International Kite Festival

The weather was calling for a cold front which would come through the RGV sometime during the afternoon on Saturday, but that didn't stop the 10 of us from traveling to South Padre Island.  Saturday was the International Kite Festival being held on the beach on the inland water way of the island by the B&S Kite Shop.  This was the 12 annual festival and they did not disappoint us since there were beautiful and hugh kites flying in the wind that was blowing ahead of coming cold front.  Below are pictures of some of the kites.

Here are our friends who went with us.

Along with us there were thousands of people enjoying the beautiful day as well a lot more than last year.

I also met a good friend, John Howser, at the kite festival who had, just the day before arrived in the RGV for a couple of weeks.  John and his 1st Lady came down to enjoy everything that goes on in the RGV by all the Winter Texans.  They didn't come down last year and wasn't coming for the 3 months normally enjoyed by all of us Winter Texans but a short trip this year.   The reason Cindy & I are here in the Valley is because of all the stories John has written on his blog about the wonderful warm RGV since 2005 when they began coming down.   The first year they came down for just a couple of months then they traveled to Arizona for one month just to check things out, then they decided the RGV would be their winter home for the next few years.   John & I agreed we would get together sometime next week to go out and eat at one of the many places he had described with scrupulous detail. 

After leaving the festival the 10 of us went to Pelican Station again for a late lunch.  Some ate burgers and other fish dishes, but for me it's the wonderful Shrimp Platter with fries and a side of Cole Slaw.  Cindy had a Chicken Po Boy sandwich that she described as Chicken Tenders slapped between two pieces of bun.  She wasn't impressed to say the least.   

While we traveled back on the expressway it was like the sky opened up and dumped a ton of water which lasted for several miles.  We did safely arrived at the RV. 

Life is great 

Wow... busy few weeks

The last few weeks have been a whirl wind of activity.  Having two couples from back home in the same park has created a seasonal job for Cindy and I as tour guides.   Keep in mind most of the places we visited were somewhere to eat, since that's pretty much what we do here and why I can't seem to lose weight.   The tour started by taking Don & Mary to South Padre Island who wanted to see a RV park on the island to check it out and maybe  stay there next season.  After leaving the park comments were made that made me think they didn't like the place so scratch that one off the list.  I told Don the salt air from the Gulf would just cover the camper and truck and could cause it to rust.

Don and Mary Furrer 

On the beach at South Padre Island 

 A few days later the six of us from our park traveled to Brownsville to visit more of our friends, Jim and Linda Pike,  from back home.  After visiting for a while we headed for a late lunch at Pelican Station.  Pelican Station is owned by the same person who owns Dirty Al's on South Padre Island that has wonderful big shrimp which most of us ate.  The burgers eaten by those who don't like shrimp were big and we were told was really good.  

Pelicans Station - Port Isabel, Texas

Don and Mary Furrer,  Jim and Linda Pike 

Tom and Marie Salsbury and Cindy 

Cindy and I duh..

Tom and Marie Salsbury

After our lunch we went across the causeway over to the island and we went to the Sea Turtle Rescue facility.  They have a bunch of little turtles and other turtles that are injured and being nursed back to health so they can be released back into the Gulf. 

This guy was playing around by squirting water out his nose when he came up for air.

Another day we decided to go to the Don Wes Flea Market, but before we went we wanted to stop and eat lunch, a favorite of mine is Gonzales Burgers.  These burgers are huge and have about a pound of burger  and an over abundance of either fries or onion rings these should be shared.    The burger costs $5.95 and the fries $3.50 and drinks $1.00 so for about $10.00 you both of us can eat lunch.  Below is a picture I took with my camera phone.  Click on the picture and it will show you the larger version. 

About a week ago we made our trip to Mexico to buy Creme of Tequila and some medicine which is very cheap.  Cindy and Mary loved to shop in the two bigger stores instead of the street vendors.  Don & Marie bought a Turtle figurine to put in their landscape at home.   The six of us also ate lunch at the Red Snapper Restaurant on the outdoor balcony so we could watch the activity on the street while we waited for our food to be delivered.  

The picture below is looking down the street of Progreso.

There are a ton of Dentists & Pharmacies in town. 

Holy cow all this makes me tired just writing about what we have been doing.  We also have participated in some of the activities in the park like playing Mexican Train every Wednesday evening, Tom & I went on with the Bike club on Monday what they call biking for Breakfast.  Then Sunday of this last week we watch a couple of comedians Bernie and Red who came to our park to put on their show.  This couple travels from park to park putting on their act and the cost to us was only $6.00 per person which is really cheap entertainment. 

