Winter in Port Aransas, Texas November, 2017 – February 2018
We left Shepherdsville, KY, on Thursday, November 2, to begin our route south to our winter home in Port Aransas, Texas. Last spring, Jerry and I agreed that we wanted to stay in one spot this winter rather than picking up stakes every 2 or 3 weeks. We looked for an RV park that would offer lots to do, be comfortable for Abe and us, and would have 70-degree weather. Sometime in mid-April I had made reservations at Port A RV Resort in Port Aransas, TX, never dreaming that 4 months later Hurricane Harvey would make landfall there. In September, the RV Resort manager called and asked if we still planned to come to Port Aransas. Of course! Since the RV Resort was up and running, we still wanted to explore the area and thought perhaps we could assist with hurricane recovery efforts.
On our way south our first stop was just north of Nashville, TN, at “Grand Ole RV Park”. As luck would have it we had arrived on the very day of the week that the RV Resort held a free concert guests and locals! Although not well attended, and not Las Vegas in quality, Randy, the one-man band was quite entertaining. Think country combined with 60’s rock and roll. Our proximity to Nashville was apparent.
We had stopped in Nashville to explore the city and tour the capitol. The American Society of Civil Engineers listed the building as a civil engineering landmark due to its innovative construction, of extensive use of stone and structural iron.
Both the interior and exterior are built with limestone from a quarry about 1-mile from the site. Some interior columns were built from single pieces of stone, requiring massive wooden derricks to hoist them into place. Wrought iron, instead of wood, was used for the roof trusses to reduce the building's vulnerability to fire. The guided tour took us to this library, which had some of the beautiful wrought iron in evidence. We enjoyed touring the Tennessee History Museum but opted out of all the music museums…big bucks! If we were big country western fans we might have been more interested.
November 4, Saturday, we were off again to make our way east to Memphis. We had toured Memphis before, so this was a brief overnight stop for us. We stayed at the Agricenter RV Park on the east side of town. There was some sort of horse show happening to we walked around the park and peeked in the arena. Since it was humid and showery, we were glad to be comfortable on the bus.
Sunday, November 5, we drove from Memphis, TN to Little Rock, AR, for a several day stay. We found the fabulous Downtown RV Park in North Little Rock, on the north bank of the Arkansas River, just across from downtown. We loved this spot! As you can see from the photo, we were right on the bank of the river and, surprise!, our RVing friends Christie and Kim pulled in next to us. Yay! In the background is a pedestrain bridge, formerly a railroad bridge, that crosses the river at the William Clinton library. A great walk in the warm weather!
We found the Clinton Library fascinating. This was history that we well remembered! Built on reclaimed land on the south bank of the river, it had stunning views, as well as an amazing collection from his years in public office. 
Of course, we also toured the capitol building – a traditional domed structure – and were once again regaled with history, history, history. (We thought our brains our just about full for this trip!) We have been constantly impressed with the wealth of knowledge readily available to us as we make these stops across the country. Many diligent people have done an amazing job preserving so much of our country’s history. It was a lot to take in.
The official vault for the state of Arkansas was on the second floor of the capitol and our tour included holding about a zillion dollars, inside the vault! Well, one of us had big bucks!
Thursday November 9, we were on the road again and arrived at the Texarkana RV Park and Event Center on the south side of Texarkana. We spent a couple of lovely fall days here, enjoying the warm sunshine and hiking through the pretty city parks. It was a good stop to catch up on laundry, groceries, and Abe chores.
Saturday, November 11, we headed for Forest Country RV Park in Nacogdoches, TX. This park wasn’t nearly as nice as the previous one. Sometimes I can certainly pick a loser! The parking sites were grassy and/or muddy and we had terrible OTA (over the air) TV reception. For the football fans among us, this was a problem!
In this part of the country, Lutheran Churches were scarce and we drove to Lufkin, TX, on Sunday morning, about 20 miles from Nacogdoches, to attend Angel of Joy Lutheran Church. This was a very small, and dwindling congregation that could no longer afford even a part-time pastor. A lay leader did a great job leading the service though. As usual, everyone was very friendly but we thought this congregation might not be there the next time we came through.
Monday, November 13, it was “jacks up” once again for a final push to Port Aransas. We spent Monday night in Bryan TX, at Galloping Snail RV Park (where did they get that name?) and Tuesday night in Victoria, TX, at Southbound 59 RV Park. Tuesday night’s park was the first evidence of damage from Hurricane Harvey that we had seen. Although the park was making repairs (and we had been reassured they were open and ready for business!) the interior roads were muddy and torn up. We were glad we were here only one night!
Wednesday, November 15, we arrived at our winter digs, Port A RV Park on the south side of Port Aransas, TX. This little beach town of about 3,500 people was located on Mustang Island, one of the Texas Gulf’s barrier islands. To reach the town we could either take the ferry across Redfish Bay between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas, or take the longer route through Corpus Christi and across the bridge that connected the island and the mainland. Taking Abe on a little ferry was more daunting than we were ready to try! The longer route was our choice.
