Pad Sweet RV Pad

Thursday, 1 May
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas

Welcome to a virtual tour of our RV pad — Site 408 at Gulf Waters RV Resort.

As mentioned in the previous post, after dithering around for four months, we took the plunge and bought ourselves an RV pad here in Port Aransas, Texas.  We signed the paperwork a week ago, on 25 April; and moved over from the rental site when our renters left two days later.  Although we plan to live on the site for a while before making any changes to the existing layout, Mui’s already hard at work on some minor projects — which I will share in future posts.

A few of our readers commented that they were surprised we bought a pad so soon into our RVing lifestyle.  Truth be told, we were too.  But we really fell in love with this place.  That was one reason we bought at GWRVR.  Another reason … as many of you know, we mingle our RV travels with off-the-road trips that take us to destinations our motorhome can’t get to — at least not easily.  These trips tend to be rather active, and we need a place to take a breather for a while when we return to our home on wheels.  An important consideration also was the easy beach access from the resort — makes it more feasible for us to spend the summer here if our travel plans so dictate.  Having our medical care set up in nearby Corpus Christi … having a military base just a short distance away … well, all the more reason, we figured, to base ourselves in Port Aransas when we’re not traveling — with or without the Phaeton.  Anyway, that’s the story behind the purchase and we’re sticking to it :-)

From #408’s front yard pond … don’t have to leave our pad to enjoy the wildlife.
Clockwise from top Left: Great Blue Heron; Painted Bunting; Turtle; Little Blue Heron;
Common Yellowthroat; Great Blue Heron (times two … the reflection counts, too).

First off, for those who are not familiar with Texas — let alone, Port Aransas — a map to get you oriented to where GWRVR is located.

Gulf Waters RV resort is on Mustang Island, a barrier island on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Red marker on the right = Port Aransas
Red marker in the bottom center = Nas cORPUS cHRISTI
rED MARKER BETWEEN THE INSET MAPS = cITY OF cORPUS cHRISTI

There are four ponds of varying sizes on the property.  Since our arrival in December we’ve rotated between sites on or near the pond closest to the beach.  Our home pad, however, is on a pond that is further inland.  No big deal — instead of a two-minute walk to the beach access, we have to walk four minutes ;-)  The pad is angled so that the hot afternoon sun is on the utilities side of the site, leaving our patio living space in a reasonable amount of shade — that’s a good thing.

Site 408, marked with a thick black border = our pad.
Yellow dots = the sites we rented during the first four months at GWRVR.

OK … so on with the photos.  (Click any of the images for a larger version if interested.)

First, a few pics I took before we moved in …

Looking across the pond from Site 307; our site is the one with the light brown storage shed.

Looking across the pond from Site 204; ours is the site to the right of the white Class C.

From the road behind our site; the photo on the right shows the toad parking as well.

From the pond that fronts the site.

Now let’s get the Phaeton on the site.

From across the pond, with our first visitor — the pond’s resident Great Blue Heron, stopping by to welcome us to site 408 …

… around the site …

From the toad parking area; there’s plenty of room for our trikes as well as the car.

Dining and outdoor cooking area — with and without the hibiscus hedge …

… and from a different angle.

Plenty of room to sit in front of and alongside the Phaeton.

One of the things we’re really pleased with about this pad is all the
patio area we have … and, of course, the storage shed is great, too.

And with permission from the Z’s, I’ll break the news that they also bought a pad at GWRVR.

414 — the Z’s site — and our 408 are both on the same pond!

The plan — at least for the time being — is to keep our pad in the rental pool when we are not using it.  The Z’s are following suit.  Making the sites available to renters is a good thing for us … as well as the resort!

We hoped to christen our site with dinner on the patio a few days ago, but the weather didn’t cooperate.  Not that it stopped us from enjoying the company of the Zs … we just moved the party inside.  We’re hoping nice weather this weekend will give us a chance to enjoy an al fresco meal together before they leave on Sunday.