Weather when we arrived started out being a little cool and we had to run the furnace at night but the days got warm.  The last couple of week  the temps during the night have been in the 60's and days in the 80's, but this year it's really been more humid than last year. 

That's it for now, I will try to keep up with our activities. 

Life is great..

Happy New Year !!

We've been in the RGV a little over a week and I have been busy doing a lot of work.  Monday Cindy called Bill to set up the day he would come to our place to help with the belly pans and Wednesday was it.  So  thanks for the help of Tom, & Bill we were able to get the new underbelly pans put in place and I am sure it will not fall again.  We put three times the amount of screws used by the factory.  Also the insulation we put was R13 and I think the old insulation was R7.5 so that should keep us a little warmer.   After all this was done Tom, Marie, Cindy & I decided to go to the DonWes Flea Market to look around and to get a name sign made for Tom & Marie and their dogs Jake & Molly. It turned out really good.

Later in the day we went with Tom & Marie to play Mexican Train.  This is a fun game and it takes about 2 hours to complete all 12 games, I am assuming you know how to play since it would take some time to explain the process.

Thursday I helped Tom put the new decals on the front of his Montana 5th wheel.  Since Tom & Marie has been here Tom was busy pulling the old decals off since they had faded and started peeling off themselves.  He then use paint thinner to clean all the adhesive from the old decals then washed the front to accept the new ones.  When we were finished I decided it was time to wash our camper and truck to get all the road grime from our trip down in the rain.   What a job...  This took the rest of the day to get this done.

Friday Don & Mary Furrer, our neighbor from home, arrived at the park.  They called us when they were about 10 miles away from the park and we told them we would meet them at the park gate.  It took them about 30 minutes to drive that short distance, once they arrived we directed them to their site and helped them get set up and working.   I also helped Don get setup on the parks WIFI and helped with getting the TV setup for Mary, she is a big College football fan and she want to find ESPN on the cable system in the park.

Once they were all setup we went out for dinner and decided on Pizza, but the Pizza Hut close to us was so busy it was going to take 20 minutes to get a table and then 35 minutes to get a pizza.  I said there is a MacAlister's Deli in McAllen so we went there and had a sandwich and a side dish.  It was really pretty good for a quick late dinner.

Saturday the Mexican Train group held a New Years eve potluck beginning at 6:00pm and will last until all 12 games were completed which means we were back to the RV around 9:30pm.  We decided to go to this instead of attending the Dance & dinner in the activity center but the food out until 12:30am  I can't eat that late and it was going to cost $15.00 per person to attend.   On our walk back to the RV we could hear a BIG party being held at a place just a few blocks from our park, the music was so loud we could hear the DJ but couldn't understand him, they were speaking spanish.     Then at midnight, OMG, the fireworks began it woke me up and lasted quite a while, couldn't see the clock so does that tell you where we were at midnight(trying to sleep).

Today (Sunday) all six of us, Tom, Marie, Don, Mary, Cindy & Me went to Denny's for breakfast and while we were eating decided to go to the movie and see the Lady with the Dragon Tattoo.  This was a weird movie and hard to follow, I did understand it was a murder mystery.  Both Mary & Marie had read the book and they said the movie followed the book really close.  I would give this 3 boxes of popcorn out of a 5 box scale.   The rest of the evening was spent walking the dog, fixing and eating dinner then walking the dinner again and watching TV.

I want to hope you all a very Happy New Year from Cindy & I.

Merry Christmas!!

We made it to the RGV but not after some crazy stuff happening.  We left KC on Monday traveling south on I-35 by the time we reached Emporia it began to rain lightly.  After about 20 miles the sky opened up with rain, which had it been colder would be FEET of snow.  When we stop for fuel in Purcell Oklahoma a gentleman at the pump next to me asked if I knew I had some damage to the camper.  Needless to say I was not aware and when he showed me what he was talking about I saw the belly pans under the camper laying on the ground being drug along the highway.   We has stopped a couple hours earlier for lunch and had not seen any of this damage so we had to assume what had happen was all the water coming from the road and the side wind had caused the screws holding these pans up had broken through.    After me crawling under the camper in the water and unscrewing the remaining screws and putting the parts in the back of the truck and inside the camper we were on our way.

The rain followed us all the way to Waco Texas which was our over night stop.  We arrived very late at the RV park about 10:00 pm.   We witnessed several cars hydroplaning who were driving faster than they should in the rain and I felt at time the truck drifting around like our of control so I drover much slower than normal and this cause us getting to the park later than we should have.

