Feathers and Fog

Rode my bike
out to a little park
along the Bay.
Sat on a picnic table
bird watching, and
saw the fog roll in.

Deciding where to go next

I'm still on the Gulf Coast, moving around from park to park, trying to decide where I want to go next.  The weather has been rainy, cloudy and foggy.....but the temps are warm.

Can't decide if I want to stay around the coast or head up towards New Mexico and maybe Arizona before I head to Colorado.  I checked weather.com and the night time temps in southern New Mexico are pretty low, even though the daytime temps are in the 60's with sunshine.

I do not have to turn on the furnace or the electric heater where I am at now. If I decide to move north to New Mexico or Arizona, it will most likely be cold in the mornings when I go out for a walk.

Warm days/nights with possibility of rain/fog
        vs. 
    Sunshine and cold nights/mornings

I am still drawn to this area
 and am not in a hurry to head north.

My challenge is finding a park that feels like the country, but that is close to conveniences.  I want to be able to walk around town and check out the area. This is what I like about the Gulf Coast, many of the RV parks are close to the beaches and piers and I can spend hours walking around the area.

I am challenging myself to find places to visit where I don't need a car. I want to intentionally find places to walk and ride a bike.  When I owned my home, I would often walk to the grocery store, bank, library or post office. I am trying to fit that into my lifestyle now. Several years ago I did research on "walkable" communities. Now, I just have to find "walkable" communities that have nice RV parks.

The State Parks that have walking and biking trails are also good places to stay for more than a day or two. I can fill several hours a day trying out different trails in a state park.

I feel more comfortable walking along the shore (a more open, spacious feeling). When I am walking the trails in the wooded parks, it feels more closed in and secluded and I'm not comfortable walking alone.

*     *     *     *     *

From December 30th to February 14th, I stayed at Pioneer Beach Resort in Port Aransas, TX on Mustang Island.  I really liked the corner site that I had near the pond. If I had been in another site, I may not have stayed as long and probably would not have been as happy with the park.  Many of the sites are close together, but there are a few areas around the ponds in the park that have larger sites.

Pioneer Beach Resort          Right outside the RV door

Pioneer Beach Resort is almost 5 miles from the "downtown" area of Port Aransas and this is why I chose this park. It's on the quieter side of the island, closer to the state parks, and is the end of the line for the bus. The bus comes to the park once an hour from 10am to 5pm, 7 days a week. I used this bus to go to the grocery, post office, or to get to other areas of town to walk around and check out different areas.

The park has a nice boardwalk, wide enough to ride a golf cart on, that takes you over the dunes and to the beach. The beach on this end of Mustang Island is not very crowded.

Pioneer Beach Resort has all of the usual events for a "snowbird" park. Pot luck dinners, bingo, craft classes, seminars, entertainment, dances, etc.  I did not join in on any of these events. Some of the women I talked to have been coming back to this park, every winter, for over 12 years.

*     *     *     *     *

I had an appointment for an eye exam this week and wanted to find a park close to the doctors office.  The exam would include dilating my eyes and I did not want to drive the RV around after that. I ended up at Portobelo Village, an RV & Mobile Home Community in Aransas Pass. It was less than a mile walk to the eye doctors office, so it was a good place to stay for 2 days. The park was nice and clean, and less than 2 blocks to walk to stores and Subway for dinner. Everyone is friendly, but its not where I want to stay for a long time, so I am moving on.

*     *     *

Friday morning, I drove around 20 miles, I'm staying in another coastal town. I paid for a week, and then maybe I'll finally make a decision about which way I'm heading.

map from TexasCoastalBend,org

A Salty Duck

Blogging friends over at the  Good Luck Duck asked me if I wanted to meet for coffee. We decided to meet this morning at their RV, they are parked on the beach.


This morning I headed over to the beach near the South Jetty. It was a warm, foggy day. The sun came out for a little while in the afternoon, but it didn't last long before the fog started coming back.

Parking/camping/boondocking on the beach is free with a $12 annual beach permit, but I wonder if being that close to the waves and the salty air is such a good idea. The Duck is covered in salt.


I met Annie and Roxanne and their friend Chris at the RV. We sat around and talked over coffee and then went to lunch at a little cafe  on Beach Street.

Chris - Roxanne - Annie

I enjoyed talking with others that "get it": Kindred Spirits. We have many of the same ideas about downsizing and travel, lifestyle changes, etc. You feel like you already know someone from reading their blog. Chris said she has a blog but hasn't posted anything to it in a long time, she may try to start it up again.

After lunch, I walked along the beach and then to the grocery store and took the Port A bus back to my RV.


Island life is relaxing, but I think that in February I will start heading towards Tucson. I will take my time going through Texas and New Mexico and may not get there until March. I want to go to Lazy Days RV Center in Tucson to have some remodeling work done inside the coach. I had the ideas for the remodeling from the very beginning, when I purchased the coach. I thought I would have to go back to Florida, then I found out that they opened a shop in Tucson.  I was very happy with the service I received from Lazy Days RV in Florida and feel that they will do a good job at the new location.

A foggy day

Woke up to fog this morning, then it was sunny for a few hours in the early afternoon. I went for a walk around 4:00pm and it was foggy over the wetlands area near the shore.


The tide is coming back in and the wetlands are getting flooded. There were more birds around today. I wonder where they go during the low tide. The birds must be back to see what food came in with the tide.

I used my digital camera and zoomed in and cropped these pics,

so the quality is not that great.

I'll have to settle for these pictures

because I don't want to carry around a large camera.

Nothing exciting going on, just relaxing in the coach or walking around the beach and wetlands area. Enjoying the quiet and taking some time to get things arranged in the coach, figuring out the best place for everything and filling a box to donate at the Thrift Store in town. I'll drop it off on Thursday morning when I leave this campground to head North on my way to San Antonio.

I've been staying a week at each location, the rates are usually much better if you stay for a week.

After Christmas, when I head back down to the Gulf Coast, if I find a park that I like, I may stay for a month. I like to walk, so it has to be a location that has walking paths and is close to a town. 

Many of the State Parks are in the middle of nowhere and although they have a lot of walking paths, its not possible to walk to the nearest town from where they are.

I will look at the address of RV Parks and campgrounds on "Google Maps" and it shows the names of other places nearby, this has helped me to make my decisions about where to stay.

When I am in RV parks, I see others that have a car or truck and they are going somewhere in the car everyday, sometimes several times a day.  I am trying to avoid all of that running around.

I'm trying to avoid daily driving. If there is something I want to see, I make plans to stop along the way. The same for groceries, I make a stop at the store before getting to the park.

To accomplish this and make sure I see all that I want to see, I am moving along the coast very slowly, I may only drive 100 miles between RV parks. I do my sightseeing on the driving day between parks and then take a week to explore the area I am staying at.