Learning in Texas

I learn something new all the time. Such as not knowing how hot Texas really was. I feel that this area is pretty darn close to the temperatures in Florida. I have not found much of a difference with the humidity levels, although, I don’t think I will be here long enough to tell how much of a difference there is between the two states.  As for me, when it boils down to what is better or what is worse, hot is hot, humid or not. If it is 95 degrees, you are going to know it is 95 degrees. And I wouldn’t care if it is a dry 95 or  humid 95. It is going to feel HOT!!

Nopal cactus in bloom.
They use this cactus as a vitamin. Good for diabetes,
blood pressure and digestive problems.

We will be staying in the “Rio Grande Valley”  (RGV) of Texas for about another month. The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is at the Southern-most end of Texas, by the Rio Grande and just North of the Mexican border. The spring weather is HOT!@!@  We have had steady 80 to 90 degree weather just about every day with very little rain. The wind is usually blowing strong, which I believe is ideal weather. We have the summer heat and sun, mixed with a strong breeze that seems to cool things off.  Just stay out of the direct sun and the wind will make things cooler. Most of the time, we have our windows open or we hang out in our screen house. Mosquitos and other flying insects are a constant annoyance, but with the appropriate treatment like sprays, lights or candles, they seem to stay away.

They have not taken down the sign, but this still is up on Highway 281.

Speaking of staying away, I have also learned that the RGV is just about abandoned by its’ winter residents. Our RV Park is almost empty. Most of the people that were here have packed up and gone back North. Most of them come down here just for the winter season and have a base home somewhere North of Texas. They come from cold weather states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and as far as Canada. So, unlike us, they only come here for a few months to get away from the cold weather. Although some residents bring down their RV’s and trailers, several residents do not even own one, but instead, will rent a trailer here in the park, and have been doing so for many years, returning every winter.


We have been told that 60% of the winter residents in the RGV are “Winter Texans”.  Meaning that they live elsewhere and only come here for the winter. They are Florida’s equivalent to the “Snowbird”. But, unlike Florida, this area becomes almost like a ghost town, with many businesses and events closing for the summer. For example, the American Legion in Mercedes, Texas, where Lulu sang at during their Friday night fish fry, was full to capacity not long ago, but now, they remain closed until the Winter Texans return in the fall. The Don West Flea Market in Donna, Texas, also closed their gates in April.  Just the other day, this spot was crawling with bargain- hunter’s 3-days a week. And, we recently returned to Progresso, Mexico, which depend heavily on the money-spending American and Canadian tourists, that visit their small town every day to buy medicine, souvenirs and get their teeth, fingers and toes worked on. Now, all you see is desperate business owners trying to lure whoever walks by in to spending just a few dollars. The streets are nowhere near what it was a few months ago.

Little Mexican Texans waiting to pee.

A big Mexican Texan waiting to eat.

It has been a couple of months since we arrived in this area, and we do not regret our decision. It was a last minute move, because we had not decided if we would have continued West on I-10 and travel in to Nevada, or drive South in to the warmer weather. Of course, the warm weather prevailed and we made the call only 4 weeks prior to arriving. I had expected that we would have been too late to get a spot, but we were very fortunate to wind up at the Anglers Nest RV Park. We got our warm weather, and we met some of the nicest people in the country. Normally, this entire area is booked solid for the entire winter season.
Another thing that I learned was the number of RV parks in this area along with the number of “winter Texans” that spend time here. Of course, they all need to be entertained, and I quickly learned that there were many, many “entertainers” in this area, and that they have all gorged up all of the venues for the entire season, leaving us very little to pick from. Lulu only performed a couple of gigs, and they were right here, in this little, 60-site, no- frills park. Fortunately, they residents were very generous and made it a worthwhile gig, and, we got some exposure. We had some folks that came over from other parks, and they were pleased with what they saw. The phone has already been ringing for bookings for next year.  I was very happy to hear more than one person say that Lulu was one of the best entertainers that they had seen in this area. It is nice to know that when we retrace our steps, and be able to shower the RGV and their Winter Texans with some Lulu Entertainment. Unfortunately, that may have to wait an additional year for us to come back this way. We still have not made it half way through our bucket list of places to see.

Entertainment at Veteran's Appreciation Day on May 5

Mexican folkloric dancers at the festival

Getting ready to dance.

I learned that my well-intentioned friends and family that were warning me of all the violence and drug problems in this area really did not know what they were talking about. I was glad to see for myself that the Texas/Mexico border area is not the drug-war-torn-border-town that everyone claimed it would have been. We were told that we were crazy to come down here. They said that the drug cartel was kidnapping tourists and bringing them back in to Mexico to behead them. People also told us about the wild-west style gunfights that were happening on a daily basis across the Rio Grande and that they were shooting at anyone they could see on the American side. These stories were from people that claimed to have been told by reliable sources, like their cousin Vinnie who had to return home because the border patrol told him it was too violent to be here. In fact, I did hear from a resident at another RV Park close by that the U.S. Border Patrol did in fact do a presentation at their park and persuaded the tourists not to travel in to Mexico for fear of them being abducted. They even went as far as doing a slide show presentation with violent images of the dead bodies that had fallen victim to the drug cartel villence. I don’t know if this was an exaggeration or a poor-taste presentation by the U.S. government.


