It was a solid decision to close Galveston Beach. The white-sand resort, only 45 mins from downtown Houston tend to get packed on the weekends and the hotel-lined promenade is often filled with tourists from afar.

But GB has a step-sister strip on the other side of Galveston Bay that is less renowned and road less travelled. Bolivar Peninsular is an 1 1/2 hours from the city and beach goers are mostly relegated to locals who know the soft sand and the gentle sound of surf well. There’s also a car ferry and in less than 30 minutes you and your family are transported on the other side of the scenic bay.

Bolivar Beach had bountiful soft sand like corn flour. The warm Gulf water and the gentle Gulf coast winds beckoned me. An elderly man came over offered to lend me his lawn chair. I thanked him profusely but declined. With the coronavirus on a rage, he was coming a bit too close for comfort. And after all I was at the beach and enjoyed the soft, rejuvenating massage of the cool, fine sand. The old man went back to fishing and after a half an hour without a bite, he decided to hang up his rod.

After a run on the hard packed sand, I went for a refreshing swim, then back into my truck for the night. A 4×4 appeared to get stuck in a low sand dune and took a couple of hours to dig out.

I had to catch some ZZs since I had my first Schneider Orange Box load in the wee hours of morning. And before long, I was put to sleep by the sound of the rhythmic surf pounding the shoreline.