Tuesday morning we were on our way after a quick breakfast at McDonald's around 7:30am.  The rest of the trip was uneventful but the sun was shining which allowed us to travel a normal speed of 60-65mph.   We arrived at our park around 4:30 and we checked in and backed into our site by 5:30.  We were greeted by Tom & Marie Salsbury, our good friends who we talked into coming down to the park and it was great seeing a familiar faces.

The park looks a little different since all the fruit trees had been trimmed over the summer and because of the draught this year not much fruit to be had.  That's OK since we can get some at the DonWes Flea Market.  The weather all this week had been wet and very cool, it has rained everyday  but one.  We haven't been in shorts yet so we are waiting for the warm to come back and after looking at the forecast next week by Wednesday it will be 80, we are so looking forward to all the warmer temps.

Today we will cook a brisket and share it with Tom & Marie for our Christmas Dinner.   Marie can't have Gluten in her diet so even though the park is having a dinner she doesn't know if there will be something she shouldn't eat  we decided to have our own dinner.   We are planning to eat around 4:30 and we will enjoy the company.

Cindy & I  want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas today.

 

Turkey is in the oven

Cindy & I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends.

As I write we have the turkey in the oven and all the kids and my mother are due over shortly.  Our meal will be served around 1:30pm.   After everyone is full of Turkey and Dressing we will have the grandkids overnight so the Mom's & Dad's can go to the early Black Friday sales that begin around 10:00pm for Walmart and Midnight for most other stores.  I think they are infringing on this wonderful holiday, but will that stop them form opening earlier earlier, no I don't think so.

Again  we hope you are with your family where ever you are and enjoying this wonderful holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Back home and being busy

We left Texas earlier than we planned because it was starting to get really hot and humid.  We left on 3/24 and traveled to I35 RV Park just outside of Waco.  We were up and out of there by 8:00am on Friday 3/25 and arrived home by 5:00pm.  This part of the trip took longer because I followed the GPS which wanted to take us through Dallas and since we've never been through Dallas we thought what the heck.  Well needless to say what a major mistake.  The traffic was horrible and I had playing in my head something a friend told me about Dallas is be careful or you will end up in Dallas Fort Worth Airport if you make the wrong turn.   When I saw the sign that was pointing to DFW (Dallas/Forth Worth Airport) I went the opposite direction and that is where we went wrong.  The GPS is screaming RECALCULATING and our only out was to follow highway 75 out of Dallas and all the way home.  The reason being if I would've taken the other turn I would be on I-35 E and then all the way home through Oklahoma City.   Highway 75 went all the way through Oklahoma into Kansas around Coffeville, Kansas then we picked up 169 which then took us home but not after many many slow downs in small towns and two lane roads traveling behind trucks and no place to pass with a our trailer following behind us.

We got home safely and we parked the trailer in front of the house and unloaded 3 months of crap that we took and didn't use or we purchased while we were in Texas.  After unloading we couldn't take the trailer to the storage place since I gave it up when we left and our lease on another spot doesn't start until 4/1 we had no place to take the trailer, which is ok with me since we are to travel to St. Louis for a Wedding of a friends son and we would spend the weekend at a KOA there.  

Well guess what happen on Saturday after we returned..... YEP it SNOWED and got really cold.  Wouldn't you know it; is't 90 degrees in Mission where we came from and it's 32 here at home.  Gee's what were we thinking.   Cindy said Get over it we made the decision to come home and to keep from running up the electric bill by running both air conditioners to keep cool.  

Since we have been home here is a run down of what's been going on.
  We decided to not to take the camper to St. Louis after all since it would be cold and rainy that weekend so we contacted our storage place to see if we could get our lease started sooner.   We found out our old spot was still available so we took the trailer down and parked it then signed a new lease effective 3/28, needless to say we had to pay a few dollars for the days of the end of the month.

Friday 3/31 we went to St. Louis and stayed in the Pear Tree Inn for our friends sons wedding on Saturday.  Jim & Linda came down on Saturday and stayed in the same place we did.  The wedding was on Saturday night and was really good ceremony   The wedding was held at Third Degree Glass Factory.   Mark (the groom) teaches glass blowing here and since the factory even hosts weddings it was perfect place. After the wedding ceremony everyone went into the gallery for drinks and was able to view some of the glass works and glass pieces that are for sale while the caterers converted the area for a sit down dinner and dancing.  We had a good time it was an awesome evening.

