January, 2001
January 14, 2001
Thursday night we spent at the home of Tom's cousin, Linda, and her husband Nick. Nick fixed us a delicious dinner and we had a great evening catching up on family news. They have a lovely home in a clearing in the middle of a peaceful pine forest. Our visit was not without its trials and tribulations, however. Being a little taller than the UPS and moving trucks, the Bounder needed help to make it up the 1/2 mile long drive. Nick and his saw had to "ride shotgun" to get us to the house and again in the morning as we reversed the trip. It was worth the effort for the good time we had.
January 10, 2001
We spent a great New Year's Weekend in the Toledo area, staying with our good friends Kathy and Dennie Dew. We enjoyed also visiting with a few other friends and relatives. But, as usual when traveling, there wasn't enough time to see and do all we wanted.
We took two days to drive back to Bradenton, rescued the Bounder from a storage lot and returned to Pleasant Lake RV Resort. Quite a few other units have arrived here in the past several weeks, and the population grows daily. The weather here is cold by Florida standards...but the white stuff is still sand, not snow!!! We've used a tank of propane keeping the furnace running at night. We enjoyed an ice cream social and a potluck dinner with our neighboring snowbirds this week. We also took a trip to Naples to visit former Maumee neighbors, the Maurers. They have a beautiful new place overlooking the gulf.
Having taken care of many details for Tom's parents, we are planning to leave here tomorrow and head north and west across I-10 toward Texas.
January, 2001
January 30, 2001
It's been a busy two weeks and we've covered lots of miles in search of sun and warm weather. After our adventure in Gainesville we stopped in Panama City Beach at a small private RV park within walking distance of the gulf. We enjoyed walking on the beach and through some of the exclusive sub-divisions along the water. However, it was only 50*. We attended a cookout and a pancake breakfast on Saturday and Sunday and shared travel stories.
Sunday night, Jan. 14, we stopped at the Escapees Rainbow Plantation north of Gulf Shores, Alabama. The sites were wide and level and the park really nice. We attended the ice cream social and among the friendly people, met some who used to live near us in Jackson, Michigan....small world. We also drove to Gulf Shores to look up some acquaintances from the Michigan-O-Bounders but they weren't home. While we stopped at Wal-Mart on the way back to our park, they had come home and went in search of us, missing us at our place. Apparently, we need to plan ahead better.
Monday, Jan 15 we headed into Mississippi with the rain and cold. We stopped at the Indian Point Preserve of Thousand Trails in Gautier. We had to take a round-about route when we ran into a drawbridge in Pascagoula that was stuck in the up position. After looking at other available sites, we chose to park in the "overflow" area which was in a concrete lot. The combination of rainy weather, hilly sites and near water-level land made the park pretty muddy. We took advantage of being near the clubhouse and laundry for the Tuesday night soup supper and getting some clean clothes. We didn't even bother opening the slide-out. After going out to lunch with the Thousand Trails rep that had helped us with our membership, we decided that, because of the weather, we weren't going to be doing any outside activities and made plans to move on the next day.
The rain continued. The temperature stayed cold. We drove from Mississippi into Louisiana on the infamous I-10. It was pretty bumpy in spots and the road crossed miles and miles of "bayou" and "swamp." Even the casinos in Biloxi didn't sound interesting to us. We stopped next at Texas Pelican Park in Vinton, Louisiana. It is basically a truck stop with some clean, level RV pull-throughs in the back and two "casinos" within walking distance. The casinos consisted of several dozen video poker machines...that's it!
On Thursday we arrived at the Thousand Trails
Lake Conroe Resort near Conroe, Texas. The rain scaled back to a mist but
the temperature was still cold. We parked in a section of pull-throughs in
the company of some pretty fancy units. That evening we went to a seminar
put on by a local RV dealer covering plumbing problems...quite
informative. On Friday afternoon we went to a mini-course on CPR. We
then joined our neighbors at the potluck. On Saturday we drove the
car to Livingston, TX to check out the Escapees Rainbow's End, the headquarters
of the Escapees organization. It sure didn't match the pictures in our
minds!! The RV section was quite crowded. The section where you can
buy or lease a lot and build a small "house" next to your RV was "interesting"
with many different types of places. They also have a section for RVs
where they will help care for those needing "assisted living" and an "adult day
care center." The offices share a large building with the mail forwarding
center where all those RV people who live on Rainbow Drive call home. The
people we talked to were very friendly and the offices were closed, so we
probably didn't get a true picture of all that is there! Both Friday and
Saturday nights we had to bring in our hoses so that they wouldn't freeze. But,
by Sat. and Sunday the rain had stopped.
Next stop was the Western Horizons Rockport RV Resort in Rockport, TX. We had a referral card from an acquaintance that gave us two free nights here, so why not? The resort is fairly large and they are expanding. It was also finally a little warmer and we enjoyed being outside. On Monday afternoon we drove the car along the gulf - even on the beach - and checked out the many sizes of fishing boats and yachts. At one point we found ourselves on a free ferry across the canal which you get to just by following the only road and suddenly, there it is and you're on it - no choice. It was a mere few minutes across and we went on to find a nice place to eat overlooking the channel so we could watch the traffic on the water. After eating we walked out on a dock to talk to some fishermen and also saw some dolphins swimming. That night were were treated to dinner at the resort's restaurant/clubhouse.
It was now Tuesday, Jan.23 and we headed on to Mission, TX in the Rio Grande Valley. There we met up with several other couples from the M-O-B. Ralph and Pat North own several lots in a small sub-division and they and their neighbors have fixed up their lots to be very RV friendly. The sites are spread apart and have concrete drives and full hook-ups. Ralph and Pat have large canopies and picnic tables and we had a great dinner and friendly evening waiting for us when we arrived. Daytime weather was sunny and warm, but we moved inside Wooley's Bounder when the sun went down. On Wednesday we went with Norths, Wooleys, and Maxwells to meet up with Bob and Dianne Metevia (more M-O-B's) and a large group of Rio Grande Valley Bounders members at an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta and salad buffet. We also ran into some Pioneer (Ohio) Bounder members who are also wintering in this area. We had a great visit and a great meal. After eating we went to tour the Christian radio station where Bob and Dianne have been working on a volunteer project for the group S.O.W.E.R.S. Early the next morning the Maxwells and Wooleys headed north and east - and from what we can figure must have run into more bad weather. It was finally getting nice here in "the valley." We took advantage of the good weather on the next several days to wash the roof and outside of the coach as well as give the inside a good cleaning. Travelling through all the rain and sand had coated us very well. Over the weekend we took time to drive around the valley and try to find out where everything is located. We had some fun evenings with the Norths playing euchre and watching the Super Bowl.
We knew before we got here that Texas is a big state, but until you drive the miles and miles of it, it isn't a reality. And we have seen a very small part of it. We are looking forward to exploring the areas near "the valley" over the next month and then taking time to see a little bit more as we move on to the west.
On Monday, January 29, we moved from Mission to the Holiday Village RV Park in Pharr, TX (a 20 mile drive) where Mary's parents have a winter place. So far, the folks at the park are quite friendly. There are a wealth of activities here to choose from, so we certainly won't be sitting around. We also hope to meet up with several other couples we know from home who are wintering in the area and are looking forward to a special get-together with our former exchange student, Barbara, who lives 4 hours into Mexico from here.