Dec 2 - 8, 2019 Harlingen Texas for a month.

Dec 2
We're here in Tropic Winds RV for a month now to relax a little and enjoy south Texas. We aren't in a hurry to go anywhere this morning so we're just taking our time with coffee and I'm working on a blog post. We do need to take our paperwork to the office this morning because we arrived on a Sunday and the office was closed. Leslie made us a good breakfast and we got cleaned up for a walk to do the paperwork. Terry's wife Carol was busy doing other stuff but we got a chance to say hello. Terry was in there and chatted with us for a little bit making sure our first night was okay. 
When we got back to the rig we opened the storage compartment and set up our table, chairs and the barbecue. We can actually leave them out for a while! With all the stuff out of the one side we vacuumed up the sand that was in their from traveling. Leslie wants to grab a few groceries at HEB so I will keep working on the little stuff around the rig while she goes shopping. I really don't want to drive anywhere for a couple days. Maybe we'll nap today too, just because we can. Leslie took a bunch of pics as we walked so you get a glimpse of where we are.

3 flags at the office: Texas, USA & Canada...nice. Laundry room through the door on the right.

Barbecues under a roof, games room and gym, maintenance building and woodworking shop in the back.

Really nice pool and hot tub.

Shuffleboard area, lots of players for this.

Pickleball courts. They look quite new.

There is 4 courts like this.

Just shows some of the landscaping and the pickleball.

Lots of horseshoes pits with nice covers.

They have an RC race track but they are still working on that.

 A nice big off-leash area for the other dogs, not Margaret.

This area is a bird and flower park. No dogs allowed. A place to sit and birdwatch.

Some of the flowers and cactus.

The winner of "don't normally see that" award. Cool rig.

When Leslie got back with groceries she put together everything for a big taco salad for supper. We relaxed with a couple frosty beverages and just enjoyed sitting still for a bit. Great day. 

Dec 3 - Leslie noticed on the activity schedule that they have line dancing and she really enjoys doing that so she is heading out at 9:00 to join in. I'll go for a run around the park a few times to put together a 5-6k run. It's hot already and supposed to be close to 30C this afternoon. Thankfully there is always a nice breeze blowing here to make it a little nicer. Our cement patio at our site is in the shade of the rig too so it's all good.  After our activity we both got showered up and headed back outside to work on the trailer. Leslie is cleaning in and out and I'm working on some loose trim pieces with broken off screws plus I'm doing another coat of McGuires Polish. I'm thinking Raul got a good shine going so if I add an extra layer of polish it will be better and it's not as tough to apply just polish. 
We took Margaret out for a walk around the park and then put on our swim stuff to head to the pool. The activity schedule showed a pool happy hour and then hamburgers and hotdogs at 5 pm at the main hall. Sounds like an easy supper to us and we can maybe meet some people. Perfect.
It's early in the season down here. There were about 6 people at the pool and maybe another 10 inside for the food after 5 pm. Not a huge turnout but we met a nice group of people from Minnesota, Iowa and Connecticut by the pool. We never did go in the pool but just sat around chatting and getting to know these folks. Sorry no pics as we didn't take a phone to the pool. That was about it for the day. Just a relaxing evening at home after supper and we're absolutely okay with that.
Dec 4 - Today we decided to do a driving tour of downtown Harlingen and the area. There is supposed to be a historic section downtown but we didn't really find that?? Lots of traffic today so it's tough to do the tourist thing without being a pain in the butt. Plan B: We'll head out to San Benito and a quick stop at the Harley dealer for a shirt and a little look around. It's another smokin' hot day at 31C/88F so it's nice to just cruise around with the AC going. Margaret's cool with that....get it? She's cool with that! lol.
We went back to the rig and just sat in the shade. Too hot to do much of anything so we just went for a quick swim at the pool to cool off. Only one other person there. Surprising in this heat actually. Happy hour by our rig and then just kick back for the evening.
Dec 5 - While we are here we want to check out some other RV parks in case we come back and want to stay somewhere else. I did some research about other parks and decided to drive all the way to Mission, Texas about an hour west of here. We can have a quick look at some other places along the way before we get there too. We go right through Mercedes and Donna, Texas on the highway and a place called Pharr that has the Costco. Leslie wants to go there soon for some of the bulk items.
We were soon able to cross a couple of parks off the list because they are right beside the freeway. No thanks. Too much highway noise. I don't know if it was me or the GPS again but we pulled off the highway to check out a store on the frontage road and then wanted to just get back on our route. This time the GPS said to stay on the frontage road for another 6 miles then turn right. Sounds okay, sure. Oddly instead of going back up on the freeway and take the exit we are touring all the businesses along the way on a road that is a 45 mph speed limit and stop lights every couple of blocks. Whatever, we wanted a tour today anyway. 
We finally got to Retama Village, an RV community that I have read about on RV Dreams for a few years now. It's off the highway on the access road to a state park. A nice, quiet area that borders a park. Good idea for the developer. Retama Village is an entire neighbourhood that starts with a gated community of single family houses. They are very nice looking houses and very similar exteriors. As you travel further south on the road there is the first RV Park that is really nice; gated of course but the gate is open during the day. We pulled in for a driving tour and Leslie grabbed a leaflet that showed the sites that are for sale and how much others rent for per month. It's a beautiful development, we were so busy looking we forgot to get pictures of the sites but we definitely got pics of the big garage units.

