Have you heard of the Frugal RV Guides for boondocking?

I've spoken about Frugal RV guides in past posts as we had these four guides for our Maiden Voyage.

source Frugal RV

Since we purchased our guides they have written a California guide which had to be broken into two guides as the State was too vast to cram all the info into one guide. While purchasing these two guides the other day I noticed they had an affiliate program for recommending sales of their guides.

So please click on the link in my side bar or here:
 Click here to visit Frugal Shunpikers Guides to RV Boondocking.
and see what you think. If you are at all interested in boondocking in California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah or Arizona these guides will be a wealth of information and savings on camping fees. I haven't read through the California guides yet but if they are anything like the previous four they will be an amazing too!

Your purchase will benefit me but I offer it to you as an amazing resource. We have used these guides in the past. We will use them again in the future and I highly recommend them to anyone looking for wonderful bookdocking ideas as well as information on attractions, hikes etc near these boondocking areas.

Happy Travels everyone!

Don't forget to click the link to go to Frugal RV's site and learn more information about these wonderful guides. They also provide lots of other information on their site.

Hermit crabs, Galveston, and debris filled beach sends us to Walmart for the night

This morning we said goodbye to our marine Hermit crabs. We enjoyed them as pets for a couple days but since we are leaving the beach we must say goodbye.

Bye bye Hermit Crabs and bye bye Magnolia Beach. Off we go in search of more beach camping. We drove to Surfside but all the beaches there said NO Camping, we drove through Galveston and again No Camping signs. We did however stop in Galveston at yet another Rainforest Cafe.

This one had a River Ride which looked like fun... Really it was an expensive 10 minute ride along a river. The girls really enjoyed it but I think it should have been free or 1/2 price with a paid meal. It did only cost $5.99 each but still that adds up when you times it by 4! Two years and under are FREE. Everyone else pays the same price.

The ride was decorated much like the restaurant and like a mini Disney ride floating down a river.

After lunch we headed towards the Galveston Ferry. We were surprised that it was a FREE ferry

 since coming onto Galveston Island we had to pay a $2.00 toll.

This FREE ferry was only about 18 minutes but we had fun on it :)





Us parked on the ferry











The ferry actually announces to go to the back of the ferry to "feed the seagulls". There is no way they would promote that at home on our ferries. The girls had a lot of fun. We were told there is actually a store on the dock that sells bread you can buy but we didn't have time when we arrived. The gulls didn't mind our whole wheat!

And we got to see more dolphins :)

We left Galveston (they do NOT allow overnight RVing at Walmart) in search of a beach to spend one night at on our way to New Orleans. The public beaches here in Texas are FREE to camp on and we found a spot just South of a little town called High Island (right at the junction of 87 and 124 just East of Galveston).
We pulled in and parked right on the water again...however we were not impressed with this beach very much. We have found this to be the case with MOST of the beaches we have seen in Texas.

There were also oil wells right behind us.

The girls played for a few minutes and we were going to stay but the longer we stayed the more we wanted to leave so we decided to leave and head to Walmart in Port Arthur for the night instead. A VERY sad state when you choose to sleep at Walmart instead of at the beach due to garbage. The thing that is even more sad is all the beaches here are lined with garbage cans. Sure some garbage washes ashore, some is perhaps Hurricane debris... but we have spent time on many beaches...in hurricane paths like Jamaica and Antigua but we have never seen such dirty beaches. Take some pride people and follow these simple steps...



Step 1 Open drink





Step 2 Enjoy your drink



 





Step 3 Enjoy your time at the beach



Step 4 Finish your drink



Step 5 walk over to the garbage can







Step 6 Place TRASH in the provided
garbage cans or take it home with you!

Sorry to sound so rude about it but come on...these beaches are gross. No wonder they are FREE! Lets have some pride people...no matter if you are living here, or visiting here...do your part. Maybe there would be an excuse if there were no garbage cans around but we have seen more garbage cans on Texas beaches then anywhere else we have been in the world so there is no excuse!

Put your garbage where it belongs so we can all enjoy the beaches! And if you head here and it's still gross...continue on to Port Arthur. The Walmart there allows overnight RVing. Customer Service was unsure but when they tracked down the manager they said it was up to Security and Security said' "of course they can!" We have a very nice sequrity lady keep an eye out on us all night and had no problems what so ever...(except the street cleaner around midnight was a bit loud)

WANT TO WIN an RV COVER? Go take a look at Travels with Kevin and Ruth's post HERE for all the details. Blogger won't let me comment at the moment but I will be sure to keep checking in to enter!

Boondocking REVIEW Magnolia Beach, Texas, FREE Camping

This is a great little beach and not busy at all (at least not when we were here). We had a few neighbours but they were well spaced, quiet and it felt like we had the beach to ourselves.

