Wintering Plan Changes

I’m not absolutely sure that “wintering” is a valid verb, but if not it should be. It is the location that we chose to spend the winter. But, now we are faced with making a change to the plan we made back in the springtime. Yes, it seems that so much today is in some state of turmoil that we are constantly required to make changes. And I’m usually quite acceptable to change if it is for the better. Our wintering plan changes are…

The Change

Our original plan was to go about 1,500 miles to the southwest to one of our favorite resorts located in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We have now decided, for many reasons, to go to Florida (750 miles) instead this year. We have been wanting to get back to Llano Grande every since we stayed the winter of 2018-2019. It is the ultimate in RV parks for retired folks like us. Well, that is the new change and here are the main reasons why:

1. We felt that we should remain closer to our mothers in Indiana due to some of their recent health issues. With Covid I would much rather drive instead of fly if we were needed. It is about half the distance from Florida vs Texas.
2. Holidays – It is actually feasible to drive back to Virginia from Florida for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. So, we plan to set up the 40 foot fifth wheel coach at our park in Florida, stay a few weeks, and then come back for a month.
3. More family and friends are now in Florida. Sorry M&L.
4. The Texas border situation just keeps getting worse under the current administration. Our RV resort in Texas is just a few miles from the border and a hot spot. There were 200,000 illegal border entries in August alone. Hopefully, we can wait a year and perhaps they will have a better handle on it. The RV resort itself should be very safe as it is fenced, gated, and 24/7 guarded.

The Great Loop

The plan is to now make this big ole loop in October as we are enjoying the fall season and going back to some favorite locations and of course the moms in Indiana. It will be a busy month with 15 moves and an average of 2 days per location. Much faster than we used to travel, but we are not full time RVers anymore.

Google maps will only allow ten stops on one map, so here is the first part:

Then we pick up from New Orleans to our final stop in west central Florida:

New Port Richey – Orchid Lake RV Resort

We have actually stayed here for a month back in 2018. It is a fine 55+ park. Not as many activities as the park in Texas, but the surrounding area has tons of stuff to do. We checked into a few different Florida winter options and many were already full. Then we remembered this older park that we really enjoyed.

Travel Prep Time

Yesterday, I retrieved the fifth wheel coach from our storage location about 50 miles southwest of here. It is now back on the street in front of our house. I have the electrical plugged in to a 20 amp circuit to charge the batteries. Today, in the rain, I will be the outside wash day. Then we begin the loading process. That is always very tricky to pack anything needed for a few months. It has about 2,500 pounds of storage capacity. And somehow we always seem to use all of it.

Wrap Up

The weather has been very warm for September, but this week gets back to fall like temps with lows in the 40’s and 60’s for the highs. I hope that you are enjoying the fall weather change! Thanks for following along and God Bless!