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swduns · 03-19-2023, 09:26 AM

2008 Tiffin Phaeton DP Motorhome 40' pulling Chevy Equinox

My spouse and I have spent this winter in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. This is the lowest South bottom of Texas along the Rio Grande River. It starts at South Padre Island, then to Brownsville Texas, along the border to McAllen Texas.

We intended to spend the winter in FL but decided to go to RGV due to the Hurricane Ian damage and impact. I grew up in FL and felt that staying away would help them have the bandwidth for recovery.

There are 100s of “Winter Texans” resorts along the RGV (Rio Grande Valley). Each resort is a mixture of RV parking for motor homes/5th wheel trailer/travel trailers but also permanent units every thing from brick houses to small mobile homes. Typically the parks are very nicely landscaped & maintained & look very nice.

The vast majority of the parks are huge, as many as 1000 units, and with a lot of amenities. Almost all have pools, hot tubs, pickle ball courts, tennis courts, etc, but as well almost all include a community center for dances, concerts, etc. Some have wood working shops, ceramics shops, sewing shops, etc. There are unique amenities are various parks such as a large outdoor RC car race track (Alamo Palms).

Almost all of these parks have a very active social agenda, with numerous activities every day, including exercise classes, card games, chess clubs, dances, concerts, karaoke, talent shoes, and on and on.

Best of all the cost of living in this are is very, very low. Cost to spend the entire 4 month winter here can be very, very cheap. There are newer very large parks but also older smaller parks but I'd have to say the much smaller older parks were equally rich in activities, camaraderie and social interaction.

We stayed at a given park about 2 weeks then moved to another park. We could have stayed for the whole winter at one park. I'd say about 1/2 of the park residents are repeat winter residents that spend the entire winter at a given park. The people are extraordinarily friendly and welcoming and while only at a park for 2 weeks, we made many friends and integrated very quickly into the park culture. The constant activities greatly facilitated this. It is valuable to move around and see what all the different parks have to offer and it would also be nice to find a park you like and spend the entire winter there.

Beyond park amenities, the area is full of things to do. South Padre Island is a typical tourist barrier beach island. Birding is HUGE in this area, as there are many exotic birds unique to this area of this US. There are civil war sites, zoos, flea markets, etc. The Mexican culture/influence is pervasive and very excellent.

There is very excellent US healthcare available. I was planning a surgery in fall 2023 but found a University of Texas medical center with a world class Orthopedic Surgeon so I had it done here. The entire event was as professional as anywhere else I've lived in the US.

There are various Mexican cites immediately across from RGV US cities. Nuevo Progress is across from Westlaco TX and has an enormous market area that you can walk to right across the border. Beyond cheap Mexican products there is medical care and drugs for a fraction of the cost of US counterparts. Example is an Asthma inhaler is $2 vs $30 in the US. Excellent dental care is readily available at a fraction of the US cost.

The Mexican food available in the RGV is very excellent. One of our favorite's was Nana's Taqueria in Weslaco. A complex of buildings with seating outdoors under trees in the middle of the buildings. Wonderfully relaxing and excellent food. Mexican food is prolifically available.

I would say that the RGV is different from the Florida winter environment. Much lower cost and very different type of things to do.

In a nut shell, this is a great place for retirees to get away from the cold for the winter and enjoy a rich warm social environment for the winter at a very low cost.

Please don't tell anyone about the RGV valley so that it doesn't get over subscribed .... lets just keep it between us.

rk911 · 03-19-2023, 11:33 AM

https://www.fox7austin.com/video/1191430

use caution if crossing into Mexico.

rgvtexan · 03-19-2023, 12:00 PM

Now you did it!

powerboatr · 03-19-2023, 12:44 PM

my older sister lives in la feria we go down about once every 2 years for long stay
you are understating the number of winter texans

we enjoy the trip,

twogypsies · 03-19-2023, 07:00 PM

We spent winter time in the area and yes, Winter Texans (snowbirds) and the whole community/businesses are awesome and very friendly.

The same goes for the area up to Rockport, Aransas - very nice.

We tried Florida a couple times but just had to get out of there.... fast. Crowds, crazy drivers, expensive and bugs, bugs, bugs!

Tried Gulf Shores, Alabama but didn't like the weather.... cold and damp in winter.

Eventually, we settled on Arizona!

**hamm2018** · 03-20-2023, 08:17 AM

We have been in Texas since January 13th. The last week of January at
Galveston was so windy it seemed like it was a "red flag" day at the beach every day.
We spent February at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, and we discovered Corpus is windy. The day we arrived, February 1st, it was 39 deg, and windy. Last night, here in Columbus it was 41.

We rode the Spyder down to South Padre Island for a weekend and the weather was very nice down there. We will be in Texas until May 11th, maybe it will warm up a little by then for us.

We are hoping in about a week to go and ride The Twisted Sisters on the Spyder. So, it would be nice to have a little warmer weather.

https://www.eaglerider.com/motorcycl...twisted-sister

Rexlion · 03-23-2023, 08:10 PM

If 2 or 3 people know about a good thing, soon everyone will hear about it. So much for secrets! Thanks for sharing; you're giving me ideas.

Toby Dog · 03-24-2023, 04:21 AM

Florida's legislature bills H109 and S76 will likely make winter 2023/2024 the last year we can do FL. In a nutshell the bills will give FL residents a 30 day head start on state park reservations.
While still in committee the bills are moving on with unanimous support.
We were going to TX after that anyway but darn the diesel burn from eastern NC will impact the budget.

Applepicker · 03-24-2023, 04:53 AM

I'm looking to winter in the RGV area next winter, 2023-2024. How hard will it be to reserve a site in any of the area resorts/campgrounds if I wait till around the July timeframe?

**hamm2018** · 03-24-2023, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Applepicker

I'm looking to winter in the RGV area next winter, 2023-2024. How hard will it be to reserve a site in any of the area resorts/campgrounds if I wait till around the July timeframe?

You could very well be too late by then. When we went to Arizona, we had to reserve our spot in the same campground before we left the 1st of April. If not, it was a crap shoot for us to get back in.
If you are positive about going there, I would start calling to be able to get into the park you want to winter.

Reprobate · 03-24-2023, 08:18 AM

Anywhere (especially popular resorts) in the prime RV snowbird band in southern TX, NM, and AZ will be booked pretty solid at least a year out. And it is getting harder to get reservations every year for the entire snowbird season.
Good thing we already live here

Reprobate · 03-24-2023, 08:43 AM

I was glad to see the title of this thread which stated the Texas RGV.
Rio Grande Valley means something else entirely in NM and CO

the Rio Grande river is 1900 miles long, starting in CO. In CO and NM, the river does run mainly through an actual valley. In TX, what they call the RGV is actually the river delta, not a valley at all. In the early 1900s the area was called the Magic Valley for marketing purposes to get folks to settle there. Again, I guess Magic Delta doesn't have the draw

Sometime after that, the area started being called the Rio Grande Valley (not DELTA), which is confusing, as the actual RGV runs through southern CO and all of NM and then TX before it gets to the delta.
I grew up in a small town in the Rio Grande Valley of NM, although the area is not marketed by that name. It is in an actual valley

When folks were passing through, saying they just came from RGV, we would tell them that they were IN the RGV. That river they crossed to get to town is the Rio Grande. Lots of confusing looks from everyone.
Just a point of interest on my part.....