FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

Monday was a sunny day with a low of 18C and a high of 31 with no breeze.

We started the day off by going out for breakfast in the near by town of Weslaco with a group of neighbours. It was busy spot and we were encouraged to try the pecan pancakes made with chips of the locally grown pecans. Cathy went with the #2 and I had the #6 breakfast.

After breakfast Cathy and I rode over to the "Dickies" store, it was located in more of a warehouse and was huge, selling work clothes, school and nursing uniforms. We picked up a pair of shorts for me.

Cathy was able to get us tickets for this Saturday's dance with a rock and roll band, "The Cruisers" which are quite good they say and tickets for the New Year's Dance where we have been invited to join the neighbours who are going to be here. There are a few people leaving this week to go back home to their families for the holidays.

The park provides modems to use for a $5.00 deposit and they came and installed ours today. They provided the cable to connect into the coach and splitter for no charge which they say we can keep.

In the afternoon we saw a local maintenance man trimming the trees in the neighbourhood, the property owners can also hire him. It takes him about 2 hours to do a tree at a cost of about $20.00 a tree. He mentioned ants and cockroaches can climb up into the trucks and make nests.

Last night we went to "The Festival of Lights" in Hidalgo with Rick and Connie from Wiarton Ontario. This is about a 40 minute drive south west of Mercedes and is close to the Mexican border. This festival is put on by the town in the area around City Hall and the area around it including the parks and near by houses.  This is all sponsored by local businesses and most of the people working are volunteers with all monies raised going to the local charities. They have trolley, train and horse drawn buggy rides which take you around the area with a narrator. There are have a few rides for the kids as well. They start installing the lights the beginning of October.

Hope to post again this evening.

ONE HOT DAY!

Last night it dropped to just 19C for a low and today it was 31C with no breeze at all making it even hotter. We noticed it is usually windy here in Texas which we find out is a good thing, since it keeps the bugs down.

 For breakfast I bbq'ed bacon and eggs so not to heat up the coach. We sat out in the shade for the rest of the am. and just took it easy. I talked to a neighbour who just connected a water softener on his coach which simply has two wires that are wrapped around the intake water line and plugged into a 110 outlet on the coach. There is no salt required, it just creates an electrical charge that ties up the calcium and magnesium and causes it to be flushed out with the water. It keeps the pipes, water heater, ice maker, etc. cleaner and makes the water softer. He is the third fellow on the street who has bought one of these units. So Cathy and I are planning on buying one as well. This would eliminate the drinking of salt with the water which is a good thing.


In the pm. we hit the pool again and made it back in time for the neighbourhood happy hour. I am thinking I may have to go into detox when we return to Canada.


Til tomorrow.....  

SATURDAY'S BLOG ON SUNDAY

It was hot yesterday with a high of 31C and the low Friday night was 19C.

In the am. we had to p/u our tire covers at the flea market and Cathy had her hair cut at Wal-mart. In the pm. we headed for the pool, staying cool there and returning in time for happy hour with the neighbours.

                                              Custom made tire covers - a great fit.

                                                              More flea market pics.

 After dinner we attended the Saturday night dance with a country/western band. You bring your own booze and can buy the pop there. They provide ice and popcorn. Everyone there had obviously taken dance lessons at the resort so Cathy and I did our own thing. The dance runs from 7-10.


All for now, going to cook breakfast on the BBQ.

THIS AND THAT!

There was a low of 11C last night and a high of 26C today with it still being cloudy.

We did a variety of things today. Cathy was off to an exercise class first thing this morning while I worked on some things on the coach. I helped a neighbour move sofa bed from his home unit so he could trade it in for a matching recliner to the one they all ready had.

After lunch we went for a motorcycle ride and saw some countryside. We ended up a Walmart, bought a couple of things and while we were in the meat section Cathy noticed these nice hams. I flipped one around and said they were not hams but a complete pork head. Sorry, no picture. We thought it was pretty cheap at 98 cents a lb. I was thinking it would be a good meal to have the next time we have the whole family over for dinner. It would definetly be a change from turkey!

