After we checked out of the hotel in Brownsville we headed to Harlingen to pick up the rig. First though we needed to get Patty her Christmas present at the Valle Vista Mall. The Zales jewelry store there had a watch she liked that we saw just before we left to go north for the holidays. We tried, unsuccessfully, to find it up North. We were hoping that the watch was still at Zales, but it wasn't. She did however find a nice one she liked at the Kay Jewelry store across the way from Zales. So, now all is good!
We arrived at the Palm Gardens where we had the rig stored around 2 in the afternoon. Of course the office closed at noon! We called the number on the door and were soon met by the person on after hours duty. After just a short time she was able to get someone with the key to let us in the storage area to get our rig.
While I was getting the rig set up for transport, Patty went to our old neighbors to get Rosey back. Rosey didn't look too good at all. It had been very cold, below 40, several days and there was a real bad wind storm a few days ago. None of these things were to Rosey's liking. She also had not been fed on time either. Now we are hoping to bring her back to full health in the next few weeks.
 |
| There she is just as we left her. |
We pulled out and were on our way by 3 pm. It was about 20 miles to our new site at Natures Resort in Edcouch TX. We pulled into Natures just about 3:30 in the afternoon. This will be our home for the next 3 months!
 |
| You know you are close to the border with these all around. |
 |
| Sandpipers Resort to the left and Natures to the right. |
 |
| Here we are at our our new front door. |
The site we are in is not large but not small either. However, it was quite the ordeal getting our 40 foot rig into the site. The rig parking pad is a slightly elevated narrow gravel site with a good size grass front yard. However, we have to park our truck on a lot of it. The issue is that the access road is narrow not leaving much room to maneuver the rig on to the narrow gravel pad. The pad is maybe 2 feet wider than the rig is wheel to wheel. Even with plenty of access road width this would be a challenge for us. We have gotten pretty good backing into a space that has either a tight access road or a tight site but not both. It’s pretty easy to back into a site with a few feet on each side and then pull forward to get centered. With no area to maneuver the truck and no forgiveness with the site it was real tough.
Our neighbor helped Patty and I get into the site. Patty was in the back and our neighbor was in the front. We made numerous attempts at getting the angle just right to make sure we could get the rig centered after it was on the pad. We are talking about moving just inches back and forth and left to right many times until we got it in perfect.
OK, we have been here at Natures Resort for a couple of days now. We found that we know at least 2 couples from Florida resorts that we stayed in last year. People are very friendly and seem to be very active which we like. We got a tour of the facilities after we checked in, which are very nice.
There are many planned activities that we like also. They have my favorite, water volleyball and also petanque for Patty every day at 2 pm, biking on Thursday mornings, karaoke on Thursday eves. There are many more things planned but those are some of the big ones we like right from the start. There is a large swimming pool, a pool just for water volleyball, and a hot tub for around 20 people.
 |
| Nice lights at a nearby site. |
 |
| The swimming pool at night. |
So far the weather has not been very good. Yesterday the 29th was our first whole day here and the weather was just OK. It started out in the mid-50s with sun and then topped out at 71 with clouds. Today the 30th is has been raining since 11 pm yesterday and the high temperature is to be 47, yikes!! This cold rain is forecast for the next 3 days and then only getting to the upper 60s with maybe mid-70s by the weekend. Then next week rain is again called for. It’s better than freezing, but isn't this south Texas?
On our first full day, the 29th, we got our morning routine done quickly and headed to the grocery store. We needed to restock our fridge after being gone for the past 33 days. Since this was to be the only good weather day until next Friday we wanted to get back and enjoy it.
After purchasing $297 in food we were back at the resort by noon with a temperature of 68 and some sun. It felt good to finally get undressed and be in the sun. That didn’t last too long as it soon clouded up. However the temperature continued to 70 -71 so it was still nice.
 |
| Lard is still a staple here! |
 |
| Anyone for a cows head? Yummy! |
 |
| Or, how about a sheep's head? |
I especially wanted to get my first water volleyball session in and with that I wasn't disappointed. We got 12 players together at 2 pm and we started to play. We played for 2 hours straight and as usual for my first time, my wrists and fingers were sore but I loved it! Now the weather just needs to cooperate more.
Patty got us signed up for the New Year’s Dance/Party while I was playing volleyball. The party is a potluck event and we have decided to bring chili in a crock pot. Evidently there are about 135 signed up for the party! Should be fun!
That’s it for now as we hunker down on this cold and rainy day in the sub tropics! We plan to go out later to get the chili ingredients and that is about it for the day. Tomorrow with the weather the same as today we plan to just make chili and then PARTY till 2014!
Happy New Year everyone!
Stay tuned for 2014!
No comments:
Post a Comment