Another Day in Mustang Island

Our second day on Mustang Island was a day of kayaking.  Julie's kayak got its inaugural ride!  One of the reasons we stayed in the park was because of the kayaking trails that it offered.  However, one of our neighboring campers gave us a heads up that there was better kayaking a few miles away.  So we opted to do that and drive down to Aransas Pass, which also meant going over a ferry.  Don's first car ferry experience.

We had to wait for the oil ship to pass first...

 The whole ferry process was really interesting. Each ferry held about 30-40 cars.  It was a short wait to fill the ferry and go (however we did have to wait for the Oil Tanker to go by first).

After the ferry we only had a couple miles drive to the Lighthouse Lakes Trails, which was a series of kayaking trails.   

Julie, Sheba and Don, the kayaking threesome!

I think Julie had more fun kayaking than Don!  It was pretty shallow but Julie was tooling around trying to break in her new kayak.  Even Don had to admit that she was moving pretty good.  Perhaps having Sheba on his kayak gave him a handicap.  Unfortunately we weren't able to get to the lighthouse, all trails leading to it were just too shallow.  However, we also met up with a fellow in the middle of the lake and sat and talk to him for an hour or so.  Joe,  he was retired and spent most of his time traveling too.  He had many stories to share.  He was currently staying with his son, whom lived on Padre Island.  We really enjoyed chatting with him.  

After an afternoon of kayaking we humped the kayaks back on the van and headed back to camp.  Not without stopping at a gas station for wood, beers, hotdogs and chips.  We came back to camp, showered and chatted with our new neighbors.  We met a really cool couple that was living on the road in their RV with their three kids and family pooch.  They were coming from the same areas that we were heading so they gave us lots of good tips for the future.  We were both really inspired by them.  They have been on the road for about 8 months.  He was working from the road, telecommuting for the most part, she was home-schooling their 3 boys.  They seems to really love it! 

Our attempt at a beachside campfire picture!

And to wrap up the day, we grabbed the cooler, dog, chairs, hotdogs and headed out to the beach.  We drove about a 1/2 mile down the beach, parked and Don dug a pit for a campfire.  It took a flare and motor oil to get it started but finally we started roasting the hotdogs and drank beer on the beach.  Good times!  Neither of us have ever had a campfire on the beach and were excited to do it!  A good way to end the day and a good way to end our time on Mustang Island!