We drove Louisiana backroads yesterday, taking whatever squiggle led towards the coast. We eventually hit the brown water, then turned right to run west.
As we were driving along we would see old abandoned houses and I would tease Ouest by saying how nice they looked, and asking if she’d like to live there.
“No way, that’s too old,” she replied.
“Our bus is old!” I told her.
“No it’s not. It’s so pretty!” was her very diplomatic response. She knows just what to say sometimes.
At one point we were stopped for construction. The flag guy walked over and we started talking. He lit a cigarette, and I remember thinking, “When was the last time I saw anybody smoking on the job? Any job?” Things are so different in that respect down here.
Anyway, we were talking for a couple of minutes when he asked me, “Do you smoke?”
And being the total rube that I am I replied simply, “No, sorry.”
“Hmm, you look like you smoke,” he said with a sly smile.
“Nope. Seems like nobody smokes up north any more,” I said, adding in my observation.
“Really? Weird. Wonder why that is? You know, down here you can be caught carrying like an ounce and you don’t get in no trouble.”
And that’s when it hit me that the two of us were talking about two totally different things. Then my internal observation switched to, “Isn’t this totally weird that a State employee is standing here asking me if I smoke dope, seemingly under the context of selling me some while we wait here for the pilot car?” When I commented to Ali how strange I found that conversation she just shrugged. Like I said, I’m a total rube.
We found an RV park (8 spaces, tucked into somebody’s front yard, between them and the ocean) and called it a day.
Despite the sunshine down here, it’s still freezing cold in the mornings. The wind has been howling for days. During this particular stop the kids and I jumped out while Ali stayed behind saying she was going to brush her teeth. Seconds later she was standing there with her toothbrush in her mouth undressing the kids back inside the bus. They had run outside, almost immediately began crying about how cold they were—despite sweatshirts and even winter hats—and turned right around.
This morning we didn’t have far to drive before we ran out of road and were directed onto a ferry. A boat ride from inside the bus felt strangely familiar.
A few minutes out Ali was watching an approaching ship and said, “I hope we’re not going in front of him, we won’t make it.” Seconds later the engines of the ferry went into neutral and we drifted to a stop to let the ship pass right in front of us. You can take the sailor girl off the water, but you can’t, something, something.
And then we were in Galveston, Texas.
Shortly after pulling off the ferry we drove past a nice looking campground right on the beach. We drove further on, checking out the town, then circled back to see about getting a spot for the night.
I walked up and a scruffy looking guy asked if he could help me. I told him we were looking for a spot for a couple of nights. He looked over my shoulder, then said, “We’re booked solid for the Easter weekend. ‘Sides, they wouldn’t let me give you a spot anyway. Only ten years or newer rigs here.”
In other words, no Gilligans at the Sandpiper RV Resort, only Thurston Howells.
There are still nooks and crannies on this bus that haven’t been explored. I opened this one up for the first time today. This is an air scoop—one sits on both the driver and passenger sides near the floors as a sort of poor man’s air conditioning.
48 Comments on “Galveston”
Love all the great pictures! As we are sitting in snow again in MN.
There is an awesome haunted house behind the state park. The kids would probably think it’s neat.
https://flic.kr/p/9ykxph
That’s a neat little RV park on the beach! And yes, there are some RV parks that won’t let older rigs stay. Another reason to get solar and dry camp. The desert doesn’t care.
What in the heck is that think inside the air scoop??? It looks like a bee hive or a weird sea animal.
We’ve got solar panels on the roof, in cardboard boxes. I just haven’t had a chance to install it yet because we’re going to need a welder. And also because it was -20 degrees the entire time I was getting the bus ready to take off.
If you make it to Utah and still need those solar panel mounts welded up just give me a shout.
Crotch coolers, in the VW vernacular. 😀
Pat, Ali, I wish I knew you were going to be in the area I would have loved to come by and bring some pizza and beer and sit for a bit. You should take the kids to NASA they would have a blast and have a really nice park right across the street. Sorry about the cold this is suppose to be our last cold front and is kind of a freak for this time of year. How long are you going to be in the area? If you still around Sat give me a call 832-768-1535
Ah, the old ten years or younger rule. Whenever we run into this our 1984 Airstream magically turns into a 2007 anniversary model.
I’d never in my life heard of such a thing. I can just imagine the crowd in those parks.
