Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Repair Day

Following our morning Spanish lesson, Kathy talked me into playing tennis with a group that gets together every morning. There are usually about 12-14 people that show up to play doubles. After each game you rotate on to the next position until you reach the serve court. Following each game a new person from the side of the court rotates in and the server rotates out. It works out great because you usually get several minutes of rest following the 4 games you played. Also, with two courts playing at a different pace, it changes the court you play on and you get to play with a variety of partners. The group played for about 2 hours before breaking up for lunch.

After lunch it was time to tackle the repair of the awning that had come out on our trip down here two weeks ago. The inner spring that keeps the awning rolled up while you travel broke and allowed the fabric to unroll and eventually rip. Kathy was able to repair the rip and I found a new spring at a local flea market. The big challenge was figuring out how to put it back together and place the proper torque on the awning without hurting myself.

As with any project, there is always a number of people around help and to give advice. Today was no exception. The fellow on the furthermost ladder in the photo was Pat. Three days ago Pat and Ken (closest ladder) had repaired the awning on Pat's motorhome. Pat's had ripped and he had to remove it to have it sewn. Fortunately we learned a couple of tricks that helped us today.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Wood & Sun

Not a lot going on today so I headed to wood shop to work on my folding table project. The picture you see below is the table turned upside down. The center leg frame will be mounted to the center portion of the table. The other two frames will be connected to the side of the center frame with a continuous hinge. When not in use the side frames will swing to the middle frame and the table top which is cut in half, will drop down on either side of the frames for storage.

Today I routed a 1/4 radius around the three frames. Then I cut the table top you see in the photo in half. Next I rounded the edges of both ends of the table and then I routed a 1/4 radius around the entire perimeter of the table top. I'll shoot some photos of the projects current status tomorrow when I head back to the shop.

Around mid-afternoon, Kathy and I headed to the pool to soak up some rays. The temperature that had risen to the mid 80"s earlier began to fall into the 70's while we were at the pool. A cold front was sweeping down into Texas and even snow was being predicted for northern Texas. Fortunately for us the temperature only dipped to the low 70's hear in the valley. Later this evening its suppose to fall as low as 50, with a high tomorrow of only 70. We'll probably have to put on a sweater tomorrow morning.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Sunday: A Day of Rest

Yesterday's parade, exploring Padre Island, dinner out and dancing for the evening took its toll on us. We're certainly not as young as we use to be.

Today was our day of rest. Following breakfast we attended a beautiful church service at The Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan.

This beautiful church and national shrine was built in 1980 to replace the original structure that was destroyed when a plane flew into it in 1970. The basilica holds over 1800 people. Rather than the typical organ and choral group the 10:30 mass had a 12 piece singing Mariachi band that was incredible.



Our rest for the remainder of the day was sunning ourselves by the pool soaking up the 81 degree sunshine, reading a novel and listening to jazz.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Charro Parade

Wow! Today was a busy day!

For the last week we have taken it pretty easy. Today thought, we decided to head for the Charro Parade in Brownsville. We heard you have to get there early to reserve a seat. We arrived about 9:30 for the 12pm parade. The parade route is lined with two rows of folding chairs that are sold by various charitable organizations for $3. We bought 2 chairs and they placed our names on them so we could return after wondering through the stores along the route.

The parade started promptly at noon and boy were we glad we had a reserved seat. The crowd quickly grew to 4 deep behind us. As you can see from the photo above many in the crowd dressed for the occasion.

Many of the horseman had their horses well trained to prance,walk side ways and even jump. Of course the music was great with several Mariachi bands playing from their floats.

No parade would be complete without a beer float and a couple of pretty dancing girls for all the young guys to cheer at. Miller, Tecate and Dos Quis all parcipated in this years parade.


Following the parade we decided to visit Padre Island. We plan on heading there with the RV around the middle of the month to enjoy the beach and surroundings.
While exploring we stopped at "Dirty Al's to celebrate our friend Al Reiff's birthday. We called him to ask if he wanted to join us. Unfortunately he couldn't join us on such late notice. Too bad, he would have enjoyed this place. I'm sure we'll stop back on our return visit to the island. Our friends Sheila and Bev had told us what a great place it was to have drinks and food.

