Galveston, Oh Galveston!. Yes, we’ve got that song stuck in our heads as we visit this historic Texas town for the first time. A visit to the Texas Gulf Coast has been on our list for a very long time. We were fortunate to snag a two night reservation at Galveston Island State Park on the beach side! It gives us easy access to long beach walks. What could be better? With one full day for exploration we set our sites on the Bryan Museum. Wow! There’s so much Texas history here that one could spend an entire college semester just getting an overview. The museum traces the history of this area beginning with Paleo-Indians through Spanish exploration and settlement, the American Revolution, Mexican independence, the Republic of Texas, the Mexican War, Texas statehood and beyond into the present. The museum was founded by J.P. Bryan, the great great great grandnephew of Stephen F. Austin whose efforts beginning in 1821 led to Anglo settlement in Texas which was then a sparsely populated northern territory of Mexico, and to the Texas Revolution. Building on a lifelong interest in history and its importance and a massive collection of artifacts passed down through the family, this museum, housed in the former Galveston Children’s Orphanage is a gem. From there we briefly explored the shops in the historic The Strand district, at least long enough to purchase a sticker for the side of our camper then headed to the Coastal Grill there for a fabulous meal before heading home to our T@B 400. Life is and adventure!
Hi Steve & Karen,
I noticed in an earlier post you were camped in a shady spot and had 4 manual solar panels set out. I don’t know however, if this was your new Tab 400 which I think has solar on the roof, right? If so, do you also have a port on the camper to plug in the manual panels?
I ask because I am in the process of negotiating for a 23 Boondock and I have a 2 panel manual solar panel that I may or may not keep. I have 100 amp of Lithium to go with it.
Any thoughts on this plus any additional comments about your 23 model will be appreciated. (it is a 23, right?)
Enjoy your travels & be safe
Thanks,
Rich & Diane Moore
Rich, our current 2021 T@B 400 is equipped with two 192W Solar Flare panels to power our two 100aH Battle Born Lithium batteries. We also currently carry a 200W Bluetti array. The Bluetti panels do not come equipped with their own controller but we have a separate Victron Controller in our unit accessible through an SAE port. The rooftop panels are great but depending on shade, angle of the sun, time of year sometimes we need the extra generation. We can also use the 200W panels to recharge our Bluetti power station, a LiFePO4 battery/controller/inverter that we can use for charging phones, laptops, and our coffee maker while camping off grid. Since adding the power station and 200W panels we’re quit carrying the Honda gas generator that had been part of our equipment for the past few years.
Hi Steve & Karen,
Thanks for the info on your solar panel arrangement. Sounds really nice.
Enjoy your travels & be safe.
Regards,
Richard Moore
I’ve not much touring in Texas so this was a treat. Thanks for sharing.
Our son Niles and his wife lived Texas for about two years in Austin so we got to see some of that area.
Jackie, most of our Texas travels have been to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to visit family. This is the first time we’ve explored the Galveston area. We’ll visit Karen’s sisters on the way back east.