Winter Texan numbers dropping in the Valley

[pawatt]

From the McAllen Monitor newspaper:
Click the link below.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/winter-texan-numbers-dropping-in-the-valley/article_17c72758-22...

[TomG2]

colliehauler wrote:
With fuel price on the way down the numbers might pick up.

If I had know that fuel prices were going to be this low, I would be touring New Mexico and Arizona instead of parking in the Valley for the season.

[colliehauler]

With fuel price on the way down the numbers might pick up.

[TomG2]

Our little group visited Nuevo Progreso today. As expected, there were very few people there. I know it is early, but it seemed like less than last October. Another month will tell a lot more about how accurate the predictions are.

[her_I]

pawatt wrote:

jetcare wrote:


No bumper to bumper traffic here. Been to Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Tractor Supply and Radio Shack. The people could not have been nicer. They are looking forward to the Winter Texans returning. Come on down!

Agree, we have always been warmly welcomed and treated with respect.

We are now hoping to make it down in December. Will have to notify Lowes so they can add the staff that they laid off when we left last spring. LOL

[John_Joey]

pawatt wrote:

jetcare wrote:


No bumper to bumper traffic here. Been to Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Tractor Supply and Radio Shack. The people could not have been nicer. They are looking forward to the Winter Texans returning. Come on down!

Agree, we have always been warmly welcomed and treated with respect.

X3

This is the biggest reason we keep coming back to the Valley. For us it's the people that we meet that makes traveling so enjoyable now.

I really can not say enough nice things about how we are treated as Winter Texans down in the Valley. We're viewed as neighbors, not as an economic uptick.

[pyoung47]

Dropping Part B can be very costly when you pick it up later.

[pawatt]

jetcare wrote:


No bumper to bumper traffic here. Been to Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Tractor Supply and Radio Shack. The people could not have been nicer. They are looking forward to the Winter Texans returning. Come on down!

Agree, we have always been warmly welcomed and treated with respect.

[jetcare]

We just pulled into Mission, TX two days ago. The traffic is light and flies by just as it always does. No bumper to bumper traffic here. It has been 93 the past two days but should cool down in a few weeks. No Winter Texans yet.

Still lots of new construction going on. The Expresswa8 83 and frontage roads around South Inspiration are under repair for a new freeway overpass and this should take another year. Been to Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Tractor Supply and Radio Shack. The people could not have been nicer. They are looking forward to the Winter Texans returning. Come on down!

[her_I]

oh boy wrote:
I'm with gr8life..stopped going to the valley because of traffic and some locals attitudes. Now if Aransas Pass could just control the weather we'd go back there in a heartbeat. Loved the CC,AP, Rockport area.
Now we go to Fla (farther drive). Found a park we really like and will probably leave the 5th there. Maybe we were lucky as we had no bug issues and lighter traffic and was good weather...mid Florida and nice to see the rockets go off from your campsite...
As some posters have stated..Canada is too damn cold to stay the winter unless your working. Came home to snow in April last 2 years very depressing...Leave for Fla in 2 weeks...

Have never been in stand still traffic in the RGV like I been in Florida.

[oh_boy]

I'm with gr8life..stopped going to the valley because of traffic and some locals attitudes. Now if Aransas Pass could just control the weather we'd go back there in a heartbeat. Loved the CC,AP, Rockport area.
Now we go to Fla (farther drive). Found a park we really like and will probably leave the 5th there. Maybe we were lucky as we had no bug issues and lighter traffic and was good weather...mid Florida and nice to see the rockets go off from your campsite...
As some posters have stated..Canada is too damn cold to stay the winter unless your working. Came home to snow in April last 2 years very depressing...Leave for Fla in 2 weeks...

[PatStab]

As far as supplemental insurance to medicare, my MIL has a union supplement. When FIL retired it was something like $60 a month, now she as a widow is paying $3880 a year for her supplement. I'm thinking something else might be cheaper for her, it used to be really cheap.

I went on medicare for 6 months, my husband is still working and our joint premiums are cheaper then what I paid totally so I went back on his SS did tell me to keep part A as its no charge so I did.

[PatStab]

I was in Quartzite last winter for the first time. They told me the numbers were up a bit. I thought it was crowded they said there were thousands more people years ago. Many said it was due to the 2008 recession and people not having the money to buy an RV or afford the fuel any longer. Another reason was the group that can afford RV's are getting to old. I'm sure the lack of pensions and a secure retirement will also effect it greatly. I don't know anyone else in my husband or my graduating classes in 64 that have a motorhome. Maybe a TT but none that I know of that winter someplace. There could be and we just are not aware.

Yet I'm trying to make a reservation in south Florida for 3 months and am having trouble finding someplace. I would imagine all the people running across the border could be effecting it down in south Texas.

I was on Padre Island some years ago and they said the recession just killed the businesses there, most of the businesses were closed. I know RV sales are way up so maybe things are changing. It's an expensive hobby for sure.

[TomG2]

pawatt wrote:
....snip...... They have had about 12 inches of rain in the Valley this month so bring your mosquito repellant until it dries up. We are about a mile from 7 Oaks at Green Gate Grove.

Your "Skeeter" prediction is right on. Worst I have ever seen down here. The wind will be a blessing this year. Trouble is, it is calm now.

[Gr8life]

I am back in the Valley for the ninth year in a row and I am already beginning to see why the number of Winter Texans is declining. They are even covering the loss on the local television news. I always loved the Valley, but as Bob Dylan said, "The times are changing".

It was bad enough before but the traffic is downright intolerable. I was passed both on the right and the left while making an exit off the freeway, for instance. The other customers in HEB (grocery store) act like they don't want me there and block the aisles or push in front of me to make their point. I hope my experiences are not the norm and that others have a better time of it, but I notice a change, and not for the better.