Of course our first afternoon was one of exploration. We were curious to see how Port A (as we insiders called it!) was recovering from the hurricane damage and if any of the commercial establishments were open for business. Happily we found the grocery store was up and running in spite of on-going repairs, plus a couple of restaurants. We saw lots of damage, though!
Hurricane Harvey ultimately reached peak intensity as a Category 4 hurricane and made landfall on August 26, just north of Port A, with winds of 130 mph. It made a second landfall on the Texas mainland three hours later in a slightly weakened state. Harvey became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005. Harvey’s winds buffeted the area for about 5 hours, then rain fell in sheets and a storm surge from the bay hit the island from the other direction. Whew! It was amazing anything was left standing.
We learned that in 2016, Port Aransas welcomed 4.5 million visitors and was on pace to break 5 million in 2017 before the hurricane hit. Harvey’s economic toll on Port Aransas, which typically had a $400 million tourism economy, was expected to exceed $250 million.
A four-story boat storage facility in Rockport, just across the bay was totally destroyed. There were 400 boats stored in there, all with fuel, batteries, and oil! Clean up had just begun when we left in February, and was made even more complicated by its close proximity to wetlands and a marina.
We left Port Aransas after church on November 19 to make our way north for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Our first stop was at Lewis and Bonnie Smith’s ranch in Cat Spring, TX. Their home is lovely and we always enjoy spending time with them. The retired ranch life seems to suit them well, although Bonnie is still working 3 or 4 days a month as a nurse practitioner in family planning clinics. We had a tour of the progress on the ranch land. Lewis and Bonnie have been busy clearing brush and working with the tree trimming crew. We got the grand tour in the side by side.
Tuesday morning we drove to Lewisville, on the north side of Dallas. Jerry was curious about the new Newmar coaches and the dealer here was a big one. We looked at a new Essex and a King Aire. From the photo you can see that the finishes were quite nice. I was particularly intrigued with the fold down table attached to the passenger seat in the cockpit. How handy that would be as we travelled down the road!
After the quick test drive we departed for Emily and Derek Swearingen’s home in Springtown, west of Dallas. We’ve known Emily since she came home from the hospital as a newborn and were delighted to be invited for Thanksgiving.
Her parents, Doug and Judee Berg, whom we've known for 40 plus years, were also coming for Thanksgiving. What fun! We were thrilled to spend the holiday with old friends.
Emily and Derek have a beautiful home with a big kitchen and it was great fun to cook the Thanksgiving dinner with Em and Judee. They were both talented cooks and I was SO impressed with Em’s pie-making skills. I lost count of the pies she made…for us, for the neighbors, and for folks at her work. Whew! All too soon it was time to “saddle up” and head back to Port A and settle in to our winter location.
Winter in Port Aransas surprised us. It was chillier, windier, and it even snowed on us! When we made these reservations we had visions of sunny walks on the beach, bicycle rides through town, and shorts and shirtsleeve weather. Nope! We had a few of those days, but not many. We did have rain, cold, and wind and even snow. Poor Abe was in shock!
This photo is looking to the south at the nature preserve just behind us. The other interesting item in the photo is the leaning post on the left…pushed over by the storm surge coming off the bay last August! Before the hurricane, the RV park residents could explore the trails of the preserve, but the bridge across the inlet had been washed onto the shore across the water…you can see it in the upper right. Maybe next year….
One of the reasons we chose Port Aransas for our winter location was the proximity to Lutheran Churches and we found two good ones.
Since we spent Christmas in Port A, we were easily got immersed in two friendly church communities.
I even sang in the Galilean Lutheran Choir! These folks were welcoming, and quickly made us feel at home.
I met Audrey, a sweet young lady in the congregation who often brought her American Girl doll with her to church. A child after my own heart! I was tickled to knit Audrey’s doll a winter cape to keep her warm. (I cannot wait to our granddaughter Lauren gets excited about dolls!)
The folks of Port Aransas, tough as this Christmas was, had not lost their sense of humor and someone put up a “Harvey Christmas Tree”. This scraggly tree was decorated with empty water bottles, bleach bottles, brooms and mops!
After the holidays, Jerry and I got quite involved in the cleanup effort in Port Aransas. We volunteered, through the Chamber of Commerce, which provided us with tools, gloves, masks, etc. to use. The locals who needed assistance completed a work request and we were assigned to help out. Our efforts usually involved dry wall and insulation removal…lots of hot, dirty work! We tried to dress appropriately.
The first house we “de-constructed” belonged to a retired couple that had been travelling in their motorhome when the hurricane hit. Their children salvaged what they could, once the storm subsided, but the interior of this manufactured home was destroyed. Along with others, we took the walls down to the studs. Fortunately George, the owner was very savvy about working with his insurance, FEMA, and the Texas flood insurance program. His home was probably one of the first to be completely restored.
We visited with them a few days before we left and saw the almost finished restoration. George and Aline were delightful folks and we became good friends. We got together several times to play “Pegs and Jokers” a variant of the old game “Sorry”.
We also worked on Freda and Reece’s house, again removing drywall and insulation. Their home was quite a bit larger and we usually worked with several other folks.