How nice is this? They list from $205 - $350K USD.

Fifth wheel or motorhome, they fit anything.

This one is not as fancy but I would be okay with it ;)

The regular RV sites in this section are almost all concrete and they have a large shed or a small casita that have different amenities in them. Some are just storage while others have laundry facilities and bunk beds for guests. Of course they are deep enough for any size RV and all have a patio for putting out your chairs and a table or whatever. The whole place is very clean and the landscaping is beautiful. The sites range from $750/ month for a back in with a shed to over $1200/ month for a casita (USD of course so add another 35% for Canuck bucks!) They have a great website you can check out with all the prices etc. Here's a link to the website Retama Village , check it out.
We really took our time in this section of the development, it's super nice. Everybody waved and said hello as we drove around looking. They probably see that lots. I actually recognized the rig at one site as Jack & Dianne Mayer. Impossible to not recognize a shiny New Horizon Majestic RV with a monster 780 Volvo parked beside it and a Smart car in front. I stopped in front and considered getting out to say hello but got shy at the last second. Seemed like too much of a groupie thing to just roll up on them like that. Didn't even take a picture of his site. We continued our tour of the park.
Oh but wait there's more!! You come out of that section and go a little more south and there is Benton Palms RV attached to the other park. Benton Palms is a definite place we would check out if we come back. The sites are easily big enough for any size rig and some are long pull throughs oriented around large circles with a focal point of some type. There was pool tables under a gazebo in one circle, pickleball courts in another, a big barbecue and some picnic tables in a third and in the fourth and final one was a nice sitting area under a gazebo to just chill in the shade. All around the outer edge were large back in sites, some with great shade trees and all with ample room to relax and enjoy the great weather here in south Texas. It was a great tour and we really enjoyed checking it out. I guess it's not everyone's idea of a good time but we liked it.
We're right next door to a state park so we will park and go for a walk on the trails. We have the dog with us and she could use a nice walk but it's really hot and we're in the trees so no breeze. We'll go until Margaret stops walking.

The roads are closed for construction so it's a walk all the way.

Some info on the park.

We started walking down the closed road and there are bird feeding stations fairly close to the gate. Margaret doesn't even notice them and she's just sniffing all over and "marking" her turf.

I think a green jay on the feeder and the others are Chachalacas??

Going by the sign board.

The walk was over quickly. We only got maybe 300 yards or so and had to turn around again. Margaret is panting and just stopped walking. Time to go back for water. We asked the park ranger about the tram tour but no dogs allowed on the tram. There was only two other people but the rules applied anyway. We walked around the visitor center and looked at the displays after we all got some water. It was okay but not like being out seeing the live version. That's the risk sometimes when you bring the dog.

Information on the canal system.

She can't read obviously. We didn't see any snakes.

By the time we got back to the truck it was time to head home. I would prefer to miss the height of rush hour on the freeway. We got delayed in construction on the way back and didn't get back to the rig until close to 6 pm. It's pretty busy on the freeway around here at rush hour. We sat outside for a cold drink and then went in for supper and TV for the night. 

