2024-03-08 Galveston Island State Park Rally

I headed towards Galveston Island on Thursday, March 8, for a unique small rally with the Texas Ramblin' Roses chapter of RVing Women. I say unique because we usually have a large group of 30 or more and there were going to be less than 10. It was also unique because it was a Wing It Rallywhich means that there was no set agenda in advance. It works great for a small rally.

I actually made my great escape on Thursday and travelled cross country with an overnight stop in Bay City at a Passport America park. Everybody needs an occasional escape. The rally didn't officially start until Monday but my SIL Elaine and I planned to be there on Friday.

The state park was recently renovated which makes it very nice. There are two sides to the park, the Beach side and the Bay side. The rally was going to be on the Bay side. I arrived and headed to side with this marker and other road sides which are for the Beach side. I checked in there and then headed back down the road towards town. The is a similar concrete maker which doesn't identify the Bay side. there is actually no sign identifying this side of the park although they have a check in office once you go down that road. Just mentioning here that finding your way in after dark is interesting without any sign or even a light to let you know where the entrance is. Elaine arrived about the same time and we got set up in our sites in the circle. I have to say in fairness that I like the bay side as it is smaller with sites in a circle. The only restroom on this side is in the tent circle up the road. It doesn't bother me since I use my RV bathroom but is somewhat inconvenient for anyone in the water/electric circle especially if the tent circle is full of boy scouts.

We headed back over to the beach side to check it out. There are way more water/electric sites over here along with quite a few yurts for rent. There is also a beach.  The day was warm but the water was cold.

It was windy also but that is probably pretty normal here.

The park has a number of hiking trails.

The weekend was pretty warm but it cooled off considerably by Monday when everyone else arrived. Teresa brought a kite with her. This is Charlene's Phoenix Cruiser not mine but we are often confused by others since we have the same full body paint colors although her RV is bigger than mine.

Just down the road from our circle was a kayak rental and launching area. Quite a few people took advantage of that although not anyone in our group. A young man was busy helping mother/daughter and grandmother/granddaughter pair of kayaks launch with everyone in the kayaks before he pushed them into the water. I know his feet and legs were freezing. Wish I could have been there to see them all get out of the kayaks, lol. Others were fishing nearby.

We had seafood several times while in Galveston but the very best seafood was provided by Charlene and skewered by Elaine before being grilled by Charlene.

We all gathered for a group picture which was graciously taken by another camper.

The park has several observation towers on the bay side. teresa and Diane trekked to each of them.

Elaine and I drove out to the parking area and took some pictures of a small pond and flock of roseate spoonbills.

They were joined by this bird as well.

 Just a few more interesting tidbits about the rally and park. I don't think any of us realized that it was spring break when we made our reservations. We lucked out in getting them as those that didn't move as fast weren't able to book. My state park account got stuck for some reason while I was making my reservation. Before I could push the final reserve button for the whole time period, someone got in there and reserved one night right in the middle of the time I needed. My fall back was to reserve the Bay site for Friday and Saturday, book Sunday night on the Beach side, and then reserve Monday through Thursday back in my original site. Since I have a motorhome, it wouldn't have been horrendous. I did notice that there was a Bay site that was not on the reservation site. I asked on the Bay side check in if there was any chance I could just move there for the one night but was told that had to be held in case someone showed up after hours without a reservation or one of booked sites didn't work. I drove over to the Beach side office where I was lucky enough to talk to the head ranger who was training a new employee. I explained the situation to him and said I would move to the Beach side if I had to but it certainly would be easier to move within the circle on the Bay side. He walked the new employee on how to unblock the unmarked site, move me to it, and then block the site I had reserved on the Beach site. He was great and a new employee had the benefit of learning what real customer was. I made the move and we headed out for the day. Of course, you guessed it. No one showed up to use my original site. I guess cancelling it was just too much trouble for them to take to leave it open for another camper. the next morning I moved back to my original site and checked in again.