In the photo you can see Jerry and Dennis, a snowbird from Iowa, working stripping the ceiling down to the studs. It took several weeks to do the removal from this three-story house. Although by the time we left, this house was emptied and ready for repair, Reece had not yet gotten a determination from his insurance about a final resolution.
Jerry and Dennis became quite a team, working on two other houses.
When we weren’t working on deconstruction, we did street cleanup. The hurricane and storm surge had deposited all kinds of debris that had been pushed to the edge of the streets. The streets were passable but the sidewalks were covered with debris and trash was everywhere. We were provided with heavy trash bags and eventually the trash would be picked up and hauled to Mount Trashmore where it was sorted.
One day, while clearing the sidewalks, we found three cell phones and a handgun! Yikes! We turned the gun ito the police station where the officer was rather casual about accepting it. She thought it had probably washed out of a storage unit and was confident the owner would eventually come looking for it.
The debris was sorted into organic waste…trees, wood, etc., and recyclable things like car parts, computers, etc. This 5-story debris pile, called Mount Trashmore by the locals, sat next to our RV park and gradually disappeared while we were there. The person on the scissors lift was a FEMA observer and photographed the contents of each truckload as it departed.
The second church we attended, Grace Lutheran Island Mission, was a small gathering every Sunday afternoon at 3 PM at the Episcopal Church. Pastor Tom had started this mission church several years ago and was gradually building the congregation. His primary church, Grace Lutheran Church in Stinton, TX, did a lot to support the cleanup efforts in Port Aransas. Pastor Tom arrived with a pocketful of gifts cards every Sunday afternoon, to be distributed to the locals in need. He had also become somewhat of a clearing house of church volunteers coming from far and wide. While we were there, he found housing for a group of lumberjacks coming with chain saws and heavy equipment.
Our stay in Port Aransas wasn’t all work and dreariness. By the first of February, we started to see warmer days, more restaurants opening and more beach activity. One Sunday after church we drove down to the Padre Island National Seashore and watched a release of Ridley sea turtles. These turtles grow to be up to 100 pounds. Hundreds of these animals had been cold shocked by the winter weather and lay on the beaches. Volunteers of ARK (Animal Rehabilitation Keep at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute) rescued and rehabilitated them. Many folks had been specially trained to release the turtles into the breakers…fun to watch!
Our RV park was about ½ mile from the beach and the route gave us a nice walk on a warm afternoon. We walked through neighborhoods full of seasonal rentals.
“No Agenda Hacienda”…what a great name! Port Aransas has miles of pristine beaches, warm water and gentle surf. Beautiful! Prior to the destruction of Hurricane Harvey, this area was a popular spring break destination. The town’s economy was dependent on the influx of tourists and revelers, and we hoped that this year there would be enough business to support the continued recovery.
We had heard rumors of that a oil drilling platform was to be moved through Aransas Pass and out into the Gulf. Luckily the move occurred on a beautiful sunny morning and we were there to marvel at this huge piece of equipment. Lots of folks came to the jetty, along the narrow passage to the gulf to watch the show. It took 9 tugboats to control the movement of this huge platform.
While we were on the Texas gulf we did work in some exploration of the area. We had always been curious about “the valley” (Rio Grande Valley) around McAllen, TX. We spent two days exploring the area and marveling at all the opportunities for snowbirders to spend the winter. We connected with high school classmate Judy Archdale Hukill and her husband Dave to have a rousing catch up brunch together.
Our Texas friends, Lewis and Bonnie Smith, came to Port Aransas to check out the destruction and rehab. They had vacationed here several years ago…but we couldn’t find the beach house they had rented.
While they were with us in Port A, we drove to Kingsville, TX, to explore the King Ranch Museum. Can you tell it was rather windy the day we were there? We took a bus tour through the main ranch and saw many of the famous Santa Gertrudis cattle, developed at the ranch. Comprising over 800,000 acres, this is the largest ranch in Texas…and that’s saying something!
One of the themes of our travels has been to reconnect with friends and family. Jerry’s cousin and her husband, Mary Beth and Bill, lived in Houston so we looked them up. We probably had not seen Mary Beth since our wedding! We were excited to learn that Bill had done a lot of family research into the Guinnane family (Jerry’s mom’s maiden name was Guinnane) and their Irish antecedents. Lots to talk about!
We’re getting pretty good at searching out an airport close to where we’re parked and flying to see our family. In the middle of February we flew to San Jose, CA, from Corpus Christi for a family weekend to celebrate the February birthdays and a late Christmas together. The airport was easy to negotiate, although flying to San Jose took 2 plane changes. Joy flew in from Portland and then we all piled in Jill’s SUV to a house in Lake Tahoe for the weekend.
Jill, Bob and Lauren skied while Jer, Joy and I explored the shops in town. What a great weekend with the family!
We departed Port Aranasas on February 26, wanting to be gone before the spring break crowd descended! Our plan was to follow a leisurely northern route to Illinois, but do lots of exploring along the way. That saga is for another time…
