Free Spirit

Friday, May 18, 2012

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!!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Winter Texans going home

A POST FROM LULU

Turning AL in to a Texas cowboy.

Where has the past four months gone? I was just resting comfortably in my magic recliner, you know the one?, the one that has the powerful seat that sucks you in and stops you from getting things done. That is my reason for not getting a pen and writing down our wonderful experiences on the road. Just four months ago, I had wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving from my last visit to my storybook. Thank goodness for my super good looking, sexy and brilliant husband (can you tell who is doing the typing here?), yes my great, handsome husband is always doing something at the computer, and it is not unusual to find him updating our Facebook pages with our Texas news journal events. In fact, we are so busy doing all kinds of things that we could have a regular monthly newsletter that could look something like this;

Waiting for our 1 lb burgers at
Gonzalez Burgers

Section A; Entertainment; Besides Lulu and AL entertaining at the Angler’s Nest clubhouse, we were invited to the Mercedes, TX AMVETS to their weekly fish fry on Friday nights. There was a houseful of wonderful people that we met, and we enjoyed some “Scaryoke”, I mean karaoke, which some people, including myself, got to show off some talent.

Mr. Stan's apple pie

Section B: Restaurants: I do not know where to begin. If you have seen our Facebook pictures, you might think that is all that we do. Giant burgers in Donna, TX, homemade cake and cookies from our neighbor Ms. Darlene,
and she was so kind to even knock on the door and ask if AL had any diabetes issues, yeah right…. Then there is Stanley, who you might see on one of our videos on Facebook. Stanley came by on one of our very cold days, when it dropped from 85 to 55, with a hot homemade apple pie. He is the park’s pie maker and all the women love him because he is as sweet as pie. He is soft spoken, and frail and his smile is bigger than his whole body.

Kissing the bride again.

Section C: Places to go: I could run out of ink if I would write about all the places we have been to. You all know the softy that I am when it comes to all the special places that stay engraved in my heart. Especially those romantic spots that our footprints have been left behind, like “Lulu’s Homeport” in Alabama on Valentine’s Day. Al and I renewed our wedding vows there on a surprise date out. I don’t think the ink on our original vows have had a chance to dry yet. I mean it has only been a year. But, it was a very warming ceremony to recreate over again with my best friend.

Cleaning the catch of the day.

Wherever we go, whether it is outside in the sun, sometimes in the rain, flea markets, picnics, or just sitting on the magic furniture, as long as I can feel the sunshine on my face, and keep my feet on the ground, literally, I know that this dream will never end. There really are too many places to get in to details, but there are always first times for us, wherever we go. In fact, Al went on his first pontoon fishing expedition with some RV park buddies, and although I was invited, I took a rain check. I still have nightmares from my “Carnival Cruise gone bad” in 2004 during a sunny day; a rogue wave tipped the ship over enough for the lawn chairs to slide off the eighth floor balcony. The Captain had it all under control and got us back safely, just as Al got back safely with 56 fish amongst 5 fishermen. Good job.

The bugs are not this big,
but there are big spiders, mostly
in holes in the ground, and the
big boys are always digging
them up for play pets??

It is nearly midnight and I can see the fireflies outside the back window on this muggy and buggy night. You need to buy stock on insect repellant as we have bought just about every kind. Everyone has a remedy to keep away the mosquitoes, like rubbing vanilla on your body. So why do I still have bumps that itch like heck and I scratch until they bleed? And I smell like a sugar cookie that attracts ants.

It’s all good, since we will be heading to Mexico soon, and I can try rubbing tequila and lime on my limbs. Wait, that has nothing to do with bugs. I think it is a country song that goes “what goes on in Mexico, stays in Mexico”. Just ask Tobey Keith.

Adios mi amigos.

Baby ducks for sale at the
77 Flea Market in Brownsville, Tx

And by the way. May you all have a blessed Easter Holiday. We will be having Easter dinner with our RV park hosts, Linda and Pat, and whomever may be left here at the park.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Ok, the last post was a little bit winded, but it had been a while since we had posted something, and we had a lot to say. We need to shorten them up and just post a little more often. And, Lulu has promised to add to the blog also. She too is adding to her journal, so we should be reading something from her real soon.

