Thursday, December 30, 2010 – ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Travel Day to Padre Island

Well, incredibly, it’s been a year since we left home on this adventure! Truth be told, we don’t miss home one bit. We love having a new back yard every few days, we love having new trails to explore every week, we’ve been handling every challenge that’s come our way thus far, and frankly, sometimes we have to pinch ourselves to believe we’re really living this dream! It’s days like this that make us realize just how incredibly valuable our freedom is. Two days ago we were planning on going to Brazos Bend State Park south of Houston, but the discovery that we can camp and ride on the beach on Padre Island allowed us to change those plans in an instant, and head south to warmer climes as another cold front moves in. Of course, not everything has worked out perfectly, and it’s the challenges that keep us on our toes. Today was another example. After having been assured two days ago that the beaches were in great shape, when we arrived we learned that that had changed. High tides and strong easterly winds had shrunk the beach and plastered it with slippery seaweed, so that only 4-wheel drive vehicles were now recommended. We checked out a couple of access roads to the beach, but the story was the same everywhere. Finally, we found a popular fishing spot on the inland side of the beach road, just south of the Mustang Island State Park, where there was room and hard enough sand for us to camp on. We highlined the horses between the horse trailer and a utility pole, and settled in for the night. Fortunately, we were at low tide overnight, so the ground stayed hard beneath us. I felt like a true gypsy today, essentially parking by the side of the road for the night! We parked the RV so that it blocked the wind for the horses, and we all had a pretty good night.