We thought we would give everyone a short rundown on our first two months as ‘Winter Texans.’ We have been at the Victoria Palms RV Resort here in Donna, TX since October 1st with the plans to stay until sometime in April or when it starts getting too hot, whichever comes first. As we may have said before, the first thing we figured out was that we arrived too early. It was still way too hot with temperatures hovering in the mid to upper 90s and the humidity at about the same level. Our first month’s electric bill was over $100.
The second indicator was that the resort was pretty empty, indicating that the old timers don’t arrive this early. Though it has been fun watching the other Winter Texans return for the winter. Additional people show up the first part each month with the largest contingency arriving around the first of December. They told us at our first Park Meeting in November that this year has set resort records for the number of people arriving this early and also the number of reservations for Jan – Mar they have received this year. The resort is going to be totally full after the first of the year and they are already turning people away that are just now inquiring about reservations.
We have met some really nice friends during our first two months. We have three Canadian couples on the street just behind us. We ate Thanksgiving dinner with them on one of their patios. We had already eaten Thanksgiving lunch at the resort restaurant, so we weren’t too hungry, but their food was so delicious we went ahead and indulged. One of them prepared the best coleslaw that we have ever eaten. We’re not saying any more about it as the wife has the recipe and is going to make it for Christmas dinner while we are back home with mom and family over Christmas.
Speaking of Canadians, we’re guessing that over half the resort is actually from Canada. The minorities of those are from Quebec and speak only French. It is quite obvious that the Canadians don’t like the Quebec Canadians as they are normally a part of their conversations around the table at the pool, etc. The French Canadians are definitely a different breed of people and are totally standoffish. We have talked to people from other RV parks in the area and they all have the same thing to say about them. We just stay out of their way and they do the same with us.
Max has adjusted well to the new surroundings. His biggest problem is what they call ‘sand burrs’ in the grass. They are a little ball with pointed stickers on them and they really hurt when you step on them. He has pretty well learned where the burrs are and he stays away from those areas. But it is not unusual for him to get into a couple throughout his daily walks. A lot of the people put weed killer on their lawns and then reseed and then water to reduce their numbers. Our lot is pretty well clear of them and he loves to roll in the grass.
The other thing that Max had to adjust to was the many Jackrabbits that are in the resort. They are out every morning and evening when Max takes his first and last walk to visit all his friends. He’s finally ignoring most of them and just keeps on walking. If we can get him to do the same with the occasional squirrel that we run into, that would be great. But that’s going to take some more time – it’s bred into him to not like them.
