base to visit some of the space coast goodies. but hey Camp Crystal lake is right behind a Stuckeys, and it was handy for beerness, and I even bought a set of tiki salt shakers for the Oyster can of adventure.

Article source: travelfables.com (all rights reserved)

Adventures in Saint Augustine Florida.

I heart Saint Augustine.

I love this town (Saint Augustine that is).. I’m not really sure as to why I like it so much, so I tend to keep coming back. So as I write this maybe It will help me work it out as to why I love Saint Augustine. Now in spite of its loveliness, it is awful touristy, but I grew up in a tourist town so that is not a major problem for me.

This place keeps drawing me in. and every time I bike or moped the lovely back streets, peeking in gallery windows to steal a view of objects I could never afford or sneak down to my favorite pub for a sandwich. Its another here I am again trolling the Streets of Saint Augustine.

I took the Wind Up Toy of Adventure over to the Lighthouse
The Saint Augustine Lighthouse will give you a good view of the city the bay and all kinds of things. It is a tall bugger and worth it if you have the bucks to blow on the tour. Be in shape or use it to get in shape. I didn’t climb her this last trip, I wanted to save dough as I transition into my mobile lifestyle.. mehhh, now as I write this I wish I had just sprang for the fee and climbed her again (maybe next time). As I’m sure this town will find me haunting her again. Maybe that Dale guy, who comes here lots should be on the Ghost tour as a feature. The Tourist Ghost.ooohhhhhhooooooo, rattles cameras…

Saint Augustine Florida lighthouse pier
Instead of clambering up the light house this time, I mopeded around and hung out at the Lighthouse pier and watched some boats while I was over there. and then went mopeding around town for a bit.

The Rendezvous Restaurant

Ummmm Beer!!!

Speaking of Saint Augustine haunts, there are light houses (ooohhhhoooo), then there are ale houses (yeeeehawwwww) So lets stop in at the Rendezvous Restaurant for some of that good old rising of the wrist. As this ale house has some of the best brew selections around. This time I picked a time honored favorite a brew called Hacker Pschor (I likely spelled that wrong, anyway the octoberfest one) as it brought back memories of really fun times with a dangerous blond. and I washed it down with a good Ruben sandwich. and had a nice German brew for desert. The place isn’t easy to find in spite of the fact that it is right in the center of all the tourist stuff.You have to look on the map (which you can scrounge all over) for this mall thing called Saint George’s Row, you will walk by some of the cutest little faerie figurines I’ve ever seen (I always have to stop and wish), you will pass a magic shop and some other cool things to find the ale house. The brew selection is huge.

Now Saint Augustine, as the oldest town in the States has plenty of history to fascinate the history buff and tons of cute wee shops for those into that sort of thing. Parking is a hassle sometimes if you are in a car and not the wind up toy of adventure scooter/moped like me.

Arrrgggg! Me Mateys!!!

This latest trip was all about rv travels, so I stayed at a nearby RV park called Indian Forest Campground and just rode the moped /scooter thing into town as I had the camper. Before I have stayed at the quite fun hostel called The Pirate Haus Inn.

Shiver Me Tenders!!! arrrrrgghhh
I went for a private room when I stayed there last as I have loved hostels and all the folks that I meet at them for ages, but these days sometimes, as a 40 something, I think I am getting a bit old for the common room (I’ll likely get over that). But the place is great and it is right in town, so you can have all the fun you want, and have a handy place to crash, and even get Blueberry pancakes in the morning.

Article source: travelfables.com (all rights reserved)