PORT MANSFIELD — Trey Hallmark heard the news report.
A tropical storm watch had been issued for South Texas, including his camp site in Port Mansfield.
He gassed up his truck in Boerne in the Texas Hill Country and drove down to pick up his luxury 30-foot camper to get it out of harm’s way.
As of late last night, Tropical Depression Harvey was expected to become a hurricane Friday prior to landfall.
“I spend a lot of my time down here fishing,” Hallmark said yesterday afternoon. “The storm is probably going to miss us to the north, but I came down to haul my stuff home anyway.”
Hallmark said he used to be a property owner in Port Mansfield. But he grew tired of having to board up his home. So he switched over to a Fifth Wheel camper trailer.
“It’s easier to just pack up and leave,” Hallmark said.
In a matter of minutes, he had punched the controls to lower the trailer to hitch it to his truck and hightailed it back toward San Antonio before the storm was projected to hit somewhere along the Texas coast.
That was not the case for Vic’s Rental property managers.
They were nearly half way done boarding up and closing the storm shutters to more then 40 properties that they manage at the owners’ request.
“We are boarding up the patio doors, turning off water and taking down pier lights in case the piers get ruined,” said Jessica Canfield, Vic’s Rentals property associate. “We are just doing what we can.”
Hopefully, she said while wiping sweat off her brow, a hurricane won’t hit. But she would welcome the rain because the town is so hot and dry.
While they worked securing the homes, Sweet Gregory P’s Smokehouse Grill was closing down and prepping for today.
The restaurant managers said they would be open as long as the electricity didn’t go out.
That seemed to be the attitude for the rest of the community as hardly anyone was out yesterday securing their homes, boats or evacuating voluntarily.
Local camper David Hall, 61, was maintenancing his camper yesterday.
He said he was getting his camper ready to relocate to the mountains in New Mexico on Friday to beat the heat.
“I’m not worried about it (tropical storm),” Hall said.
He said he expects just some wind and rain, which is going to affect fishing.
“It’s been a lot worse than this before,” Hall said. “I have not seen or talked to anybody who is really concerned about a little rain.”
Follow Raul Garcia on twitter @StarRaulGarcia
