I don't believe he had been using it much over the winter. He had made PLANS to go SOMEWHERE. He asked a friend to go, and that friend had other plans. (per testimony). His son was asked to go, but he had other plans (per testimony).
DW went to where he planned first, but that sucked, so he went several other places searching for a better time. He went to where his 'sand buddies' usually go and they weren't there.
So, it was a planned trip, but where he went was SPUR OF THE MOMENT. A few posts back is the actual quotes from the REDDEN interview so you can read what REDDEN said, what DW said, and DW's explanation of why he agreed to REDDEN's Statement that it was SPUR OF THE MOMENT, for yourself. (best way)./
Actually, that is not accurate either.
Neil testified which washes they usually went to and DW went farther out than that and ended up getting stuck.