Needless to say,  that although we hear about drug related violence in Mexico, we haven’t seen any of these things. In fact, we have walked over to Mexico twice and I have not seen any gunfights, or Mexican drug cartel and police shoot-outs. From where we stay, or even from just about most of this border area, I cannot see the streets of Mexico, let alone having a stray bullet land near me. As for the Mexican drug violence, it sounds just like the gang wars that we have within our own country. The cartels are feuding amongst each other, and they usually make examples of those that cross them. Sounds like they knew what they were getting themselves in to when they got involved in their drug trade.

The dogs here are big!!

 The local TV news is loaded with incidents of massive drug seizures being made almost daily, and news of car chases, armed robberies and murders happening in many of the larger cities nearby. Geez, almost sounds like St Petersburg, Florida or Boston, MA to me. Nothing that is unusual to any American city, so it really doesn’t surprise me to see this kind of stuff, except for the amount and frequency of the drug seizures coming across the border, but I think it is only expected, knowing that the majority of our illegal drugs are coming from South America. I still say that the huge amounts that they are finding, are minuscule compared to the stuff that IS getting across. Those seizures are only the necessary losses that the drug cartel is making to keep the agents busy enough for them to get the bigger shipments across in a different manner. And, until our Americans stop buying the drugs that they supply, this will only continue. Money talks!!


There is another observance that I think would surprise the ordinary American who has never been here and has been brainwashed with the indecorous tales that we have been hearing for so long. And, that is the number of Mexican registered vehicles that come across the border and are found parked in shopping plazas all around town. That means that there are Mexican residents that legally cross over the border and make purchases to bring back in to their country. There is this misconception that there are masses of Mexicans illegally crossing over by rafts or hiking under cover of the night and breaking in to houses  forcing Americans to hide them out. In fact, the majority of Mexicans would not even think about leaving Mexico. The ones that do so illegally, are in the minority, and cannot obtain legal status to cross over. Some of those people are not even Mexicans, but rather Guatemalans or from some other Latino country.  Yet another myth that we have been able to discredit.

Folkloric dancing

I am also surprised to find that there is a lot of Spanish- speaking going on in many local public places. I am referring to retail and such. The employees seem to talk to everyone as though we all understand or speak Spanish. It feels as though we are in Mexico. Many of those people do not make an effort to speak English, and even though we are responding in English, they continue to speak in Spanish. I found out that this area was in fact part of Mexico at one time.  Maybe, these are people that are just descendants of those that have lived here since that time, and just continue their traditions? Either way, it is good practice for me as I brush up on my Spanish in preparation for our journey in to Mexico.

Is Texas that is for lovers?

Speaking of which, we have been working on obtaining our Mexican tourist visas that has become a little more complicated than I expected. We could go the 180-day tourist visa, which is very easy to get, and much less complicated, but the 180-day visa is a problem to me. We would be forced to leave Mexico after 180 days, and then we could return, only after waiting 180 days, and then we would have to get another 180-day visa. This particular tourist visa, known as the FMM, cannot be renewed while in Mexico, so we would have to make sure that we plan accordingly and be back over the border by the 180 days. If not, we could face big fines for over-staying the visa.


The tourist visa I am seeking is the 1-Year FM3, which allows us to stay up to a year and may be renewed while in Mexico, therefore we would not have to rush to get out. However, getting one entails a little extra work and a little more government bureaucracy.  Nothing is impossible. We will get around it.

Lulu making sand castles at Boca Chica beach.

Park your vehicle right on the beach.
No walking with chairs, coolers, floaties....

For now, we plan to stay here a little longer so we can do a few things we still have not got to do. We spent a day at Boca Chica Beach, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, and have gone to some festivities. We also need to get to a nature trail or two and a few other sightseeing days that we need to get done. We will be at an almost empty park, and a less-populated area. Nevertheless, it does not sound any different from Florida when the snowbirds go back home in March. We will make do.


And another thing that we learned. Mexicans do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  And here we were waiting for parades, and loud parties and tequila. No such thing. In fact, May 5 is not even a holiday in Mexico. The date marks the anniversary of a victory in 1862 in the fight for independence from French forces. It is also not, as is often assumed, the day of Mexico's celebrations of independence, which are actually held on September 16.  Cinco de Mayo celebrations actually is a day of Mexican heritage and pride that is traced back to California, and started by some of their Mexican immigrants. The date has actually been exploited by corporate America to get Americans to spend their hard working money.


We will, however, miss our new Texas friends. These people have been so nice to us, and have extended their generosity, friendship and hospitality without reservation. They have accepted us in to their close-knit community and treated us as though we have been coming here for the last 10 years. In the short time that we have been here, we have spent some very preciousmoments with our new friends, and have shared many fun events. The park owners have been extremely hospitable, and have even allowed us to stay past their “closing date”, when most of their residents leave. We were fortunate to have selected this park for our stay. We constantly are reminded that God is always guiding us in the right direction.  And, it is proof that He places us in the right area and with the right people. Angler’s Nest RV Park will be another place that we will never forget, and it will be at the top of our list when we retrace our return in the future. We will never forget the great times here and we will miss our “Nest” friends.


Adios mis amigos!!