BACK IN HOUSTON

Sunday, January 31 – With the sun rising over the south Texas ranchlands, we pulled out of Leisure Valley Ranch and headed north towards Houston.

It's a pretty long drive to Houston, but it's an easy drive. We only pass through a couple small south Texas towns on US-77. Most of the trip is out in the Texas brushlands. At Victoria, TX, we connect to I-69 (TX-59).  From there it's just a hop, skip and a jump to our destination at the Houston Elks Lodge Campground.

We are again in Site #1 our favorite site. Being on the end gives Bella a little extra room to explore, and we get a little more privacy. The sites are concrete wide enough to have a concrete patio area. There is a small grass strip between the sites, but it would be nice to have a little more spacing. There is also a grass strip behind the RV's but very few people find a use for that area. Parking is on the gravel drive in front of your RV. Paul usually parks over in the Lodge parking lot so we don't feel so closed in.

We had a great time with friends in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) but were very busy with dentist appointments and other “social activities.” The weather was very good with only one rainy day and two windy days. That's pretty good for winter/January in the Rio Grande Valley.

Paul really likes the way one of the barbers in Progresso, MX, cuts his hair. $5.00.

Here are a few photos of how Bella spent her month in Mission. We learned not to leave our seats.

Paul puts a bucket out to catch the water from the air conditioner. Bella loves the taste of cold water.

We aren't sure what are plans are for the rest of the winter. We keep saying we better think about future plans. One of these days we'll give it the attention it needs. Most likely we'll head toward Ohio sometime near the beginning of April. From there....who knows!

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

ENJOYING OUR STAY IN MISSION, TEXAS

Saturday, January 23 – This past Wednesday, we had lunch with our dear friend, John. You may not recognize the name John, but we bet you may know him better as former blogger, “Shoeless Joe.” For the last several years, we’ve arranged to have lunch with him at the Riverside Club. It’s become an annual event for us. The Club has two buildings and music just about every day. We were in the large hall. And when we say large…it is a huge barn.

Largest fan we have ever seen. Of course, everything is bigger in Texas.

The band was very good, and the place was packed.

The boys love the HUGE pork tenderloin sandwhiches that they serve. We had the privilege of meeting John’s brother-in-law and wife. What a very nice couple. We asked Angie/Rick and Jan/Barry to join us. Another great time spent with very good friends.

Yep, that is John, third one in.

On Thursday morning, we returned to the dentist in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico. It's about a forty minute drive from our RV site at Leisure Valley Ranch in Mission, Texas. We are having old crowns replaced that needed attention. Marsha had two replaced, and Paul had four. Guess we're doing something right because we're out living our dental crowns...LOL.

We had the initial prep work done at Dr. De La Rosa Saenz's clinic last week. The dentist removed the old crowns and prepared the teeth for a new crown. A temporary crown was installed while the new crowns were prepared. We returned today to have the permanent crowns installed. Paul needs an extra visit because the two pair of crowns he is having replaced are above and below each other so, one pair needs to be done first allowing for a proper fit of the second pair.

Notice all the platic covering knobs, etc. Does your dentist have this much cleaniness?

We also received cleanings while we were in the dental chair. For those who like to compare dental costs, we received 6 crowns and 2 cleanings for about $1200. We've been visiting Dr. De La Rosa for several years and consider his work as good, if not superior, to the work we receive back in Ohio at a fraction of the cost. Interestingly, Dr. De La Rosa was educated in the USA and actually lives in Mission, TX. He speaks very good English, but his 3 dental assistants speak only limited English. That eliminates the need to carry on a conversation with the assistants as they clean our teeth, etc.....LOL

Dr. De La Rosa Sanez, Paul and one of the three dental assistants.

We have one more visit to the dentist next week to finish Paul's crowns. Paul is eager to get a haircut, $5, at his favorite barbershop. We also hope to do a little shopping and maybe enjoy a margarita…or two.

The weather has been very nice in South Texas. Temperatures have been in the mid-70's during the day and dip into the 50's at night. We've only had one day of “Texas breeze” - strong enough to blow over our satellite dish. Locals call it a breeze, but we consider it a windy day.

Marsha wanted to share what she made everyone for Christmas. She has made a homemade gift for family and friends each of the last many years. She said this year was the most fun. She was cracking herself up while she made this year’s gift….snowmen. She actually made so many, it looked like a little snowman village.

Her first one lead to a village of snowmen.

Part of the village.

Mr. and Mrs. Weaver.

She also found time to make our daughter, Carrie, a special basket. She always does something new with each basket. She said this was the first time she tried doing the diamond stitch. She posted it on her Pine Needle Basket Facebook group, and it seems that the FB group really like her basket.

We only have one more week here in the Valley, and it is back to Houston. Paul has his knee surgery pretesting scheduled for February 3.

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

BENTSEN-RIO GRANDE SP AND BIRDING CENTER

Monday, January 18 – We spent the morning at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park and World Birding Center. The 760-acre Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, together with over 1,700 acres of adjoining U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge tracts, is a  treasure trove of "Valley specialties," tropical birds found nowhere else in the United States.

Admission is $5 per person but Paul, being an old fart, has the Texas Parklands Passport for Seniors which provides a 50% discount on the entrance fee for him. Interesting the way they “round off to the nearest dollar,” so his discount is only $2 instead of $2.50. Those Texas State Legislators know how to squeeze every penny out of us since there is no state income tax in Texas.

