Merry Christmas … or Happy Holidays, if that’s your preferred sentiment. Wishing all a happy and enriching 2017 shared with loved ones … and a year of safe travels … whatever your mode of travel.
© 2004-2016 Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
Yesterday we made the rounds at GWRVR and bid a bittersweet adieu to the friends we made here. While we have no immediate plans to come back this way, we will definitely set time aside for a return visit to GWRVR if we find ourselves in the Texas coastal bend at some point in the future.
Hooking up the CR-V to the Phaeton at first light, we were on the road by 7:30a. Why the hurry to get on the road to Houston? We wanted to stay ahead of the forecasted storm. And by golly we did just that, arriving to a few sprinkles as we pulled into Advanced RV Resort in Pearland around 12:15p. It’s raining now, but looks like the storm has stalled and the worst of it won’t get here until the wee hours. No matter. We’re off the road and it can rain all it wants now.
Boarding the ferry to Aransas Pass for the last time … at least for a while to come.
Thus the Port Aransas chapter of our life on the road is now behind us. Our sadness is tempered by all the exciting plans we have to look forward to in the years ahead.
We’ll be in Houston for a month. Don’t expect that we will do much sightseeing, though … this is our prep time for the next overseas adventure we will be embarking upon come January. More on all that later.
© 2004-2016 Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
We vacated site 408 as owners for the last time this morning. But before we moved to our temporary home, we took advantage of a beautiful morning for a stroll on the beach just as the sun was rising.
Now that the temps have fallen a bit, we’ve been delaying our daily walk until after breakfast — long after the sun has risen. So, today’s early sojourn was a special treat. Not many people were out and about … but we did have the company of a great blue heron as the sun broke the horizon.
We enjoy the rising sun in the company of a Great Blue Heron.
The new owners weren’t arriving until noon, so we didn’t have to hurry to vacate site 408. Nonetheless, we were ready to go by 9:00a. So, while Mui took care of disconnecting the hook-ups, I headed to the office to pay our rent. I have to admit that felt a bit weird ;-)
When we made our reservation about a week ago, the only sites available were back-in sites. No problem, we thought. But the ladies at the office kept an eye out for pond availability, and when a site became available, they asked if we wanted to switch. We did. A good decision as it turns out. We love the privacy of #452 … which happens to be on the only pond we’ve yet to enjoy as renters at GWRVR.
Panorama of Site 452 … spacious with plenty of privacy on either side.
All settled in!
The only pond we’ve yet to enjoy as renters … we get to do so before bidding GWRVR farewell.
Thus the move is now complete. We have chores and errands next week, and then we’ll be hitting the road.
© 2004-2016 Two to Travel. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
The title of the post says it all … we are no longer owners at GWRVR! We signed on the dotted line and transferred our pad to the new owners today.
Why would we give up the haven that has served us so well since we bought it in 2014? At the end of 2017, we’ll be leaving Texas to continue our travels further west. At that point, Port A will become a little ‘out of the way’ as we don’t have any immediate plans to come back this way. Could we have kept the site in the rental pool? Sure, and it would have rented out well. But we wouldn’t be here to maintain the landscaping and such ourselves, and that was a concern to us.
So, deciding to test the waters, we put site 408 on the market in October. Didn’t think we’d actually have many nibbles as snowbird season was not yet underway. But we did … two of them serious. Three weeks later, the sale contract was signed and a closing date was scheduled for late November. Timing is everything they say … it certainly was in this instance.
An aerial view of Gulf Waters … I captured this shot from a framed image at the
title company while we were waiting for the signed sale documents to be copied.
The new owners take over on the 25th. We’ll move to another site and rent for a week … we have a dental appointment and a few other things to complete before heading north to Houston for the month of December. Will we be leaving Texas after that? Yes … but not with the Phaeton. We have some international travels to complete first. More on that in January.
We have exciting plans that we are looking forward to as we close this short chapter in our vagabond lifestyle. And that eases the sadness that will accompany our departure from Port A.
© 2004-2016 Two to Travel. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
It’s been a great couple of days here in Port A. Even with the temps higher than normal for the area this time of the year, a near-constant breeze made it quite nice to sit outside in the shade. My “al fresco” office got a lot of use, that’s for sure.
I didn’t get around to any of the wildlife refuges … yet. But a few feathered friends paid us a visit at the pond that fronts our RV pad.
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Snowy Egret bids us “The End!”
© 2004-2016 Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
