Friday, April 8, 2011
Rustic Cove, Rockport, TX: 2/1-28
We chose this park based on the suggestion of Fred & Linda, who live less than 2 miles from here & are pretty familiar with what we are looking for in an RV park. We were very happy here, so much so that we were sorry that we chose the shortest month to stay. The setting is hard to beat -- close to the water amid live oak trees arching over the roads & trailer sites but spaced well for maneuvering the rig.
Our first week here was so cold that we had to run off our water pump, filling our fresh-water holding tank whenever it warmed up enough to make the task bearable. We discovered a line dancing class in town, but the first day we drove to it it had been postponed one day due to a scheduling conflict -- a not uncommon occurrence since classes are held in the most popular facility in town and line-dance classes are evidently at the bottom of the pecking order for space rental. The next day we tried again, but there were cold-weather alerts all over and class had been cancelled. That afternoon it started to rain, and temps dropped below freezing at night, so the next morning everything was covered with ice. We didn't even try to go line dancing that day. We were able to attend the following Monday, and found it to be quite satisfactory -- 3 one-hour classes -- beginner, intermediate, and advanced (although the advanced was pretty intermediate) -- and you paid once and stayed as long as you liked. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we inked it into our schedule ahead of everything else.
In a serendipity fashion, Rockport's annual Sectional Bridge Tournament was held one weekend while we were here. We played in one game every day and finished well enough to gather enough silver points to meet that requirement for our Life Masters. Now we just need 7 more gold and about 80 more of any color to reach that goal. We also played once in their weekly game and finished first.
We visited Aransas National Wildlife Refuge with Fred & Linda twice during the month. They had volunteer responsibilities and we tagged along to enjoy the park. We did some good hiking, birdwatching and general sightseeing. We also visited Goose Island SP, one of our favorite places. We saw a family of Whooping Cranes in a field near the park, 2 adults and a juvenile -- a VERY close sighting of them. There was also an unusual Yellow-faced grassquit in the park, probably an escaped pet, but nevertheless interesting to see. It drew quite the crowds!
Other places of interest were the local fish market, many tasty restaurants, Rockport Aquarium, a Science on a Sphere presentation at the Bay Education Center, visits to Port Aransas, attending a jam at the Rialto Theater in Aransas Pass (where we met an old friend of one of Willie's first roommates) and an interesting meeting of the Aransas Bird & Nature Club. As you can see, the area has LOTS to do, and our month flew by rapidly. We wished we had been able to spend more time here, but once again, we are on a somewhat restrictive time schedule due to our April reservation in Peoria, IL.
In our move here, the slideout worked with its usual balkiness but nothing more. We are becoming more & more convinced that the only problem with it back in Mathis was that our battery was really low from our 2 days of boondocking in Hondo. We actually contacted another RV repair place in Rockport, but they were never even able to give any opinion on it. We have decided to just "wing it" for now.
Our first week here was so cold that we had to run off our water pump, filling our fresh-water holding tank whenever it warmed up enough to make the task bearable. We discovered a line dancing class in town, but the first day we drove to it it had been postponed one day due to a scheduling conflict -- a not uncommon occurrence since classes are held in the most popular facility in town and line-dance classes are evidently at the bottom of the pecking order for space rental. The next day we tried again, but there were cold-weather alerts all over and class had been cancelled. That afternoon it started to rain, and temps dropped below freezing at night, so the next morning everything was covered with ice. We didn't even try to go line dancing that day. We were able to attend the following Monday, and found it to be quite satisfactory -- 3 one-hour classes -- beginner, intermediate, and advanced (although the advanced was pretty intermediate) -- and you paid once and stayed as long as you liked. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we inked it into our schedule ahead of everything else.
In a serendipity fashion, Rockport's annual Sectional Bridge Tournament was held one weekend while we were here. We played in one game every day and finished well enough to gather enough silver points to meet that requirement for our Life Masters. Now we just need 7 more gold and about 80 more of any color to reach that goal. We also played once in their weekly game and finished first.
We visited Aransas National Wildlife Refuge with Fred & Linda twice during the month. They had volunteer responsibilities and we tagged along to enjoy the park. We did some good hiking, birdwatching and general sightseeing. We also visited Goose Island SP, one of our favorite places. We saw a family of Whooping Cranes in a field near the park, 2 adults and a juvenile -- a VERY close sighting of them. There was also an unusual Yellow-faced grassquit in the park, probably an escaped pet, but nevertheless interesting to see. It drew quite the crowds!
Other places of interest were the local fish market, many tasty restaurants, Rockport Aquarium, a Science on a Sphere presentation at the Bay Education Center, visits to Port Aransas, attending a jam at the Rialto Theater in Aransas Pass (where we met an old friend of one of Willie's first roommates) and an interesting meeting of the Aransas Bird & Nature Club. As you can see, the area has LOTS to do, and our month flew by rapidly. We wished we had been able to spend more time here, but once again, we are on a somewhat restrictive time schedule due to our April reservation in Peoria, IL.
In our move here, the slideout worked with its usual balkiness but nothing more. We are becoming more & more convinced that the only problem with it back in Mathis was that our battery was really low from our 2 days of boondocking in Hondo. We actually contacted another RV repair place in Rockport, but they were never even able to give any opinion on it. We have decided to just "wing it" for now.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 11:29 AM 
