CREATING MEMORIES WITH FRIENDS!

Thursday, February 1  - We headed West this morning with a convoy of friends. Ten of us headed to the western reaches of the Rio Grande Valley. First stop Falcon Dam and Power Plant. Falcon Dam is the major multipurpose international dam. The function is to control and regulate the flow of international waters and to provide a means of contributing to the mutual welfare of Mexico and the United States, in compliance with various existing treaties. (Not our words but the International Water Boundary Commission's.) Additional purposes of the dam are flood control, conservation, and hydroelectric power.

This is one of three dams on the Rio Grande River.

We saw several vehicles driving to Mexico and back to the U.S. We were told not to go into this part of Mexico. As the story goes, the drug cartels own it all. Don't have to tell us twice.

Were the Mexican flag flies is the center of the dam and the international boundary. We have no idea where the U.S. flag is.

Here are some statistic about the dam.

Length:

• U.S. - 10,133 feet
• Mexico - 16,161 feet
• Total - 26,294 feet
• Height - 150 feet above river bed.
• Crest elevation - 323.0 feet above mean sea level.
• Maximum width at base – 1,000 feet
• Width at top – 35 feet

Flood gates…looking towards the U.S.

One of the flood gate doors.

Storage capacity-1972 survey

• Superstorage - 801,000 acre feet
• Flood Control - 509,000 acre feet
• Conservation & Silt - 2,668,000 acre feet
• Total - 3,978,000 acre feet – WOW

One of the power plants.

The damn created a huge lake near Roma, TX, covering nearly 100,000 acres. Of course with the recent drought in Texas, the water level is down.

Spillway to River.

You can see from the photo below how low the Rio Grande River is in this area.

Here is a very interesting story about the dam.

• In June 2010, U.S. authorities revealed that the Los Zetas drug cartel had planned to destroy the Falcon Dam in order to terrorize the rival Gulf Cartel which smuggles drugs in the area. Small amounts of dynamite discovered near the dam and a copy of a warning helped alert authorities. A larger U.S. and Mexican security presence in the area may have thwarted the attack that Los Zetas had reportedly warned civilians about on the Mexican-side of the border. (Houston Chronicle)

In July, 2010, the damn release water because heavy rains attributed to Hurricane Alex.Tremendous damage was suffered down-river. If you're familiar with the National Birding Centers in South Texas, it was this event that caused significant damage to these parks. 

The wind was blowing like crazy! Gusts of nearly 60 mph and strong sustained winds. It created a cold environment and making walking on the dam very difficult. Brrrrrrrr!

If visiting the dam, you need your passport. You pass through U.S. Customs when you walk back to the U.S.side of the dam.

Part II of Making Memories to come tomorrow.

We leave you with the craziest saying we have ever seen on a trash receptacle. We like the message.

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

HELLO TO A FELLOW BLOGGER

Wednesday, January 30 – Monday was Casino Night at Leisure Valley Ranch. Of course, Marsha was corralled to work with her friend, Angie. They are selling tickets for prize drawings spread-out during the evening.

There were about 100+ who showed up for the event. This is the first year for Casino night. There was Blackjack, Roulette, horseracing, dices games, putting game, etc. Something for everyone.

 

But working didn't stop Marsha from joining Paul in a little Blackjack. We were using play money ($10 for $1500 in play money) so betting $20, $40 or even $100 was fun and not a budget buster.

Paul counting up his cards.

At the end of the evening, we finished with about $4000 which we used to win a bid on a life-time cup of coffee and a $10 gift card at Texas grocery store HEB. It was a fun evening and a good time with friends.

On Wednesday, we met up with fellow blogger, John a.k.a. Shoeless Joe, at the Egg & I for lunch. We've traded blog comments with John for some time now, and it was good to be able to put a face with a name. We really enjoy John's comments on our blog because of his wit and good sense of humor.

Meeting John was a great. We enjoyed lunch and a long talk. John enjoys the “Good Life” here in South Texas and shared with us some of the many experiences he's had in his life. It was a fun time and one we will remember.

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

A CLOSE CALL

Wednesday, January 30 – We planned on meeting full-timer RV friends, Jan and Dave, on Monday for lunch. We haven't met up with these two for a couple of years.

Our intended meeting spot was the Egg & I restaurant in Mission. Well, we never made it! As we were driving along Expressway 83, something blew-out our driver-side door window.

We heard a very loud explosion, and the next thing we knew there was a hole in the safety glass side window. We had pretty many “safety glass pebbles” scattered over us and on the inside of the truck.

After determining we were both okay, Paul pulled off the highway into a nearby parking lot. Not knowing what hit us (was it a stone or a shot from a gun???),  we decided it best to call the police and file a report.The police arrived within ten minutes and took the report.

Paul removed as much glass as he could at the side of the road, and we drove to a car wash to use the vacuum to cleanup the mess.

We called our insurance company, and they arranged to have the glass replaced immediately. We had an appointment at Safelite Auto Glass and had the window replaced within three hours of the incident. Pretty good service. The best news was that we have zero deductible on glass. The window is like new. It didn't cost us anything but a few gray hairs and a couple hours of our time. The worst part is we missed lunch with our friends.

When we got home, we actually found glass back in the truck bed. That was one big explosion.

Who knows what hit us.....it was most likely a stone thrown up by a truck....but, if Paul made someone angry out there, forgive him and holster the gun....PLEASE! LOL

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