Dec 6 - Leslie is going to line dancing again from 9-11 am so I'm just working on the trailer again in the shade. Don't feel like going anywhere today. I polished another section on the trailer and then washed both bikes. They are a holy mess after going this far. We went for lunch at the main hall when Leslie got back. They have taco salad, burgers and hotdogs for lunch really cheap. There was only five people in there while we were there. It is really quiet here still, lots of open sites, but they have way more booked for January. We just kept puttering away for the afternoon and sat down for a happy hour by ourselves. Haven't really bonded with others in our section. Not many folks outside here in our area. 

We have a great idea for supper tonight. We are going to try to prepare the shrimp we bought in Rockport similar to the way Leslie got them at Paradise Key Restaurant. Jumbo shrimp with a slice of jalapeno, wrapped in bacon. I'm excited!

I started on wrapping shrimp while Leslie made a Greek salad and then she helped me finish up the shrimp. I'm doing the shrimp on the barbecue and Les put a potato in the microwave for me. Awesome, awesome dinner. So good! We added some wine and it was perfect. A good day in the life.

Absolutely nailed it! A fantastic meal.

Dec 7 - I need a couple new drill bits and I want to try rivets on the front of the rig where the skin joins together. I have tried thicker screws but they just snap in half? Lots of shear damage from the vibrations of the road I assume. We headed to Lowe's but they didn't have the right rivets so we went across the road to Home Depot and they had what we needed.

In the same parking lot was a Texas Roadhouse Restaurant and we have never been to one before. We're both hungry so we'll check it out. OMG is this a good find for a chain restaurant! It is pretty busy but we got a table in a back corner that is pretty quiet. It took us a bit to decide what to have for lunch because there are so many good choices. The waitress was really nice and we told her we have never been here before so she helped us out with our choices. I'm getting a full rack of ribs and Leslie is getting a keto friendly steak and rib combo.

Oh and Leslie had a Margarita haha.

Happy Texas Roadhouse rib face.

I went to wash up before my ribs and the manager came to our table and gave Leslie a bag of peanuts (they serve them by the bucket here) and a gift card for a free appetizer at our next Texas Roadhouse because it's our first time here. How nice is that?

A nice surprise for us.

Our lunch/supper was really good and we have some leftovers for tomorrow too. Great stop. If you have never been to Texas Roadhouse it's worth checking it out. We didn't do much the rest of the day, we're so full. In fact I think we ended up lying down for a bit after we got home lol.

Dec 8 - Today our buddy Ailsa is running in the California International Marathon with two of her pals from Edmonton. It's in Sacramento and they are having a girls race weekend. It's a different crew that gets together to run really fast for 26.2 miles. I have been texting with Ailsa yesterday before the race and I sent her a text to cheer her on this morning. She's using this marathon as a tune up for longer races coming up. All this race talk has inspired me to get out for a run too and Leslie is doing a walk with Margaret then a walk alone. Of course we are done way before the race is over so we showered and watched how things were going on the race tracker. She almost beat her personal best time on a marathon when she crossed in 2:50. Yeah that's fast! Leslie worked on some inside cleaning and I went out to try the new rivets on the front fiberglass. We'll see if they hold for longer than the screws. I also did another small section of polishing on the outside. If I do just small sections it doesn't wreck my right shoulder so bad. Leslie took the truck for groceries while I was outside and when she got back we decided to go to the pool. It's a nice warm day and the pool will feel great. There was only three other people down there when we got there. Still not very busy around here. A couple we met earlier this week, Brian & Mary from Minnesota, came to the pool and joined us for a little while. It was nice to chat with some other people for a bit. They are about the same age as us and have a similar situation that they have a house back home and are spending the winter traveling. Brian got to bring his Harley on the back of his motorhome so I'm a little jealous of that lol. They rode by our rig yesterday and waved. That's not very nice. lol

When we had all had enough pool time we went back to our rigs and relaxed for the evening. Not a tough day for sure.

