The weather forecast is rather dreary for the next several days; cool, windy and rainy with no short term improvement forecast. We decided to cut our TX trip short and move on to the Florida Panhandle area.
On Wednesday we went into Aransas Pass to do laundry then over to Port Aransas. We bought the $12 annual beach parking permit that will allow us to camp on the beach. Port A has become one of our favorite Texas locations. As in past visits, we spend the day parked along the jetty watching the shipping traffic, fisherman, birds and the occasional porpoise, and the nights south of the fishing pier along the Gulf shoreline.
We decided to head out on Friday morning to explore the peninsula south of Port Lavaca. It’s an area we’ve never visited before and that’s the primary factor in deciding where we go. Plus we’ve stayed in this area several times in the past so we’re ready for someplace new.
It did get me thinking again, about the two distinctly different camping styles:
The county campground here is close to full. For a fairly reasonable $25/night you get a site with electricity and water, free access to the dump station, the shower house and on-site security. You also get a close-up view of your neighbors RV plus the sound of your neighbors’ radio, conversations, smoke from their grill, their barking dog, etc.
We drove along the beach this morning about 8am. There were eight other RV’s camping along the beach. All widely spaced with a beautiful view of the Gulf. I can’t speak for the other campers, but we had electricity, water, our own private shower and access to a dump station (for a modest fee of $4); everything the county campground afforded except for an on-site guard. We’ve camped all alone at much more isolated places for several years and have never felt even mildly uncomfortable with the setting or with other people so the lack of a guard is not an issue with us.
We’ll take the beach camping any day. Since there are far more campers in the secure environment of the formal county campground, that’s clearly the preference of the vast majority of campers.
Everyone seems happy with their choice; what else matters?
Friday
Still cool, overcast and windy.
We dumped our tanks, topped off the water and headed east towards the Port Lavaca peninsula. Stopped in Rockport for a hair cut, an apple fritter and a trip to Wal-Mart. Today was an exploring day with no specific destination in mind. We came across the Indianola Park which is actually in Magnolia Beach, and not Indianola. There were three other RV’s camped on the beach so we pulled in for the night. We’re right on Matagora Bay; another beautiful free beach camping area. This is an interesting county park. There are 14 gazebos with picnic tables, a bath house, trash bins, and a playground. You can either park next to a gazebo or go just north or south of the gazebos and park right on the bay. The sand is well compacted and the beach area is very wide. That’s where we are now, about 20’ from the waters edge. Our nearest neighbor is from Iowa. It’s chilly here he said, but much nicer then Iowa.
We drove the length of the peninsula just looking around. Indianola was a prosperous community until two closely spaced hurricanes in the late 1860’s wiped it out.
About 4:30 today, the sun shined for about thirty minutes. What a wonderful site.
Indianola Park
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