This is rather common. When we had our Class C we were cautious about where we went in. I told Max that you would run into this with your “older” classic rig.
You’re right about that, Pat. It’s a tip-off that it probably isn’t a place you’d want to stay anyway. If it is, though, do as Andreas suggested and tell them your rig is much newer than it really is. Most clerks at RV parks could care less what your rig is and are only asking because they were told to do so.
Once you get the right weather and the chance to really spiff up the outside, you can tell anyone who asks that it’s an experimental retro model from a company in Northern California and you’re test-driving the beta version for them. Hint that you’re also grading RV parks for Woodall’s as well as writing articles on your experiences for a national RV magazine while you’re at it. Chances are they’ll decide having you spend the night with them might be alright after all.
Think of it as the RV equivalent of telling Greek customs authorities that you have insurance for your boat and you have the paperwork to prove it. 🙂
The rule is a sad result of the built quality of modern white box trailers. Give them five years, and most of them will start looking old and ratty.
As a result, those of us with beautiful old trailers need to be inventive at times. Having said that, most campground enforcing that rule are to be avoided in the first place. Think the worst of suburbia, but on wheels.
We much prefer to stay in provincial parks or on Crown Land.
Great birding down there. The kids would love seeing a roseate spoonbill.
We saw one of those yesterday. Thanks for telling us what the heck it was. Oh, and we also saw a bunny. It’s like we’re on safari. 🙂
Guys , you should stop by Fort Davis area and the chihuahua desert if you can. We live in florida now, so if you ever come down this way…let us know if you want to hang out on our old british catamaran. We hope to explore the everglades this winter.
Hey, we’re in Kemah just about 30 minutes north of Galveston. If you’re still in the area, drop me a line, and we’d love to take you guys out to dinner.
I am about to take my tinyhouse apart and use the materials to build a camper on a 5th wheel frame. Sounds like I might have trouble getting in to some of the campgrounds and probably a lot of neighborhoods. I don’t want to be the rusty hulled boat with rusty propane bottles pulling in for fuel at Bahia Mar so I better build pretty. The goal was a well insulated house on wheels that can move with the seasons.
I really enjoy reading about your adventures!
Yep…Kemah is really where you’d like to be. Go to Kemah and Fred Facker will buy you dinner.
You are going to be surprised if you drive north.. There are quite a few RV parks with that rule.. Stupid,yup.. Like a parking lot turning away a classic car cause its too old..
Keep puttering west along the coast and you will come to Magnolia Beach at the ‘ghost town’ of Indianola, south of Port Lavaca. Free county parking there with covered pavilions about 20′ off the gulf waters. Nothing there but solitude and sun, if you can dry camp.
It’s really weird seeing photos from our neck of the woods! Hope you’re having fun in Galveston!
G-town brown!!
Better run up to San Antonio while you are in the vicinity. See the Alamo (very humbling), the river walk, and the kids can definitely practice their Spanish!
Nice big “blow your skirt up” vents, or like he said.
Man you learn something everyday on this blog!
Business must be booming to turn people away. I couldnt imagine owning an RV park and someone pulls up in a cool ride like yours or a vintage Silver Eagle and you send them packing!!?? wow
That guy may have let you in the park if you had just bought some of that pot from the state road worker and sold it to him, I mean gave it to him!
We actually search out the age restricted rv resorts. LOL We live in the Midwest….where camping in an campground is more of a place for riff-raff to party on the weekends. There’s nothing like 5 games of cornhole being played within earshot and large packs of unsupervised children running wild and screaming at the the top of their lungs. The age restriction tends to weed out some of that. I remember our first experience camping in the West. We were amazed that the majority of the people camping were actually there to experience what the location has to offer….not just hanging out with your buddies with your boom box blaring and tending a smouldering fire all day long. 🙂
If you are headed out through Central Texas, we’re headed out to the ranch near Coppers Cove Saturday morning and would love to have you guys out. 600+ acres and a few tractors we could give rides on. Let me know and ill grill you a few steaks
You do not need a welder to install your solar panels. They bolt to the roof then just caulk around the bolts. You are taking the exact route that we used in January and February. If you are interested there is a great National Wildlife Sanctuary In Anahuac National Wildlife Reserve in Winnie, TX (or near) A friend volunteers there. Judy is her name. It is a mighty cool place with all the birds and Alligators (from a safe distance)
I’m not a fan of more holes in the ceiling. If caulk was all that was ever needed to stop leaks I would have never had a drop of water in either of my boats. That was never the case.