After dinner we were invited to go on a park tour to check out the park  Christmas lights. Some of the displays were quite good. In some areas the whole street did the same theme for their showings.

                                                         Street with cactus theme

 
                                             
                                                                  Tractor theme

                                                                   Sleigh theme

Till tomorrow.

CHECKING OUT THE PARK AREA

It was a little warmer last night with it reaching 11C. Today was cloudy with a high of 21 and a slight risk of rain, but it didn't happen.

We sat out in the am. and went for a bicycle ride to p/u some more drinking water. This is giving us some exercise and gets us out to talk to other people. We continue to run into other people from Ontario. Today it was a fellow who drove a bus for the City of Mississauga and now spends the winters here doing work-camping. Meaning if they work 3 days a week they get their camp site free.

This afternoon we did another bicycle ride to explore the campground area some more. We found a small pond in the first area of the campground to be developed that added a little more scenery for the area.

                                                                  Lake inside park.

                                                   

There is also a longer lake called Llano Grande Lake running along the one side of the campground with a levy/berm. We were able to ride along the top of the levy and look down at some of the adjacent sites and the lake. We heard some loud banging going on and discovered it was a guy on the other side of the lake shooting his guns. It sounded like shotguns and he later switched to a pistol. A few feet away from him were a couple fishing in the lake with no concerns it seemed.

                                                 Lake Llano with levy we were riding on.

                                                          Cactus display on front yard.

                                   They also have a dog washing station beside the dog walk area.

On our journey we also found a orange tree on a camp site and picked a couple which will be used for tomorrows juice.   

This evening we hosted the happy hour and had 14 people over with their lawn chairs and drinks to socialise. They are a great bunch.

CHECKING OUT THE FLEA MARKET

It was cool last night reaching 6 C. Today's weather was sunny with a high of 22C. It is gradually getting warmer each day.

This morning we cleaned the motorcycle as it still had sand on it from the Corpus Christi area - the sand is so fine it sticks to everything.

In the afternoon we decided to check out the area flea market, about 15 minutes away and occurs on Wednesdays and the weekends. It is your typical market with a lot of junk but is very popular. They have a few vendors there with fruits and vegetables, tools (new and used) trinkets, RV supplies, etc. We ended up ordering a set of tire shades for our coach to protect them from sun and UV damage. These guys are Mexican and they make there own products which are heavier and cheaper than the ones we would buy. They will have them ready on Saturday.

We have been told in Jan/Feb you can barely get down these aisles due to the number of people attending the Flea Market. 

                                                                       A Texas t-shirt.

 

There is an orange grove just outside our Park's entrance and they look like they are ready for harvesting.                

We have noticed these large smoke clouds and have found out they burn the sugar cane fields after they are harvested to burn the leaves that are discarded from the harvester. It creates an ash that will drop to the ground and they call this Black Snow. If you have clothes out to dry and it gets on them you have to rewash them.

                                               This is a shot of the Resort Golf Course.

The Park Manager is having a small multipurpose shed on their site build. It will have a 3 piece bathroom, washer/dryer and can be used as an spare bedroom when people stay over for a visit. A lot of people do this here once they buy their site.


Til tomorrow...

CHECKING THE AREA OUT

Last night was cool with a low of 11, it reached about 24 as a high and remained cloudy today. Sorry, I keep bouncing back and forth from farenheit and celsius.  It depends if I go by the TV temps. or our outside thermometer we brought from home.

We were up early to check out the fruit/vegetable vendor who brings their goods to the fountain area near the east gate to the resort. They had a wide selection and it was recently harvested. A sign indicated the walnuts, pecans, almonds are from a new crop. The prices, Cathy says were comparable to home but fresh.

                                                                 selection of nuts

                          These are daikon or Japanese radishes, the grower says they can grow to about 2 ft. long. These are about 1 ft. long and are generally used in stir frys in oriental restaurants.

