AROUND THE VALLEY

Sunday, January 13 – On Wednesday, we met up with the Carriage Owner's Club, RVers that own Carriage 5^th Wheels, in Pharr for a luncheon. This was our first time attending an owner's group get together. There were 45 of us.

We met many new RVers and as luck would have it, ended up sitting next to a couple, Dutch and Di, that Paul has been exchanging emails with since we purchased our Carriage Cameo. Another example of “It's a small world.”

We enjoyed the lunch, sharing war stories with fellow Carriage owners, and talking over things we've done to our 5^th wheel.

On Friday, we finally got another beautiful day here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Paul used the opportunity to wash the 5^th wheel. He started by scrubbing the roof with Murphy's Oil Soap. This really does a great job on the fiberglass roof.

After finishing the roof and having all that dirt run down over the sides of the RV, it kind of forced Paul to keep going and do the entire vehicle. So he got out his folding ladder and scrubbed his way around the RV.

This is really the first chance he has had to give the entire 5^th wheel a good washing. With all the rain and cold weather we've experienced, it's tough to get motivated to spend one of the few nice days scrubbing the RV.

Once he finished with the washing, he spent some time tightening screws, checking areas that need caulking, and attending to a couple areas that needed extra scrubbing. The previous owner must have gotten into some pine sap somewhere and that wasn't easy to get off.

On Saturday, another nice day broke over the RGV, we decided to head over to the Don Wes Flea Market. This is one of the largest markets in the Valley. There are several smaller markets – called Pulgas by the local Hispanics – one just across Highway 83 from our RV park. We'll be attending that Pulga another time.

Don Wes has 100's of stalls. Some are inside a large building and some in smaller stalls arranged in rows outside. There is even a second building out the back and across the railroad tracks. In this second building, is a farmer's market loaded with locally grown produce.

The flowers make it feel much warmer than it really was.

Of course there's entertainment too! The Hispanic people know how to have a good time. There is usually a Mariachi band playing at any gathering.

Overall, we were disappointed with this flea market. We spent several hours strolling through the many booths and enjoying some people watching, but it just didn't seem to be what we were hoping for or as good as other markets we've experienced in the past. Of course there are tool booths with tons of cheap tools for sale, produce by the tons, food stands, jewelry, t-shirts and other Texas shirts, cowboy boots & shirts, and a few unique locally produced crafts all for sale at prices that aren't easy to ignore (at least they hope that's the case). But we left disappointed in the whole experience.

For all those cooks out there….what the heck is this and how do you use it?

We are never just sitting here in Mission. Everyday we are doing something. We want to leave you today with a few Bella photos.

Each morning we find Bella reading her favorite blogs. This morning we caught her using Marsha's computer to read Just Wanderin. She enjoys knowing what everyone is doing out there.

With the sun at a premium here so far this winter, Bella will sleep where ever she can find the sun. This is a new one on us.

On really cold days, you can find her warming up by laying on one of our computers. If we ask her to move so we can use the computer, she gives us that "I don't think so." look.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!