Getting a Jump on the Birds

Tomorrow is March first and the birds down here in south Texas have been flocking and acting restless.

This is what the fence behind us has been looking like on recent mornings.

We are packing up and heading for home tomorrow and these birds may be right behind us.

We have enjoyed Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort for the last month and plan to return here next 

December.

God Willing.

PS:

  We hope to make a couple of interesting stops along our trip home, and if possible we will put up a few more posts.

Stay Tuned.

🚘

Preparing For The Border Wall

Just west of  the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park this large machine was brought in to prepare the land for the border wall.

It is not used for digging - but instead has rotary blades at the end of its boom to cut away trees and vegetation.

As you can see it leaves the ground almost bare and makes for easier construction along the canal which is on the left side of the photo above.

This property is about 1/4 mile north of the Rio Grande River.  On the right you can see what the land was like before this machine did its work.

🗽

A Creative Way to Recycle Beer Cans

Some Texas native nearby decided to put his used beer cans to good use.

Instead of putting them in the trash for the landfill,  he painted some of them.

Then welded them together for a unique yard ornament.

This small tractor has been around for a while but is still holding together,

Any beer drinking John Deer owner would be proud of such a machine.

🍺

A Real Man's Pet

We see mostly dogs as pets down here in Texas in the RV parks we visit.

However a few people have cats.

Some of the cats always stay inside the mobile units.

(At least during the daylight hours)

But......

This camper may be hiding a feline that could explain the disappearance of a few dogs around our RV  resort.  Look closely through the windshield for a clue.

But don't get too close!

🐈

Woodworking at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort

Our current park does not have shuffleboard or boccie ball courts, but it does have an excellent woodworking shop for campers to use.

Winter residents must get basic instructions on machines, but then are free to make what they want.

The woodworking shop is clean, well-maintained and is open every day but Sunday.

This weekend the RV park had a craft fair and many items were on sale that had been made in the shop.

As you can tell from the "Pegs and Jokers" set above - some guys are rather advanced in their woodworking skills. Price - $225 for set.

Most of the money raised at the craft show is used to buy and maintain the workshop tools and machines.  Bill plans to bring some materials and build a few items next year.

Hopefully.

📦

A Birthday and Bingo (What a Fun Combination!)

On Saturday Karen and Bill joined about a dozen other people at a fine local Mexican restaurant to help celebrate a birthday.

Our friend, Nancy Smoker, was having an important birthday and many of the attendees were from Southwest Michigan.

Here is the birthday girl glowing in the spotlight of the hour.

After the birthday dinner Karen and Bill drove back to the RV park in time for our usual Saturday evening or Card Bingo.

Surprise!  Bill won the last game of the night and brought home a cool  $67 dollars.

Now Karen has plenty of laundry money to use before we head for home.

⛲

An Excellent Mountain Bike Trail

On a recent exploratory bicycle trip of the nearby area Bill came across a mountain biker's dream:

It was an abandoned 18-hole golf course that recently shut down.  It had cement golf cart trails throughout.

The trails went on and on and were quite smooth.

Nobody seemed to care who used the path.

It was once a fancy course but shut down for reasons unknown.  We heard that a new owner may want to develop it into homes and condos.

So for now the owner's loss is Bill's gain as he plans to return for a few more rides through the Texas grass.

🚴

Finally - A License Plate that Tells It Like It Is

We could not help but notice this license plate on a large Motor Home in our park:

Sometimes there is no harm in telling the truth!

🚙

In Case of Rain

Unlike Yuma, where rain is rare,  we have seen quite a few rainy and misty days in the Rio Grande Valley.  Therefore, the grass is green and a mowing crew comes into the park  every week.

But what about protecting our old bicycles from the rain???

We have no shelter in which to put them

so....

We have to improvise.

With a sturdy fence behind us, a tarp and a few bungee cords can work wonders.

Now our bicycles can stay fairly dry on rainy days.  On mowing days Bill has to make sure to take the tarp down before the lawn men arrive.

Problem solved!!

⛆

Going To The Chapel

On Sunday, February 17, we met with Nancy and Phil Smoker and went our for dinner in the afternoon.  After a tasty meal at Cheddar's Nancy drove up on a tour of the area that included what is considered "The Mission" down near the Rio Grande River.

This is "La Lomita" Chapel or Little Hill Chapel that was rebuilt on mission lands that were established in 1861.  This small park is where the city of Mission got its name.  This tiny church was relocated here in 1899.

This plaque at the chapel tells some of its history.

Phil and Nancy posed at the front for a picture.

They are from Vicksburg, Michigan.

This beautiful shrine  to The Lady of Guadalupe was in a corner of the chapel.

After our tour we played a few games of "Pegs and Jokers".

Fun!

🎲

Protesters March By

On Saturday afternoon we were surprised by a bit of a commotion just outside of our RV resort. We had heard about locals protesting the new wall to be built here, but we had not seen any.

Well.....

These people had gathered at the Texas State Park parking lot next to us, and were marching to the National Butterfly Center down the road behind us.

The protesters we chanting "Stop The Wall" in both English and in Spanish.  They were well-behaved and even all moved to the side of the road if a car came along.  The Sunday paper said there were approximately 150 people involved.  The wall, if built, would be constructed just over the bank that you see above their heads in the photo.  The lady in pink with the camera is our next door neighbor at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort.

