Off to be Winter Texans
We decided to try Texas again to see if we could find new adventures. We left Lambertville on December 6 heading southwest. It was fun loading Abby, as she sensed something was going on that she wanted NO part of. I grabbed her as she was headed into the bedroom to hide. She obviously had a full bladder and unloaded on me as I was carrying her out to the motor home!! Poor girl--one would think that she would be used to this routine by now!
Our first stop was in Effingham, Illinois at Camp Lakewood. It was a very nice campground with super nice owners. We had traveled 387 miles and that was definitely enough in the motor home for both the driver and passengers.
Day two took us to Southaven, Mississippi and EZ Daze RV Park. We had gone through several states--Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and finally into Mississippi. The park was very nice with concrete pads, but the airplanes started flying at 4 a.m.!!! Much too early for us!
Our third day found us in Henderson, Louisana, and after a nights rest we spent another five hours on the road. Our next stop was in Beaumont, Texas staying at a passport America park called Gulf Coast Rv Park. We had stayed at this campground five years ago when were in Texas. We thought of spending an extra day here because it is such a nice park, until we saw the weather report with a cold front coming in.
Heading futher down the coast we ended up at Lagoons RV park in Rockport, Tx. We had spent a week in Rockport on our last trip to Texas. This time we only spent two days before heading to our final stop in Pharr, Texas. We scouted out the Rockport area looking for a place to stay on our return home. Port Aransas looked interesting and we may stay in this area on our way north. While on the coast we enjoyed the fresh seafood.
While on our way to Pharr we found a gas station that looked doable for the motor home plus a car, so stopped for a fill up. Having walked around the car and Baby Hughie (Roy's name for the coach), we started to leave only to hear a loud clunk! After getting out to see what happened we found the towbar no longer attached to BH!! Roy unhooked the cables and the rest of the towing stuff and put the BROKEN TOWBAR on the HHR. C followed R 150 miles to Tropic Star, our home for the winter. We sure were lucky that it didn't break while on the highway!! Guess we really had someone "upstairs" looking out for us.
Now settled in here at Tropic Star, R has found some carvers and they have many other interests to look in to. Our friends Denis and Karen will be arriving after Christmas. We were suprized to find our winter home did not offer cable tv,and wifi only in or near the club house! We are able to get the major channels ABC,NBC,CBS and FOX along with many Mexican channels using the antenna. If you know Roy, these facts did not make him a happy camper. The general condition of the park is in need of some renovation. We have found the folks to be friendly and there seems to be something going on most of the time.
Karen and Denis arrived on December 27 and we got busy trying to decide just what we wanted to do while in Texas. We decided that we had best wait until after the holidays, as stores and parks were extremely busy. We did have our "good luck" New Year's Day dinner with ribs and Roy's sauerkraut. That first week in January found the weather cold and rainy. Temps only in the 50's, but we knew this was only temporary.
Roy and I decided to "tidy up" our RV site by planting some grass seed on a good-sized bare spot. The only seed we could buy was Bermuda grass. These seeds are very small and much different than we're used to. We spread seed, watered and waited. The next day we had a highway of leave cutter ants coming from the next site over to our grass seed. They managed to take each and every tiny seed to their nest. We put out more seed and it all disappeared again. So, we gave up trying for green grass!
On January 8, we ventured to a relatively new outlet mall. Karen and I did some serious shopping, but didn't buy much. That evening we attended a show here in the park with Gold Wing Express. It's a father and three sons from Oklahoma and they put on a great show. We had seen them in Florida last year.
Later that week, we were excited to attend an RV show in the Valley. Well, the show was a huge disappointment to all of us and so we kept heading east to South Padre Island where they were having their annual craft show. Lots of neat stuff, but we didn't buy much. Denis and Karen had never been to the turtle rescue on SPI, so we had to stop there. Five years ago Roy and I had seen a turtle that had only one front flipper and they had been trying to fit her with a prosthesis. She had even made our Toledo Blade at home. Well, she is still at the refuge, much larger than five years ago and is now on her fourth type of prosthesis. She is fitted with this prosthesis and can swim for 1 1/2 hours each day under supervision. Really great to hear that she is still doing well and has a good home at the refuge. Our next stop on SPI was Schlitterbaun's Shrimp Haus for all you can eat shrimp. It was delicous, just as it was five years ago.
