Derby Day

 Our RV park recently held another "Derby Day" event to raise money for the clubhouse.  Not only are there "horse" races decided by the throws of soft large fuzzy dice, but tacos and Mint juleps are served, and many participants wear their Sunday bonnets.

Here is one of our favorite horses just coming out of the starting gate!  It is all in fun, obviously!

   🐴   🐴   🐴    🐴   🐴

Opossum with a Suit of Armor

 Across the road we recently saw a lady walking her dogs who became excited  and started yelling at them to stop running.  Come to find out they were chasing the critter you see below who dove into a drain pipe to escape.  The lady walked over to the fence to tell us it was an Armadillo.

A couple of days later Bill walked along the road and took this picture before it scurried into the deep grass.  To us folks from Michigan it looks like a mix between an Opossum and a turtle.

🐢

Another Lucky Winner

 Can you believe it?  A winner again  in our small group of four - this Month!

Last night, January 30, 2026, at card Bingo in our clubhouse - Phil Smoker, of Vicksburg, won one of the final three games for dollars.  He had to split that pot with another player but still brought home $61 dollars.  Not bad, and now for the month of January all four of us have won a game (and some cash).

💰     💲     💰

PS:  Last night the U of M   basketball team beat MSU in East Lansing for the first time since 2018!

GO BLUE

🏀

A Day spent with the Smokers in Mission

 On Wednesday we drove east into the Mission, Texas urban area to visit the Smokers.  We dropped off some miscellaneous household/camping items, that we no longer needed, for their RV park to sell in their upcoming park yard sale.  We then went to lunch at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse in McAllen.

After lunch Nancy drove us to her favorite beverage store - "Total Wine and More" in McAllen.  They have wine and liquor tasting along with the largest selection of beers, wines and liquors that we had ever seen.  Needless to say, we all found some beverages we wanted to take home so our shopping carts were busy.

We finished the afternoon back at the Smokers playing Pinochle and Euchre, and made it back to our RV park just before sunset. 

🌞

Another Piggy that did not Make it to Market

 On a recent bike ride - just around the first curve from our RV park Bill came across this critter beside the road.  

It was a Peccary - also known a Javelina, that had been hit by a car, probably during the night before.

We had seen a couple of these critters in our RV park a couple weeks ago and this was a large female.

A view from the front of this animal shows us how they can defend themselves from the coyotes that we often hear hunting a night.  Those fangs could be deadly!

🐷

A Big Winning Night at Card Bingo

 On Friday evening the Smokers came over from their RV park to join us for Card Bingo.  

AND......

Here is the end result after eleven games of cards  at the clubhouse.

Bill won a Quarter game worth about $27 and Nancy won one of the three dollar games for &130!!!

We had a few drinks at the trailer to celebrate.

The weather people say cold weather is coming....

😰

A Long Bike Ride Along the Wall

 On a recent sunny day Bill decided to test out his new heart valve with a long bike ride to the private border wall, and along it.

It is about a 3 mile ride to get to this portion of the wall along the Rio Grande River.  Here the wall is one of the first portions constructed, and we have been told it was paid for by a wealthy land owner.

Above is a Mexican boat launch across the Rio Grande probably on private land.

As Bill rode along the wall he met two Border Patrol vehicles in which the drivers just waved.  Above is a U.S. tourist boat that we have rode in on a previous year.  Bill was exhausted when he got back to the trailer from such a long ride,  but there were no flat tires from the nasty thorns along the remote roads.

🚴