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.

🚴

A Saturday Night Winner

 It did not quite match up with Karen's Bingo Night win a week ago, but nevertheless, our friend, Nancy Smoker, from Vicksburg hit a dime pot Saturday night.  Here she is afterward over at our trailer showing off her $9 winnings.  Hey, that is a lot of dimes!  

She and Phil brought with them two friends from the Vicksburg area so we had some good drinks and some good laughs after Bingo.  Their friends were Amos and Kathy Cook.

💲💲💲

An Upgrade to our Old Companion Trailer

 Our eight-year old travel trailer furniture was made from part of a large industry batch of poor leather that started to peel and flake after only a few years of use.  Needless to say, we were told the faulty material came from China. That does not excuse the U.S. RV industry from using it anyway!!

Above is what our couch looked like when we returned this year and Karen could not stand it, even if we might sell our trailer in March!  The two marching chairs were in similar shape. Sad. So we went shopping and then Bill talked the RV park's utility man to bring a helper and take the old stuff away.

Now...

Here is the couch that was delivered today and we unboxed and assembled.  Not bad. huh?

And here are the two new chairs.  Karen is much happier now and Bill finally got the three large cardboard boxes taken apart and thrown into the dumpster.  All done before noon!  Thanks to fine weather and two truck drivers that squeezed the large boxes of furniture into our trailer where we could then go to work.

🚚

Lucky Again! Don't You Know??

 

Last night, 1/10/2026, at card bingo Karen won one of the three dollar games to bring $90 back to the travel trailer!

😊     💥      😁

We Hit a Problem that needed an Expert

 Very soon after we moved back into our travel trailer the temperature here in south Texas climbed up to near 90 degrees.  We cranked up the air conditioning and, luckily, it took off to cool our trailer down to a fairly livable temp.  But then.....the a/c stopped!  We got out the manuals but could not find a fix.

So we called this guy.

We had seen him earlier in our park.  And luckily he was nearby so he came over.

He went right to work, with Bill holding his ladder and being his go-fer on the ground.  He found a bad condenser and had one to replace it.  We gave him the nod to fully service the unit while he had it apart.  So, about 1-1/2 hours later and a $350 service charge we were back in a cool trailer and he was on his way to cash our check.

Money well spent!  After two years of neglect you can't expect everything to stay healthy and operate like new.

🌞       ⛇

As They Say......The Moon at Night

 

The weather has been very warm since we arrived, and the full moon rising in the northeast has been a  welcome-back symbol here in Texas.

🌝

Christmas in Our P;ark

 There appears to be far fewer Christmas decorations at Bentsen Palm RV Park compared to two years ago when we were last here.  Likewise, we did not hear or see as many fireworks off in the distance to ring in the New Year of 2026.

Many consider Bentsen Palm RV park to be almost a dark sky park, so the lack of commotion did not bother us at all.

Happy New Year to You!

🎇   🎇   🎇

A Sad Day in the Family

 On New Year's Day, 2026, we received a sad call from back in Michigan that was not a good start for our family this year.  Bill's older sister, Sally, was found dead in her yard at home near Portage, Michigan.  It is believed to be from natural causes as she had heart problems in the past.  Last summer our family honored her at her 80th Birthday.

Sarah Elizabeth Varnell 1945-2026