As if the day wasn't full enough we decided to head to the dance at our RV resort. We arrived a little late, and the overflow crowd was already dancing to the tunes of "Jealous Heart". They are a local band that play a diverse mixtures of music from country to rock.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Tennis?

Last week Kathy bought some seeds and trays to get a head start on growing some flowers for our garden at home. This morning as she began planting the seeds, our new neighbor came over to talk with her. Peggy is a master gardener and new she would have a friend in Kathy. While they were talking her husband John stopped by to introduce himself. John and Peggy, like us retired 2 years ago. They have a Monaco motorhome that they bought new in 1998, so we had a lot to talk about. John worked for the Secret Service and the FBI and Peggy for a pharmaceutical company. We had so much to talk about that before we new it the morning was over. It's always fun meeting new people.

After lunch we decided to break out the tennis racquet's and see if we could still hit the ball around. I had a chance to play twice last year in Key West with Betty Gordon. Prior to that neither Kathy nor I had played in close to 20 years. It took a while but the game slowly came back to both of us. After about 90 minutes we were pretty tired so we decided to head for the recreation hall to listen to the jam session that was getting ready to start.

Each week interested musicians get together to play for 2 hours. The public is always invited and the turnout today was quite large, at least 50-60. The picture above only shows a handful of the musicians who participated but there were at least 20 people who joined in at one time or another. The music was as varied as it can get. Of course there was country as can be seen above, but there was also rock'n'roll, jazz and big band. Some of it was quite good and some needed help. There were even people from the audience who came up to sing.


Tomorrow we head into Brownsville to the Charro Festival. It's the biggest festival of the season.

Rio Grande Valley -08 - A Day In Progreso Mexico

Following a morning of working in the wood shop and Kathy at the Fitness Center we decided to head to the border town of Progreso Mexico.

Our campground is about 5 miles north of the Mexican border. It's not a very busy border crossing so it didn't take long. We parked our jeep next to the international bridge in a secure lot for $2. After paying a pedestrian bridge fee of $.25 we walked the 300 foot bridge across the Rio Grande that separates the U.S. from Mexico.
Kathy on the International Bridge overlooking the Rio Grande

There were no Mexican immigration officials checking our credentials. I guess they let anyone into the country, at least through this entry point. The first officials we saw were the military guards with AK-47's in their hands standing on top of a military vehicle overlooking the area.

There were a multitude of shops along the main street as well as street vendors walking with jewelry, toys, etc. The vendors weren't too pushy until you started to take an interest in an item. We bought a couple of items in the stores and from the street vendors. You hate to bargain too much, thought it's expected, because of the poverty here. We stopped for a couple of cervezas (beers) and a snack when we got tired of walking. The temperature was great, about 75, but the wind was pretty strong.

Crossing back in the U.S. took a bit longer. We paid the 300 pesos bridge fee, walked back across the bridge, and were met by 4 immigration officials who checked our passports and asked what we had to declare. When I was asked I said "My wife".

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Line Dancing

I told many of you that this was not going to be a trip like the others we have taken. On those trips we visited lots of places and pretty much stayed on the go visiting a new location every day or two. This trip is essentially a one location vacation in a warm climate. For the most part we are hanging around the resort and participating in the daily activities.

Today we enrolled in the "Line Dancing" class. Line dancing is very big here in South Texas. This is a photo of the beginners group, there are twice as many in the intermediate group, close to 100. Here again, as in the Spanish class, we are jumping in at about the mid-point of the lessons. The instructor was great. He saw that we were new to the group and paid a little of extra attention to us. We learned 3 new line dances. Two of them we picked up pretty fast, but one was very difficult. Kathy did better than me, I struggled a bit. There is a big line dancing party on March 19th we plan on attending.

