Go Fly A Kite (Part Duex)

Excellent weekend.  Nice weather.  Dogs behaved well.  Ate too much.  No issues with the trailer (pilot light on the water heater blew out but got it restarted with no problems).  Aside of all the sand we tracked in, was a pretty good weekend.  I like close-in rallies.  No long drive, late set up.  I had planned to take off Friday anyway so I could take my time getting down there.  Was able to load up and head south by noon.  Pulled in about an hour later and set up camp.  When you pull a trailer of this size, my dad taught me a system on how to set up camp.  Level the rig, drop the stabilizers, hook up the power, check the voltage to make sure the current is not reversed (yes, this is a problem in some parks), fire up the a/c, hook up the sewer line, hook up the water, unhook the trailer, check to make sure nothing leaks, switch over the refer from gas to electric power, pull out the awnings, open up the trailer.  And, oh yea, let the dogs out of the truck to go pee.  Dogs know the routine by now.  They are very patient with the set up knowing that they'll get a chance to explore once I have the base camp set up.  Lots of new things to smell/see/pee on.  

Overall, I'd say the rally was a success.  Lots of sun, lots of wind, lots of sand, lots of food, lots of drink, lots of camaraderie   A good time to kick back and relax.  Took advantage of the nearby beach to expose the dogs to a new experience.  Both have never been to the beach or the ocean so it was a whole new world for them.  Put in a few miles exploring the dunes at high & low tides.  

Base camp

Not quite roughing it.  Can you my rig? 

Sunrise on the Gulf

Exploring the beachhead

 Of course, exploring the beach at high tide, you find lots of interesting things.  Some more enticing (aka smelly) than others.  

Zombie fish

Saturday we held our kite contest.  I haven't flown a kite in years.  Couldn't find the kite I bought a few weeks ago for this rally so I had to fall back to the cheap one I got from the rally hosts.  

Look!  Up in the air!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!

Grayson getting his feet wet (and other things) 

Of course, with our club, there is always a party looking to break out.  One of our campers loves to boil seafood.  He went off and picked up a whole bunch of shrimp and we had an impromptu shrimp boil on the beach complete with margaritas.

Impromptu shrimp boil.  Who do you think is the center of attention here?

Of course, the dogs, loved to the chance to find new things on the shoreline.  Found this carcass this morning.  Not sure what it was but think it was a dolphin that was pretty much picked clean.  Grayson and Claire had to find out more...  

Grayson was highly interested in this seaside find.  

We even managed to find a few gems along the shoreline.  

Geode we found washed up on the shore.

My main purpose was, of course, to wear out the dogs.  Think I may have succeeded.  

Hiding out from the sun

Claire crashed

Looking ahead to a mountain of work and reports this coming week.  A long weekend that I am going to have to pay for.  Still, in my mind, a good weekend.  

Sunrise again