I think I posted about this a friend, Jack,  had passed away in Florida over the winter.  His wife, Vivian, and her kids decided to hold a small memorial in Florida for his friends there then to have him Cremated and sent back to Kansas City so another memorial could be held for his friends at home.  Vivian wanted this memorial to be held after everyone got home from their winter travels.   This memorial was held on April 4th.   When Vivian and her kids came back from Florida they didn't bring the camper back with them, so her Bother in Law (Bill)  and I left on Wednesday 4/6 and traveled back to Florida to pick up the camper and bring it home so Vivian could get it cleaned up to sell.   Bill & I got back home after a very long drive on Sunday 4/9.

The last couple of weeks Cindy and I have been working around the yard cleaning out flower beds, digging up dead plants and replanting new ones then putting mulch down.  This was only done in the front yard so the back yard still has to be done.  Cindy received an early birthday present she really wanted to have a water fountain in the front yard so I sprung to buy one she had found.

Today since it isn't going to rain I believe Bill and I will go over to Vivian's house to wash the outside of her camper and to clean all the bugs from the front so she can get it up to sell.  She has spent the last couple of weeks just getting all the stuff out from the front, basement and inside the camper that her and Jack had stored in these places.    It's cool this morning but the forecast is to be close to 60 this afternoon so I would like to get it done and off my plate.

Sorry it took so long for me to update my blog since we left our winter home in Texas.  We did put a deposit down to go to the same resort next winter so we will see if we go back for a 3rd year...

Life is Good..  So is retirement...

Day 66 - 72 Oops catch up.

Monday - Sunday:

Sorry I haven't kept up with my posting.  Not much going on here the weather has just been beautiful low in the 50's and highs in the mid 80's.

There are so many people who are heading back north this last week the activities are really slowing down.  It was announced during the Wednesday park meeting the last entertainer would be later that  night and the last dance of the season would be held on Friday.   Also the last craft show will be on Saturday.

We did attend the last entertainer Wednesday who was Joyce Lee she was a Ventriloquist.  She was ok nothing to write home about.

Thursday we went to Camping World to pick up some rubber roof cleaner and a scrubbing brush.  Neighbors have been cleaning their RV roofs and they have been so dirty and know ours would be a mess as well.  When I claimed up on the roof it was just covered with all sorts of dust and dirt.  As I scrubbed the roof the Cindy told me it was black water was coming off the roof.  When I was finished the roof was looking great it was white again, but now the sides of the RV was dirty and streaked with the crap come off the roof.  Cindy and I took some water and rags and wiped down the entire camper then Cindy cleaned all the windows.  It's looking good again.

We didn't go to the last dance since it was going to be a Swing Dance we hardly dance at a regular dance.

Friday night we went out to dinner with Harold and Jean to Logans Roadhouse.  We've never been there and it was really good.  Cindy had a Filet and I had grilled tilapia.  After dinner we went back and we were invited over to Harold & Jeans to play Rummikub.   We played until 10:30 when we headed back to our RV and then headed to bed.

We have friends who will be arriving on Monday, they are coming from Phoenix and want to look around at the RGV to find a park for next year.  Needless to say  Cindy want to do some straightening up and wanted to get the laundry done so we didn't have to face that on Monday.   She also wants to clean and vacuum then give the dog a bath before they show up.  Gee's what is it about when company is coming women think they need to have things just in tip top shape.  What about any other time?

Saturday I wanted to go find a couple pair of Columbia shorts so Cindy thought Kohls would have just what I wanted.  Well Nope no Columbia.  So we head to the Academy store, local sports store.  I did find just what I was looking for.  Then we headed to Hobby Lobby don't know why other than Cindy wanted to see if there was something she doesn't need. I am not sure what exactly she bought. After Hobby Lobby we went to Harbor Freight for me to look around.  I picked up a new tool box, some hex wrenches and a new tape measure for the camper.  The tool box I carry now is broke and too small for what tools I am carrying in the camper.

After all of our running around I grilled a steak for me and a Chicken breast for Cindy.  She didn't want steak again since she had one last night.  Then we just chilled the rest of the evening.

Sunday we did our laundry and when that was done and put away we went to the grocery store to stock up for our friends arrival since we will be fixing them dinner Monday night.   Then for dinner I made a taco salad which we haven't had since we've been here.   I think it was the Mexican dinner we had been looking for right in our own RV.

The rest of the evening was just sitting out side then TV the rest of the evening.

Life is Good.. !!