If you’ve been on face book, then you have already seen some pictures from some of our experiences here in Los Indios, Tx. We are at he very bottom of Texas, only about 2 miles from the Mexico border, and about 20 minutes from Brownsville. I should have gotten a photo, but I felt like I was in Israel when I drove down 281. The U.S. has erected a huge iron fence that runs for miles along the Rio Grande River. it is evident that they are still working on it due to the construction sites scattered along the highway. The Border Patrol units are very visible driving along this route, and there are constantly reports of huge drug seizures coming over the borders. Some of them in the $100,000 values. It makes me wonder if these seizures are just a sacrificial lamb that the cartel uses in order to get the much larger shipments across. There are just so many that there must be much bigger and many more getting across. With all that activity, we always feel safe, and everyone here feels the same way. They have never had any problems here or around our park. And I don’t anticipate that that will change while we are here.

Some Rvers have already left for the season and many should be leaving by the end of this month. They tell us that by May, most of this area will be quiet as many of their “Summer Texas” (Florida’s equivalent to “Snowbirds”), head back North and then return again in October.

Lulu did a great performance last week at the park clubhouse in Angler’s Nest. It was a small group, but they had a great time. We were told that this group was not the dancing type, but if you’ve seen the video, that changed on that day. Lulu will be doing another performance on Monday, March 19th.

Neighborhood woodpecker.

We hit it right when we picked this park. It is small and a little tight, but comfortable. Fortunately, they put us in a very roomy site, right next to the clubhouse and laundry room. They have clean and roomy showers, so we have been able to take a regular shower in a regular bathroom. The shower and bathroom in our rig is half the size, so using the park’s shower is a treat. The residents here are so very friendly and kind. And of course once they get to know Lulu, forget it, they made a friend for life!

Molly's bike ride

Molly's new bike basket

Clubhouse and neighbor.

clubhouse kitchen.

They have had some activities that we came to enjoy. We had the pancake breakfast the other day and we have come to watch their jam sessions twice. A group of musicians get together and entertain the residents for a couple of hours. We were also invited to a fish fry at a local American Legion hall, where Lulu got a near standing ovation for singing at a karaoke session. Something she hardly does, but they twisted her arm. We also got to go to Gonzalez Burgers where they serve the huge Texas style burgers. They always have a line out the door and they always sell out all their burgers on a daily basis.

Huge 1 pound burgers. 56 Orders were taken for just about 100 people.

Patiently waiting for their burgers.

Out the door....at Gonzalez Burger

We went by ourselves to the Borderfest 2012 where we got to see some Mexican bands, a Beetles tribute band and got to try out some Mexican food. And, most importantly, got to take a photo with the Kool Aid guy, and got to see the original Oscar Myer wiener mobile. . We have ventured out in to local Harlingen and San Benito where we have found a couple of nice Christian Churches, as well as a good chiropractor as my back has been acting up. We will also be flying out of Harlingen Airport in April to go to my parents 50th anniversary in April. The RV will stay here until we return 10 days later.

This area has a huge Mexican population, and we find it amusing that we sometimes feel like we are back up North in New Bedford and Fall River , MA. The Mexican community remind us so much of the Portuguese community that we grew up with. They dress similar, speak loud and use their hands to communicate. And, most are very fun and friendly people. Some of their music is similar, but not the foods. We do miss our Portuguese food. Even though the languages have some similarities, there are some important differences and I am trying to brush up on my Spanish as we will be using it when we RV in Mexico this summer. By the way, unless you have been in Mexico and have personally witnessed a beheading, please keep your advice to yourself. We have spoken to many fellow Rv’ers who live in Mexico and they report that all is fine. They have their crime and violence just like we have ours here in the U.S., and they have their areas that some people do not belong in. If you don’t believe me, just follow my face book page and you can speak to them yourself. We are not afraid and we plan on leaving sometime around May.

Some time this week we plan on heading out to Progresso, Mexico, which is just up the road about 30 or 40 minutes, where you can cross over on foot and get souvenirs, manicures, see doctors, dentists and buy medicine at their pharmacies. I will be checking out some prices for inhalers as I still have to pay a $25 co-pay and I think I should be able to get a better deal down there.

We will also be taking a ride out to San Padre Island, but we are waiting for the college kids to get out, since they have invaded for spring break. There are also some nature trails that we will be checking out, and a few other local attractions.

So far, we have enjoyed the area. There is plenty to do and see, and the weather has been very pleasant. I think the cold is gone. We expect this week to be in the 80’s and sunny. The wind is another thing,. It is always windy, but it is nice to cool things off. We have yet to use out air conditioner. The open windows let in a nice breeze that cools things down. We have finally been able to comfortably and safely ride our bikes around, and even Molly has a new basket that I mounted on my bike. Speaking of who, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure after the vet heard a heart murmur back in Alabama a few weeks ago. They also found her heart to be enlarged. This was when we brought her in to check her out because she seemed to be acting a little sluggish. She was put on medication and she seems to be much better. She is a little more herself again. She is 12 years old, so we have to be careful with her.

