RVers’ second wave hits the Valley

There are essentially two Winter Texan seasons: the one before Christmas and the Second Wave.

From Brownsville to Roma, RVers have nearly filled most of the larger parks and are expected to stay until their normal trek back north in mid March or early April.

At those parks, waiting lists for January were common before Christmas, though most of the lists have cleared as the season hits its stride.

While there is some anecdotal evidence that overall RV business is slightly down from what it was three or five years ago, the major parks are booming, as are smaller ones with long histories and caring owners.

In Brownsville, the Four Seasons Mobile Home and RV Resort on Coffeport Road has also had increased interest this year. The park’s 213 spaces are already occupied and park manager Paul MacPherson said he is still taking calls from interested RVer’s.

“This year I’ve actually been turning more people away because we simply don’t have the room,” MacPherson said.

Prices at the Four Seasons ranges from $385 for RV spaces to $225 for smaller vehicles

MacPherson and his wife, Rosalinda, have managed the park over the last three years. They believe the RV Park is popular because of its many activities, such as banquets, seminars and dances, which are booked through 2009.

“We have everything,” MacPhearson said. “People don’t come down here just for the climate. They come down for the fun too.”

Paradise Park in McAllen, for example, rents 45 of its 330 spaces each year. The other 285 of those are owned and occupied year round.

Park treasurer Marty Gebauer says “I’ve got two lots that don’t have anybody on them, and we only had three cancellations because of death or sickness.” Activities, he says, “have filled the calendar,” including such offbeat items as jam sessions with dulcimers.

His only complaint: Hidalgo County and the city of McAllen have raised taxes $29,600 to a combined total of $94,636 — a 40-percent increase in a single year. He’ll cover the new tab largely by raising fees and “creative borrowing.”

At Bentsen Palm Village RV park in Mission, which offers 245 spaces, Maryann Bradley reports “no room left in the park” and that activities schedules, including jam sessions, are crammed and humming. Margarita Wednesdays in Bentsen Village’s clubhouse typically draw 80 to 90 people.

Zack Krieger, owner of tiny Green Haven Mobile Park — 26 spaces, eight miles north of Edinburg, says his park is full year round. His RVers include oil company workers with wallets fattened by $100-a-barrel crude.

“We keep the park real nice,” he says. “That’s how we hang onto our customers.”Bonnie Sell and her husband, Dan, manage Magic Valley RV Park in Weslaco, where she reports their 420 spaces are 93.7 percent claimed.

“We keep track of it every day,” she says. “It’s wonderful.”

The difference she notices this year is that RVers are more transient — they move in, stay three or four days or a week, then move on to their next destination, instead of staying in a single park for the entire season.

“They’re not just shooting to their destination park, they’re trying different parks,” she says. “There’s a lot more rotation this year.”

Hummingbird Cove RV Park, located between Rio Hondo and Arroyo City, has seen a spike in occupancy this year compared to last, according to park manager Gloria Hopp.

Situated on the Arroyo Colorado, Hummingbird Cove is popular with fisherman, Hopp said.

Only 18 of the park’s 120 spaces are still available, which rent for $195 a month plus electricity.

“I was really kind of expecting it to be down because of gas prices,” Hopp said. “I guess it’s cheaper to pay the gas for your RV than it is to heat your home up north.”

None of the parks’ people seemed worried about the possibility of recession, which is playing a more prominent part in the news and on the presidential campaign trail in particular

Rising prices of gasoline and diesel fuel seem to have had no impact, but the weak U.S. dollar has, and positively — especially with Canadians, who make up about 10 percent of Rio Grande Valley Winter Texans and whose dollars can now buy more.

Herald business editor Aaron Nelsen contributed to this report.