Later in the afternoon, we moved our motorhome to a new site, in the same resort. The first site was only open for 5 days. The new site, which was not available when we arrived, is open for the remainder of the season. It didn't take long to make new friends of our neighbors. Bill, behind us was repairing his slide out awning and I offered to give him a hand. Of course it didn't take long for the other neighbor to come out and offer us a drink.

I like this place!!!

Rio Grande Valley - The Winds Blow In

Yesterday the valley saw record high temperatures. In Mercedes the temperature hit 94 degrees while McAllen and Mission hit 96. It really didn't seem that warm because there was a 10-15 mph wind almost all day.

What a difference a day makes. Today the temperature topped out at 72, but the 20-25 mph winds made it feel quite cool. We started the day by participating in a beginner Spanish class. Unfortunately the class was in its 6th week. It was still interesting, we learned to tell time in Spanish as well as a number of useful phrases.


This afternoon I worked in the woodshop on my table. I assembled the leg supports I made yesterday and glued the top together using a technique call biscuit joining. Now I have to let the glue harden overnight before I run it throught the 15in. planer. I'll try to remember to take some photos tomorrow.

Kathy spent almost 2 hours with her new fitness instructor, Bill, learning to use the fitness machines. Bill is from Philadelphia and is a licensed physical fitness trainer. Like Kathy, he has a bad back so they had a lot to talk about during her visit.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Woodworking Shop

I headed over to the woodworking shop this morning to see if it was a good as had been advertised in the resort brochure. Last fall I posted on RV.net my interest in finding a campground in the valley with a good woodworking shop. Unanimously the response was Llano Grande Resort. I have not been disappointed, this shop is awesome. The campground owner spent over $90,000 on the equipment that includes multiple wood lathes, 15in. planers, 24in drum sander, 8in. jointer, drill press, a large Delta table saw, spindle sanders, dovetail jigs, tons of clamps, etc., etc. And, many of the guys that use the shop are about as experienced as they come, their work is beautiful. Double click on the picture below.

While in Des Moines I drew up some plans for a compact folding coffee table to be used in the motorhome. It will be about 38in. long and 17in. wide. The ends will flip down and the end supports will fold under the center. When not in use it will fold down to 6in. by 17in. I imagine this is hard to picture so I'll take a couple photos as it begins to come together. I got started right away.

Kathy spent the morning visiting the different facilities here at the resort. She reports they have a wonderful fitness facility and she met a number of guests at the tennis courts who encouraged her join them in the future. By afternoon it was back to the pool to swim laps and take in the sun.

Rio Grande Valley - 08 - Sunday at the Flea Market

When we got up this morning the sky was a bit overcast, but the temperature was a pleasant 70 degrees. Following breakfast we attended mass at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Mercedes. It's a small Hispanic church probably 70-80 years old. There was a good number of winter Texans in attendance.

After mass we decided to take in the Hispanic flea market down the street. It was quite an event. There were probably well over 100 booths with lots of food, used everything from clothes to tools to video tapes and a great Mexican band with lots of dancing. Next we headed down to the "gringo" flea market. Here again there was lots of used everything and a lot of crafts etc. We did find a booth that makes awnings and carries parts for existing awnings. We discovered on our trip down that a something was broken on our slideout awning and the awning would not retract properly if pulled out. I'll check out ours tomorrow to see what is broken.


Kathy headed for the pool as usual when we returned. This new pool is one of four on the property. It was just completed last month. There are a number of cabanas for getting out of the sun when you start to burn. And, the restrooms are as nice as any I have seen, beautiful tiled floors, walls and classy fixtures.

Rio Grande Valley 08 - Mercedes Texas

We made the decision this morning to leave the Corpus Christi coastal area and head on down to Mercedes, our final destination. Kathy has picked up a cold along the way and the temperatures here on the coast are 10 degrees cooler than inland. She wants to bask in the 80 degree temperatures of the Rio Grande Valley. It's about a 150 mile drive to the south.






Along the way we stopped for lunch at, you guessed it "Whataburger". Kathy thought it would be funny to have my picture taken under their sign, since that what she says about me, Whataburger.