Ours are glued on, just for that reason. Works perfectly well.
By the way, I love that I never see consumer electronics in your pictures. I am sure you have a camera and a laptop, but the kids don’t appear to be watching videos or playing on iPads. They draw, ride bikes, run around on the sand. I am sure the quality family time is far better in your little bus than my home. Any suggestions on how you keeps the kids occupied while logging hours of driving each day?
I wish we could claim to be perfect in that respect. We do have an iPad, but the kids don’t use it much. Probably due to us never putting anything new on it. Ali and I are definitely not fans of iPads, and really can’t stand to mess with the thing. And we also have one of those little portable DVD players. A sad little 7″ screen that Ouest is a fan of, but Lowe doesn’t seem to care much about. So while we’re not perfect, I am at least happy that everything they do watch is specifically chosen by us, and doesn’t include advertising. As for keeping the kids occupied on driving days—our only answer is stops. Lots and lots of stops. It’s why our new “big day mileage” has dropped to about 80 miles. I figured that if we were to drive to Alaska from here it would take us roughly 50 days!
Holy crap! I’ve finally caught up to current on your blog! I started reading it a couple weeks ago, from the start of your adventures. You’ve got me daydreaming and making plans of my own. Thank you for the inspiration. I’m looking forward to watching your bus exploration unfold. 🙂
Brings back so many memories of my uncle’s house on stilts at Galveston. Sand in the swimsuit, tar on the beach, and hermit crabs crawling all over the back of our station wagon. Little colorful bivalves that work just right in decorating sand castles. If you are meandering to the west, hope you have considered stopping in the 4 corners area of the desert southwest to do a little hiking there with the kids. (Where the 4 states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet up) Lots of beautiful ancient cliff dwellings you can ‘discover’ on your own because the place is lousy with them. The kids would be enchanted, and you, too. Too hot in the summer, though. But hey, no humidity. Happy to share info if you like.
I just read your latest entry Melissa. What a beast of a day. If it could have gone wrong, it did go wrong. It sort of reminds me of Pat’s experience when he was running down to Mazatlan and found water in the fuel. But, your day seems even worse. I wish I could buy you a beer. Man, sailboats can be rough…
Ah, thanks, Eric. That’s mighty nice of you. I guess days like that go with the territory. It’s all good, though. The engine is fine, and locating this problem at the outset is a good thing. We’ve determined the problem and will get it fixed. Thanks very much for reading, and if we ever meet up we will share a beer!
Is Ali okay? She doesn’t look happy in any of your photos. Just curious.
If you’re going across Texas, may I recommend some small towns? Luling, Victoris, Shiner (they have a brewery there where you can take tours and get a free beer or lemonade at the end), Gonzales and pretty much anywhere in there. I grew up traveling all over those little towns. I wish I was in Texas right now. Love the wildflowers.
Where are the first set of pictures taken? When you said you ran out of road and had to board a ferry, I realized that the pictures were not of Galveston. It looks a lot like Holly Beach, Louisiana.
Rollover Island, TX: http://goo.gl/maps/KJ9fP.
Thanks, Roland.
I had forgotten about Rollover.
HI guys, I also just ‘caught-up’. wondering what are your school plans. Also when in Mexico give thought to Patzcuaro as a nice place. I know you were there once but we really enjoy it and there are ruins and interesting cities nearby that are copper, silver or woodwork specialist. Glad you enjoyed the Butterflies while in that area. We drove Mexico twice and averaged 8,000 miles each time;. Have fun and be safe.
Wow, I just stumbled across this through Tiny House blog!! What a great adventure you are on. If you can do it, head for Silver City, NM. It’s the hometown of Billy the kid, a really wonderful high desert town. If you get there, stop and say Hi to my friend, Ellen O’Bryan who owns Adobe Agave. Tell her I sent you. On the way west to SC, there’s a nice hot springs called Faywood Hot Springs, not far from City of Rocks State Park that you and your kids would love to explore!
Love seeing you guys enjoying yourselves and having
a great time. What do you think of Australia? cheers.
Gilligan was way cooler than the Howells…
You’re not Gilligan.. or the Skipper.. perhaps more of a reluctant Professor.. although your escape plans (usually) work.