The next week, we took a trip a bit west and toured an RV park called Bentsen Palms. What a nice park! If we were to come back to the Valley, this is where we would stay. From there we ventured south to find Riverside, a club that had replaced Pepe's on the Rio Grande. Pepe's was destroyed in 2011 by a flood. Riverside is a very nice club and it's pretty cool to see all the "old folks" on the dance floor having a good time.
Every Thursday morning, Roy has been going to a carving "class". He has learned lots from the folks here. He took a two-day carving class and you can see by the pictures, that he's becoming quite good. The best part of his newfound hobby is that he enjoys it!
We had read about Quinta Mazatlan, a 1930's historic adobe home with beautiful gardens and lots of different birds and butterflies. It's located in McAllen, so very close for us. The spanish style of architecture is unique and quite colorful.
Since we felt that we were getting pretty good a identifying birds in the area, we signed up for a birding expedition through the park. We met a 9 a.m. at the Scenic Wetlands in Edinburg, about 20 miles north of here. Well, we discovered that none of the four of us gets too excited about a different species of duck! That was the first and last birding trip with the serious birders!
Next on our agenda was a return trip to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. All four of us had been there in the past, but we decided to take the tram ride again. It was extremely interesting. This refuge is also known as a premium birding center. We did see some green jays and other exotic birds. Also, while on the tram ride, we spotted a huge black snake, slithering across the road. It was nonpoisonous, according to our guide.
We brought our passports and decided to head to Progresso, Mexico. This is the only Mexican border town that is reasonably safe for gringos. We did buy some medication which is very cheap. Roy now has enough of his acid-blocking medicine for a year for under $10.00! We had some "powerful" margueritas in the Canada store restaurant! Wow, after two of those, it was like we were walking on air (at least for me)! We had such a good time, we had to go back once more before leaving Texas. Yes, we did enjoy those margueritas again!
Towards the end of January, we headed east to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, hoping to see some Texas wildlife. After driving around the entire park, we saw absolutely nothing except for an owl and a couple of green jays at the Visitors Center. This park is close to South Padre Island and still has some endangered ocelots. But we only saw the "stuffed" one at the VC.
That night we had a fish dinner at the American Legion in Pharr. Nothing exceptional.
On 1/29 we once again visited the South Texas History Museum in Edinburg. We had gone five years ago, but Denis and Karen had not been there. It was just as interesting as it was before. The entire history is presented in such a nice way that it keeps the patron's attention. Still feel that this is northern Mexico, as most everyone in the Rio Grande Valley speaks Spanish and some folks that live here in the states, do not speak English!
Feb. 2 was another trip to South Padre Island for the kite festival. Once again, we weren't disappointed. The folks come from all over the U.S. for this competion. Everyone just takes their lawn chairs and finds a spot on the beach to watch the show. It's truly amazing what can be done with kites as they "dance" to music. We had dinner at Pier 19 overlooking the water. The bloody mary's were fantastic!
Denis and Karen went to Jamaica for week to spend time with their family and we were on our own. On Monday afternoon we headed out to find the McAllen Elk lodge. What a surprise to find a "polka jam/dance" going on! Those "old folks" really have a good time!
On Tues., Feb. 5 Roy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Can't believe it's been that long and we're still in love! We celebrated by having a nice, romantic dinner at Milano's.
The only other item on our agenda was to visit the King Ranch which is about 115 miles northeast of here. We had heard so much about this ranch, so took a tour around a very small portion of it. Saw lots of horses and cattle, but not too much else. It is so very dry here. They've not had an appreciable amount of rain since 2007!! So, needless to say, there are no crops and all the ponds on the ranch are dry. We did tour the museum in downtown Kingsville, but didn't find it to be too exciting.