We're doing exactly what we need to do while we're here. Just relax and enjoy the sun. It's -30 C at night in Bonnyville. I have been watching their weather. Tropic Winds is a very nice park if anyone else is looking at this area. We haven't really met a bunch that enjoys happy hour like we do but that's okay. Everyone is friendly and you can do as much or as little as you want. That's exactly what we want right now. We're warm, safe and happy. Can't beat that.

Cheers everybody.

Nov 29 - South Padre Island!!

Nov 29
Today is the day we have been anxiously awaiting! We are moving to the KOA on South Padre Island. The KOA is pricy by our standards so we only booked a couple days there. After the discount it's $60 US per day so in Canuck bucks that's like a paycheck per day lol, well about $80 at least. That's high end for us. Whatever...It's going to be fun and a beautiful place.
We pulled out of Seawind RV around 10:00 and took the nice road back to highway 77 south.

This house is beside the highway, interesting lawn ornaments??

Traffic volume is not bad with the holiday weekend in full swing. There is a constant mist type rain falling; just enough so the road dirt is flying up on everything. Great! The rig will look like trash when we get there. We'll get it washed and all will be good.

Dreary travel day 

That's better.

It cleared up beautifully as we went further south and east towards the Island. The GPS took us on a safe path and pretty soon we could see the Island stretching out in front of us. Awesome!

Christmas decorations and palm trees, nice.

Really? Is this a pelican crossing?

Our first good full view of Padre!

We crossed the big bridge to the Island and after a quick right turn we pulled into KOA Holiday on South Padre. We stopped at the office which is housed in converted tanks. They have small rooms for rent in these converted tanks on the edge of the water. Pretty cool looking really.

Small tanks converted to rooms and the office. Cool!

Of course the girl in the office was super nice and very helpful when I asked about things to see and some food options. She gave me a handful of stuff with discounts and maps with locations etc. The Island has a free bus service that goes up and down the strip of town. Perfect. One of our lunch choices is Padre Island Brewing Company. The sites are, as expected, fairly tight together and the park is quite full. I guess we get to be the entertainment backing into our spot. There are pull throughs available too and the park is big rig friendly. 

Looking from the office towards our site by the building.

Our site is #92, a back in site beside a huge steel building next door. At first I thought that was a bad thing but that big steel building turned out to be a great shade and wind break. Leslie had to teach me the difference between the number 92 and 93 on the posts so that just added to the entertainment value of our show. Only one fella watching and he's right beside my drivers window sitting in a lawn chair with a big smile on his face. I said hi a few times as I passed him trying to reposition. Anyway we got backed in and hooked up to power and water for now.

Not roomy sites but how cool is this?

It's smokin' hot out, 31C/90F and the humidity is around 80% so we set the AC for Margaret and walked out to the bus stop to find a ride to Padre Brewing Company. It took a bit to find a stop and then wait for a bus but it worked and the driver let us off a block away from PBC. 

Yayy I don't have to drive!

They are all mini buses like airport shuttles.

It was a really good spot and not too busy this early in the afternoon but happy hour started at 3 pm! Even better for us.

Great place on the Island.

This was the flight they had on tap today.

Flight goes right to left in the above pic.

We got a flight of beers to start so we could pick the one we liked and then ordered a pint. Leslie is even breaking the keto carb ban for a cold one. It's a celebration for us to get this far south, yeah let's go with that lol. We enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner at the brewery and then started walking on the main street to catch a bus. There are stops with benches but you can just wave and they stop for you. It's a really nice service.  
We let Margaret out for a bit and while we were outside a van pulled up to see if we wanted our rig washed. We worked out a deal to have our trailer washed and deoxidized/waxed for $140 US tomorrow morning. The fellas name is Raul Perez and he showed me he is using McGuires products. Yeah, I know he may not use the good stuff all the time but that's what he is promising. I'll check as he goes to make sure we're getting the right stuff. 
We walked over to the restaurant behind the KOA called Pier 19. They built a restaurant the full length of the pier so it's a long walk to the back.

Adjoining parking lots with the KOA. 

More "happy".

We are in "happy" mode so we're just sitting at the bar and hitting their happy hour too. We enjoyed 2 more drinks each for a total of $18. We had a fun time in there but it got super packed for dinner and we were getting bumped into while sitting there so we bailed out. We watched the pelicans and dolphins catching fish out the window behind the bar while we sat there. Couldn't get a picture though.

