Beach Camping!

I’ve been watching this style of iconic video for so long, and finally I get to make my version.

Okay, so my beach isn’t pristine (and neither is the interior of the trailer), but … we’re BEACH CAMPING! Finally.

For ages I’ve seen RVers post about camping right on the beach, and we’ve driven by beaches dotted with campers, but the circumstances for us to camp on the beach never were right.

Tracy planned this, though, as a special leg of our trip to South Texas for the winter, from New Orleans southwest along the Gulf Coast.

We’re at the tip of a peninsula near Galveston, at a beach called Bolivar Flats. For this small stretch you can drive out on the beach and camp; you’re supposed to have a permit, but Tracy couldn’t find anyone to sell him one due to it being the end of the year. So we just drove onto the beach, found a hard-packed spot as close to the dunes as we could get and still be level, and, Bob’s your uncle, we’re beach camping.

What’s so special about beach camping?

I’m lucky to have vacationed in houses that I thought of as “right on the beach,” but this time I’m literally right on the beach: no walkway out or steps to go down or dunes to climb over.

All we own is right here with us, too. So, no lugging beach bags out or going in for meals.

Even from inside the trailer, I can see the sand and hear the Gulf and smell and feel the humid beach air.

It’s a seamless beachy experience. The evidence is on the sandy floor of the trailer!

Beach Banjo

The minute Banjo got out of the truck and her paws hit the sand, she was cracker dogging around in circles.

She loves it when she can see far distances around her, and there’s plenty of trash on the beach for her to smell. Lucky dog! And lucky us that she doesn’t like to dig in the sand or go swimming, so she brings in only a little mess with her each trip inside.

Lazy Us

We’ve taken it easy here, sitting like zombies as we stare at that glorious trifecta of water, sand, and sky.

We haven’t even unhitched the truck yet. At first, we were a bit wary that this would even work: Would the trailer stay level in the sand? Would someone boot us out for not having a permit? Would the vehicles driving by feel like a freeway? A lot of RVers said online that they stayed for only a night or two because of the crowds.

So far it’s been absurdly quiet. Today is Wednesday, though: the weekend crowds will come.

Still, even when the occasional vehicles speed by on this short sandy “highway,” we can sit in camping chairs right beside the trailer and get the full beach feel. Tracy can sit with his binoculars for hours looking at birds and at all the tankers lined up, waiting to get through the channel into Galveston.

And when the mosquitos get bad, we just step into our home and enjoy the views while sitting on our very own sofa.

The only downside is that, because we’re boondocking for as long as we can, we’re conserving waste tank space by not showering inside. You know the feeling after a day on the beach: your skin is covered with sand and salt and sunburn and windburn and bug bites. We have to go to bed with that skin, which makes for an unconformable night. The temp will rise though throughout the week, so we can use the outside shower on the far side of the trailer then.

As I type, I’m sitting on the sofa watching, through the dewy windows, the sun come up over the Gulf. I’m listening to the gentle waves. I’m drinking tea. I’m ready to step out there.