Location: Magnolia Beach, Texas

GPS: 28.5599, ‑96.537

I took the Tiny Ohm on a quick little trip to test out my new off-grid system.

If you didn’t know, you can camp on the beach in Texas FOR FREE in a few different places. Yeah, it’s on the Gulf, but it’s still a little beach life and who doesn’t like free.

One of the more popular places is called Magnolia Beach and it’s located in Port Lavaca. This is a favorite for many because you don’t need a 4x4 to get there (sand is packed down) and there is still really good cell service. You can even take a big RV if you wanted but here are a few things to be aware of though:

• You’re limited to a 14-day stay within a 30-day limit.
• Park perpendicular to the beach and not parallel. Park ranger will come and tell you to move if you don’t follow this rule.
• Verizon service is great.
• No hook-ups, but they have a decent bathroom & shower facility. They are cleaned daily and are typically well respected by fellow campers…with one rare exception
• Weekender/holiday party crowds can occur. These groups are usually disliked by other campers because they disturb the peace and do not respect others. Don’t be this crowd.
• The first area is the most used, but there are three. keep driving down and down be afraid to space yourself out.
• Don’t be the person who runs a gas generator. Everyone else will be annoyed by you.
• Wind can get really strong

Personally, I really enjoyed it here. There’s a good mix of people that includes tents, offgriders/overlanders, vanlifers, RV’ers, fisherman, people stopping in for a night to sleep before they move on, etc.

There’s a small little convenience store/gas station nearby. I’m not sure if they had diesel but they have gas and a few essential items. Port Lavaca is a quick 20-minute drive or so and there’s a grocery store and a few fast food places to eat. I didn’t find any seafood restaurants or any nice restaurants for that matter, but Victoria is about 3–40 minutes away and is a much nicer/larger town. The beach has grills and cabana spaces you can use also, but I advise stocking up before getting out there.

As for the water, it’s technically a bay and is pretty shallow. You won’t need to worry about big tide shifts or anything like that. You can swim in it, but be mindful of beach fishermen.