February Surprise

February has been an exciting month with some unexpected developments. We had not been planning on having a winter home base for awhile, however; we had been checking out Florida, Arizona, and Texas for potential locations when we stayed each winter. We really like Retama Village, as it checks all our boxes for good weather, excellent RV lots, national & state parks in walking distance, and great running, hiking & biking trails. There happened to be a model home/Deluxe Coach House available to buy, and after we weighed all the pros and cons, we decided to purchase it. We closed in early February and have been busy furnishing it the rest of month. It has been a lot of fun and we are looking forward to having a regular spot for the winter.

Our favorite activity this month was birding with a group of fellow Rvers from Bentsen Palm at Estero Llano Grande World Birding Center/State Park. We had loved this park when we visited the area in 2019, and really enjoyed touring it with a group. Afterwards, we all went out to lunch at local restaurant we love called Nana’s. Yum.

I was able to run the Harlingen Half Marathon in February, which I was particularly grateful for, as I could only run virtually last year, due to the pandemic. It has been a colder winter in the Rio Grande Valley this year unfortunately, and I actually skipped the annual Jalepeno 100 Bike Ride due to cold, windy, and wet weather. Hopefully, I will be able to ride it next year. I am still having lots of fun riding with local bikers and learning new routes around the area. Mike continues to walk and ride to the local parks and enjoy the beautiful birds and wildlife.

We ended the month having the “Wandering Peaches”, Bob and Angel, over for drinks and appetizers at our new coach house. We met them when we were at Joshua Tree National Park last winter. We are looking forward to our children coming to visit early in March for a house warming, and will share pictures of our RV lot and coach house in our next post.