We had one hell of an interlude between camping on the beach near Galveston and landing at our winter spot in Brownsville.
Going South
The plan had been to beach camp all the way down the Gulf, but we had a follow-up doctor’s appointment in Houston, so we booked at a state park near there (not an easy task at the last minute) and got tangled in Houston traffic with the trailer and then missed the window of good beach weather, all to be told everything is fine by the doctor. That’s the important part though.
After that mess of a few days, we decided to skip another round of beach camping and drive directly to the southernmost tip of Texas—to our new attempt at a place to spend winters—but a few days early because of the storms on the coast. I called Honeydale Mobile Home and RV Park three times but didn’t catch Kris at the office on any of them, so we just came on down.
Except that the extremely high winds reduced our diesel mileage, and we came close to running out of fuel for the first time ever.
Except that one of our old tires (replacing them is on the to-do list this winter) decided to give up the ghost, literally right after we passed a sign on the highway saying, “No Services for the Next 90 Miles.” Good thing Tracy has experience changing the Airstream tires.
Except that now we were arriving at the RV park after the office had closed, and it turns out there’s a locked gate.
(I hopped out and snooped through the gate while Tracy drove the rig around the block best as he could. I found an after-hours number, and Kris came back early from grocery shopping and escorted us to our site.)
Except that the site they put is in (blue) wasn’t the site we’d talked about on the phone (red) and we couldn’t fit into it. Even after eons of Tracy maneuvering the trailer as I placed in the increasing dark, covered in mosquitos, shining a flashlight at the tree limbs Tracy was backing into.
Finally, we did park (as if we’d been drunk driving, which isn’t far from truth given the day we’d had), we stayed the night, and as is often the case, by the light of a new day things looked better.
Honeydale, Our Winter Home
That next morning, I was up at 6 am walking the park, taking notes about what sites looked better, but these guys had me beat. While I was wandering, Robert in maintenance was at our current site to cut the offending tree limb, and Kris the manager was early at her office, with a map where she’d circled all the spots open for us for three months.
We walked and took photos and wrote notes and compared. There’s a fascinating mix here of RVs and mobile homes and lots people don’t care much about and lots that are adorned to the nines. We just wanted enough room for the trailer and our screen tent!
We picked lot 86, hitched up (again), and first parked in the overflow parking so we could hose off the sand and salt from the beach. Whew.
Then we backed into 86 for a good long winter’s nap.
After Robert cuts the grass behind the trailer, we’ll set up the tent and get our relaxation on (and tackle that to-do list, which now has new tires at the very top).
I’m excited about …. yes, laundry on site!!
Banjo’s excited about all the Bermuda grass around our site, plus bunnies and the cats that rule our street (it’s called Holiday).
We haven’t even been in this spot one full day yet but it feels like a splendid winter option. Neighbors have brought us citrus from their trees, invited us to karaoke in the rec center, and let me play with Chica the puppy.
‘Twas a terrible start but to a great beginning.
