Friday, January 18, 2013

Retama Village, Mission, Tx…

Retama Village and Santa Ana NWR 001Our Tuesday morning move over to Retama Village started off a bit rocky. When we got the motorhome all ready to go I put the key into the ignition only to hear the telltale sound of an engine trying to start on a dead battery. Crappers! Well last time this happened I simply fired up the generator to charge the battery but that didn't work this time. As dead as the battery was it appeared this was perhaps going to take longer than we were allowed to stay in our site since someone else was due to arrive at noon right after we were to leave.

Retama Village and Santa Ana NWR 003Then I remembered a switch on the console labeled “Aux Start” which I thought might help my cause. Only problem was I had never used it before so I had to search the internet to find out how to use it. Now I know exactly what it does and how to use it. The Aux Start button uses the house batteries instead of the engine batteries to start the RV. To use it you simple hold the button down while simultaneously turning the key to start the engine. It worked like a charm… We have been on the road nearly two years and I am still learning new things about this rig.

Retama Village and Santa Ana NWR 007Well once we got settled in at our space at Retama Village we let the front office know we were available for the guided tour offered as part of our free stay.  Our guide was a developer/sales associate for the park named Eddie. Eddie was a nice and friendly fellow who originally hailed from Arkansas.Our tour began with the large,elegantly decorated clubhouse as well as the large outdoor grill and party plaza.  Next we saw the fabulous pool and hot tub, Adjacent to the pool we were shown the fitness room, craft room, laundry facility and mailboxes.  He then drove us around the development and described what the community had to offer.

Retama Village and Santa Ana NWR 009Retama Village is located within the 2,500-acre Bentsen Palm Development Master Planned Community in Mission, Texas. It is a member owned park but members are allowed to rent out their sites.  Some of the owners have their sites up for sale or have sold sites back to the community planners to sell. Also within the community are one and two bedroom stucco homes with large RV carports as well as conventional homes without the RV garages for those who have decided to give up RV’ing but still want to be around those who do. The pool, hot tub, fitness room and club house are all great facilities. Eddie graciously gave us a tour of his two bedroom home with the RV carport.

Retama Village and Santa Ana NWR 012The footprint of the home was about 1100 square feet and to us it looked huge. If nothing else we now know that we could easily live in a much smaller house than we once lived in. Eddie's tour was a very low key, low pressure tour and took less than an hour. We still don’t know what our future plans will be but can see ourselves in a setting similar to Retama Village. Now we are free to enjoy the five free nights that we have here. On Sunday we will head onward to Rockport, our next home for one month…

16 comments:

  1. Low key tour I can handle ... and the reward of five free nights is good. We've talked about looking at Retama for the future, so thanks for the advance peek.

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  2. We had a deposit on sites at 2 Escapees places, but when our names finally came up we decided we did not want to live in Yuma or Bentson. Living in the Valley was much more to our liking. We'll have to visit the Retama place next time we're down that way. (But I love Rockport, too.... decisions....)

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    1. i have to admit that I am looking forward to visiting the Rockport area

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  3. It always nice to see whats available out there, worth taking the time to tour and get five free nights to boot!

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  4. Retama Village is one gorgeous place. Enjoy.

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  5. Eldy has been eyeing REtama Village for a couple of years...just to rent from an owner..Looks and sounds great! Can't wait to see what Rockport is like through your eyes..

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  6. We're leaving Austin this morning on our way to Bentsen Palms. I'm going to be joining Eddie on staff there Monday. Not sure if we will arrive today or Saturday, but maybe we can connect before you head out on Sunday. My number is 512-233-9004

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    1. Saturday will be a "do nothing" day for us so look for me in the pool in the afternoon... or the hot tub

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    2. We made it, but late on Friday. Then the jacks didn't work on the 5er to unhook. So a long day of getting set up and finding groceries. Enjoy Rockport and hopefully we can connect soon.

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  7. It's amazing how big 1100 square feet is after living in an RV for a few years. Nice looking property there.

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    1. it really surprised to see how large it looked thru new eyes...

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  8. Looks like a lovely place and 5nights free to find out what you really think is terrific. I'll be interested in you comments during and after your stay.

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  9. Wow. I am easily seduced by those kinds of elegant places. Staying 5 days is a good chance to see if this place has the right vibes for any future possibilities. A big part of our full-time RVing (MHing?) has been a quest for where we might eventually choose to spend the winters. We sure appreciate seeing the RV options in Texas through your eyes.

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    1. that is one of our quests too but dang this is a big country so we still need to look at places we have not been to yet...

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  10. We are full-time RVers, too, and are headed toward Retama Village for a few days to see what it is like. We are not sure when we will settle down. We love life on the road. Check out our blog --- www.reidsontheroad2@blogspot.com where I've been keeping a journal of our travels since 2013.

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