I mentioned in my last post that we had a plan to back the coach out of our tight site and hook up the trailer. The plan worked perfectly and Donna had me lined up exactly where I wanted to be to connect the trailer to the coach. Pre-planning maneuvers like this is a good idea. Communication is important. Donna understood what I wanted to do and was able to direct me into position with a handheld Cobra CB radio.

I had programmed our GPS to route us from north Houston to Rockport and avoid tolls. I didn’t want to repeat the situation in Austin where we were on a toll road that didn’t have toll booths. You needed a TxTag pass or know how to pay via mail on that road.

The slog through Houston wasn’t much fun, but at least the rain had stopped. Large urban areas are never fun to drive through in a big rig. Houston is the fourth largest city in the USA and has the traffic to prove it. After about an hour, we we were on US59 and heading out of the city. From there it became rural and we rolled along on Texas highways. The traffic was light. The speed limits are a little over the top on some of these two-lane Texas highways. A 70mph speed limit with gas station and restaurant driveways and no slow down lane to exit the highway or acceleration lane to enter the highway doesn’t seem too good to me.

Unlike west Texas, the highways have few rest areas or roadside tables to stop at in this area. I drove for more than two hours before pulling over in the town of Palacios for a comfort break. That’s the nice thing about motorhome travel – if you need a restroom break, just pull over and walk back to the restroom!

We made our way 200 miles to the Copano Bay RV Resort and pulled in. The entrance is poorly marked without any directional signs telling you which way to go to stop and check-in. There are two roads into the park, one to the right of the entrance and one to the left with a building in the middle. I saw the office to the right and cranked the wheel hard right at the entrance, but there was a stone planter in front of the building in the center that made it too tight to complete the turn. I started to back up but was mindful of the trailer jack-knifing and also needed to know if the road was clear.

A man and a woman came out of the office and signaled us to go to the left. Donna got out of the coach to check if the trailer was in danger of jack-knifing against the right rear corner of the coach. The man told Donna he would direct me, so Donna didn’t signal me. The man also didn’t give me any signal, so I didn’t move. The guy looked irritated by my lack of movement. Donna could see this wasn’t working, so she came back inside and picked up her handheld CB radio. Aha – communication. She told me to back up slowly and stopped me when the trailer was close to touching the corner of the coach. At that point I had enough room to crank a hard left and enter the park on the left side of the building.

We walked to the office to check in and the lady asked if I would like to be moved into a long pull-through site instead of the back-in site that was reserved for us. I said that would be perfect. She set us up in what is essentially two back-to-back sites on a continuous concrete pad. She told us both sites were ours for the next two weeks and no one would move-in behind us. Nice!

Our double pull-through site

It was nearly 90 degrees out with high humidity. I hooked up our power so Donna could start the air conditioners and we were set up in no time. Later we took a walk to the west end of the park where there’s a small (very small) swimming pool and a fishing pier. We saw a number of jellyfish in the Salt Lake, which is really a cove off Copano Bay.

On Tuesday morning, it was time to remove 1,500 miles worth of grime from the coach. Traveling in rainy weather left a real mess on the coach, not to mention all the bugs on the front cap. I went to the office and paid $10 for the privilege of washing my own coach. I can understand RV parks not wanting everyone to pull in and wash their coach – it takes a lot of water. But I don’t think it takes $10 worth of water. I think they charge that much to discourage people from washing in the park. We really needed a wash though. Donna went for a 5-mile walk and then hit the exercise room to do strength training while I worked on the coach.

I spent the next 135 minutes hand washing the coach with car wash soap and water. It looks much better but the hard water left spots. I’ll go over it again in a few days with a waterless product. I use a product from Super Seal called The Solution. It works really well – it will remove the water spots and leave a nice shine. With the coach clean, I installed the front window shades and tire covers.

Donna made a salad for lunch and served it with a soup she made Monday night. The soup is a carrot-ginger soup with dollop of coconut cream. It was delicious – you wouldn’t know it was carrot-based. It tasted like something you would get in a Thai restaurant. She got the recipe from her mother.

Carrot-ginger soup

After a shower and lunch, I rode the scooter into town for a look around. I bought a case of water at Walmart. Later, Donna and I took another scooter ride and checked out the funky downtown area and waterfront in Rockport. We stopped for groceries at HEB and found it to be a nicely stocked, large store. Much nicer than the HEB in Austin. Donna bought New York strip steaks that I grilled for dinner.

New York strips hot off the grill

Donna served it smothered in sauteed mushrooms and onions, a baked potato with crumbled bacon on top and steamed asparagus on the side.

There’s a steak under those mushrooms and onions

We’ve had mostly cloudy skies with 70% humidity and temperatures in the mid 80s. The skies are supposed to clear up this afternoon but there’s always a chance of a thundershower around here. Since I just washed the coach, I’m guessing we’ll see a thundershower soon.