So, for now, we will enjoy the weather. As usual, I have to finish up some of the “nothings” that I started doing the other day. It seems that these “nothings” never get done.

Be safe and may God Bless you all!!!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Texas here we come.....

There are lots of photos in this post, so be sure to follow to the end.

It’s hard to believe that a few months have already gone by and that we have crossed three states and are at our new location. It is again the familiar bitter-sweet feelings of leaving new friends behind, but moving on to seeing and living in new places. In the short time that we were in Alabama, we met some fascinating people that opened up their homes and hearts to us, making us feel right at home. We heard some great stories of life experiences, travels and accomplishments. Some folks told us about their battles with diseases, sicknesses and family tragedies. They all seem to agree with what we are doing. Do it now, because you never know when your situation can change and you may never have the opportunity again. So we go forward with all this advice under our belt. We know that we are welcome back should we take this road again.

Along with the great times and fond memories, we also leave with sad memories. One of them being the sudden death of a 15 month old boy that we came to know at one of the campgrounds who lived there in a very small and modest trailer. The news came to us on Valentine day. His young mother and the residents at another location could not revive the little boy after he choked on a piece of an apple. The news struck us like a thorn in our heart. The father was in the military nearby and the mother spent all of her time with the boy and his older sister. Lulu spent countless hours with the three when they all met at the swing set at Lazy Acres RV Park.

We knew that the family did not have much and that they would be faced with the unfortunate, unimaginative and costly task burying their child. Lulu decided to donate all the proceeds from her Valentine’s Day performance at Magnolia Springs RV Park to the family. It may not be much, but it will help a little with their expenses. We pray that this family find some comfort during their sad moment, and that they can find comfort in knowing that their baby was taken back home to a safer and better place with his lord and creator, for reasons that we cannot comprehend. May God bless them, give them strength and guide them.

We have met many incredible people along the way. I cannot name all of them and I don’t mean to say that one is more important than the other. But, I must name a few folks that have crossed our paths. Vickie worked at the office at Lazy Acres and was the person who called us while we were in Virginia and had yet to decide on a place to come to in Alabama. She was the deciding factor in selecting Lazy Acres. Without getting in to her personal life, we found out later that Vickie was an extraordinary person who has taken life by the horns and doesn’t let life’s challenges get in her way.

Mr. Bob introduced himself to us at Lazy Acres, and we learned that he had once performed with Dr. Hook back in his musician days. Bob had recently lost his wife to cancer and was cleaning out his RV, selling off some belongings as well as a second RV that he had next door. Mr. Bob was a fairly new full-time resident of Lazy Acres and he had such a positive and cheerful personality. You could tell that Bob sincerely enjoyed meeting new people and went out of his way to make people feel at home. Mr. Bob was a great inspiration to us.

I personally enjoyed socializing with my neighbors next door, Gerald and Harley. They had their Rvs parked back to back in the site next to ours, just as they have been doing for the past several years when they return here for the winter months. These two care-free men have some great history to them. I spent many hours sitting with them and listening to their stories and learning from their vast experiences.

Everyone at Lazy Acres had their own special trait. I just don’t have the room to name all of them. But we had the pleasure of meeting Joel and Julie and our friend Marie. We couldn’t leave Alabama without returning to Lazy Acres and saying good bye to these folks who we came to know and love in two short months.

We also met Ms. Dee from Ms. Dee’s flea market which is located up the street from Lazy Acres. It’s not really a flea market, but an old barn that is filled to the brim with hundreds of used items of all sorts. Some every day household appliances and some very hard to find hardware. Nothing has price tags, and in fact, Ms. Dee will tell you how much the item will cost when you bring it to the register. I have found and purchased a propane regulator, some PVC pipe, an electric burner and a few other odd items and I have never spent more than $5.00 at any shopping spree. Ms. Dee herself was a full-time traveling Rver up until recently when her husband fell ill and she had to settle down. Ms Dee’s is definitely worth the visit. Tell her that Lulu sent you.

Magnolia Springs RV Hideaway is about a 15 minute drive West of Lazy Acres and we stayed there after returning from Florida in January. What a wonderful time here. Everyone here was super. Here too were some wonderful people who made a lasting impression on us. We will never forget Hoot, who used an electric scooter to get around. Lulu had a great time riding on Hoot’s scooter as they danced to one of her songs at one her three shows there.