Great Kiskadee

Northern Mockingbird

We began our hike at the bird feeders near the entrance. The Rio Grande Valley hosts one of the most spectacular convergences of birds on earth. Almost 500 species have been documented in this unique place. There were numerous chachalaca, green-jays, cardinals, and many smaller birds feeding at this station. We enjoyed watching these birds for quite awhile before heading down to Resca Vieja Trail.

Red-Winged Blackbird…we think.

The famous Green Jay.

The entertaining Plain Chachalaca.

We think we may have been interupting something private.

The Resca Vieja Trail is a short 1.5 mile hike through the mesquite trees to a small nature observation area. There wasn't any wildlife in this area, but it was an enjoyable hike regardless.

Our next stop was Kingfisher Overlook along the La Parida Banco (a river). This is an area one might see birds that prefer aquatic areas. Unfortunately, again there were no birds enjoying the water. There were cardinals and green-jays at a nearby feeder.

We continued our hike to the Green-jay bird blind. This was a very enjoyable stop with many birds and even a raccoon robbing the bird feeders. It's nice to relax in the blind and watch the birds through the small windows of the blind.

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Never saw this guy at the Birding Center before.

There is a shuttle available, and we considered hopping aboard for a ride to the hawk tower observation deck but when the trolley passed it was full. We hiked out to the tower on our previous visits to the Birding Center, but Paul has been bothered by a soar knee, so we decided to call it a day and hiked back to the entrance. He has meniscus surgery already scheduled when we return to Houston.

 

Due to the high winds and the flood of 2010, many of the trees having amazing shapes.

It was an enjoyable morning at the World Birding Center. We hiked a little over 4.5 miles and saw quite a few birds and some other wildlife.

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

VISITING MISSION, TEXAS, FOR JANUARY

Monday, January 4 - We pulled up stakes and headed South out of Houston, TX, this morning. Nice to be heading in the opposite direction of all the commuters going to work in Houston. We have a long day ahead of us, but it's pretty easy going. We should be at Leisure Valley Ranch in Mission, Texas, by early afternoon.

We arrived as planned after an uneventful trip. We are parked at friends, Amy and Steve's, place. They have an RV lot with a cassita that we have used several years. This past summer, they built a beautiful new house next door with a nice RV pad. They plan of eventually selling the place we are currently using.

Looking left.
 

Looking right.
 

We are here to visit friends and enjoy Mexico. We didn't waste any time with that agenda. Angie and Rick had a social at their house a couple of hours after our arrival. It was a nice welcome and a chance to renew some old friendships.

Wednesday, January 6 – We are off to Noevo Progresso, Mexico, this morning with friends, Angie and Rick. We've made this trip many times and always enjoy our day in Progresso. We park at one of the lots on the USA side of the border ($2 for all day) and walk across the bridge into Mexico. We do pass through a pay turnstile ($.50) upon entering Mexico, but we do not need to show a passport or go through customs. Only on the return to the USA.

Rio Grande River dividing the US from Mexico.
 

Upon entering Progresso, we needed to quickly become accustomed to the numerous fellas trying to hook us up with a dentist, pharmacy, or sell us some trinkets of pirated movie CD's. A simple nod of the head, a smile, or simple “no” and they quickly move on to the next “gringo.” If you have never visited Mexico, you will get use to it rather quickly!

The lifestyle is noticeably different in this small Mexican town, that's for sure. We should mention that at no time do we feel uncomfortable or threatened. The people of Progresso are very friendly to Americans. They want you and your money to visit often. They want you to feel welcome and go out of their way to assure you have a safe and enjoyable visit.

We often come here for inexpensive dentistry but not today. As a matter of fact, we have an appointment next week at the dentist we normally visit for a cleaning and a check-up. Today is a fun visit and a day to do some shopping. Marsha has vanilla to buy for friends, some medication to price, and is looking for some Tekali Tequila she was introduced to in Arizona last winter. She had no luck finding the Tequila, but she did find a place where she could purchase a new body.

The vanilla is available in almost every store here. It it twice as strong as that sold in the USA. Marsha and her friends love it for baking. Prescription medication is very inexpensive here also and can be purchased over the counter without a prescription. The tequilla – well of course that is the “national drink of Mexico.”

We stopped at our favorite restaurant, Arturo's, for lunch. This is a very nice restaurant with very good food and reasonable prices. We paid $6.95 for our lunches, and all Margaritas are two for the price of one.

Marsha needed a new prescription for her contacts. We go to Frank Bautista at Medical, Dental y Optica Center. Paul got his eyes examined last year. He will tell you that it is the best pair of glasses he has had in a very long time. Marsha’s exam is $20. Each box of contacts is $25. She pays $45 in the US.

We enjoyed the afternoon visiting the 100's of small shops looking at pottery, sombreros, silver dishes, and what-not. The following are just a few “special” gifts that we could buy but didn’t.

On the way back towards the border, we stopped at Jessica's, our usual pharmacy store to get our medicines. After our purchase at Jessica's, we are invited next door to their cantina for a free Margarita and to enjoy the music. That's right. A free Margarita with every purchase. I told you life here is a little different.

Paul, Rick, Agie and Arturo, the owner of Jessica’s.

We then headed back across the bridge toward good old USA. Again we pass through a pay turnstile ($.25 on this side of the bridge.) and enter US Customs. We showed our passport and answered a couple questions concerning our visit and any purchases we made. If we bought alcohol or cigarettes, we would have to pay taxes before entering the country.

We returned to our car and headed down the highway for the 30 minute drive back to our RV park in Mission, Texas. It was a fun day and we'll be going back next week for the dentist and to visit Paul's favorite barbershop for a haircut. Come back and travel along with us!

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