Denis and Karen left us on Feb. 26 to head back to Wisconsin. Their house sold while they were here and have to be completely moved by March 22. We sure miss them, especially at "happy hour" time! We are now preparing to leave Tropic Star on March 5. Overall we have enjoyed good weather and the beautifully landscaped pool here at the park. We'll be heading to Aransas Pass for a week's stay on the Gulf. Then it's on to Lousiana.
Our third day found us in Henderson, Louisana, and after a nights rest we spent another five hours on the road. Our next stop was in Beaumont, Texas staying at a passport America park called Gulf Coast Rv Park. We had stayed at this campground five years ago when were in Texas. We thought of spending an extra day here because it is such a nice park, until we saw the weather report with a cold front coming in.
Heading futher down the coast we ended up at Lagoons RV park in Rockport, Tx. We had spent a week in Rockport on our last trip to Texas. This time we only spent two days before heading to our final stop in Pharr, Texas. We scouted out the Rockport area looking for a place to stay on our return home. Port Aransas looked interesting and we may stay in this area on our way north. While on the coast we enjoyed the fresh seafood.
While on our way to Pharr we found a gas station that looked doable for the motor home plus a car, so stopped for a fill up. Having walked around the car and Baby Hughie (Roy's name for the coach), we started to leave only to hear a loud clunk! After getting out to see what happened we found the towbar no longer attached to BH!! Roy unhooked the cables and the rest of the towing stuff and put the BROKEN TOWBAR on the HHR. C followed R 150 miles to Tropic Star, our home for the winter. We sure were lucky that it didn't break while on the highway!! Guess we really had someone "upstairs" looking out for us.
Now settled in here at Tropic Star, R has found some carvers and they have many other interests to look in to. Our friends Denis and Karen will be arriving after Christmas. We were suprized to find our winter home did not offer cable tv,and wifi only in or near the club house! We are able to get the major channels ABC,NBC,CBS and FOX along with many Mexican channels using the antenna. If you know Roy, these facts did not make him a happy camper. The general condition of the park is in need of some renovation. We have found the folks to be friendly and there seems to be something going on most of the time.
Karen and Denis arrived on December 27 and we got busy trying to decide just what we wanted to do while in Texas. We decided that we had best wait until after the holidays, as stores and parks were extremely busy. We did have our "good luck" New Year's Day dinner with ribs and Roy's sauerkraut. That first week in January found the weather cold and rainy. Temps only in the 50's, but we knew this was only temporary.
Roy and I decided to "tidy up" our RV site by planting some grass seed on a good-sized bare spot. The only seed we could buy was Bermuda grass. These seeds are very small and much different than we're used to. We spread seed, watered and waited. The next day we had a highway of leave cutter ants coming from the next site over to our grass seed. They managed to take each and every tiny seed to their nest. We put out more seed and it all disappeared again. So, we gave up trying for green grass!
On January 8, we ventured to a relatively new outlet mall. Karen and I did some serious shopping, but didn't buy much. That evening we attended a show here in the park with Gold Wing Express. It's a father and three sons from Oklahoma and they put on a great show. We had seen them in Florida last year.
Later that week, we were excited to attend an RV show in the Valley. Well, the show was a huge disappointment to all of us and so we kept heading east to South Padre Island where they were having their annual craft show. Lots of neat stuff, but we didn't buy much. Denis and Karen had never been to the turtle rescue on SPI, so we had to stop there. Five years ago Roy and I had seen a turtle that had only one front flipper and they had been trying to fit her with a prosthesis. She had even made our Toledo Blade at home. Well, she is still at the refuge, much larger than five years ago and is now on her fourth type of prosthesis. She is fitted with this prosthesis and can swim for 1 1/2 hours each day under supervision. Really great to hear that she is still doing well and has a good home at the refuge. Our next stop on SPI was Schlitterbaun's Shrimp Haus for all you can eat shrimp. It was delicous, just as it was five years ago.