We arrived in Mercedes around 1:30 this afternoon. We were extremely pleased with our selection of LLano Grande RV Resort. This place is is absolutely incredible. The sites are huge compared to any other RV resort we have been to. There has to be close to 1000 sites here with 4 swimming pools, tennis courts, recreation hall that seats over 500, and a golf course to mention a few of the amenities. Oh, and I forgot to mention that they have a complete 3000sq ft. woodworking shop.

Kathy headed for the pool to lay out and soak up some rays shortly after we arrived. I spent some time getting everything shipshape. The incoming water valve seems to be allowing water to flow into the water tank even though it's set on city. I also wanted to get out the grill and lounge chairs and air up the tires on the bicycles.

For Randy's sake our location is N 26 07.926, W 097 56.672

Rio Grande Valley - Corpus Christi

This morning we headed for Corpus Christi. While inroute we called a number of campgrounds. We had several first choices but unfortunately they were all full. We ended up going to a county campground just accross the bay from Corpus. The facility itself is a not 5 star campground but its access to the beach is great. We are parked right next to the sand dunes with the beach 200 ft away.

The northern end of Padre Island is a lot differnt than I thought it would be. There is very little development on the majority of the island, its primarily sand dunes. The beach is accessable from a number of roads and you can pretty much drive a vehicle along its entire length. With a permit from the county you can pitch a tent or set up your camper for an overnight stay.

I think I cleared up the photo download problem. This evening I am going back to my previous posts and add the photos.

Rio Grande Valley 08 - Pleasanton

Here I am at the bull riding ring last night. I was all set to ride but the event was postponed.

Not much to report on for today. We got a late start out of Ft. Worth because I had trouble with the tow bar. It was sticking and would not lock into place. This meant that the jeep we are pulling was not properly attached to the rear motorhome hitch. Not a good thing. The tow bar picks up a lot of grime coming from the MH rear wheels.

The morning drive was pretty good but by afternoon we encountered a lot of traffic going into Austin and all the way to San Antonio. The good thing is the temps rose into the low 80"s. We decided to bypass San Antonio and head towards Corpus Christi. We'll spend a couple of days in San Antonio on our trip home in April.

We found our favorite camping spot, Walmart. This one is in Pleasanton, about 100 miles from Corpus Christi. Tomorrow we head towards the coast and find a real campground so we can spend a couple of days exploring the area.

Rio Grande Valley 08 - Ft. Worth

We arrived in Ft. Worth around 4pm. The temperature is 70 so we decided to make it our overnight stay to soak up the warmth. I also thought it would be fun to take Kathy to Billy Bobs. Billy Bobs Texas Roadhouse is billed as the worlds largest "honky tonk bar". It's at least 2 football fields in size. It has a dozen bars, a full bull riding arena, a couple of stores and restaurant. They have a band every night, country of course and host numerous big name concerts every weekend. Wednesday is ladies night so Kathy got in free. Why is it always the women that get in free?

Here is Kathy with her hands in Mickey Gilley's hand cast.

Tomorrow we head further south because the cold front, from Iowa, is going to reach this far south. I'll let you know where we stop. Maybe San Antinio, or Corpus Christi?

Rio Grande Valley 08 - A Day Late & $1,000 Short

Our original goal was to leave on Monday, but it is Tuesday evening and we finally made it out of Des Moines. The weather has been frigid for the last several days with temperatures in the single digits, last night it got down to 5 below zero. I spent the last three days trying to clear the snow and the ice from our driveway so we could get the RV up to the house, load it and be on our way. Unfortunately, late Saturday afternoon I discovered a jagged crack in the left front tire of the motorhome.



These tires will usually run about 100,000 miles before replacement is necessary. After talking with the tire experts, they said 6-7 years is the most you should expect from these tires because they sit unused for long periods of time. My are 6 years old so they need to be replaced. It took until late Monday morning to locate two suitable replacement tires ($1,000) and they were in Davenport, Iowa (approximately 200 miles from Des Moines).