After putting the recent purchases away the neighbour across the street (here from Burlington) asked if we would like to join them as they are going grocery shopping. This was an errand we had planned on doing after lunch but we were happy to join them. Along the way to the H.E.B. grocery store which seems to be the only store providing competition for groceries to Walmart here, we were shown the locations for the local liquor store (important), the way to Walmart, how to get to the border, the area where they have a big flea market and a RV supply store. We had lunch with them and returned home. It was a great time and very informative.

We covered many topics for those few hours we were with Ron and Janet. One topic was on the TV channels we receive at the resort. They used to show 3 Canadian channels CTV, CBC and Global but a message just recently started indicating they are no longer able to provide them due to Canadian regulations.

I was craving a good bbq'ed steak and that is what we had for dinner along with the corn we purchased this am. It was not peaches and cream, that was a treat.

All for now.

WORKING ON ODDS AND ENDS

Today wasn't offering much in the way of weather. When we woke up the sky was grey and looked like rain as the weather forecast was predicting. The wind was really blowing through the night until noon today. Watching the local weather they had tornado warnings in the Baton Rouge area, glad we missed that. However, we did not get any rain at all, the cloud cover slowly broke and  it became sunny by dinner time. The high was about 62.

Cathy did  couple of small loads of laundry and vacuuming and I did some computer work. We also had a discussion about staying here longer since we both like here a lot already, but decided after only 3 days it is too early to make a decision. When we were sure it wasn't going to rain we bicycled over to the recreation building to enquire about signing up for a Border Guard Tour we read about. Unfortunately, it was full. Apparently the Border Guards tell stories about what they have seen and stopped crossing the border. There is also a tour of the Boarder patrol building. I think it would have interesting to see.

When we returned to the coach we did some maintenance on the bicycles, oiling and checking the gears.

Last night one of our neighbours welcomed us over to join a group of other neighbours who meet every day at 4 to have a happy hour with some good conversation. You just walk around the block to see where everyone is congregating and join them with your drinks and chairs. Today they didn't have it due to the coolness.

Cathy was in the Christmas spirit again so decorated the coach with a bow and string of lights (both from the Dollar Store).  By no means a award winning display - but hey, we tried!

              Cathy says this is with the flash on - looks like the license plate is illuminated.                

                                                  Without the flash - what a light display!


Til tomorrow.

CHECKING OUT THE RESORT

The weather today was a repeat of yesterday with a high of 85 and windy, we have been told this is the norm, keeps down the bugs.

This am. we packed up and moved to our new site, our new neighbour is the Park Manager, she has already helpful in getting our TV cable hooked up.

We asked about the bugs, they call them gnats here and say they do not bit. Cathy and I call them black flies and they do bite. Anyway the bug repellent works on them.

The Resort

We had to go to the Recreation Hall to p/u our cards for the fitness Centre and washrooms through out the park. It also contains 3 pools, 2 with hot tubs and the third with a sauna, library, tennis courts, laundromat, free wi-fi, shuffleboard, rock shop for jewellery making, cafe, wood shop, art centre, craft room, computer room, puzzle room, stained glass room,  sewing and quilting room. All of these have classes or activities you can sign up for free unless supplies are used.

                                                     
                                                          A view of our street.

There are grapefruit trees growing all over the resort and you can pick them. This one is on our site and Cathy had one for lunch. It was a pink one and was very good.

 
                                                          One of the pools and hot tub.

The main means of transportation in the resort is the golf cart followed by the bicycle.

All of the sites are for sale. You can purchase one to park you RV on or put a prefab cottage on it.

This is a water dispenser, you provide the jug and pay 25cents a gallon.


We attended the Santa Clause parade tonight containing about 10 golf carts all treated with Christmas decorations and lights, they were even throwing out candy.

ARRIVED IN MERCEDES TEXAS

The day was mostly cloudy and windy with a little humidity reaching a high of 83. The land continues to be flat with a coverage of scrub brush and low weed like trees with the odd palm interspersed. They must have had a very dry summer since areas which look like they once had water are now dry.

 

These next two pics. are from Kingsville which we drove through.

