40 Gallons of fresh water, 4 people and 72 hours on the beach

We left Saturday morning for warmer climes.

It snowed all day Friday and through the night into Saturday.

Everybody is ready to go, except ME! I'll be there in a minute - gotta take pictures!





Truck with the camper on it is loaded up, ready to sneak out into the snow.

The weather cleared by Albert Lea.

We stopped at least once in each state and grabbed a quick geocache.




We drove til 1 a.m. - stopped at the Texas Welcome Center, jumped in the camper, and grabbed a quick night's sleep. We got our first geocache in Texas at the Welcome Center when we got up in the morning.

Funny thing, the Easter Bunny found the kids in Texas! The kids had a quick duel with some of their candy stuffed carrots.








We headed to Kerrville, in the Texas Hill Country. My folks are winter Texas residents.
We went to Kerrville Schreiner Park and set up camp for two nights. It's only a short drive to my parents home. The park is really pretty, and full of deer.

We hiked one day - and there were three geocaches in the park! We hiked four miles. The temps were in the sixties. Warm enough for the boy to take his shirt off and start getting his Texas sunburn.

It was really good to spend some time with my folks. We hadn't seen them since October.


After two nights in Kerrville, we headed out for Padre Island National Seashore. It was about a 250 mile drive.

The National Seashore is not the South Padre Island where all the spring break kids go. It is a very rustic, undeveloped area across a causeway from Corpus Christie. There is a small campground, but we went native...

We drove six miles down the beach and set up camp. You can camp anywhere you like on the beach. All you need is the FREE permit!
(You need to drop off the permit when you are done. That way they don't send out the rescue party for you!)


No hookups, no fresh water provided. Our tanks hold 40 gallons of water. We spent three nights. Let's just say we were frugal in our water use, eh?

Ben set up his tent in the dunes behind the camper. His tent and everything in our camper was covered in fine powdery sand within hours. There was no way to avoid it. Sand blew in with the wind.

There was a burning ban, so we couldn't have any campfires, but we had a blast!



The kids built several castles, then watched the tide take them out.










They swam in the ocean.

Note the little dog. He thinks he is a life guard dog for Girl of the House.




















We walked on the beach.

(Happy dogs!)











We shelled.











We sat on the beach and read books.











We read books while waiting for a terrific big camping breakfast.

We played card games.

We napped.

No-one wore shoes for two full days. (Especially after we sunburned the tops of our feet!)

It was an amazing, relaxing time.

We returned to Kerrville on Friday and went out to supper with my folks. Set up camp at Kerrville Schreiner Park for one more night.

Saturday morning we pulled out with my folks motorcycle on a trailer behind the truck.

23 hours later, we were home.

Back to the remainder of Minnesota winter. Heavy snow warnings - four to six inches - for Monday morning...