🏢

A Valentine's Day Dance

By way of an invitation from our Michigan friends, Nancy and Phil Smoker, on Friday evening we attended a dance at the Tropical Valley Acres RV and mobile home Park in Mission.  There was food as well as entertainment so how could we refuse?  The dance had a "Sock-Hop" theme with splendid decorations.

The young couple providing the music were very good and knew plenty of songs from the 50's and 60's for the 55+ crowd to enjoy and dance to.

Line dancing was very popular during the evening.

Some ladies wore their " Poodle Skirts".

There was a bubble gum bubble-blowing contest.

  

There was even a lively round of "Musical Chairs" (with only a few minor injuries).  We did the "Hokey Pokey"  and the participation was amazing for all the old folks like us!  It didn't take long for the participants to forget their age and start acting like teenagers again!
That's what it's all about!

👫

Another Texas Kayak Trip

The weather this week has been hot.  Twice a week Bentsen Palm Village RV park offers free kayak trips to campers who feel up to the challenge.  On Thursday, Valentines Day, Bill signed up for the trip on the Rio Grande River.

 

A couple in our park did not show up, but our guide said that the three of us would take the trip anyway.  Above we are greeted at the launch site by Rosie, the local burro who was looking for an apple or some carrots.   Bill said next time he would bring a treat for her.

Our guide, the lady in blue above, said there were just two rules:  Stay together and don't go over the center of the river into Mexico waters.  We paddled up stream into the wind for almost an hour.  Bill only got yelled at once for straying too close to the middle of the river. 😥

This was a fancy ranch/estate on the Mexican side that Bill was told used to raise Arabian Horses.  It was shut down for taxes or for a connection to the drug cartel.  We soon turned around to return to the launch site.

Here are Bill's fellow voyagers.  They were tough and we all got a good upper-body workout.

A few days later Bill found out that there are alligators in the Rio Grande down here.

Oh well...

🐊

Watch Where You Step

A Winter Texan sees plenty of unique yard ornaments down here.  This is an interesting driveway decoration in our RV resort that looks pretty scary to trip over by accident.

🐊

A Lonely Room at the RV Resort

The weather has become summer-like so people down here in southern Texas have been doing many outside activities to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.

Therefore our exercise room has been seeing little activity.

Too Bad!

😞

A Poster Hanging in the Laundry Room

Our RV site is approximately 1/2 mile north of the U.S. - Mexico border at the Rio Grande River.

The green and white Border Patrol cars are frequently seen on the road behind us.

This poster is hanging on the bulletin board in our laundry room nearby.

You can never be too careful.

🚧

A Unique Device On the Bicycle Trail

The town of Mission has built a two-lane bicycle trail from the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park that goes past our RV Resort.  It then continues on for about four miles through public lands to a small roadside parking area.  Bill rode the trail on Sunday and found this new device at the trail head.

It is a public tire pump and fix-it bicycle stand.  With all the cactus around it helps to be able to pump up bicycle tires, and the stand lets you hang a bicycle above the ground for repairs.

Pretty Nifty!

🚴

A Flag of a Different Color

Many Canadians feel the need to escape Winter just like Americans do, of course.  We would guess that the RV parks in Yuma, Arizona have approximately a 45-50 percent  Canadian occupancy this time of year.  Here in Southern Texas is is a smaller percentage, but probably still 20-25 percent.

 

Therefore:

Flags like this above are sometimes seen flying in front of RV sites of Canadian visitors.

The flags show a love and appreciation of both countries.

🏁

A Hungry Creature on a Cold Morning

The weather on Saturday was cold and rainy.

We could not help but notice this hungry customer at our neighbor's feeder next door .  It is right outside of our window.

She would come to feed about every 10-15 minutes all morning and was rather entertaining in her aerodynamic displays.

It is amazing to think that we could see this same tiny animal in Michigan next May.

🌺

Annual Pet Parade for Charity in our RV Park

The weather turned cloudy and cool on Friday but the annual pet parade was staged anyway in our RV park with all proceeds benefiting  the Cinderella Pet Rescue Center.   The center is a no-kill animal shelter nearby.

People dressed up their dogs and entered them into the parade for judging.

Many local businesses donated items for raffle drawings, and many residents of the park brought baked goods and other items to sell or raffle off.  There were hot dogs and beer for sale as well as a 50-50 drawing at the end.

It cost $10 to enter your pet into the parade, and it cost everyone else $1 to vote for your favorite dog.  Multiple votes were encouraged!

This K-9 is a butterfly.   Can you tell?

Here is the Cinderella Pet Rescue bus that showed up with a few of its dogs looking for good homes.  The homeless dogs were showed around by volunteers and at least one was adopted on the spot by a park resident.  The pet event raised a little over its $5000 goal, so the amount was matched  by another organization.  We joined in the fun, bought some tickets, ate a hot dog,  bought some cookies, (of course), and voted for our favorite parade dogs.  However, we did not win a raffle prize or the 50-50 drawing.  Darn!

It was a fun afternoon well spent out in the cold and the event raised $10,000 total.

Wow!

🐕