Once again, the time of the year has arrived where many people from the North and northeast fuel up their RV’s and migrate to South Texas for the winter months. In Texas there is a term for this group of people that is in no way derogatory. In Florida they are called snow birds. In Texas they are called ‘Winter Texans.’ And if you are reading this, you are probably one of them. Or if you are one of the 500,000 new RV owners in 2017, you may be a first time “Winter Texan”.
Since you are new to town, or just visiting after a while, we thought we might take a moment to welcome you, welcome the new year, and fill you in on a couple of things you will need to know.
Impacts of Hurricane Harvey on your winter stay.
First, as we all know, Hurricane Harvey hit southern Texas really hard. Rockport Texas, one of the towns where many spend their winter months, says that Hurricane Harvey impacted their number of visitors.
The Chamber of Commerce in Rockport is reporting that there aren’t as many Winter Texans as in previous years which typically averaged five-to-eight thousand visitors each year. So far this year, there are roughly two-to-three thousand winter Texans in Rockport RV parks. However, the peak season for winter Texans is late-January to March and therefore, the number of winter visitors could rise in the upcoming weeks.
It might be a bit more crowded at your RV park.
This year, most winter Texans are staying in RV Parks because many of the hotels and condos that some might have stayed in previous years are still damaged from the hurricane. Thankfully, there are nearly 45 RV parks in Rockport, and almost all of them were quick to re-open despite Rockport being directly in the path of Harvey and suffering some of the most storm damage.
Many of the RV Park owners reserved spots for the loyal winter Texans that wanted to come back, but just realize that it might be more crowded than in years past. This is also an issue all over the US because of the red hot RV market adding more and more RV’s into the world.
Some favorite destinations might still be closed for repairs or gone altogether
Some areas were hit harder than others. The New York Times published an article (read it here https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/01/us/hurricane-harvey-damage-texas-cities-towns.html) with details about what properties in what have been completely destroyed, slightly damaged or significantly damaged. Areas such as Lake Conroe were nearly completely destroyed by floods, as were portions of Port Aransas and others.
Some of your Service providers may be closed.
As a winter Texan, you may have come to rely on certain locations being in operation during your stay. For example you may have a favorite grocery store, liquor store gas station, or even restaurants that help you during your stay. Be prepared for some of those to be closed while awaiting insurance money to rebuild, or possibly closed indefinitely.
You may need RV repairs while wintering in South Texas, so where should you go?
We would like to recommend a few South Texas locations for you:
1. South Texas Rv in Lavernia near Austin Texas http://www.southtexasrv.com/service.html
2. Platinum RV with Mobile RV repair in the coastal bend in South Texas
3. Goodtime RV- Mobile RV in South Texas
http://www.goodtimerv.com/
If you are a newcomer to the Winter Texans group, or if you are a seasoned winter Texan suddenly in the need of RV repair services, you may find that your local south Texas RV dealers are closed for repairs or too back logged. You may find the same to be true for local and mobile RV repair shops. As a result you may need to expand your reach to find RV repair beyond the south Texas region.
Situated due North of Rockport for about 5 hours drive is Coach Specialists of Texas in Plano, and Mansfield Texas (all of which are in the Dallas Ft Worth area). We can get you in and out quickly, and we offer RV hookups and power at our facility for RV owners who need to stay in their RV’s during repairs. We offer collision repair, lead repair, RV blow out damage repair, and our Plano location is capable of handling your smaller repairs such as HVAC repairs, electrical work, appliance repair, plumbing repairs and more.