Lulu found her bingo buddies, Mary Anne and Nellie. They would get together once a week and off they would go to the nearest bingo games. Sometimes they would win, and sometimes they would not. But that was not important. It was the camaraderie and the good times that was counted. Their husbands, Jim and Joe, were hard working men, that worked in the campground. They were always hard at work, and always ready to help out. In fact, Jim and another resident, Kurt, was a big help to me when it was time to get out washer and dryer out of our rig when I sold it on Craig’s List. The 120 pound lady that showed up by herself would not have been much help to get the 300 pound machine out of a closet and in to her pick up if it was just me and her.

Lulu did her last performance on a special day of friendship and love, Valentine’s Day . We were humbled and honored to have been asked to do one last show before leaving. Lulu was able to pay tribute to Whiney Houston, who passed away around the same time. Lulu does a few great renditions of Whitney’s hits.

We continue to reminisce about our great times back in Florida. A year never went by that we didn’t celebrate Valentine’s and Mardi Gras, either at a private function, or at Lulu’s many public venues. You can still see photos of some our very first Valentine’s parties from 5 or 6 years ago on Lulu’s web site. So, we never forget about the many great time we always had with our Florida friends.

We left Alabama on January 20 and started our journey toward Texas, making stops along the way. We stayed at the Fountainbleau State Park on the North side of Lake Pontchartrain, right across from New Orleans, during Mardi Gras. We decided not to participate in the frenzi and just hung out at the state park for a few days. It was a very nice park, with a clean beach, large RV sites and a terrific bike path. We did get to watch the continuous Mardi Gras celebrations on live TV, some of which started as early as 8am. I did learn that there are several parades, spread out throughout the city over the course of several days. Not just one parade, as I thought was the case.

After a pleasant 3-day stay, we drove about 6 hours to Sea Rim State Park in Sabine Pass, Texas. Located right over the Louisiana border, just across the river. This secluded park was on the outskirts of a small town which still showed the damage from hurricane Rita from about 6 years ago. Although the weather man stated it was going to be a nice couple of days, our primitive camping experience was actually quite nerve racking. We were originally supposed to have been set up right on the sand of beach, and use our own electric, water and sewer, since they had no hook ups. Our “Free Spirit” can dry-dock for about 7 days without having to empty out or fill up, so 2 or 3 days would have been no problem.

The first indication of something not right, was the sign at the entrance to the park that said that there was no beach camping due to the road being washed out. No problem, we decided to use the parking lot. We had the place to ourselves, and we figured we could walk down to the beach the next day. Needless to say, the weather man was wrong. The conditions turned for the worse over night, with the temperatures dropping to the 50’s and the winds gusting up to 40 mph. After a brief walk, very brief, because it was so cold and windy, we closed it up and moved our rig 10 miles in to town, where we stayed another night, in the middle of Sabine Pass. I didn’t feel comfortable driving with all the wind.

Sabine Pass felt as though it was a ghost town, with many abandoned homes, and very few people out and about. You could tell that this probably was once an active island, which had been ravished by storms and the homeowners had given up hope, leaving their skeletal homes behind. A few had decided to be brave and reconstruct, and it looks like the process is continuing. The only thing we saw that was active was the many off-shore drilling platforms that were spread out around the islands outskirts. You could see and hear the constant activity that must keep hundreds of out of town workers busy. Once the wind calm down, we drove off, another 6 hours and we arrived at a Wal Mart outside of Corpus Cristi, where we dry-docked on their parking lot for one night.

We arrived in Los Indios, Texas on Sunday, February 26. And in only a few days, we have had a barrage of neighbors introducing themselves and offering their assistance in any way possible. Linda, the park owner, Ace, the park manager, and a few other helping hands have already shown how friendly this place will be. We are in the process of working something out with their entertainment committee for Lulu to do a show here. We enjoyed watching some of the park members do a jam session at the rec hall, and we joined a few on a local trek to Gonzalez Burgers in nearby Donna, home of the one pound hamburger. Lulu and I split the double cheeseburger. The things was so big, you couldn’t bite in to it. No dinner that night.

We are learning as we travel. This area, the Rio Grande Valley, is loaded with RV parks that provide all kinds of entertainment. Of which , there are literally hundreds of entertainers spread across the area. All of whom have been booked at these parks since last year, and have been doing this for the past several years. So, needless to say, my marketing effort has not proved to be very successful. We may end up with very little work while we are here. But, oh well. We didn’t do this for the work, we did it for the experience. But, it doesn’t hurt to make a few extra bucks along the way.

So, the weather has finally turned to the better. We are hitting the high 70’s and 80’s this week and it does not look like we will be going back to the cold temps any time soon. We start another adventure in Texas. We plan to stay here until May. And then, who knows where. Stay tuned.

God bless you all, and stay safe and healthy.