Beach Bums

It has been some time since I wrote my last post. In it, I had mentioned that Jan and I were considering moving to South Padre Island. It took awhile, but we finally settled on a condo on the Laguna side of the island. We listed our home in Buda for sale right after we had made an offer on the island condo. Our house sold in literally two days, and more than asking price. Once we had accepted the offer, reality had sunk in. We had to move out!!

As mentioned before, we had lived in Buda for more than 30 years, and had accumulated a lot of stuff. 90% of that stuff would not be moving to the island. Our new condo was half the size of our house, with no garage or back yard for extra storage space. Let me tell you, it was hard, but it was actually a relief to get rid of a lot of the stuff we got rid of. We literally packed 30 years of life into a 10x15 storage shed. What didn't fit, was sold or given away to charities.

Our packed 10x15 storage shed.

We turned over the keys to the house in Buda in June, and could not move into the condo on the island till July. So we found a RV resort down in the Rio Grande Valley where we lived for a month in our 30' motorhome. After we closed on the condo, and received the keys, our great friends in San Antonio helped us move the contents of the 10x15 shed from Buda down to the island. Of course, not everything would fit in the condo, so we ended up with a 10x10 shed in Port Isabel to hold the leftovers.

Our condo is Laguna del Sol, The view from the second floor is absolutely beautiful. The patio overlooks the bay, where we witness stunning sun sets, and the occasional dolphin heading down the shoreline.

Sunset

View from the patio

There is a pool at the condo, but unfortunately it is not heated. It definitely feels good in the summer tho, when the temperatures rise.

Laguna del Sol Pool

The condo is a small 2 bedroom, two bath, and just a tad over 1000 sq ft. No garage for the Jeep, but there is covered parking, which is nice to have. The condo has about 19 units, and Jan and I are the only ones who live here pretty much full time. All the other units are vacation homes, so Jan and I are the only ones here most of the time. Weekends are the only times it can be busy here.

Living on the island has taken some getting used to. Traffic is so much better, which is a good thing, except for when Spring Break happens.

We enjoy the beach. It is only 3 blocks away, and easy walk when we want the exercise. The waters are normally clear and the beach clean.

Beach Driving

The other day we were driving down the beach with friends when we came across a man fishing. It had appeared that he was reeling in a big catch, so we stopped and watched for awhile. After 10 minutes or so, he pulls in a 4' shark. Beautiful creature, but then I thought, "Hey that is where we swim!".

Stay tuned for more Beach Adventures.

To Condo or Not Condo

It has come a time when Jan and I have decided to sell the house we have lived in for 30 years, and move into a condo on the beach. We have raised two wonderful kids in that house, and we have 30 years of memories there that will be hard to leave, but the house is too large for us now, and we still have the itch to travel and see new places. And then there is the fact that I am Aquarius, and have dreamed of living by the sea.

We have been "Winter Texans" since January down here in the Rio Grande Valley, and have enjoyed every minute. The weather has been wonderful, and the folks here at the RV park we are staying at have been most welcome.  We have enjoyed going across the border at Progresso, Mexico, which is just a 30 minute drive away. We have also toured a couple of condos down in South Padre. We have our sights on two of them, and plan to start making offers once we have sold the home in Buda, Tx.

The first condo is Sunchase IV on the gulf side. It is a two story condo, with the bedrooms on the third floor and the living area on the fourth floor. The balcony offers a breathtaking view of the gulf.
Here are a few pictures of this unit.

Sunchase IV

View from balcony. Fog early morning. Gulf in the distance.

Living room.

Open concept. Huge balcony. 

The second condo we are considering is on the bay side, called Tortuga bay. This condo has a two car garage on the ground floor, with the living area and bedrooms on the third floor. No elevators. Guess this is a good way to keep up the exercise routine. Just the fact that there is a garage has me sold on this one. Here are a few pictures of this unit.

Pool.

Realtor and Art looking at balcony work being done.

Two car garage (serial)

Dining Room

Living Room

We spent a couple of nights at the Schlitterbahn Resort on South Padre, and woke up both mornings at 7:00 am  to see the beautiful sunrise over the gulf.

Sunrise 7:00 am

Beautiful

Yep, this is something I could get used to. Sure beats Buda.

Winter Texans

This year, Jan and I decided to try out the Winter Texan lifestyle. We found a real nice little RV resort near Edinburg that we have booked for January thru end of March. After packing up what we thought we would want for a 3 month stay, we headed out down the road on Sat January 16th.

The resort is only around 300 miles from the house, so I thought it would be a relatively comfortable days drive. However, nothing is ever easy as it seems. Once we left I-37 south of San Antonio, we hit a major wind blast from the north that stayed with us for 150 miles. Hitting us broadside, it was a challenge to stay in my lane.

We finally arrived in Edinburg, but I wanted to top off the motorhome with gas. There was a Flying J gas station 3 miles south of my turnoff to the resort, so I headed on down there. After filling up, I turned the FR3 beast back north, and encountered the absolute worst northerly wind I had ever driven in. There was no possible way for me to keep the FR3 in her lane, and even tho I only had 3 miles to go, it was a difficult challenge. Driving with my hazard lights on, I finally managed to get to the turnoff and head in another direction where the wind was not tossing this 20,000 lbs beast around the highway.

Finally, we reached our destination, and settled in for at least a couple of weeks relaxation. Our plan is to spend two weeks here, go home for 2 weeks, then come back down here for 2 weeks, etc, till the end of March. That all depends on weather, and whether or not we want to come back home or not.....

Saturday, the day we arrived the wind was blowing at least 30 to 40 MPH. One of us, I'm not gonna say which one, opened the door, and the wind caught it. WHAM! The little door shock absorber ripped right out of its socket. Oh great.

That night while relaxing in the hot tub, we met another couple from Illinois that mentioned a huge flea market where he found a RV parts guy. So Jan and I decided to go down there Sunday to check it out. So Sunday morning we headed out to Don-Wes flea market, and after having a sack full of mini-donuts made by one of the vendors there, we found the RV parts guy.

I showed him the part, and he said he had nothing that would replace it. Then he said, what a minute, I have an broken one out in my car, and all I needed was the end part. So he went out to the parking lot, and brought back the part I needed. When I asked what I owed him, he said nothing. What I deal. So I bought a couple of fuses and we left.

Down here you can buy oranges, grapefruits, pineapples almost anywhere. We picked up 2 10 lbs bags of oranges, and are now prepared for a week of fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. The resort we are staying at has grapefruit trees everywhere, so Jan is really enjoying her grapefruit juice.