Tried to get a pic outside but no dolphins would surface.

It's time to go join Margaret in the rig. No doubt she will be happy to see us. The "happy" time didn't stop when we got back inside. We poured another round and of course this is when my brain thinks "let's do shots"! We have some really good tequila in the cupboard so we indulged a couple times actually lol. Yes we will pay for this tomorrow but for tonight we're having fun.

A fantastic first day on South Padre Island! Cheers.

Pictures get blurry as we go ??

Nov 30 - Oh yeah we had fun last night. We're moving a little slow this morning. Luckily we switched to big glasses of water before we went to bed. Yes, that was Leslie's idea and it was a good one.

Leslie took Margaret for a walking tour of the park while I did some stuff at the rig to get ready for the wash/wax. The site is just narrow enough that we have to pull in the dining room and bedroom slide so the fellas can polish them easier. There is a tree beside the bedroom slide and the foliage is right against it so have to pull that one in. Found out afterwards that a bunch of tiny little ants were all over that tree and they invaded our rig. Found a few in bed and they were all over Margarets food dish. Tropic problems. Raul was working on a rig just down the road from us and he's on Island time so even though he said 10:30 it was closer to noon before he moved to our site. We left before he got there for a driving tour up the Island.

Water tower downtown.

There are many of these around town.

On the west side of town looking out at the water.

We checked out the downtown area and then pointed north and kept going. There is an adventure park at the far end of the Island with zip lines and other stuff that would be fun but we're not feeling very zippy yet lol. The drive itself was great. We checked out a couple different beach stops along the way. Tons of kite boarders on the west side of the island out on the beach. The wind is gusting to 60 km/h or 40 mph today so they are out having a great time. The sand is blowing at an angle across the road in front of us and looks like a winter storm with blowing snow. The farther you get up island the bigger the dunes get on each side of the road.

The sand drifts in and the loader pushes it back.

There is a huge bucket loader parked off to the side that is used to keep the sand pushed back so the road is open. The sand is drifting on the edge just like snow drifts, very cool to see. We parked at one of the roads that goes out on the beach and just walked out for a look. The sand just blasts you as soon as you get out. The wind is way stronger and the waves are pounding on the shore, you couldn't help but go check it out.

Can see the sand blowing past my feet. Margaret is squinting.

The sand to drive on the beach was really deep and loose for probably 30 yards'ish and then got hard packed. My truck might do it in 4 wheel but we're good with just a walk. If you get stuck it's no doubt expensive to get towed out. As we were walking back to the truck there were 4 Jeeps in a row and the leader got stuck leaving the beach. He wasn't in 4 wheel mode and the back tires spun and he sunk to the axles pretty fast. It was deeper for the next in line to get around him but they made it. Would be a fun drive in a Jeep, not as fun in a 8000 lb dually with highway tires.

We ended up just turning around and heading back to town when we got to the adventure park. The sand is everywhere in this wind and it was a little wild walking around in it. Margaret was covered in sand after our walk lol. We looked for a dog friendly patio in town but again the wind was too strong for patios so we just grabbed a Whataburger for lunch. Just what you need after a fun night is a big greasy cheeseburger and fries. No fries and no bun for Leslie but she made it work. It's our third time to Whataburger since we crossed into the US and I'm a fan of their burgers. Really good again today ;)

Raul was busy polishing when we got back to KOA to drop Margaret off. He told me he would need another hour maybe a little more. Haha it's Island time again. He was there for at least two more hours. Leslie and I went back to a beach access just off of downtown and went for a nice walk on the beach in the wind. It's amazing here and not many people out today probably because of the wind. The radio said it's gusting to 50 mph now and it looks like it. The ocean is pounding and the sand is blowing across the beach but only at your feet. We walked a long way just enjoying it all. We're really lucky to be able to live like this and we love it.

Great pic of my truck with palm trees.

Plenty of beach to walk.

Ahhhh!

Ya know it's windy when my hair is blown to one side.

Good day for kite surfers, this guy was really haulin'.

