CAMPFIRES

Thursday evening 29 December 2011 Raymond and his dog, a beautiful extra furry German Shepherd named Bullet, walked up to our ocean front campsite while Dana was finishing up the dishes and putting away the Coleman camp stove.  He invited us to his nearby campfire where we heard stories of his life as an "Island Boy", "Oil Well Driller", and a "US Marine".

The Campfire

Then, on 1 January 2012, while many of you were watching the Dallas Cowboys get beat by the Giants we were sitting on the beach (N. Padre Island) under a cloudless sky enjoying this campfire:

1 January 2012 Campfire

The next morning while Dana was gathering driftwood two Texans (1) Curtis from Kerrville and (2) Caleb from Corpus Christi pulled alongside to chat.  They had seen Dana collecting wood earlier and had decided to load their trunk full of firewood.  Later, while Dana was out jogging they caught up to him and together they gathered additional firewood.  But, it didn't stop there.  Dad even went along on the next foraging expedition.  Still, it wasn't enough for our two friends as they continued to rain firewood, Oak and Mesquite upon our campfire.  Thanks guys!  The temperature dropped into the mid 30's that night but around the fire we didn't know it.  Dana even took a nighttime shower in his swimsuit after the two had gone home and he did not get cold … well not until after freezing his feet in the Gulf to get buckets of salt water to extinguish the fire.  That's when he realized how cold it really was.