ztrain Report post Posted December 3, 2016 We have a new class A motor home and looking for someplace warm for our first winter. Looking into Florida and Alabama. Any other recommendations? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted December 3, 2016 Welcome to the forum. Look at Texas and the south Rio Grande Valley area. Look at places around McAllen We haven't spent the winter there but visited for a rally at Texas Trails RV Resort, 501 W Owassa Rd, Pharr, TX 78577, texastrailsrv.com, (956) 782-7886. They had lots of things to do and lots in the area to see. TButler lives in the valley in the winter and can give more information. What I would do is go and stay for a week or two and scout the other places to see what is available and what suits your budget. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ztrain Report post Posted December 3, 2016 Thanks Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbutler Report post Posted December 3, 2016 Bill's advice is right on. Here is a link to a reply I gave here on the forum about a month ago. The information is current. Take a look at a map and you will see how much further south we are than all but the southern tip of Florida and the Keys. We have cool weather but nothing like the cold weather in San Antonio. Our temperature today is currently 85 degrees with south winds at 15 with gusts to 22. This is a little warmer than we would expect this late in the year but it will be like this again later in the coming week. Then the end of next week the forecast is for high temperatures in the 50's. We play golf all winter long. By February, temperatures usually start warming up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted December 3, 2016 You make me smile when you talk about "The cold weather in San Antonio." I live in the frigid North Fort Worth area. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbutler Report post Posted December 3, 2016 We spent our first December in San Antonio. On New Years Day our stay at the park was over and we decided it was too cold there. We decided to head south to the "Valley" that a lady in Spring Texas had told us about. A lovely land with golf courses and RV parks everywhere. She wasn't far wrong. When we got to Edinburg, the temperature was about 30 degrees warmer, the staff at the park was most welcoming and friendly. Even our fellow campers were going out of their way to welcome us! How could we leave? We paid for a week, before the week was up we paid for a month and by the end of two and a half months there we paid for the next season. Been here ever since. We've had dry winters, wet winters, windy days are common and sometimes even long cloudy periods that give us all the blues. Our plan is for them to carry us out of here feet first! Unfortunately, that is far too common when you live among all these retired old people. Did you know that Amarillo, Texas is closer to Bismark, ND than it is to Brownsville? No wonder that Fort Worth is in the frigid north! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted December 3, 2016 We are 505 miles north of Pharr Texas. From Pharr it is 741 to Amarillo and 886 to Boise City, OK on 385 at the Oklahoma border. Here is something to consider it is only 306 miles from NYC to Portland Maine. Or just the distance from Pharr to Austin. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillAdams Report post Posted December 3, 2016 Houston, TX is plenty S. for us. FL has many great locations from Orlando South and Arizona is beautiful in most all of there southern areas. You can even travel to the mountains of AZ if you want to see snow for Christmas! I have never been to the RGV and I doubt I ever will. I prefer having city type services and entertainment so RVG is pretty much out for me. Even Austin and San Antonio are going to have very pleasant Winters. So what if you have a week or 2 of cool days and cold nights? You? If you do, you are REALLY going to have to go very South. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lmsooter Report post Posted December 4, 2016 10 hours ago, Ztrain said: We have a new class A motor home and looking for someplace warm for our first winter. Looking into Florida and Alabama. Any other recommendations? Welcome to the FMCA Forums. We try to plan our winter site based on travel plans both before and after winter. Where are you located now and where do you want to go after winter? What do you want to do during the winter? We were in New Mexico for 4 months during 2014 visiting with friends and trout fishing. Sandra has a sister we wanted to visit in the Phoenix area and the Alfa Owners Club had scheduled a rally in Arizona during April 2015. So we spent the winter in Apache Junction, AZ. This was a perfect base to visit Jerome, Bisbee, Tucson, Sedona, Prescott, Flagstaff, Yuma, Grand Canyon and view the beautiful Superstition Mountains every morning. Last year we traveled east of the Mississippi through the Midwest, Great Lakes, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and down the east coast to Florida where we arrived November 1st in the St. Augustine area to spend the winter. Enjoyed the history in St. Augustine and the Tampa RV Supershow and fishing along the coast and in tidal creeks. This winter we are in Hondo, Texas just west of San Antonio. Very few really cold days. This will probably be our winter home in the future as we plan to spend our winters in Texas and summers in Colorado. You will also find some good parks around Rockport, Texas. We looked at the Rio Grand Valley but it was a little too far from our son and his family just north of Austin, Texas. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbutler Report post Posted December 4, 2016 19 hours ago, BillAdams said: I have never been to the RGV and I doubt I ever will. I prefer having city type services and entertainment so RVG is pretty much out for me. You might be surprised, the living here is definitely metropolitan. I-2 stretches from Brownsville to Mission and the population of the area is about 1,250,000. There is a brand new, just opened, Performing Arts Center in McAllen, right next to the Convention Center. We have a major shopping mall which is expanding, adding about 60 stores. This time of year you can hardly find a parking spot and a significant number of license plates are from south of the border. There is an huge outlet mall, also popular with our neighbors to the south. You will find all of the major restaurant chains well represented throughout the valley and there are dozens of mom and pop restaurants with specialty foods from all over the world. We have great restaurants for fine dining and real Texas BBQ, Tex-Mex to genuine Mexican fare. There are college sports and basketball, hockey and soccer minor league teams. A new soccer stadium is almost finished in Edinburg. There is an agricultural field behind our park and I can drive 30 minutes, even in heavy traffic, and be in downtown McAllen, population of 130,000. Edinburg, where we are, is just north of McAllen and has a population of 77,000. Mission, just west of McAllen, has another 70,000. Pharr to the east of McAllen has another 70,000. These are all part of one large metropolitan area that continues on to the east with little or no break between communities. You have all the great things a city offers without the extreme traffic congestion we all associate with large cities. Traffic is always busy here but seldom comes to a stop As Wildbill mentions, the distances in Texas can be daunting. There is four lane divided highway all the way from San Antonio to either Edinburg/McAllen (I-37 toI-69C/US 281) or Harlingen/Brownsville (I-37 to I-69E/US 77). The drive from San Antonio to the RGV will take between 3 and 4 hours. Going north you will pass through a US Customs and Border Protection checkpoint about an hour north on either route. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted December 4, 2016 Quit encouraging people, the last time I was at Dirty Al's at Pelican Station there was a wait. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillAdams Report post Posted December 4, 2016 No worries, I am not coming! It's just not for me. When someone says you only have to drive 30 miles to get to the next town......I have usually already shut down. I did not mean to impugn anything about the RGV, I was just saying it's not for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