The next week, we took a trip a bit west and toured an RV park called Bentsen Palms. What a nice park! If we were to come back to the Valley, this is where we would stay. From there we ventured south to find Riverside, a club that had replaced Pepe's on the Rio Grande. Pepe's was destroyed in 2011 by a flood. Riverside is a very nice club and it's pretty cool to see all the "old folks" on the dance floor having a good time.
Every Thursday morning, Roy has been going to a carving "class". He has learned lots from the folks here. He took a two-day carving class and you can see by the pictures, that he's becoming quite good. The best part of his newfound hobby is that he enjoys it!
We had read about Quinta Mazatlan, a 1930's historic adobe home with beautiful gardens and lots of different birds and butterflies. It's located in McAllen, so very close for us. The spanish style of architecture is unique and quite colorful.
Since we felt that we were getting pretty good a identifying birds in the area, we signed up for a birding expedition through the park. We met a 9 a.m. at the Scenic Wetlands in Edinburg, about 20 miles north of here. Well, we discovered that none of the four of us gets too excited about a different species of duck! That was the first and last birding trip with the serious birders!
Next on our agenda was a return trip to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. All four of us had been there in the past, but we decided to take the tram ride again. It was extremely interesting. This refuge is also known as a premium birding center. We did see some green jays and other exotic birds. Also, while on the tram ride, we spotted a huge black snake, slithering across the road. It was nonpoisonous, according to our guide.
We brought our passports and decided to head to Progresso, Mexico. This is the only Mexican border town that is reasonably safe for gringos. We did buy some medication which is very cheap. Roy now has enough of his acid-blocking medicine for a year for under $10.00! We had some "powerful" margueritas in the Canada store restaurant! Wow, after two of those, it was like we were walking on air (at least for me)! We had such a good time, we had to go back once more before leaving Texas. Yes, we did enjoy those margueritas again!
Towards the end of January, we headed east to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, hoping to see some Texas wildlife. After driving around the entire park, we saw absolutely nothing except for an owl and a couple of green jays at the Visitors Center. This park is close to South Padre Island and still has some endangered ocelots. But we only saw the "stuffed" one at the VC.
That night we had a fish dinner at the American Legion in Pharr. Nothing exceptional.
On 1/29 we once again visited the South Texas History Museum in Edinburg. We had gone five years ago, but Denis and Karen had not been there. It was just as interesting as it was before. The entire history is presented in such a nice way that it keeps the patron's attention. Still feel that this is northern Mexico, as most everyone in the Rio Grande Valley speaks Spanish and some folks that live here in the states, do not speak English!
Feb. 2 was another trip to South Padre Island for the kite festival. Once again, we weren't disappointed. The folks come from all over the U.S. for this competion. Everyone just takes their lawn chairs and finds a spot on the beach to watch the show. It's truly amazing what can be done with kites as they "dance" to music. We had dinner at Pier 19 overlooking the water. The bloody mary's were fantastic!
Denis and Karen went to Jamaica for week to spend time with their family and we were on our own. On Monday afternoon we headed out to find the McAllen Elk lodge. What a surprise to find a "polka jam/dance" going on! Those "old folks" really have a good time!
On Tues., Feb. 5 Roy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Can't believe it's been that long and we're still in love! We celebrated by having a nice, romantic dinner at Milano's.
The only other item on our agenda was to visit the King Ranch which is about 115 miles northeast of here. We had heard so much about this ranch, so took a tour around a very small portion of it. Saw lots of horses and cattle, but not too much else. It is so very dry here. They've not had an appreciable amount of rain since 2007!! So, needless to say, there are no crops and all the ponds on the ranch are dry. We did tour the museum in downtown Kingsville, but didn't find it to be too exciting.
Denis and Karen left us on Feb. 26 to head back to Wisconsin. Their house sold while they were here and have to be completely moved by March 22. We sure miss them, especially at "happy hour" time! We are now preparing to leave Tropic Star on March 5. Overall we have enjoyed good weather and the beautifully landscaped pool here at the park. We'll be heading to Aransas Pass for a week's stay on the Gulf. Then it's on to Lousiana.
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