Tuesday, March 27, 2018

German Festival in Tomball, TX.

During our workamping gig at KOA in Montgomery, we did numerous fun outings. The weekend of March 22nd, 2018 was the German Festival. We had a wonderful German schnitzel dinner and then wandered around the area enjoying the sights and sounds.






Lake Conroe/Houston North KOA for the summer of 2017/ winter of 2018.

We arrived here in Montgomery, TX by Lake Conroe to work at the KOA in April of 2017. We initially wanted to start in September and leave by April, but Pat, our manager, asked us to come early. Overall, it was a great experience, I must say Pat has been the best manager we have ever worked for. The park is pretty nice, not a "10" but nice.

It started a little rough after we were parked next to the lawn mowing guy, Robert. Our very first day he went on and on about how we will hate it here, and they will fire you for this and that, and you better watch your back, don't do this and don't do that. He was a jerk for sure. We arranged to get moved, which was a great thing as we got a spot that backed up to the pond. We enjoyed watching the wildlife and even had our hummingbird feeder out, which got a lot of traffic. Not too much longer I had all I could take from him, we had it out, and he decided to leave. YAY!
Next was the maintenance supervisor, he was an angry unhappy person that made life miserable for everyone. One of the worst I have ever seen. Not too much longer, I had all of him I could take and I gave him an earful. I could care less if I was fired because we were about to leave anyway. This was NOT workamping and I will not be treated that way. Things got better after I told him he will NEVER talk to me that way again, I don't care who you are.

Kathy really loved this place up until the last couple of months. She became very close to Pat and most of the other ladies,  they occasionally did girls night out things and had fun. We had numerous dinners and parties and really enjoyed ourselves. The downside of this place was the numerous family reunions scheduled as most of them ended up with problems. These were not the RV crowd, they were groups of people which were demanding and they always caused issues. Much of their "family" weren't family at all. They booked most, if not all of the 35 cabins here at the park. The word spread there was food and drink and the crowds grew and the problems did too. They took over the playground and swimming pool so the RV crowd got upset and left. The police were called often, and in my opinion these non RV events will be the downfall of this RV park.
Then the problem RVers started arriving. Not sure why but we had a few incidents of unruly and even mean RV people come in. Genuine "trailer trash, not your typical RV crowd. The police were called often and a few went to jail.

Being threatened in the office and having to call 911 often is not what we signed up for, so it's time to leave and probably never come back to this park. One man got sentenced to the federal penitentiary for 10 years for threatening to bomb this place, and it all started over him not having the proper car tag in his vehicle. Just ridiculous! 10 years , $25,000 fine for being an ass.

Experiencing "Hurricane Harvey" was a hoot. The rain was relentless, and not knowing the area very well and where the flood prone areas are, made me a little nervous. We were never in eminent danger, but we had no escape route if needed. All the areas around us were flooded and roads were impassable. Not fun, but we survived.

Oh yes, something bit me on the wrist that sent me to the emergency room, not sure what is was, but it got ugly. Got to love these Texas critters.



Entertainment wise, we enjoyed this area. Galveston Island, Kemah, and numerous good restaurants with entertainment was a plus. We often ate at "Sam's Boat" for fish and music on their patio overlooking Lake Conroe.  "Papa's On The Lake" for Tuesday night steak night, "Big Sombrero" was our go to place for Mexican food and margaritas. We always got good food here at reasonable prices.




Repair wise, we had the pleasure of losing our microwave/convection oven and our water heater. The microwave/oven was a challenge since we needed a Sharp, model R-1874, and it took 3 months to get one. Luckily we eventually got one and I installed the microwave/oven and the new water heater myself, saving us a lot of money. Actually Kathy's father, Jim Nix, helped with the installations.




We've given our notice and plan on leaving by the first of May, earlier if possible as we are just about fed up and burned out.
Next stop, Oklahoma to visit family, and then we'll see what's next!  But we will take a few months off since dealing with these people can get very stressful. Even though the overwhelming majority  are wonderful people, the small percentage can just flat wear you out.



We though we were far enough south to be comfortable for the winter, but mother nature reminds us who is in charge sometimes. We had some snow and temps around the 18 degree mark.