We went back to the rig and it looks so much better than before. Raul and his two helpers are just about done. We put the slides back out and got cleaned up to go out for dinner. I went out and paid Raul plus a tip for a great job. I wouldn't hesitate to call him again while we're in the area.

Got a good shine and my arms don't hurt!

Just south from the KOA and an easy walk away is a place called Sea Ranch Restaurant. We looked at the menu online and it looks amazing. We want a good seafood fix while we're here too. We couldn't get a table by the windows but it's a great view from all the tables out to the ocean. The sun was just setting as we ordered our appetizer and it was a perfect ending to our stay on South Padre. The food at Sea Ranch is incredible and we enjoyed every bite. Perfect! We took our time on the short walk back to the rig. The wind has calmed and it is just beautiful outside. We aren't as "happy" as last night and just relaxed back at the rig for the night drinking lots of water lol.

Easy walk from KOA to Sea Ranch.

Beautiful carvings from mesquite trees by a local artist.

Leslie's keto friendly seafood enchalada, she didn't eat the rice.

Shrimp and tenderloin bites for me. Oh yeah.

Dec 1 - We don't have far to move today so we took our time this morning before packing up to head out. It's less than an hour to Tropic Winds RV in Harlingen so there is zero pressure to hurry. We walked Margaret around the park and had a last look out into the bay. The tide is out so you can see more sand this time but there are still tons of pelicans hanging out. We assume many others have reservations elsewhere because there are lots of empty sites now. Lots of rigs pulled out yesterday and this morning, what a change with all the empty sites now. We pulled out right at 11:00 and headed back across the bridge through Port Isabel and on the highway to Harlingen.

The edge of Port Isabel just off the bridge.

Adventure park with ocean theme for families to visit.

Little fuzzy but San Benito, home of Freddy Fender!

The GPS got us to the gate of Tropic Winds without incident and we pushed the code listed to get let in. A nice lady answered the call and told us to come in and park by the office and someone will meet us there. Within a few minutes we met Terry when he rolled up in his golf cart. He was super nice and welcomed us to the park and right away started telling us about all the amenities and showed us on the map where we will be parked. Super nice guy and a great start to our stay here.

The sign at the entrance.

Checking out where our site is. It's a big place.

We headed to our site and Terry went to grab us an opener for the gate. We got backed into our site and waited for Terry. There are many open sites in the middle of the park and we are in #171 that is a little tight and right on a corner of the road. Our windows will be right against the road and the corner. Not the best site for a rig our size. When Terry got back he instantly noticed that we were a little jammed in and called his wife Carol to see where else we could stay. Awesome service right off the start. I got in the cart with him and we looked at a few other sites. We chose #388 in the middle: a large back in site. We moved over and started our set up after thanking Terry for all his help. Great guy and he has helped us a few more times after that day.

All set up in #388 lots of room.

Lots of open space on either side.

A quick note here about how reading these blogs can help with our own travels. I read about this park in the blog "Our View from Here" by another Albertan traveler, Dave McMeachan.  (link to blog)  Leslie and I did our own research of course but first hand knowledge is a really good thing. We chose this park based on our research and Dave's blog. Thanks Dave. Plus they gave us a great deal as first time visitors to a Trade Winds park. That first time card is saving us a lot of cash.

After we got all set up we hooked up Margaret and went for a nice walk around the park to check out all the amenities. It's a very nice place with lots of grass and very clean. The buildings are very well maintained and the pickleball courts look like they are next to new. They have a nice pool and hot tub area as well as shuffleboard and a games room with pool tables and other games. No pics today but we'll do a walk and show you all the stuff real soon. 

We are happy to be staying put for a little while to catch our breath and do some maintenance on the trailer. We have been going pretty hard since we found out we could rent the house with all the moving and hauling the trailer back and forth to B'ville and Wabuman. It seemed like right after all that we hit the road and have been moving lots for a couple months now. Don't get me wrong, we're not complaining, but we're ready for a little break from traveling and just enjoy south Texas. I might not even drive anywhere for a couple days lol.

We'll post this and then take you for a look at the park in the next blog. We will be doing some boring everyday stuff in the next little while so hopefully we can keep it interesting. It's hot and sunny down here and we're having a great time in Texas. Ya'll come back now, ya hear lol !

Cheers everybody.