Directions:
Heading to Port Lavaca from Chorpus Christi on the 35 turn right on 87 and immediately turn right on Alcoa Dr. Turn Right onto 238. This continues straight and turns into 316. Turn left onto farm rd 2760. This ends at the beach but you have to continue left and then right to get down to Beach drive. The beach is 8 miles long and there are a few different places you can pull off and camp.

Value 5/5
FREE and no time limit so we were told. There are no signs posting anything differently.

Site Quality 5/5
Amazing crushed shell beach which is perfectly flat. No services but a boondocking gem!

Facility Fun 4/5
8 miles of shell beach...mostly crushed shells but there are beauties to be found and we found 5 large hermit crabs as well. Right beside us are covered picnis tables with garbage and recycling bins, and a barbeque pit. Washrooms, a playground, a public boat launch and RV dump site are near by so we are told. However we loved the beach so much we didn't venture further down to find them. Many birds and nearby bird watching trails and did I mention the fabulous beach you can park for FREE on!

Natural Surroundings 4.5/5
If you love beaches you will love it here. There is a constant breeze but it is so refreshing. The water is warm and not much seaweed so you can enjoy a swim and the beaches are CLEAN. Most beaches we have seen in Texas have been full of debris) It is fairly deep and not much beach area before a small drop and then it gradually gets deeper, fairly quickly (My 4 1/2 year old was fine, my 3 year old was a bit timid of the drop). The water seems a bit murky but the small waves are constantly rolling against the drop off and stirring up the water. Shells galore as well as various bird and nearby bird watching trails. Fishing and crabbing right on the beach.
Bathrooms ???

Staff N/A

Location 4/5
A beautiful beach only 12 miles SE of Port lavaca where you have all your basic needs. This beach is fairly unknown and therefore very quiet.

Overal 4.5/5
Amazing FREE camping on the BEACH. Each morning I awoke and was still amazed that this is FREE and no time limit! A stroll along the 8 mile beach lands you handfulls of beautiful shells when you search. The beach is made up of broken shells but there are good shells to be found. Many variety of shore birds present, few people nearby. We enjoyed a few peaceful, quiet, sun, surf and sand filled days. We didn't do any exploring other then strolling along the beach. We enjoyed our time on this wonderful beach and will make this a stop for sure on any trip back to the Texas coast!

Our site right on the beach with no near by neighbours



The Picnic table areas...this one had a tent camper beside it
but RV's have to park off on the side on the beach



Some of our Hermit Crab friends

A sea gull on the close up of the crush shell beach

The beach at dusk

Portuguese Man O'War's, Texas State Aquarium and Magnolia Beach

This morning we got up and tried to drive to shell beach along Padre Island's coast hoping to find some shells and see some Sea Turtles as they are starting to lay their eggs along the shore.

The park flies turtle signs on days when turtle have
been spotted on the beach. Little turtle rovers patrol the beach
too to make sure the turtles are kept safe as they lay their eggs.

A camper on the beach...you can camp for free here if you want...
but a little too close for comfort for me.

We didn't have any luck with either seeing turtles or making it to shell beach. We stopped for a moment to ponder the road conditions as the road was looking more like sand dunes then a road as it hasn't been traveled much lately. We decided that driving to shell beach was not worth the risk of getting stuck. Being stuck this far away with no one on the beach to rescue us this time meant a hefty towing bill which we didn't need, nor did we want the headache. As we tried to turn around...you guessed it, we were already stuck. With some strange streak of luck we managed to get ourselves out and headed off the beach as fast as we could!

Back to the campsite and our own beach for a bit before leaving.

The girls were having a great time until we found a Portuguese Man O'War. To find out more about Man O'Wars click HERE

Then we found a second smaller one and it was time to leave. Finding 2 washed up on the shore within about a 12 foot space was enough for me to say...out of the water girls!

So we packed up and headed to the Texas State Aquarium. Before going in we called Ford in Port Lacava and made an appointment for the morning to see what we can do about the fuel problem.

They are accredited by the Association for Zoo's and Aquariums so our membership we bought at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens got us in for half price admission and by doing so we got our money back for the extra $30 the membership cost us. Now for future Zoo's and Aqauriums, we will just see the savings!

These jellies were glow in the dark

We spent a lot of time watching the dolphins.

A rare sisterly moment :)

As we were waiting for the dolphin show to begin we spotted some porpoises out in the harbour.

And then it was time for the dolphin show

Enjoying time at the touch pools with the Sting Rays

 The aquarium is bulding a new water park but it doesn't open until next weekend :(

 We head out to a Beach about 12 miles SE of Port Lavaca. Finally we found a beach that was clean, where we will be staying for a few days of gorgeous FREE beach camping.

A beautiful FREE camping beach site...the water is warm, the sand and shells are plenty and the neighbours are few and far between.

Tonights sunset at Magnolia Beach