We arrived at the LLano Grande Lake Park in Mercedes around 2:30 and set up our set. This is a gated community for over 55 age group, Cathy had to show her driver's licence to prove her age. After the setup we noticed the site beside us was occupied by a permanent mobile house complete with a huge BTU air conditioner, which wasn't on while we were setting up. Cathy immediately went to the office and we will be moving tomorrow to our new site 7 spaces over.

After the set up we checked out the heated pool which was like a warm bath but was very refreshing. We decided not to go in the hot tub this time. I will be able to give more details and pictures tomorrow as it was getting dark when we returned to the coach. The other thing we have learned about Texas is there are "fire ants" through out it. These little things when they bit, you know it. The resort people came over shortly after we arrived and sprinkled some yellow granular product around some ant nests in the area.

There are also a variety of fruit trees (oranges, grapefruit, limes) throughout the resort which we are able to pick and use.

More details on the resort tomorrow after we explore it more.

http://goo.gl/maps/3hfE9

TAKING IT EASY

Today was sunny and a little on the muggy side with a high of 78. They are calling for a cold front to move in from Canada on Sunday night which is to drop the temp. from 87 to 57 degrees.

We were taking it easy today sitting outside and listening to the radio. During the day there was a rug cleaning company going through the park and washing rugs in several units. They would just finish with one unit and drag the hoses behind their truck to the next one.

We took a walk down to the Marina again and Cathy snapped a few pictures. There were quite a few guys out fishing. The two we talked to didn't have any luck.

  This house is in a gated community across from the marina.

 In the distance you can see the bridge we took to get to the ferry which took us over to the island.

We noticed this ship in the distance. It was probably coming from Corpus Christi.


We are on the road tomorrow. Heading south.

CATHY'S DISAPPOINTING DAY

Today started off foggy and later turned into a very nice warm, sunny day with a 78 degree high.

I guess the Christmas spirit hit us again when we went shopping after lunch as we came home with a string of lights and a large red Christmas bow for the front of the coach. Cathy bought a pair of work gloves she wanted because she was tired of getting her hands greasy when hooking up the trailer.

Now for Cathy's big disappointment.
She was told from a friend who has been in the states several times about a store called "Bealls". This store is basically a clothing/shoe store and there happens to be one in town. Once Cathy saw this the other day she told me she wanted to go to it. Today was the day and Cathy went to their website before leaving and she found a 25% off coupon for any item in the store, so printed it off.
She was checking out everything in the store and nothing really jumped out at her. After going around the full store once and having nothing to purchase she made a second round to be sure nothing was over looked. The whole time this coupon I could tell was burning away in her purse.
Still nothing, so with great disappointment Cathy gave the coupon to a lady in the store.
I am sure there will be better shopping days ahead for her.

We came home and Cathy wanted us to sit out and have a Pomegranate Margarita.


All for know
Sorry not pictures


  

TOURIST DAY

Last night there was quite a light show from the passing storm which just brought a few sprinkles of rain with it here (just enough to put spots on our nicely cleaned coach).

The weather today was great, no clouds and a high of 77f. just right for riding

We wanted to check out the local tourist areas today so we left around 9:30 and took the ferry right here in Aransas Pass over to Mustang Island (quick 5-6 minute ride). From there we entered onto the beach road right beside the Gulf Of Mexico. It was not busy at all. We travelled on it for about 5-10 miles when the road started to get softer to drive on so we took the next exit. It when on for miles.

                                                                                Ferry

                                                                     A long beach

                                                          A lot of houses on stilts

                                       This is the front of a tourist trap (yes, we stopped).

We then went over to Corpus Christi where we stopped for lunch and took a tour on the USS Lexington Aircraft Carrier from WWII. We checked it all out, going up and down stairs all afternoon (what a work out). One info. board stated it could generate enough hydro for 150,000 homes. It was complete with a mail rm, dentist, barber, OR, x-ray rm, cafeteria, galley, machine shop and sleeping quarters. A fully self contained ship.

                                                                        USS Lexington

                                                                            Deck

                                            Cathy - checking if there are instruction to fly.      

                          From the Bridge giving the "Dive, Dive" order - whoops wrong ship!     


Home before dark which is 5 o'clock.