In order to expedite their delivery, Kathy and I attempted to drive in our SUV to Davenport to pick up the new tires so that they could be installed first thing Tuesday morning. About 80 miles out of Des Moines, we stopped for lunch and heard that the interstate was closed to the east due to drifting and blowing snow across the roadway. So we turned back. We saw at least 100 cars and more than 10 semi trucks that had run off the road into the ditch. The next day, the delivery truck encountered the same poor conditions as we did, but made it to the shop by mid-afternoon. With the two new tires installed, we headed out of Des Moines at 4:00 in the afternoon, determined to drive at least as far as Wichita, Kansas (approximately 400 miles). Another severe cold front was dropping down from Canada into Iowa and northern Kansas by Wednesday, with snow possible. Our goal is to get south of Oklahoma City before the cold front drops that far south.

We made it to Wichita around 1030 this evening and plan to head out early in the morning towards Dallas, Texas.

Colorado - 07 - Home Sweet Home

It's nice to be back home again! We had a great time for 16 days traveling throughout Colorado. We have always enjoyed the mountains. When I graduated from college, Kathy and I took off for a weeks vacation in Colorado. We almost didn't come back. I wonder what our lives would have been like if we had stayed and raised our family in Colorado. To be honest, I don't believe it could be any better than this.

We didn't think about staying in Colorado at the end of this trip. We were anxious to return home to our family, our friends and our home. Kathy is looking forward to spending time in her garden, me in my wood shop, and both of us some time on our boat.

Our next trip? Maybe the Texas Rio Grand Valley late this winter.

Colorado -07 - Heading Home

We departed Laramie around 9am this morning. As you can probably tell from the photo we are parked at one of our more popular sites, Walmart. Most every city of any size has a Walmart where motorhomes are permitted to park for the evening. Tonight we are in Lincoln Nebraska, about 180 miles from Des Moines. Tomorrow we are going to Walnut, Iowa before we arrive home in the evening. Walnut is a great place to shop for antiques. The majority of the town is antique stores. We like to stop here whenever we pass by and have some extra time to spare.

Colorado - 07 - Tour through the Mountains

Thursday

Today we headed over the top of the Snowy Mountain Range to check out the areas where we have snowmobiled in past years. This first photo is Libby Flats, the highest pass over this range. It is pretty foggy today with intermittent rain. Snowmobilers know that going across this pass in the snow is always a challenge, especially when the snow is blowing and visibility is minimal.







The second photo is of a hill snowmobilers have called Fiberglass Hill. It is very steep and can be very tough to climb on a snowmobile. Many who have not made it to the top have seen their sled tumble and roll down the hill. Sometimes all that is left is a tangle mess of of fiberglass and aluminum. Others have been lucky and only lost a windshield.

Colorado - 07 - Snowy Mountain Range

Wednesday

Sorry for the delay in posting, we had no Internet service on Wednesday and Thursday.

We departed Steamboat on Wednesday morning. We headed north across the Continental Divide towards Wyoming. I always wanted to visit the Snowy Mountain Range where we have snowmobiled for the past 8 years. We always see the area with snow, so we were curious what it looked like during the summer. We recognized most of the areas but didn't realize how many lakes, ponds and streams are along the trail.

Here in the photo we are camped in the snowmobile parking lot in the little town of Albany. The town has a population of 15 and is at an elevation of about 9,000 feet. While there we checked out two new homes that are for rent to snowmobilers in the winter months.

Colorado -07- Steamboat Springs Garden Tour

We had a nice relaxing day. Kathy went on a guided tour at the Botanical Gardens that I mentioned in yesterdays post. The host and speaker for the day was Cynthia Brian. She is the author of the Chicken Soup books. Kathy purchased her book Chicken Soup for the Gardeners Soul. I drove around town and checked out the prices on some of the homes for sale.

In the afternoon we drove up the canyon towards Hahns Peak. A couple of years ago several of us went snowmobiling up in these mountains. It was interesting to see some of the fire roads that become snowmobile trails in the winter months.

Tomorrow we are heading north into Wyoming. We'll probably dry camp in Albany where we have often gone snowmobiling.