My Introduction to Texas

After leaving Louisiana, I headed to Sea Rim State Park in Texas.  When I got to the park, I found a sign explaining that it was an unstaffed park and there was only primitive beach camping available.  When I found my way to the beach, I discovered a most beautifully rugged shoreline!  I retrieved my stuff and strolled along the beach until I found the perfect spot for my tent.  I set up, then ambled along the waterline, taking in the wild beauty of it all.  This section of the Gulf Coast was unlike any other section I had seen.  For some reason, the ocean seemed the most vast at this point.  It was really the first time it hit me just how large and impressive the ocean is.  The park also had an atmosphere of wildness and impending adventure that I hadn’t found in most other parks.  I think it may have had to do with the fact that there was less human intervention in this environment than I had experienced in most other state parks.        

When I got back from my walk, I spread out my towel a little ways away from my tent and just gazed at the beauty before me.  Then, a large pickup truck drove right up to me (apparently in Texas, when you see a beach, you drive on it).  Two men from the Sherriff’s department, inquired if I was okay.  I assured them I was and I was very much enjoying the park.  They drove off, and I went back to enjoying the scenery.  At least for a few minutes until the truck came back again.  They again inquired if I was sure I was okay.  Again, I told them I was way better than okay.  They then said, “How’d you get your stuff down here.”  I informed them that I walked.  Then then confirmed that the tent ten feet away was where I was planning on spending the night and the only car in the parking lot was mine (since I’m from Illinois and feel that beaches are for walking on not driving on).  Then they drove away.    Yet, they were back in about fifteen minutes.  This time they informed me that they really didn’t feel like it was a good idea for me to camp there alone. I assured them I had been traveling alone for an extended period time, and I would be fine.  They tried to convince me to leave for several minutes, then after realizing that they weren’t getting anywhere, they asked, “Do you at least have a gun?”  I informed them that no, I didn’t have a gun and would still be fine.  They finally gave up and just wished me luck.  I proceeded to have an enormously peacefully and enjoyable night alone on the beach enjoying the refection of the nearly full moon on the water.  The worst thing that happened was a thin layer of sand getting blown on to everything in my tent (and somehow I don’t think a gun would have stopped that).